Tank transfer not good

[SeaDweller]

What would cause the flesh of acros to just peel off?

I’d venture a guess and say contamination. Do you know if LA runs Chloramines In the water, and you said you changed ALL filters recently?

 

[Guttersnipe]

I’d venture a guess and say contamination. Do you know if LA runs Chloramines?

I don’t know. But everything was fine before I changed over to my new tank.

 

[SeaDweller]

I don’t know. But everything was fine before I changed over to my new tank.

True, but the only thing that changed besides that was the new water, right?
my homie did a reboot and didn’t lose any of his stuff, transferred stuff out into new tanks, I have too. Even bubba here did and only lost like a couple of stuff.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I’m really lost at this point. I don’t know what it could be. I got a new tank, replaced all t5bulbs, replaced rodi filters, put in two more powerheads for flow, hooked up a chilller, and took out some rocks. Bought some really nice frags for the new tank.
ever since then things have been going downhill.

 

[Guttersnipe]

My last tank did really well.
this is what is looked like.

 

[SeaDweller]

People are going to say you did too much all at once, stability blah blah blah... my money is on your water and something being in it, maybe something your testing didn’t pick up.

 

[DLHDesign]

That's a great looking tank you had; I'm sorry for your losses and troubles.

It does sound like quite a bit has changed - flow, lighting, water parameters, perhaps temperature, and a reduction in the beneficial bacteria (both through increase in size and reduction in surface area).
I'm not really sure how to - or whether to - try to return some of those parameters closer to what they were, to be honest. It's a question of whether more changes will hurt more than returning things closer to what they were will help...

It is also possible something has been introduced to the water, yes. Have you checked to be sure all your old (and new) equipment isn't damaged; perhaps leaking toxins into the water? Since you added new gear; have you tested the new tank for stray voltage?

 

[Guttersnipe]

People are going to say you did too much all at once, stability blah blah blah... my money is on your water and something being in it, maybe something your testing didn’t pick up.

I will be doing another icp test.

 

[nitrodude]

I would quadruple check salinity+Have your salinity, alk,ca, and mag tested by a Lfs or all new test kits. I'd also test nitrate and phosphate-could of stirred things up.
I'd turn lights and water flow down a bit as well til things rebound.
Other then changing salinity/alk, ca or mag IF out of range I would leave it alone. Stop changing things.

Good luck. things will get better

 

[Big D]

Was the tank new or used?

That’s the other thing that changed.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Was the tank new or used?

That’s the other thing that changed.

Brand new tank

 

[Halal Hotdog]

Your situation is similar to stating a new frag tank with water and rock from your established DT. (What I’m looking into right now). Everything I read and seen tells me many different sps species don’t do well in that situation. Something in the biodiversity gets disrupted, even when the new tank is plumbed into the old one. Bare bottoms typically take longer to stabilize. There have been great suggestions about verifying salinity. You might just have to wait it out and let the tank stabilize. I would add a few different bacteria in a bottle solutions to help the process. If you have a trusted friend with established sps tank you might want to see if he is willing to hold your still living sps. You might want to test ammonia to see if anything registers, wouldn’t take a lot to kill sensitive sps. As you know to much par is worse than too little in the short term. Raising the lights was a good call, but they might still be getting too much par. Passing through 4” of air is not the same as 4” of saltwater. Turning intensity down by 30% and slowly ramping back up may not hurt.

 

[Graffiti Spot]

Maybe try adding some rock from a friends tank that has been running for a long time and adding some bacteria. If you don’t take out the acros that are peeling as soon as you can and either chuck them or cut them and only put good healthy parts back. Having actively peeling corals can just spread to other acros if left in the tank. This is the one thing that I have had to do to stop events like this.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Hi reef2reef! here’s and update. I think I found out why 90% of all my corals died. I’m sure it was a combination of too much light and new tank being too clean. But what i really pinpoint it to is my blue starfish. I have not seen it since transferring everything into the new tank. It died and I didnt get it out of the tank. I moved around some rocks and was not able to find it. I did a pretty big water change and threw in some carbon. I will be doing more water changes and let the tank settle
Some more. Coraline is finally growing in the tank so thats a pretty good sign. I’ve accepted all my losses. All my new frags died and all my corals that I purchased from the last 4 reefapalooza are gone.
I will ride this out and slowly buy more frags.
I was seriously thinking about getting out of the hobby because of this but decide to get through it. This is my first time back on the forum since I last posted on this thread.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

I’m starting to really regret this tank upgrade. Corals are losing tissue fast.

Out of curiosity, is the tank new? Or used? Did you wash it before transferring corals? What did you use? And did you use anything to neutralize any left overs? If it's used do you know if copper was used in it. If it's new do you know if the store used any kind of pesticides? or was it stored anywhere with any.
If copper was used it might very well have penetrated the silicone or any acrylic in the tank.

 

[MixedFruitBasket]

Hi reef2reef! here’s and update. I think I found out why 90% of all my corals died. I’m sure it was a combination of too much light and new tank being too clean. But what i really pinpoint it to is my blue starfish. I have not seen it since transferring everything into the new tank. It died and I didnt get it out of the tank. I moved around some rocks and was not able to find it. I did a pretty big water change and threw in some carbon. I will be doing more water changes and let the tank settle
Some more. Coraline is finally growing in the tank so thats a pretty good sign. I’ve accepted all my losses. All my new frags died and all my corals that I purchased from the last 4 reefapalooza are gone.
I will ride this out and slowly buy more frags.
I was seriously thinking about getting out of the hobby because of this but decide to get through it. This is my first time back on the forum since I last posted on this thread.

I'm so sorry that happened to you. :(
Why would the dying starfish kill the corals? I didn't think they were as susceptible to an ammonia spike as fish. Do those types of starfish release toxins?

 

[nitrodude]

Hi reef2reef! here’s and update. I think I found out why 90% of all my corals died. I’m sure it was a combination of too much light and new tank being too clean. But what i really pinpoint it to is my blue starfish. I have not seen it since transferring everything into the new tank. It died and I didnt get it out of the tank. I moved around some rocks and was not able to find it. I did a pretty big water change and threw in some carbon. I will be doing more water changes and let the tank settle
Some more. Coraline is finally growing in the tank so thats a pretty good sign. I’ve accepted all my losses. All my new frags died and all my corals that I purchased from the last 4 reefapalooza are gone.
I will ride this out and slowly buy more frags.
I was seriously thinking about getting out of the hobby because of this but decide to get through it. This is my first time back on the forum since I last posted on this thread.

I'd still venture to say that that still wasnt/isnt your issue here.
A starfish dying would also indicate a salinity issue though.

 

[Guttersnipe]

Out of curiosity, is the tank new? Or used? Did you wash it before transferring corals? What did you use? And did you use anything to neutralize any left overs? If it's used do you know if copper was used in it. If it's new do you know if the store used any kind of pesticides? or was it stored anywhere with any.
If copper was used it might very well have penetrated the silicone or any acrylic in the tank.

The tank is brand new from crystal dynamics. They delivered it. I didn’t wash the tank but I did fill it up for a leak test and drained it.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I'd still venture to say that that still wasnt/isnt your issue here.
A starfish dying would also indicate a salinity issue though.

I’m not 100% sure but I think the tank was too clean and that’s how the starfish died. During the time I didn’t see the starfish my skimmer was going crazy.
I was constantly checking alk and salinity this whole time.

 

[Guttersnipe]

I'm so sorry that happened to you. :(
Why would the dying starfish kill the corals? I didn't think they were as susceptible to an ammonia spike as fish. Do those types of starfish release toxins?

Again I’m not 100% sure. I think the dead starfish rotting away released a lot of toxins In the water. My skimmer was going crazy For a while.