Reef dying again. Any ideas?
- Thread starter TheAsian0328
- Start date
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hmmmmm not rodi? Id give the rodi a shot.
If thats your topoff/water change water with TDS of 30-40, then you've found your problem. Over a short time whatever that 40 TDS is, is nuking your tank. Most people change filters from 5-10tds. Its best to keep it as close to zero as possible though.
Curious as to what TDS stands for? Top dead center is what I'm familiar with. And ice water? Wouldn't ice shock the fish and coral a bit? Reef roids 1/4 tsp seems like a lot you have a smaller tank don't you.? Ware does the phytoplankton come from? And no reason to use distilled water... Rodi water, purified water maybe, tap water with a declorinator in it works too never heard of distilled
total dissolved solids
So a tds meter instead of a refractometer for salinity? Is that what is being done? Correct me if I'm wrong but wouldn't the tds check for all nutrients and salt in the water and give you a reading on every thing in the water not just salinity?
no, a tds meter checks the ro or fresh water source for minerals and solids. stuff you dont want in the tank. you check before you mix it.
Lenny_S
Well-Known Member
IME slow death for corals = starving. If your water was "bad" they would die quickly.
Do you have any fish in the tank? A good fish bioload with lots of feedings helps. Dosing NO3 can help for a quick fix. But long term if you have to dose NO3 all the time to keep nutrients up, why not just add more fish? It's one of the reasons we have aquariums to begin with.
Lights look fine to me BTW, maybe just make sure they're high enough to limit hot spots.
Do you have any fish in the tank? A good fish bioload with lots of feedings helps. Dosing NO3 can help for a quick fix. But long term if you have to dose NO3 all the time to keep nutrients up, why not just add more fish? It's one of the reasons we have aquariums to begin with.
Lights look fine to me BTW, maybe just make sure they're high enough to limit hot spots.
understood. try changing brands..... search on distilled here, some even say the walmart blue top.
the rodi kits, it really is worth looking into. some of the smaller ones are actually quite affordable and work well. rodi buddy comes to mind.
@AZDesertRat Sir, and affordable rodi Set up that doesn't cost a lot and is portable or undercounter for an apartment>
I have to say no. Some years ago my "trusted water source" was slowly but surely killing my reef. bought a tds meter. switched water. fine and bounced back. first thing to happen was corraline growth. less odd algaes.
and actually the appearance of normal annoying ones
. I can (not bragging) kinda tell when folks are using tap and bottled because of it in some help threads. A six month old reef with bad water looks different, still alive though. different bottles and tap and well have different dissolved solids, and more importantly anti bacterials to clean the pipes and kill algae in the plumbing system.
My house water either smells a bit like algae or bleach.
I havent installed my tank rodi yet,(picked up used $45) because Im that worried about it not working.
Lenny_S
Well-Known Member
Well, from earlier posts looks like results from a Triton test are coming soon, would be interested to see what may be in there. It probably seemed a little too black in white from my previous post, so let me rephrase.... corals that die slowly (over the course of weeks or months) and 0 nitrate and phosphate is likely starvation. It didn't sound like the OP was using tap water, I actually didn't get what the TDS reading was all about, but distilled water by definition should be 0 TDS. If the OP is testing distilled water at 30-40 ppm TDS then either the TDS meter is wrong or the manufacturer for that brand they are using should be sued.
Anyway, heavy metals or other contaminants just didn't seem as likely to me as just having a 10 month old tank with a light bio load and simply not enough nutrients to sustain the corals.
Anyway, heavy metals or other contaminants just didn't seem as likely to me as just having a 10 month old tank with a light bio load and simply not enough nutrients to sustain the corals.
twilliard
Tank pests..
That is exactly what I was going to say.
It is often overlooked that corals need their carbon source. Typically a lot of our corals foods comes from the bacteria's and micro-diversity. Now we have to understand that these themselves have to have food for survival.
When we feed our tanks we not only feed our fish and larger polyp corals but we also feed all of our micro organism life.
The lack of this life will lead to corals starving.
Carbon compounds, lets not forget about the life seen under a microscope
30-40 tds would take a while to kill a reef. at least a few months if not a year. That is still a fairly low reading and most tds are silicates, phosphates and nitrates not all lead and copper.
Definitely not good advice... Never use tap water in a reef. Distilled is far better but RODI is best. 0 TDS is pretty much essential for keeping a reef long-term.
D
Rick.45cal
2500 Club Member
I think we as humans tend too missunderstand an issue that is fundamental to growing corals. That we are actually feeding both and animal and a plant! This isn't like feeding one or the other. Both organisms require their fundamental nutrients to survive. The zooxanthellae require nutrients like algae and plants do... NO3 and PO4. The coral requires a source of carbon (i.e. Planktonic food predated upon) to provide the required elements to produce new tissue and actually grow! You can provide a minimum of requirements and your corals may just exist, rather than slowly starve. Or you can feed both the animal and the plant aspects and you will see active growth and recovery.
Save your reef dude, dose NO3. You can address Total Dissolved Solids and make up water later. Just my $.02.
Save your reef dude, dose NO3. You can address Total Dissolved Solids and make up water later. Just my $.02.
Wouldn't matter how much nitrate you add to a tank that is over the limits on copper, the coral will still die.. Even worse it will polute the tank and accelerate the die off. There are 2 fish at least and a clean up crew in a 18 gallons of water that's plenty enough coral food. I would try to get some zero tds water as soon as possible as and do a 50% water change. Your triton results won't be back for 2 weeks and your coral will most likely be dead by then.
No I agree completely in the food. The tank is out of balance. Food and bio filter. I think we're both spitballing a bit prob each of us from personal experience. . It's odd that it's not taking off. My bad water experience and then here on r2r. Seeing tanks that are using tap distilled and bottled here led me to the water prob. You food. Both equally plausible.
I have seen both here. Tanks that are fine on bottled even the one from the dispenser out in front of the store. But some that had problems but once they switched water. Was fine.
I already bugged azdesert rat once today. But he had explained in detail the differences in bottled water sources. Some bottles aren't good for tanks. Drinking and distilled. Oddly enough you just have to know what's in that brands water to know which one to use. With our larger bodies we can take more punishment so to speak. Yucky huh.
Yup. Last paragraph. Addresses both issues from all party's Nutrition and a healthy gut.
OP
OP
TheAsian0328
Active Member
Just did my water change with the distilled water. Did 5gal and will probably do another 5 Wednesday. Salt has been mixing for more then 24 hr and that is the longest I've gone mixing it. Normally mix it for about 3-8hr depending on my schedule.
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