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

[Cassian]

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.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Salinity is quite low and mag a bit high
I would get a second opinion by taking a water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test water for you and compare with your readings. I believe Salinity is the culprit.
Black sand not the most favorable although it looks nice.
I assume you’re using RO and not tap water?

 

[ReGinn]

From what I've been reading and researching, seems like your phos is way to low. You want some phos in your tank for nutrients for the corals, or else they'll slowly melt away as you're describing. Also the algae you're describing sound like red cyano, and poss a dino, which would also indicate extremely low nutrients for the corals you have. Are you running any GFO, phosguard or anything like that?? May just be striping out to many nutrients for them to live, and it just took time for them to get that low. But i'm sure others with more exp will chime in. Just a thought!!

 

[Cassian]

Salinity is quite low and mag a bit high
I would get a second opinion by taking a water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test water for you and compare with your readings. I believe Salinity is the culprit.
Black sand not the most favorable although it looks nice.
I assume you’re using RO and not tap water?

Yes I am using RO. I agree my mag is high but I’ve never been able to get it down. Also, my salinity is low? I may have typed that number wrong. It’s close to 35ppt. What do you recommend keeping salinity at?

 

[Cassian]

From what I've been reading and researching, seems like your phos is way to low. You want some phos in your tank for nutrients for the corals, or else they'll slowly melt away as you're describing. Also the algae you're describing sound like red cyano, and poss a dino, which would also indicate extremely low nutrients for the corals you have. Are you running any GFO, phosguard or anything like that?? May just be striping out to many nutrients for them to live, and it just took time for them to get that low. But i'm sure others with more exp will chime in. Just a thought!!

No to GFO or phosguard. I do have a super oversized skimmer but I have a high bio load and feed heavy.

 

[Cassian]

From what I've been reading and researching, seems like your phos is way to low. You want some phos in your tank for nutrients for the corals, or else they'll slowly melt away as you're describing. Also the algae you're describing sound like red cyano, and poss a dino, which would also indicate extremely low nutrients for the corals you have. Are you running any GFO, phosguard or anything like that?? May just be striping out to many nutrients for them to live, and it just took time for them to get that low. But i'm sure others with more exp will chime in. Just a thought!!

Also, I’ve had super low nutrients for almost 2 years now. Would the coral die all of a sudden?

 

[ReGinn]

Do you know if your phos reading is actually at absolute 0?? Because sometimes the testers can read zero if even it's at .03 for example. From what I've read, you want to try and keep it low, but make sure there is some in there for sure.

 

[CuzzA]

You should not be washing filter bags in detergent. Bleach only and rinse cycle until you can't smell bleach. Let completely dry. The red on the sand bed sounds like cyano. Could be from the detergent. That's all that sticks out to me. I'd start vacuuming the sand bed when doing water changes and change carbon weekly for a few weeks in case there's residual detergent in the system.

Blue pictures are of no help.

 

[Sailfin11]

My guess is that there's something going on your heater, especially considering the overnight RTN. What type of heating system do you have? Do you an extra controller like an Inkbird, Apex, etc. or just the heater's internal thermostat?

 

[Cassian]

Do you know if your phos reading is actually at absolute 0?? Because sometimes the testers can read zero if even it's at .03 for example. From what I've read, you want to try and keep it low, but make sure there is some in there for sure.

I use the Salifert test kit. I read it as zero but it is entirely possible I had a small amount present

 

[pcon]

I will start by saying that the red algae you are describing is Cyanobacteria, I would recommend chemi clean or Red slimeX to eliminate it, though this is just a bandaid to one of several possible problems.

Some questions to consider, What is your flow looking like? How stable is the alkalinity? how often are you measuring these parameters? How reliable are your test kits? when you say you are doing lots of water changes what does that mean? Are you running a skimmer or other means of supplemental aeration, could it be Low Oxygen? Are you dosing anything to keep coral building elements stable? Is the algae covering corals quickly and damaging them or are they dying first then being covered by algae? do you have a fish or invert which might be picking at the corals?

Lots of questions, few easy answers in this hobby.

 

[Cassian]

You should not be washing filter bags in detergent. Bleach only and rinse cycle until you can't smell bleach. Let completely dry. The red on the sand bed sounds like cyano. Could be from the detergent. That's all that sticks out to me. I'd start vacuuming the sand bed when doing water changes and change carbon weekly for a few weeks in case there's residual detergent in the system.

Oh yes! I’m sorry I may have forgotten to mention the detergent was a mistake that my relative made. I DO NOT usually wash them in detergent.

 

[Someshmuk]

I don't think the cyano is more of a result of the issue vs a cause.

Perhaps a stray voltage voltage? Faulty equipment? Maybe the pump is worn down and leaching into the system? Any old magnets?

 

[Cassian]

My guess is that there's something going on your heater, especially considering the overnight RTN. What type of heating system do you have? Do you an extra controller like an Inkbird, Apex, etc. or just the heater's internal thermostat?

I just changed my heaters, as I suspected the same thing. I use jeagar heaters and have a thermometer that is separate from them

 

[ReGinn]

Also, I’ve had super low nutrients for almost 2 years now. Would the coral die all of a sudden?

It would make sense in my head that that would be possible. Especially if your bio filters increased and worked o.t. for some reason, but I'm personally not sure. I'm sure someone else would know though

 

[vetteguy53081]

Yes I am using RO. I agree my mag is high but I’ve never been able to get it down. Also, my salinity is low? I may have typed that number wrong. It’s close to 35ppt. What do you recommend keeping salinity at?

Salinity- 1.026 and the high mag may be due to the salt mix you are using

 

[Someshmuk]

There was also a guy who made changed his sunscreen and it nearly killed his tank because the active chemical is toxic in concentrations of parts per billion. Do you put your hands in the tank and have you changed how you're washing your hands I. E. New hand soap or whatever?

 

[Cassian]

I will start by saying that the red algae you are describing is Cyanobacteria, I would recommend chemi clean or Red slimeX to eliminate it, though this is just a bandaid to one of several possible problems.

Some questions to consider, What is your flow looking like? How stable is the alkalinity? how often are you measuring these parameters? How reliable are your test kits? when you say you are doing lots of water changes what does that mean? Are you running a skimmer or other means of supplemental aeration, could it be Low Oxygen? Are you dosing anything to keep coral building elements stable? Is the algae covering corals quickly and damaging them or are they dying first then being covered by algae? do you have a fish or invert which might be picking at the corals?

Lots of questions, few easy answers in this hobby.

I agree with you on that! There is never an easy answer in this hobby. Below are answers to your questions

I have two xf 250 gyre pumps as well as an oversized pump that runs the whole system. I have a lot of flow. The alkalinity is usually fairly stable. It may fluctuate a point or two every now and then. I measure these parameters every 1-2 weeks. I think they are reliable test kits. I use Salifert, Red Sea, or aqua forest. I did waterchanges every 1-2 weeks for a while because I was trying to fix the problem. I typically do monthly waterchanges. Yes I have a very oversized skimmer. Lack of oxygen is very unlikely. Yes I am dosing Calcium. It seems as though the algae is covering the coral before it dies. The sps still have polyps our and color to them when the algae is on them. All of my fish and inverts are reef safe

 

[Cassian]

Salinity- 1.026 and the high mag may be due to the salt mix you are using

I will try uping my salinity, but would my low salinity be killing my coral? Everyone I have known has kept it at my levels and I have kept it that way for years. Would it kill all of a sudden?

 

[Cassian]

There was also a guy who made changed his sunscreen and it nearly killed his tank because the active chemical is toxic in concentrations of parts per billion. Do you put your hands in the tank and have you changed how you're washing your hands I. E. New hand soap or whatever?

I usually wash my hands before I work with my tank. Usually with dawn.