I've got ISSUES

[SallyWho]

My 90g is going through a rough patch and i need some help. Over the past few weeks, my grapefruit sized blasto colony has lost heads. The hammer pictured is all retracted (though the other hammers are fine). A couple encrusting LPS frags are ridin' the struggle bus, too. And I've got this film on my glass that pops up so fast I'd have to clean it hourly to keep it clear- the pic of the algae clip that I moved was about 45mins after I'd cleaned the glass. When I scrape it off, the water is all cloudy...so it's constantly cloudy. I did get new-to-me lights, but I did a three week acclimation. The film and coral issues were going on before I replaced the lights though. My parameters are listed below. Let me stress that while some of these are bad, they are CONSISTENTLY bad. There haven't been any sudden changes; the only difference I can think of is the phos dropping from 2.5 to 2.03 after about 5 weeks of diligent weekly water changes (haven't always been very consistent with those). Test kits are Red Sea, Hanna, and Salifert, with all new reagents purchased on black Friday.

Salinity 1.025
pH 8.2
Alk 9
Amon 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 20
Phos 2.03
Ca 500
Mg 1350

Any ideas on how to save my corals and get rid of the film on the glass? I've had that blasto colony for 6ish years, and that hammer is a real pretty bicolor. I'd be pretty deeply bummed out to lose them. TIA!

 

[F i s h y]

When was the last time you calibrated for salinity? I had similar issues and found that my tester needed calibrated.

other than that, your parameters seem good. if there havent been any large swings, you may need to look into an ICP test and look for something like heavy metals. Perhaps your RODI needs some cleaning (filters replaced) in the pre stages?

 

[Lavey29]

Phosphate 2.03? Do you mean .23?

 

[SallyWho]

i’d flush the damsels down the toilet.

devil of a fish

When was the last time you calibrated for salinity? I had similar issues and found that my tester needed calibrated.

other than that, your parameters seem good. if there havent been any large swings, you may need to look into an ICP test and look for something like heavy metals. Perhaps your RODI needs some cleaning (filters replaced) in the pre stages?

Good thinking on calibrating my refractometer! Couldn't remember when I last did that. I just did and it's spot on, thankfully! My RODI filters were changed out in November, the resin in the pre-stages is still nice and blue, and the TDS is 0.

Phosphate 2.03? Do you mean .23?

Sadly, no. My phosphates have always been stupidly high. And now I think I know at least part of the reason! For some reason it never occurred to me to test my RODI water. It's 0.63ppm!! The next time I make more water I'll catch a few mLs straight from the tubing to see if it's coming out with high phos, or if it's something to do with the barrel. I'll test my next batch of saltwater too. Man, I hope my barrels aren't reason I've always high high phos!

 

[Lavey29]

Good thinking on calibrating my refractometer! Couldn't remember when I last did that. I just did and it's spot on, thankfully! My RODI filters were changed out in November, the resin in the pre-stages is still nice and blue, and the TDS is 0.

Sadly, no. My phosphates have always been stupidly high. And now I think I know at least part of the reason! For some reason it never occurred to me to test my RODI water. It's 0.63ppm!! The next time I make more water I'll catch a few mLs straight from the tubing to see if it's coming out with high phos, or if it's something to do with the barrel. I'll test my next batch of saltwater too. Man, I hope my barrels aren't reason I've always high high phos!

Well ok but if your tank has been running fine until recently with high phosphate then take it very slow in reducing them as needed.

Since the only change recently you mentioned was lightning then that is probably the source of your coral stress. Their long term environment changed. The cloudy water is a bloom probably from to much white light now.

 

[SallyWho]

Well ok but if your tank has been running fine until recently with high phosphate then take it very slow in reducing them as needed.

Since the only change recently you mentioned was lightning then that is probably the source of your coral stress. Their long term environment changed. The cloudy water is a bloom probably from to much white light now.

It hasn't been perfect (there are some corals I simply won't buy because they don't survive) but it's at least been stable-ish. Do you recommend turning my light intensity down a few percentage points?

 

[Lavey29]

It hasn't been perfect (there are some corals I simply won't buy because they don't survive) but it's at least been stable-ish. Do you recommend turning my light intensity down a few percentage points?

I can't say yes or no because I don't know your tank par levels but blooms in the tank are typically due to excess nutrients which you have and to much light so maybe reducing light to 6 hours for a week with blue and uv only no whites will get rid of the bloom. Also note some blooms can be toxic so adding air stone for a few days will help 02 in the water.

 

[SallyWho]

Please help! I dropped my light intensity by 15% to maybe help with coral stress, and shortened the photoperiod to 8hrs to help with the algae bloom on the glass. But my blasto colony continues to lose heads and it's breakin' my heart! I just noticed some micro brittle stars in there- do you think they're contributing or just feasting on dying flesh in there? The hammer is unchanged and that cyphastrea continues to recede, too. Is there anything else I can do??

 

[Science/G]

Yeah you're getting some sort of a bloom whether it's a bacterial bloom or an algae bloom is hard to say. Two parts per million of phosphate is high even for people who run their phosphates high. The change in lighting was probably the impetus for the downturn.

 

[SallyWho]

Yeah you're getting some sort of a bloom whether it's a bacterial bloom or an algae bloom is hard to say. Two parts per million of phosphate is high even for people who run their phosphates high. The change in lighting was probably the impetus for the downturn.

I'm working on getting the phos down but it they've been crazy high for years and everything was stable until recently. I don't want to bring them down too fast. Is it just a waiting game to see if the damage stops?

 

[Science/G]

Water changes will help. Gfo will lower phosphates but they may strip it too quickly and cause more stress. Concensus is .03 to.1 phosphate in most reefs, some run significantly higher. Make your adjustments slowly with all of your interventions. The brittle stars are just eating the dead stuff.