Hi, i recently had an unexplained crash of my lps tank begin few weeks ago. Some corals suffering/dying out, lost a yellow tang, flame hawk lethargic, refugium macroalgae die off (complete). Later came red cyano, hair algae takeover.... At first i thought i was overdoing the nutrient export but this morning i found a possible cause. I have some additional concerns that i'd like some opinion on that might be contributors. I moved cross country about 8 months ago, taking frags, some live rock pieces, and fish. Added ro/di (old location was private well, no chorine, using just ro). 75 gallon, 5 damsels, flame hawk, 6 line wrasse, lightly stocked with various lps frags. Parameters like Alk, Ca, Mg, are the same as what i've been keeping for years.
Issue #1 - Chloramine
i made up some fresh ro/di (checked di tds - 0, all seems good), mixed in the salt, used a lamotte chlorine/total chlorine test strip - read 0 for both. Set the strip aside while doing something else, went to throw it away, and it read 3ppm total chorine. To double check, tried it on tap water. Read 0. Waited several minutes, turned blue - 3 ppm. The instructions say to dip 2 seconds and read immediately. Something is wrong with the test strips that are 8 months old...
Going forward i'll treat all new water with Prime just in case instead of relying only on the test. I also have a couple test kits ordered to check other parameters.
Does this sound like it fits with what i'm seeing the tank doing?
Issue #2 - Heat in the reservoir
My new location doesn't have a convenient spot inside the house for the reservoir (i mix about 25g + topoff at a time, for a 25g water change each month), so the filter, mixing station, reservoir are out in the garage. Its Florida, so much warmer than an air conditioned laundry room i had before. Reservoir temp today at noon was 32C, so the garage gets probably closer to 110F. I have a white brute (food grade) for the reservoir. My concern is that when i open the lid, it has a heavy plastic smell after a hot day. ro/di unit is next to it.
Would this be something to be concerned about with that reservoir or for the ro filters?
Thanks!
Issue #1 - Chloramine
i made up some fresh ro/di (checked di tds - 0, all seems good), mixed in the salt, used a lamotte chlorine/total chlorine test strip - read 0 for both. Set the strip aside while doing something else, went to throw it away, and it read 3ppm total chorine. To double check, tried it on tap water. Read 0. Waited several minutes, turned blue - 3 ppm. The instructions say to dip 2 seconds and read immediately. Something is wrong with the test strips that are 8 months old...
Going forward i'll treat all new water with Prime just in case instead of relying only on the test. I also have a couple test kits ordered to check other parameters.
Does this sound like it fits with what i'm seeing the tank doing?
Issue #2 - Heat in the reservoir
My new location doesn't have a convenient spot inside the house for the reservoir (i mix about 25g + topoff at a time, for a 25g water change each month), so the filter, mixing station, reservoir are out in the garage. Its Florida, so much warmer than an air conditioned laundry room i had before. Reservoir temp today at noon was 32C, so the garage gets probably closer to 110F. I have a white brute (food grade) for the reservoir. My concern is that when i open the lid, it has a heavy plastic smell after a hot day. ro/di unit is next to it.
Would this be something to be concerned about with that reservoir or for the ro filters?
Thanks!