Polyp bailout - what to do ?

[Idech]

My tank 75 gallons tank (no sump) is 9 1/2 months old. Up until about last march, corals were doing great. Then I started seeing some of them retract. I’ve always had trouble getting magnesium stable so I thought that was the problem. I used to dose more magnesium once a month to bring mag up to 1350 but lately I started dosing 40 ml per day. It’s still too low, I only started 3 days ago. But now I’m wondering if there is something else.

I was dosing All for reef until about 2 weeks ago and stopped because it’s bringing my alkalinity too high (up tp 10.4) and not helping with magnesium. Corals were doing better with alk around 8.2.

I’ve been having a mild case of dinos for 6-8 weeks. I had them before and got rid of them but this time they are prorocentrum, and hard to get rid of. I am currently dosing sodium silicate daily (for 5 days). I also started dosing Microbacter 7 everyday (since yesterday), 3 caps per day.

I made the mistake of changing 25 gallons of water (roughly 38%) in the hopes of helping the corals. I hadn’t done one in two months because of dinos and thought it might be the problem. That made the dinos a lot worse.

A few days ago my candy cane left it’s skeleton. It’s still in the tank somewhere, unattached. Today my bowerbanki acan is barely hanging by a thread and will most likely leave it’s base really soon.

Here are my parameters :
temp : 78
salinity : 1,025 to 1,026 (measured with hydrometer)
alk :
mag : 1240
nitrates : 3.2
phosphates : 0.08
Calcium : 440
alk : 8.9
PH : 7.9-8.1

Here is the tank today :

I’m a new reefer and getting discouraged. I do so much research and try my best but it just doesn’t seem to work.

What should I do to help the corals thrive ? Please help !

 

[KrisReef]

How are you measuring Mg? I've found that one to be easy to get bad readings in the past.

Also, your description of dosing this and that makes me think you might be chasing numbers too hard and ruining any stability you need. Not sure how to fix that but you might want to consider how to get stable & reliable parameters for Ca, Alk, Mg to start.

 

[Idech]

How are you measuring Mg? I've found that one to be easy to get bad readings in the past.

I use the Red Sea which is said to be reliable.

Also, your description of dosing this and that makes me think you might be chasing numbers too hard and ruining any stability you need. Not sure how to fix that but you might want to consider how to get stable & reliable parameters for Ca, Alk, Mg to start.

That’s exactly what I want to do. I think AFR isn’t the right product for me.

I believe magnesium is depleted fast because of growing coralline algae. Lots of surface to cover.

If anyone can help with that, please do so.

 

[Privateye]

I'm not gonna weigh in on the cause because I haven't figured it out myself other than "stress".

That being said, I've probably lost 2-3 LPS polyps like this over the past decade. I actually have one in a frag tank that popped off 4 weeks ago....and it's starting to grow some skeleton. That's a new experience for me so I wanted to at least let you know it's possible. Unlikely, but possible.

 

[Jekyl]

I had bad luck with my tank the first year also, don't get discouraged. Just ad a precaution get your water tested at your lfs for a second opinion. That being said continue slowly bringing your mag up. 1350-1400 is best. Also try keeping nitrate between 5 and 10. This way dinos won't be a concern again. Once in range focus stability.

 

[shwareefer]

I thought allforreef was dosed based on a target alkalinity. If your Alk was raising you would need to lower the dose. Magnesium is not consumed as rapidly as calcium and alkalinity so my first thought is bad test kit. I actually just add magnesium to my ATO water to keep it elevated since I like to keep it near 1500.

Have you tested a fresh batch of salt water to see where the mag is at? Could be your salt too.

 

[Idech]

That being said continue slowly bringing your mag up. 1350-1400 is best.

Mag is very hard to raise I find. I still have to find something that works well. I will definitely do that.

Also try keeping nitrate between 5 and 10. This way dinos won't be a concern again. Once in range focus stability.

Dinos started when my nitrates were around 12 ppm. They only went down to 3ppm after the 25 gallons water change. So in my case, nitrates weren’t at 0 and dinos appeared.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not sure a Mag issue. generally when flesh and tissue separates, its due to too much water flow, even light. Lack of calcium or disease

 

[Idech]

I thought allforreef was dosed based on a target alkalinity. If your Alk was raising you would need to lower the dose. Magnesium is not consumed as rapidly as calcium and alkalinity so my first thought is bad test kit. I actually just add magnesium to my ATO water to keep it elevated since I like to keep it near 1500.

I did lower the dose and went from 8ml to about 3.5 ml. Alk was still too high for my taste. So I stopped.

What you’re saying about the faulty test kit is interesting. I do have another Red Sea test kit and I’ll test mag with it tomorrow.

In my tank magnesium is always depleted while alk tends to get too high and calcium remains stable. I’ve been trying like crazy to get all three stable but have failed so far.

 

[Idech]

Not sure a Mag issue. generally when flesh and tissue separates, its due to too much water flow, even light. Lack of calcium or disease

Hum, the most probable cause would be too much light I believe.

Here is my schedule with 4 x AI Prime 16 HD (48 inches wide tank). Too much ?

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hum, the most probable cause would be too much light I believe.

Here is my schedule with 4 x AI Prime 16 HD (48 inches wide tank). Too much ?

Bring down the UV to 50 otherwise not bad

 

[HudsonReefer2.0]

Hum, the most probable cause would be too much light I believe.

Here is my schedule with 4 x AI Prime 16 HD (48 inches wide tank). Too much ?

No

 

[Privateye]

Oh, AI Prime 16 HD? Interesting. 3 out of the 4 times I've seen a head pop off it was under my AI Prime HD. Frankly I've given up on it. I go to the large Orlando store where I bought it and they tell me to check programs on the AI website. I go to the website and there are none for my model...it's like the red-headed stepchild of their products.

 

[Idech]

Oh, AI Prime 16 HD? Interesting. 3 out of the 4 times I've seen a head pop off it was under my AI Prime HD.

Oh that’s too bad…. I’ll lower UV to 50% as vetteguy suggested. Let’s hope it helps.