My tank is dying and I don’t know why!!! I’m frustrated and sad, please help!

[Cassian]

Here are some pics

 

[Neoalchemist]

I would lean torwards getting that black gravel out. Its too much of a wild card.

 

[jda]

6.7 is fine. There is almost no chance that this is a parameter thing. I am saying 75% sand, 24% some stray current or other bad equipment and 1% that a key piece of measurement is way off (like refractometer being 10ppt off).

 

[TheRedBeardedReefer]

hey everyone,
So first off, I’ve been battling this for about 2-3 months now. I’ve tried almost everything imaginable. I’m losing my favorite corals now and I’m quite honestly frustrated and ready to quit corals all together. I love my corals so so much, please help me get my tank back on track so I can enjoy reefing again!! Here is what’s been going on:
A few months ago, all of my sps started dying almost over night. They spit out their guts then went RTN. I’ve since tried adding a few cheap pieces after making some changes, but they still perish within a week. But now every coral that dies immediately is covered by this odd greenish brown algae. I brush it off with a toothbrush, and the next day the coral is covered again. The coral will look fine while the algae is covering it for a few days, then the polyps retract and it dies. For a month this went on and only sps died. Now my hammers are dying and I just lost my gold hammer within 24 hrs. It had 5 heads and they all just melted away. Other hammers are showing tissue recession around the rim and retracted polyps. Not all of my lps look bad though. Several lps look great and my soft corals seem to be doing well. I also have 3 anemones that are thriving. Now, within the last month, This bright red algae/bacteria has been covering my sand bed. I stir it up, but it comes back within a day or two. It also has air bubble underneath it.

No major changes that I know of have been made. I thought my filter socks getting washed in detergent could have been the cause, but that was 3 months ago. And I have since done multiple waterchanges and changed the filters.

What I have tried so far:
Par meter to test lights
A better RO/DI system
Triton metal detox
Waterchanges upon waterchanges (this seems to help for a few days, then everything goes back to chaos)
Checked for nicked wires (need to check with voltmeter for stray voltage still)
Checked for critters eating corals
Ran carbon twice

I am quite honestly out of ideas to try. Please help me if you can.

Parameters: (have been stable for the past 3 months. No swings)

Salinity: 1.023
Ph: 8
Nitrate: 5
Phosphate: 0
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Cal: 400
Alk: 8 (haven’t checked lately. Will update tomorrow)
Mag: 1500
TDS: 0-1 (for RODI water)

Note: I have a black volcanic sand. I don’t know if this could cause a problem but I thought I would make a note since it is different from what others have.

#reefsquad

This is the red algae stuff on the sand. Will get better pic in morning.

Hammer with skeleton showing

Acan that lost a head. Has some algae on dead skeleton

My last sps that is alive. You can see the brown algae and the living polyps underneath.

A couple of questions...
1) What flow setting are you using with your Maxspect 250s? (max, min, OGC, LTC?)
2) Have you dosed Vibrant or an equivalent?

The reason I ask is that I had a similar experience, a brownish sludge/bacteria that overtook some bare coral skeleton that was the result of too much flow (I have a 4ft tank, so easier to do). Two doses of Chemiclean separated by a 20% water change did wonders. Still in the process of recovery, but recovering they are. This Setosa was nearly gone two weeks ago. Best of luck!

 

[W1ngz]

Quite a read and lots of good info. From the texture in those photos it looks more like cyano to me, but still too blue and the contrast on the black sand makes it hard to rule out dinos as well as cyano.

Get ALL of your parameters in line. Smack in the middle of acceptable ranges, not skirting the low or high end with values that "should be ok". Hopefully it will turn around quick, but you'll probably have to put every effort to keep it there for quite a few weeks, and expect it to resist you. Moving one thing will start moving other things around, so you have to watch the whole thing. The easiest thing might be to just try and get the tank to match what freshly mixed water comes out to using your preferred salt that's mixed and heated thoroughly.

1.026SG or 35.0 ppt salinity. 35.0, not "sort of almost close to 35 I think".
8.0 for alkalinity will be ok, and leave you a full dKh before you hit 7.0 which is the bottom end of acceptable. If your salt mixes higher than 8 after 24h mixing, go with that number.
425 for calcium. The acceptable "range" is 380-450ish. 400 is too close to too low and one test error could leave you feeling it's ok, when it really isn't.
1400ish for mag. 1500 is ok, but high. The increase in salinity is going to drive this number higher, so stop dosing anything that adds Mg.
5-10ish for nitrates is ok, but if you kill off any algae or slime, be ready for this to start increasing.
0.1 or under or so for phosphates, but definitely not 0. Liquid test kits don't test this low, so you'll need an ultra low range hanna to get accurate reading. Killing off algae will possible push up phosphates as well, so be ready for that also.

While you're doing all that, work on the stray current ideas and the sand. This is probably not caused by any ONE thing, but a perfect storm of things that have come together to make everything mad.

 

[Chaz D]

I would not use a poly filter if my phosphates are registering 0.

 

[Cassian]

A couple of questions...
1) What flow setting are you using with your Maxspect 250s? (max, min, OGC, LTC?)
2) Have you dosed Vibrant or an equivalent?

The reason I ask is that I had a similar experience, a brownish sludge/bacteria that overtook some bare coral skeleton that was the result of too much flow (I have a 4ft tank, so easier to do). Two doses of Chemiclean separated by a 20% water change did wonders. Still in the process of recovery, but recovering they are. This Setosa was nearly gone two weeks ago. Best of luck!

Wow! That looks like bad stuff. I have the gyres on 20% power, and they alternate every 10 seconds I think? And no I have never dosed vibrant or anything like it

 

[Cassian]

Quite a read and lots of good info. From the texture in those photos it looks more like cyano to me, but still too blue and the contrast on the black sand makes it hard to rule out dinos as well as cyano.

Get ALL of your parameters in line. Smack in the middle of acceptable ranges, not skirting the low or high end with values that "should be ok". Hopefully it will turn around quick, but you'll probably have to put every effort to keep it there for quite a few weeks, and expect it to resist you. Moving one thing will start moving other things around, so you have to watch the whole thing. The easiest thing might be to just try and get the tank to match what freshly mixed water comes out to using your preferred salt that's mixed and heated thoroughly.

1.026SG or 35.0 ppt salinity. 35.0, not "sort of almost close to 35 I think".
8.0 for alkalinity will be ok, and leave you a full dKh before you hit 7.0 which is the bottom end of acceptable. If your salt mixes higher than 8 after 24h mixing, go with that number.
425 for calcium. The acceptable "range" is 380-450ish. 400 is too close to too low and one test error could leave you feeling it's ok, when it really isn't.
1400ish for mag. 1500 is ok, but high. The increase in salinity is going to drive this number higher, so stop dosing anything that adds Mg.
5-10ish for nitrates is ok, but if you kill off any algae or slime, be ready for this to start increasing.
0.1 or under or so for phosphates, but definitely not 0. Liquid test kits don't test this low, so you'll need an ultra low range hanna to get accurate reading. Killing off algae will possible push up phosphates as well, so be ready for that also.

While you're doing all that, work on the stray current ideas and the sand. This is probably not caused by any ONE thing, but a perfect storm of things that have come together to make everything mad.

Thanks for the info! I’ll work on getting everything as stable as I can

 

[ChuckTownReefer]

check your heater I had the same problem all of a sudden and all corals were closed up and nothing looked good and I when threw all the parameters and all checked out then I went to move my heater an it gave me a slight shock and this is a 2 month old finnex titanium heater. so I switch the heater out and everything is starting to open up now.

 

[Cassian]

check your heater I had the same problem all of a sudden and all corals were closed up and nothing looked good and I when threw all the parameters and all checked out then I went to move my heater an it gave me a slight shock and this is a 2 month old finnex titanium heater. so I switch the heater out and everything is starting to open up now.

I just replaced the heaters and sadly it didn’t solve my problem. Thank you for the advice though!

 

[Cassian]

Also, I have a microscope. Would looking at the algae and getting a pic of it like that help with ID ?

 

[CuzzA]

Aside from getting all of your parameters inline with reliable test kits. And working on trying to get a proper ID. If there's something in my tank I don't want, I get it out. If it continues to grow, I continue to take it out. I win the battle by being more persistent than the pest.

I permanently remove unwanted growth (usually just diatoms) through water changes, but that is expensive and time consuming so pick up some 1 micron filter bags and a siphon vacuum and siphon the sand through the vacuum to the bag in the sump. No, it's not complete removal like doing it through a water change, but it most certainly reduces their numbers and allows for exporting in between water changes. While you are aggressively exporting the pest you should be testing your water a lot. More than once per week in an effort to get your chemistry right. One day you'll wake up and the problem will be gone.

I'd add a properly sized UV sterilizer to the system as well. Pentair or AquaUV. Every tank I have owned has had a UV sterilizer and I've never dealt with blooms of cyano, dinos or bacteria.

 

[CuzzA]

Also, I have a microscope. Would looking at the algae and getting a pic of it like that help with ID ?

Yes

 

[TheRedBeardedReefer]

Wow! That looks like bad stuff. I have the gyres on 20% power, and they alternate every 10 seconds I think? And no I have never dosed vibrant or anything like it

Well then, nevermind
I do notice that your gyres are mounted vertically in the back. I know that they endorse this setup, but is your sandbed getting enough flow? On my 4ft tank, I have them horizontal about an inch and a half, two inches below the water line facing each other across the length of the tank. They I have two A blades on each (originally for OGC), Pump 1 is on a 4 second cycle, 0-30%, and pump 2 is anti-synced. Your tank looks longer than 4 ft, I'd consider upping the flow a bit in addition to using Chemiclean. If you do use Chemiclean, make sure to remove activated carbon and keep your skimmer running (but remove collection cup or drain back into sump). You might need repeated doses.
None of this addresses why things started declining overnight, but that's no longer the only issue that is affecting the tank. I fully support the smack dab in the middle and stability approach.

 

[Cassian]

Well then, nevermind
I do notice that your gyres are mounted vertically in the back. I know that they endorse this setup, but is your sandbed getting enough flow? On my 4ft tank, I have them horizontal about an inch and a half, two inches below the water line facing each other across the length of the tank. They I have two A blades on each (originally for OGC), Pump 1 is on a 4 second cycle, 0-30%, and pump 2 is anti-synced. Your tank looks longer than 4 ft, I'd consider upping the flow a bit in addition to using Chemiclean. If you do use Chemiclean, make sure to remove activated carbon and keep your skimmer running (but remove collection cup or drain back into sump). You might need repeated doses.
None of this addresses why things started declining overnight, but that's no longer the only issue that is affecting the tank. I fully support the smack dab in the middle and stability approach.

I actually just turned them vertical yesterday. I thought maybe changing the flow might help, but I don’t know. I’m trying anything. Lol

 

[Cassian]

Well I just did the magnet test. I barely touched the sand in one area and all this clung to the magnet. Does this mean I need to get the sand out ASAP or should I send off a triton test first? Also, I have a seachem copper test kit for when I treat fish. Would it be worth a shot to test the tank for copper with that?

 

[CuzzA]

Well I just did the magnet test. I barely touched the sand in one area and all this clung to the magnet. Does this mean I need to get the sand out ASAP or should I send off a triton test first? Also, I have a seachem copper test kit for when I treat fish. Would it be worth a shot to test the tank for copper with that?

I wouldn't want magnetic sand in my tank and yes I would do a copper test. Can't hurt.

 

[DanConnor]

I recently swapped my downstairs sump room to all new equipment. Actually less pvc, but it was new, and a new livestock tank. I started losing colonies. Sent in an ICP and my tin was through the roof. I ran metasorb and cuprisorb and copper, but I really thing it was the weekly 50G water changes that fixed it.

I would get that sand out and send off the icp test- both.

 

[Cassian]

I recently swapped my downstairs sump room to all new equipment. Actually less pvc, but it was new, and a new livestock tank. I started losing colonies. Sent in an ICP and my tin was through the roof. I ran metasorb and cuprisorb and copper, but I really thing it was the weekly 50G water changes that fixed it.

I would get that sand out and send off the icp test- both.

Do you know what caused the tin to be high?

 

[Slawman]

It may be a cascade of things most likely. The sand should not be magnetic and that may be where it all started so I would get rid of all of that now and do large water changes. Gradually increasing metal toxicity would present an outcome as you have described. The sand is the biggest red flag so far. Get salinity to bang on 35. I would make those changes and give it some time. How stable is your PH ie. swing from day to night? Your immediate problem is very unlikely to have anything to do with the lights, skimmer, Phosphates or the water flow in my opinion.