Help Please! Corals not doing to well

adrians

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Hi Fellow Aquarium Enthusiasts-

My tank has been up and running for about 2 years now. All of my corals were doing really well until about a week ago when they started to close up, polyps are not extended anymore on my SPS, and my Acros are all shriveled up. Zoas are starting to melt and are not opening either. Nothing changed in my tank. I have tested the water and the parameters (which have been pretty stable) are as follows:
Ca: 450
Kh: 8.5
Magnesium: 1460
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ph: 8.1
Potassium: 0
Salinity: 0.25
Water temp: 77 degrees

As far as equipment goes:
75 gallon display tank w/25 gallon sump
Reef octopus protein skimmer
GFO reactor w/rowa phos media (turned off a few days ago)
2 ocean revive lights running at white channel 10%, blue channel 58% (turned on for 9.5 hrs a day)
2 power heads
Water changes 15 gallons per week

Stock List:
5 Antias
2 Clown fish
1 purple tang
3 wrasses
3 purple firefish
1 flame angel fish

The only thing that caught my eye is low nutrients (nitrate - 0, phosphate-0). Any ideas what else could be causing this? Suggestions on what i can do? Please see attached pictures.

Thank you in advance for your feedback.
Adrian

IMG_0633.jpg IMG_0634.jpg IMG_0635.jpg IMG_0636.jpg IMG_0637.jpg IMG_0638.jpg IMG_0639.jpg IMG_0640.jpg IMG_0641.jpg
 

Joel B.

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If your nitrate and phophate are truly at 0, then the coral are likely starving. What are you using to test? Might be worth a second opinion.

I very much doubt the accuracy of a potassium test reading 0, especially on a system with regular water changes.
 
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adrians

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If your nitrate and phophate are truly at 0, then the coral are likely starving. What are you using to test? Might be worth a second opinion.

I very much doubt the accuracy of a potassium test reading 0, especially on a system with regular water changes.
For Nitrate i'm testing with The Red Sea test Kit and also API and For Phosphate i'm using API test kit and Hanna cheker
 

ScottB

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1) I should first ask: is there any algae in the system? Assuming the answer is "no" then remove the GFO. If yes then you probably have some nutrient. But on to the next question.

2) Are you using Hanna ULR for PO4? Don't use GFO without one. Never ever. Zero PO4 is a dangerous place to be. Be talking with you in the dino thread eventually.

3) Fish poo is your friend and the finest source of nutrition (well, after photosynthesis) for your corals. 160 million years in development.

4) Just saw your update about dosing nitrate. If you have proven and measurable PO4 above .05 I would say go for it. Otherwise, dosing nitrate will take you to absolute 0 on PO4. You need to dose both. Or do #3.
 
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adrians

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1) I should first ask: is there any algae in the system? Assuming the answer is "no" then remove the GFO. If yes then you probably have some nutrient. But on to the next question.

2) Are you using Hanna ULR for PO4? Don't use GFO without one. Never ever. Zero PO4 is a dangerous place to be. Be talking with you in the dino thread eventually.

3) Fish poo is your friend and the finest source of nutrition (well, after photosynthesis) for your corals. 160 million years in development.

4) Just saw your update about dosing nitrate. If you have proven and measurable PO4 above .05 I would say go for it. Otherwise, dosing nitrate will take you to absolute 0 on PO4. You need to dose both. Or do #3.
Thank you for the response , i have 14 fish in that 75 gallon tank and i feed them once or twice a day depending on my work schedule . How many times a day you think i should feed them ?
 
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adrians

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Dosing amino acids will add nitrates to your system.
Cheers! Mark
Thanks Mark , i been dossing aminos for about a month and a half now , i was on vacation for a week and being away i didn't dose aminos and the fish were eating only once a day pellets so i think that's when my problems started not a lot of food and my GFO reactor stripped all the nutrients from the water.
 
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adrians

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Dosing amino acids will add nitrates to your system.
Cheers! Mark
Thanks Mark , i been dossing aminos for about a month and a half now , i was on vacation for a week and being away i didn't dose aminos and the fish were eating only once a day pellets so i think that's when my problems started not a lot of food and my GFO reactor stripped all the nutrients from the water.
 

Bastray

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Stop GFO and feed more. My tank always struggles when po4 gets to 0. My sweet spot is .05-.1. I stopped GFO a year and a half ago and would never go back. I would also lower your alk a bit since your nutrients are low. Shoot for 7-8.
 
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adrians

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Stop GFO and feed more. My tank always struggles when po4 gets to 0. My sweet spot is .05-.1. I stopped GFO a year and a half ago and would never go back. I would also lower your alk a bit since your nutrients are low. Shoot for 7-8.
thank you for your response , i stoped the GFO about 3 days ago and started feeding more
 
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adrians

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1) I should first ask: is there any algae in the system? Assuming the answer is "no" then remove the GFO. If yes then you probably have some nutrient. But on to the next question.

2) Are you using Hanna ULR for PO4? Don't use GFO without one. Never ever. Zero PO4 is a dangerous place to be. Be talking with you in the dino thread eventually.

3) Fish poo is your friend and the finest source of nutrition (well, after photosynthesis) for your corals. 160 million years in development.

4) Just saw your update about dosing nitrate. If you have proven and measurable PO4 above .05 I would say go for it. Otherwise, dosing nitrate will take you to absolute 0 on PO4. You need to dose both. Or do #3.
i just tested the the water again and the nitrate
1) I should first ask: is there any algae in the system? Assuming the answer is "no" then remove the GFO. If yes then you probably have some nutrient. But on to the next question.

2) Are you using Hanna ULR for PO4? Don't use GFO without one. Never ever. Zero PO4 is a dangerous place to be. Be talking with you in the dino thread eventually.

3) Fish poo is your friend and the finest source of nutrition (well, after photosynthesis) for your corals. 160 million years in development.

4) Just saw your update about dosing nitrate. If you have proven and measurable PO4 above .05 I would say go for it. Otherwise, dosing nitrate will take you to absolute 0 on PO4. You need to dose both. Or do #3.
Thank you again for your advice , i just tested the water again and the nitrate level its not zero anymore went up to about 3ppm but phosphate level is still at zero. So you suggest not to dose nitrate because the Phosphate is at zero?
 

Tuffloud1

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i just tested the the water again and the nitrate

Thank you again for your advice , i just tested the water again and the nitrate level its not zero anymore went up to about 3ppm but phosphate level is still at zero. So you suggest not to dose nitrate because the Phosphate is at zero?

I would get nitrate up to around 5ppm, then dose phosphate up to .02 - .04 and monitor to keep both around there.
 

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