LPS Corals Keep Dying * HELP * Full Details

[Paul Kachirsky]

Hi All.

I have been having some issues with my 120 gallon reef. Current corals are Blastos, Acans, Scolys, Trachys, Lobos, Flower Rock Nem, Torches (And Hammers that died)
I know that I have had some issues with nutrients (Big Spike) but it was been a ton better as you can see below.

Current Tank Parameters below.
PH: 8.15 - 8.29 Apex Probe
Temp: 77.6 - 78.4 Apex Probe
Salinity: 34 - 35 Apex Probe
Alk: 9.2 (The tank hasn't been Consuming Alk and its increasing without me adding anything Its usually give or take 8.5) Hanna Checker
Cal: 509 Hanna Checker
Mag: 1485 Salifert
Nitrates: 22.3 Hanna Checker (Highest Nitrate Spike was 37 ppm back on 10/4/20)
Phos: 0.046 Hanna Checker (Highest Phosphate Spike was 0.469 ppm back on 10/4/20)

I am in the process of switching from Fritz RPM salt to Brightwell Neomarine. Little water changes and I just started a few weeks ago.

The torches and hammers would be doing fantastic for a month then die (melt or polyp bailout) As for the other LPS, they just start receding to nothing and again starting out fluffy.

My lighting isn't too intense ( I rented a Par meter and tested) I have the light lower so its not a shock when adding the coral. Par is avg 50 - 90 or so. I have dual returns and 2 MP40s for flow. I do think the flow was too high at times. I never ran them above 50% unless it was for nutrient export. I am at a loss for words. This is frustrating and I need some help and guidance. I am sure that the spikes did the coral in that I had back in October. Once I got the numbers lower and in a better place I added coral from my coral qt tank to the display. The pictures are of this batch. Why would they be doing this when I got the numbers in a better place? The tank has coraline growing, pineapple sponges (showed up in the sump) so its got some stability or so it seems.

Equipment:
120 Gallon 4ft tank
30+ Gallon Sump
Reef Octopus Varios8 Return Pump
Coralbox Protein Skimmer
Santa Monica Rain2 Algae Scrubber
2x MP40s
2x XR30s Gen 4
2x Dos (haven't needed them)

Attached are some pictures of the corals look like now. You can see that the Blastos and 1 Trachy are doing well, but the others not so much.

What are your thoughts and guidance on what I should do? Many Many Thanks!

 

[Macbalacano]

Ah this breaks my heart, so sorry you're having these problems!

Could you tell us if you are dosing anything?

What fish and inverts do you have in the tank?

What about your source water - is it RODI, have you checked the water or filters recently?

Are you running carbon or GFO?

 

[Paul Kachirsky]

@Macbalacano - Thanks, yeah it is the worst. The tank has been running since May 2019 (when I started) and I didnt add coral for a year.

I am not dosing anything. I am setup to dose, but i havent in a while.

Yellow Tang, Purple Tang, Powder Blue Tang, Sailfin Tang (I know Tang Police but they have been in the system for a long time together), Melanarus Wrasse, Royal Gramma, 2x Starcki Damsels, Red Head Solon Fairy Wrasse, Orchid Dottyback, Blood Orange Clown Fish, Red Band Trochus Snails (Always Breeding), Tiger Conch, Nitrile Snails, Cerith Snails, Nassarius Snails and the flower rock nems.

I am on a well with a RODI system. I changed the filters in November. Water coming out at 0 tds

No Carbon or GFO.

 

[Macbalacano]

This is helpful, but I'm stumped. I'm hoping someone else can help you asap!

#reefsquad , any ideas?

 

[qhduong]

Isn't 50-90 par pretty low? Try bumping them higher? My blastos are sitting in 150-200 par...

 

[saltybees]

Your calcium is pretty high, and it doesn’t make sense that you’d be gaining alk with calc that high..calc over 500 can cause ph swings and will lower your alk..maybe your checker is messed

 

[Macbalacano]

I think 50-90 par is on the 'lower' side, but it's not terribly low.

I didn't question the testing because the testing kits used is generally quite reliable, but I totally agree that they should be double checked. OP, can you have your LFS or another person, or use another test kit to cross check your own testing results?

 

[nereefpat]

To be honest, I don't like the testing equipment for salinity or alk. I would like to check the salinity with either a refractometer calibrated with a 35 ppt standard or a floating glass hydrometer. You fish store could check for you. I would also like to see alk checked with a titration kit like Salifert, as I cannot comprehend how alk can be accurately measured with a colorimeter.

 

[saltybees]

I just use a floating hydrometer and red sea tests..anything that needs to be calibrated is prone to mess up ime lol

 

[William Morris]

I have used the Red Sea Refractometer for years.
Easy to calibrate - after I measure the salinity, I wash it off with R/O water and check and see if it reads zero.

 

[Paul Kachirsky]

Thanks for all the tips. I am going to test my alk with a salifert test kit. And check the others as well.

It is beyond strange what is happening.

 

[Hermie]

Use something else to verify your salinity, my guess is that its' high based on ur other numbers

 

[Paul Kachirsky]

Update. I just tested my Alk and Cal with Salifert test kits.

Alk: 9.3
Cal: 500

Again these are from Salifert tests.

I need to get a refractometer or a floating glass hydrometer so I can test the salinity.

Hypothetically speaking if the salinity was super high wouldn't that result in a higher rate in fish diseases?

 

[nereefpat]

I need to get a refractometer or a floating glass hydrometer so I can test the salinity.

Yes, at least see if your fish store can double check it for you.

Hypothetically speaking if the salinity was super high wouldn't that result in a higher rate in fish diseases?

It would be a stressor, but it wouldn't necessarily cause problems with diseases that you can see: ich, velvet, worms, infections. And fish can handle really low salinity, where corals can't at all, for example.

 

[living_tribunal]

Hi All.

I have been having some issues with my 120 gallon reef. Current corals are Blastos, Acans, Scolys, Trachys, Lobos, Flower Rock Nem, Torches (And Hammers that died)
I know that I have had some issues with nutrients (Big Spike) but it was been a ton better as you can see below.

Current Tank Parameters below.
PH: 8.15 - 8.29 Apex Probe
Temp: 77.6 - 78.4 Apex Probe
Salinity: 34 - 35 Apex Probe
Alk: 9.2 (The tank hasn't been Consuming Alk and its increasing without me adding anything Its usually give or take 8.5) Hanna Checker
Cal: 509 Hanna Checker
Mag: 1485 Salifert
Nitrates: 22.3 Hanna Checker (Highest Nitrate Spike was 37 ppm back on 10/4/20)
Phos: 0.046 Hanna Checker (Highest Phosphate Spike was 0.469 ppm back on 10/4/20)

I am in the process of switching from Fritz RPM salt to Brightwell Neomarine. Little water changes and I just started a few weeks ago.

The torches and hammers would be doing fantastic for a month then die (melt or polyp bailout) As for the other LPS, they just start receding to nothing and again starting out fluffy.

My lighting isn't too intense ( I rented a Par meter and tested) I have the light lower so its not a shock when adding the coral. Par is avg 50 - 90 or so. I have dual returns and 2 MP40s for flow. I do think the flow was too high at times. I never ran them above 50% unless it was for nutrient export. I am at a loss for words. This is frustrating and I need some help and guidance. I am sure that the spikes did the coral in that I had back in October. Once I got the numbers lower and in a better place I added coral from my coral qt tank to the display. The pictures are of this batch. Why would they be doing this when I got the numbers in a better place? The tank has coraline growing, pineapple sponges (showed up in the sump) so its got some stability or so it seems.

Equipment:
120 Gallon 4ft tank
30+ Gallon Sump
Reef Octopus Varios8 Return Pump
Coralbox Protein Skimmer
Santa Monica Rain2 Algae Scrubber
2x MP40s
2x XR30s Gen 4
2x Dos (haven't needed them)

Attached are some pictures of the corals look like now. You can see that the Blastos and 1 Trachy are doing well, but the others not so much.

What are your thoughts and guidance on what I should do? Many Many Thanks!

This is one situation where I’d do an icp. Lps do pull certain trace elements at a higher rate. You have everything else right in line for lps from flow, to par, to params. Something is definitely going on.

 

[living_tribunal]

Isn't 50-90 par pretty low? Try bumping them higher? My blastos are sitting in 150-200 par...

50-90 for blastos and many of the lps displayed above is fine except for maybe the torches. It certainly wouldn’t cause this.

What this looks like to me is a deficiency of some sort. You typically see massive recession like this for lps from one of three things: prolonged phosphate deficiency, very low mag, too high flow, or Alk too low. If it’s sudden, it’s usually the mag. All of this is absent pests or disease which I don’t see any signs of.

Ops mag is fine so I seriously think this could be the one time trace/minor deficiency could be the issue. Either that, or something toxic is in the water. I’ve seen this occur on lps that digested medicated fish food causing all tissue to die off in a matter of days.

 

[FangsAndGames]

That seems like a lot of tissue decline. Double check temps for possible bleaching. Maybe some trace element is off. Too high or too low.

 

[Paul Kachirsky]

This is one situation where I’d do an icp. Lps do pull certain trace elements at a higher rate. You have everything else right in line for lps from flow, to par, to params. Something is definitely going on.

Here is the ICP test I did. I didnt even see the Salinity reading on it of 32. When I print the test it shows the salinity of 0.00, so is 32 an error? idk. I ordered the refractometer it will be here tomorrow. Thoughts on the ICP Test?

 

[Paul Kachirsky]

And here are the RODI test results from the ICP test

 

[Paul Kachirsky]

And the ICP Test shows the cal and mag are not matching up with the tests I did at home