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.
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.