Help! Corals may be dying.

bartizzle

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Hello, Could someone please help me out here? Thank you!

My tank was doing quite well until about 9/27 and I noticed that my corals have been coming out less and less. I'm pretty sure I have an uptick in the amount of pods, they are all over the coral and rocks... and sand. I was wondering if they were bothering the coral. My Duncan hasn't been as open in a while but I figured it may be flow or light related so I have been moving it around since this all started.

I don't know of any single event or anything out of the ordinary happening. The last "live" addition was my wall hammer on 9/15 and it seemed pretty happy. All of my coral gets dipped and blasted off with a baster and no other additions since 7/12. I do notice a green hue on the top sides of my live rock, a less than 1" patch of what I believe to be turf algae, and the glass gets slightly green. The sand has stayed pretty clean other than when I feed the hemits an occasional algae wafer to keep them off my coral.

Other than the stuff listed on my chart, I have 2 clowns and a blue chromis.

I have a ULR PO4 checker on the way as I suspect my Salifert kit may be inaccurate.

Thank you!

DateTemp FSGpHdKH(NO3) ppm(PO4) ppm(Ca) ppm(Mg) ppm(NH3) ppm(NO2) ppmNotes
7/12/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
8.9​
5​
0.03​
370​
1200​
0​
0​
Day after vacation, prior to adding frogspawn, GSP, zoas, duncans, 12 trochous, 6 nassarius, 12 red leg crabs
7/14/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
8.9​
5​
0.03​
370​
1200​
0​
0​
Tested and then dosed 10ml
7/14/2020​
78​
8​
9.4​
400​
0​
Tested 1h after dosing
7/16/2020​
78​
8​
9.4​
5​
0.03​
400​
1150​
Tested and then dosed 9ml + 5ml Mg
7/20/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
9.8​
5​
0.03​
380​
1170​
0​
Tested and then dosed 15ml Ca only + 9ml Mg
7/21/2020​
78​
8​
9.8​
390​
1180​
Tested and then dosed 15ml Ca, 9 ALK, 9ml Mg
7/23/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10.2​
395​
1200​
Tested and then dosed 18ml Ca only + 9ml Mg
7/28/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10.1​
7​
400​
1200​
8/3/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10​
10​
400​
1200​
Changed filter floss and PolyPad
8/4/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
9.9​
10​
0.25​
405​
1215​
Dosed Ca, Mg before testing, added Chemi-Pure Blue 5.5
8/5/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10.1​
7​
0.1​
410​
1275​
8/7/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10.2​
7​
0.1​
405​
1180​
Had a polyp eject. 10%WC, dosed 12ml Mg
8/10/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
9.9​
7​
0.1​
405​
1200​
0​
Last Frogspawn polyps ejected.
8/16/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10​
10​
0.1​
400​
1185​
0​
0​
8/28/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10.3​
7​
0.03​
405​
1185​
0​
0​
9/14/2020​
78​
1.025​
8​
10​
7​
0.03​
0​
0​
New gate valve and 5g WC, swept sand.
9/15/2020​
78​
1.024​
8​
10.1​
7​
0.03​
400​
1200​
0​
0​
Removed Chemi-Pure Blue. Added wall hammer.
9/25/2020​
78​
1.025​
8​
9.9​
10​
0.03​
400​
1215​
0​
0.05​
Replaced Chemi-Pure Blue and PolyPad.
10/1/2020​
78​
1.025​
8​
10​
7​
0.03​
400​
1200​
0​
0.05​
Cleaned sand bed, changed floss. 30% WC
10/4/2020​
78​
1.025​
8​
9.9​
7​
0.03​
400​
1215​
0​
0.05​
10/5/2020​
Dipped Zoas and Duncans in CoralRx Pro.


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fishguy242

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hi,water looks cloudy to me,just my opinion,hammer did not look so good from start,advice,small water change ,run extra carbon for a day :)
 
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bartizzle

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Stability is key.

Is there anything specifically that I could do to become more sable?

hi,water looks cloudy to me,just my opinion,hammer did not look so good from start,advice,small water change ,run extra carbon for a day :)

Hi, thanks for the response. Is there anything specifically that you would recommend to clear it up further? I am currently running a Biocube 32 with filter floss from InTank, PolyPad, Chemi-Pure Blue, and Matrix carbon in that order. I also have a good bit of regular Matrix in the back for more bio surface.

I have an AWC of about 2.5-3.0 gallons per week and ATO with RODI. I do have about half the Matrix Carbon left, would you recommend that I add it to a bag?

Thank you!
 

fishguy242

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am i looking at ,cloudy water? how is hammer now? is it dying or slightly opening ?current pic of hammer ,can be polluting tank?
 

vetteguy53081

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Agreee wall hammers are the most challenging of euphylia grouping. You have it high. It does best in lower half of tank.
Your alk is running a little high. Moderate light and water flow is key. Ph is a little low also
What is your light schedule ?
Are you using RO water or tap water from the faucet?
 
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bartizzle

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am i looking at ,cloudy water? how is hammer now? is it dying or slightly opening ?current pic of hammer ,can be polluting tank?

I don't think it's really that cloudy. I haven't cleaned the glass today, I normally do it every other day. The hammer is pretty closed up and has been all day. The very first two pictures are the today and the current state of the hammer.

You nitrates could be too low with an alk of 10

Wow and here I was shooting for 0 nitrates and trying to keep the alk between 9-10. What do you recommend that I target?

Agreee wall hammers are the most challenging of euphylia grouping. You have it high. It does best in lower half of tank.
Your alk is running a little high. Moderate light and water flow is key. Ph is a little low also
What is your light schedule ?
Are you using RO water or tap water from the faucet?

I can move it down one shelf on the left or all the way to the sand bed based on your recommendations. The Tunze in the back left is deflecting off the middle/back and very low setting.

Lighting schedule is 10-10 - Blues, 12-5 - Whites, 1-3 - Bright Days.

Again, what would you recommend for a target alk level? I was hoping to see the pH come up a bit too bit I swear it some days it's in between 7.8 and 8.0 on multiple tests (I have RedSea, Salifert, and API). Any recommendations on how to raise pH, I've tried an air stone in my return chamber before to try to get it to come up and it was negligible. I've read to avoid anything containing the word "buffer" for that.


Thank you all.
 

vetteguy53081

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I don't think it's really that cloudy. I haven't cleaned the glass today, I normally do it every other day. The hammer is pretty closed up and has been all day. The very first two pictures are the today and the current state of the hammer.



Wow and here I was shooting for 0 nitrates and trying to keep the alk between 9-10. What do you recommend that I target?



I can move it down one shelf on the left or all the way to the sand bed based on your recommendations. The Tunze in the back left is deflecting off the middle/back and very low setting.

Lighting schedule is 10-10 - Blues, 12-5 - Whites, 1-3 - Bright Days.

Again, what would you recommend for a target alk level? I was hoping to see the pH come up a bit too bit I swear it some days it's in between 7.8 and 8.0 on multiple tests (I have RedSea, Salifert, and API). Any recommendations on how to raise pH, I've tried an air stone in my return chamber before to try to get it to come up and it was negligible. I've read to avoid anything containing the word "buffer" for that.


Thank you all.
Alk 8-9
 

fishguy242

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hammer is holding together,no signs of falling apart ,loose tissue? i am worried i see a lot of recession on skeleton fins??
 
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bartizzle

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Are you using RO water or tap water from the faucet?

Sorry, missed this earlier. I have a SpectraPure MC-RODI-90-10-MF RODI setup.

hammer is holding together,no signs of falling apart ,loose tissue? i am worried i see a lot of recession on skeleton fins??


It seems to be. I don’t see any polyps bailing, nothing loose, no brown jelly, just seems to have receded. I have CoralRx on hand and MediCoral coming Thursday just in the case I need it.

I’ll also have enough fresh RODI tomorrow that I can can start a big batch of fresh water.


Thank you
 

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What are you checking salinity with? Is it calibrated. At 1.024 the coral looks fine but 1.025 they start dying? Is that correct? Also might be too much or not enough light. Also age of tank. Maybe nor enough nutrients for the corals to eat? I dont check any of that stuff and my tank does fine. I just let it eat baby lol
 
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bartizzle

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What are you checking salinity with? Is it calibrated. At 1.024 the coral looks fine but 1.025 they start dying? Is that correct? Also might be too much or not enough light. Also age of tank. Maybe nor enough nutrients for the corals to eat? I dont check any of that stuff and my tank does fine. I just let it eat baby lol

Hi! I use aMilwaukee MA887 and occasionally check for calibration. The salinity change was from mixing a new batch of saltwater. I normally mix 32g at a time and store it.

Thanks
 

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Wow and here I was shooting for 0 nitrates and trying to keep the alk between 9-10. What do you recommend that I target?

Corals do poor in no nitrates and phosphates. When alk is high and nitrates are low corals can bleach or loose color and start to turn white in color
 
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fishguy242

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Wow and here I was shooting for 0 nitrates and trying to keep the alk between 9-10. What do you recommend that I target?

Corals do poor in not nitrates and phosphates. When all is high and nitrates are low corals can bleach or loose color and start to turn white in color
i shoot for 8-9 dkh, do not test phos ,use remover but can see green in tank never stripped,again never test nitrates just assume they are there :) :rolleyes: lots of help there eh;)
 
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bartizzle

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I thought that I had mentioned in the initial post. I started this tank in March of this year, so it's about 6.5m old now if that helps.

Here's the original build/specs if you care. (ATO/AWC added since then)

I've tried to make sure that my parameters match the middle of the charts for suggested reef tanks to a "T" as well. I've also tried to be very slow at making any changes. I've not dosed anything at all since 8/7 and that was only magnesium, the rest has stayed pretty consistent.

Looking back at my log, on 8/4, I added Chemi-Pure Blue, 8/5 and 8/10 my Frogspawn ejected polyps. I added it to keep the phosphate and nitrates down as I was going out of town in little over a week. I figured (and read) that it was solid insurance since my relatives would be watching my tank. I removed it 9/15 when adding the wall hammer and replaced it 9/25 when I swapped PolyPad. I also attributed my poly ejection to my crabs not leaving my corals alone, I never dreamed it was too low of nitrates, I was under the impression to shoot for 0.

I have 32g of water being mixed right now. I normally let it go for 24h based on what Brightwell NeoMarine says. My Hanna checker for phosphate won't be here until sometime next week it seems. I've also ordered more reagent for my ALK checker and a RedSea Pro Nitrate tester to try to get a better handle on this stuff and hopefully cruise after it gets stable.

It sounds like the recommendations are: (any recommendations on how to make these changes?)
higher: pH, phosphates and nitrates.
lower: alk

1. Do you think it (Chemi-Pure) could be stripping too much out of the water and should I remove it?

2. Should I do a large water change tomorrow and/or clean the sand well in hopes of dropping the ALK and removing any possible pollutants?

3. Should I dip any of my coral again? I have CoralRx Pro and MediCoral. I dipped the Zoas and Duncans 10/5 in CoralRx and bought the MediCoral for the hammer since it was a recommended iodine base in case it gets worse.

I'm sure I'm forgetting something else, but that's all I have for now.

Thank you!
 

fishguy242

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hi,
yes remove chemipure for now to increase phos and nitrate ,but is small tank watch closely
2 no water change doubt will change alk let fall naturally,use carbon to remove poss pollutants
yes it cannot hurt to dip corals again,but rinse in cup of dt water before returning to dt:cool:
hope this helps any questions come on back:) oh yeah dump 1 x skimmate back into tank will help bring up nutrients;)
 
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bartizzle

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Thanks!

I'll pull the Chemi-Pure and also pull the Poly-Pad. It claims it removes phosphates as well.

I haven't dosed ALK in 2.5 months now, it seems to be staying constant. I'm due for my normal sand and rock cleaning water change, should I skip it? If so, should I shut off my auto water change as well?

I've never used the iodine-based MediCoral yet, only Coral Rx, which would you recommend that I use and do I use the same type for all of my corals?

Last, I don't have a skimmer yet. I may be wrong but didn't believe that I needed one yet based on load and feeding etc.
 

fishguy242

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i can say yes stop temp w water change,check alk level in new water.
as far as dip not used medicoral,have used rx ,would be safe to do all in rx,just do a rinse dip before adding back to dt,
just my opinion,never be without skimmer,many will disagree,old school ;)
 

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