I need a mentor

[Davisc1293]

Ive been struggling with my biocube for quite some time. Between dinos and corals slowly dying off ive taken a step back the last month and was hoping a more hands off approach may help but things seem to be worse. I did maintain testing 2x a week and nothing seems alarming. Alk is allways between 9-9.2 cal had been steady around 460 ph 8.3-8.4. Nitrites 5-10 i cant figure this out and im in the process of moving. For the last few months ive lost several corals and the rest are not looking great yet some still entrusting like crazy. My last icp showed iron at 7ppm but nothing else out of the green zones.

 

[Jekyl]

How old of a tank? Coral didn't actually thrive in my tank for the first year. Also sounds like there's been a Rollercoaster going on, which can slow things down also.

 

[Miami Reef]

What are the phosphates at?

 

[ndds73]

If your tank is old enough let's say 8 months or older, then perhaps your tank might have the problem with BJD or Brown Jelly Disease. It is a little brown jelly on the rocks or around the corals themselves. This is different from dino or any algae bloom and Chemiclean won't get rid of it. When you first introduced your corals into the tank it stayed healthy and alive for the first few days and about week #2 you would see them started to look bad until they would completely died. No matter how much or how many water changes would make any difference.

If those are the symptoms then definitely it is BJD. To kill it you can completely blackout your tank for 72 hrs. There is a bacteria imbalance in the system and you can use Dr.Tim's Aquatics Eco-Balance to dose the tank to boost the production of good bacteria and to starve off bad bacteria. You can use the UV too with slow water running on it will help. You can use a thick filter socks and manually blast the rocks to agitate the clingy jelly in the water column so the fine filter socks can trap it. Keep your water flow good through out the tank so it doesn't have any dead spot would help in long term.

Good luck!

 

[theMeat]

Could be lighting too

 

[ndds73]

Ive been struggling with my biocube for quite some time. Between dinos and corals slowly dying off ive taken a step back the last month and was hoping a more hands off approach may help but things seem to be worse. I did maintain testing 2x a week and nothing seems alarming. Alk is allways between 9-9.2 cal had been steady around 460 ph 8.3-8.4. Nitrites 5-10 i cant figure this out and im in the process of moving. For the last few months ive lost several corals and the rest are not looking great yet some still entrusting like crazy. My last icp showed iron at 7ppm but nothing else out of the green zones.

To save any current corals that are in bad state such as zoas not opening up or torches or goni, you can dip them in iodine (Lugol) - 40 drops in a gallon bucket or 5 drops in 12 oz cup for about 30 minutes. Keep stirring it to keep water flowing.

You can also dip them in 1/4 Hydrogen peroxide to 3/4 of tank water for about 5 to 10 minutes.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

.

Where did you learn all of this about bjd?

 

[ndds73]

Where did you learn all of this about bjd?

I pulled my hairs out for over a year because most of my zoas and sometimes torches and goni just died off. Everything else would thrive except for those three kind of corals and my water chemistry were spot on. I have a light par meter as well so coral placement was not an issue along with water flow as well. On the back of my mind I always knew there is some kind of bacteria that would kill these certain corals especially zoas. Until one day I ran into an article about BJD and my eyes just lit.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

I pulled my hairs out for over a year because most of my zoas and sometimes torches and goni just died off. Everything else would thrive except for those three kind of corals and my water chemistry were spot on. I have a light par meter as well so coral placement was not an issue along with water flow as well. On the back of my mind I always knew there is some kind of bacteria that would kill these certain corals especially zoas. Until one day I ran into an article about BJD and my eyes just lit.

You may want to read a bit deeper in the symptoms, specific bacterial causes, treatments and again, Symptoms.

This statement is Completely baseless

"If those are the symptoms then definitely it is BJD"

There are literally Dozens of other options.

 

[mermaid_life]

Ive been struggling with my biocube for quite some time. Between dinos and corals slowly dying off ive taken a step back the last month and was hoping a more hands off approach may help but things seem to be worse. I did maintain testing 2x a week and nothing seems alarming. Alk is allways between 9-9.2 cal had been steady around 460 ph 8.3-8.4. Nitrites 5-10 i cant figure this out and im in the process of moving. For the last few months ive lost several corals and the rest are not looking great yet some still entrusting like crazy. My last icp showed iron at 7ppm but nothing else out of the green zones.

Would be happy to help. Some pictures and background on the tank would help... how old is the tank?

 

[ndds73]

You may want to read a bit deeper in the symptoms, specific bacterial causes, treatments and again, Symptoms.

This statement is Completely baseless

"If those are the symptoms then definitely it is BJD"

There are literally Dozens of other options.

Definitely agree with you there. My assumption is that if the tank water chemistry is spot on and tank is old enough (in my experience the tank is not fully mature until at least 20 months) and Caroline algae covered everywhere and everything is happy and thriving except for certain lps or zoas then perhaps one of those issues is BJD. But there are so many things that can go wrong in the reef tank and it is just a trial and error method. I have run into certain many cases during my 8 years of reef keeping my mixed reef tank so I do have a fare share of the failures.

Here is the proof of how hard it is to keep a healthy mixed reef system.

 

[Lost in the Sauce]

Ive been struggling with my biocube for quite some time. Between dinos and corals slowly dying off ive taken a step back the last month and was hoping a more hands off approach may help but things seem to be worse. I did maintain testing 2x a week and nothing seems alarming. Alk is allways between 9-9.2 cal had been steady around 460 ph 8.3-8.4. Nitrites 5-10 i cant figure this out and im in the process of moving. For the last few months ive lost several corals and the rest are not looking great yet some still entrusting like crazy. My last icp showed iron at 7ppm but nothing else out of the green zones.

I assume you've added cuprisorb to suck up the iron and done a full sweep, looking for the culprit? If your source mixing water post RODI is 0 ppm, there's no reason you should have heavy metals in your tank. FWIW, metals Alone can wreck corals. Some fast, some slow. This alone literally could be the reason for your coral loss.

So your essential parameters look to be inline.
The real question about them being how Stable? How are you maintaining alk?

Was this a dry rock star? If not, what did you start it with?

How old is the tank?

There's a gang of knowledge round here and willing to help. The more info the better.

Pictures from a few angles not Windex mode Could help.

Your light schedule also may.

 

[Davisc1293]

I assume you've added cuprisorb to suck up the iron and done a full sweep, looking for the culprit? If your source mixing water post RODI is 0 ppm, there's no reason you should have heavy metals in your tank. FWIW, metals Alone can wreck corals. Some fast, some slow. This alone literally could be the reason for your coral loss.

So your essential parameters look to be inline.
The real question about them being how Stable? How are you maintaining alk?

Was this a dry rock star? If not, what did you start it with?

How old is the tank?

There's a gang of knowledge round here and willing to help. The more info the better.

Pictures from a few angles not Windex mode Could help.

Your light schedule also may.

The tank is a little over a year old started with live rock and loads of turbo start. the coral only recently started going downhill fast after seeming great for months. It started with my pulsing xenia melting away followed by my zoa's shortly after and now just about everything looks stressed or dying with the exception of my BTA who looks happy but has split. I don't have the best RO filter but it always produces 0 TDS water on my 2 cheap amazon stick meters. I have an apex dos that I use to maintain ALK (soda ash) and CAL and it seems to be very consistent. while I have reduced the amount I test to just twice a week things seem to be holding steady, PO4 does seem to vary the most but has never exceeded .1 and is usually around .06 I use rowaphos, GFO, and phosguard to try and keep it in under .1 maintaining .03 for me is impossible. My light schedule is weird I have my lights on from 430pm-2am but has been like this since day one. I was told not to worry about the iron levels as they were not alarming but I don't understand how it got there to begin with. Unless it from the 3 way ball valve I use on my skimmer but I thought that was brass. I've also been battling dinos and am just becoming so overwhelmed I don't know where to start or what to do.

 

[Nurfed]

I had brass fittings in my tank that started to break down and leached copper into my tank. May be worth running a copper test

 

[Crustaceon]

The metal ball valve got my attention as you pretty much don't want any metal objects in your tank aside from titanium heaters, so you probably want to test copper levels and don't worry about dinos right now. In reality, those little buggers can easily be resolved especially in a smaller tank simply by adding more water circulation along the bottom. Between losing favorable habitat and bacterial growth, the dinos will probably go away on their own at your present nitrate level. Above all else, don't be in a hurry to resolve things. This hobby is a game of patience.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

but I thought that was brass

I think we discovered a major problem here, if not the problem to point the finger at.

Can you provide a photo or a link of said 3 way ball valve?

 

[Davisc1293]

I do have a copper kit but seems unreliable. I will send in this ICP I've been saving. So the brass ball valve is on a controller and I use to control the c02 scrubber through the skimmer and while the valve itself is not in the tank when I pull the skimmer out to clean it, a few drops of water do go down the air intake and could be corroding the ball valve for sure. This could easily be fixed by raising it above the level of the tank so no water can run down the hose when cleaning the skimmer. I believe this is the link to the valve I am using. If this is the culprit is it feasible to think the heavy metals could enter the tank through the air? because no way the contaminated water is going back up the hose.

 

[Crustaceon]

I do have a copper kit but seems unreliable. I will send in this ICP I've been saving. So the brass ball valve is on a controller and I use to control the c02 scrubber through the skimmer and while the valve itself is not in the tank when I pull the skimmer out to clean it, a few drops of water do go down the air intake and could be corroding the ball valve for sure. This could easily be fixed by raising it above the level of the tank so no water can run down the hose when cleaning the skimmer. I believe this is the link to the valve I am using. If this is the culprit is it feasible to think the heavy metals could enter the tank through the air? because no way the contaminated water is going back up the hose.

I'd just remove the valve and run some cuprisorb out of precaution.

 

[Davisc1293]

I just ordered some cuprisorb that should be here Thursday as I don't believe anything I have at home removes heavy metals other than carbon. I am hesitant to remove the ball valve as that rly keeps my ph stable. Every day its a low of 8.3 and by the end of the day its 8.4 consistently. While it struggles to break 8 without the scrubber. I will disassemble the valve, inspect for corrosion, clean and elevate it above the tank in necessary. before removing it completely.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I'm quite certain you can find those made of PCV or stainless. I definitely would not recommend using copper or brass or any other soft metals.