Problems with my corals!

[Jinavette]

Hi everyone, I have recently been having problems with my corals closing and then just dying off. We received a consult which we paid, experts to come and check the tank. He gave us advice about 4 months ago on what to change and it has just gotten worse. The peramiters of the tank are as followed alkalinity: 9.4 salt: 35.1 ppt phosphate: 0.25 calcium: 489 magnesium: 1500 ph: 8.15 nitrate: 10
We have a skimmer, UV, and phosphate reactor running. We feed the corals once a week with Benepets Benereef. Daily Red Sea AB+. The tank is 135 including the sump. We have gonis, torches and zoas. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Jeffcb]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

 

[Jinavette]

Welcome to the forum.

I’m not seeing anything wrong with your parameters. Maybe phosphates could be a tad bit higher for the LPS corals with an alk of 9dkh.

What lights do you have? Flow? Have you tested your tank for stray voltage?

Lights and pumps are both AI. Flow is at 50% and are positioned diagonally on opposite sides of the tank. We have not tested for stray voltage. Lighting is as followed:

 

[Jinavette]

Welcome!
What method do you use to monitor your parameters or dose? 2 part, Kalk, AFR, etc? How often are you testing? Hope you get this figured out.

All are through Hannah testing and once a week.

 

[Jinavette]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!
What precisely is your cleaning/maintenance schedule? Are there any tank inhabitants that can be of risk for your corals? Other possible problems could be coral warfare (especially leather corals releasing chemicals), lighting deficiency, inadequate flow, or possibly even a bacterial infection such as Brown Jelly Disease.

Maintenance is done once a week, all the inhabitants we have are all reef safe and as the corals we had them spaced out enough to where each type had their own rock. Flow is at 50% and lighting as followed:

 

[Jinavette]

Welcome to R2R!

Do you run a Refugium to help manage NO3?

No refugium

 

[Jinavette]

Welcome to R2R! Your Alk, calcium and mag are all a little toward the high side for my liking but certainly should be okay. My guess would be either lighting or flow. Are you using RO/DI or otherwise purified water for your salt mix and top-off? Maybe heavy metals if not. How are your fish/inverts doing? Maybe a full tank shot would be helpful for people here to help you. Best of luck.

We are using RODI water for both salt mix and top off the salt we are using is Red Sea salt the blue bucket. All the fish and inverts are fine and alive. It’s just the corals.

 

[DeniseAndy]

Welcome.
Many of us will be able to tell more from your situation if you have pictures. A good full tank shot (FTS) and maybe some of the problem corals. Not too close so we can see around them and maybe close up in case we see some pest. This helps a lot.

 

[tharbin]

We are using RODI water for both salt mix and top off the salt we are using is Red Sea salt the blue bucket. All the fish and inverts are fine and alive. It’s just the corals.

Are you dosing? Your ca, alk and mag numbers are higher than RSBB naturally provides. I use it also, now.

If not, I'm wondering if your refractometer/hydrometer might be out of calibration and running higher than the 35.1ppt you stated.

 

[Lavey29]

Have you done a recent ICP test to check all parameters for your tank and RODI?

 

[Wasabiroot]

Yes, wondering about dosing now. Hopefully we can get this figured out!!

 

[Jinavette]

Are you dosing? Your ca, alk and mag numbers are higher than RSBB naturally provides. I use it also, now.

If not, I'm wondering if your refractometer/hydrometer might be out of calibration and running higher than the 35.1ppt you stated.

We have not started dosing just yet only the Red Sea AB+ 20 ml daily and as far as the calibration we just calibrated it just in case it was off and it’s still the same.

 

[Jinavette]

Also we have acrylic lids on the tank I don’t know if that makes a difference.

 

[Wasabiroot]

We have not started dosing just yet only the Red Sea AB+ 20 ml daily and as far as the calibration we just calibrated it just in case it was off and it’s still the same.

This might be part of the issue. How frequently do you change the water? The tank may be at the point where supplemental 2 part dosing is required to keep alk, Calc and magnesium stable as at some point water changes are not enough. Red sea ab+ is fine to add but won't provide skeletal material for your coral. If your dKh is dropping over the course of a few weeks or not stable, it may be the cause of your coral issues.

 

[tharbin]

Well, I'm officially confused. I have no idea how you're getting magnesium of 1500, calcium of 489 and alkalinity of 9.4 from straight Red Sea Blue Bucket. Every time I've checked a fresh batch of RSBB the mg is 1250-1300, the ca is 420-450 and the alk is 7.5-8.5. If you aren't dosing I am at a loss as to where the extra elements are coming from. The only way I can explain it is elevated S.G.

That said your numbers are fine just they don't match the salt mix parameters, at least that I've seen or what is printed on the front of the bucket.

At this point my only guess for your coral issues would be that maybe your light is a little high but that is hard to say without knowing your PAR readings or at least some idea of your tank dimensions, coral placement, etc.

Sorry I can't be more helpful but I'm out of ideas.

Except one, for the goniopora check your manganese and try target feeding them either gonipower or reef roids at least two or three times a week.

 

[powers2001]

Hello @Jinavette and welcome to R2R!! Glad you joined us!! You don't have to pay an expert when you can get free expert advice here.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Mag a bit high (you want 1300-1350).
What test kits are you using ?
Age of tank ?

 

[vetteguy53081]

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Hi everyone, I have recently been having problems with my corals closing and then just dying off. We received a consult which we paid, experts to come and check the tank. He gave us advice about 4 months ago on what to change and it has just gotten worse. The peramiters of the tank are as followed alkalinity: 9.4 salt: 35.1 ppt phosphate: 0.25 calcium: 489 magnesium: 1500 ph: 8.15 nitrate: 10
We have a skimmer, UV, and phosphate reactor running. We feed the corals once a week with Benepets Benereef. Daily Red Sea AB+. The tank is 135 including the sump. We have gonis, torches and zoas. Any help and advice would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome! Glad you joined. You don't mention light or flow, and I'd assume your expert would have advised any changes there. You don't mention fish, and completely fishless systems tend to have problems.

I suspect parameters stability. You list parameters, but are those parameters kept stable DAILY? or instead do they fluctuate and are brought back into line WEEKLY (or longer)? We had a lot of problems until we started daily water parameter testing and dosing those values that drop. Its been a lot more work, but after a few weeks we really began seeing results when parameters are stable day-after-day-after-day-after-day, and continue to see results measured in coral growth.

Have you considered starting your build thread? I found its a great place to document my tank's evolution for myself. I started tank first then joined, so I'm still finding myself going back collecting pictures & updating historically as well as current state. Once you create your first post in your thread and link it to your account, they will give you build badge (look left, under my ID)

This might help you find people local to you:

Local Reef Club Discussion

Looking for some locals to share frags and info with? This is the place! Find a local club that meets in your area! If you want to add your club just contact us.

www.reef2reef.com

This is a good reference book type online article I still review:

The Supreme Guide To Setting Up A Saltwater Reef Aquarium

This article was sponsored by @MarineDepot at www.marinedepot.com. Introduction The marine environment is one of the most complex systems on the planet. The aquarium you are about to set up is only a tiny sliver of the vast ocean, but it is no...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[CoralB]

Welcome!!!