What could be killing my corals?

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Eclyps19

Eclyps19

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Let's revisit the LR

What "kind" of rock is it? Like Caribbean rock? River rock?

How long have you had the rock?

Where did it come from? (Possibly come from another reefer who lied or didn't disclose they used MEDS to treat the tank when they had the rock)

MY POINT: rocks can be very porous and hold onto past medications or other foreign substances

River rock could have various minerals embedded in them that a test may not detect. Like a rock that's Limestone

I used 100% Caribsea Life Rock, I believe 80lbs. The rock was new and not used in any other tanks. This is the rock that was originally cycled with the tank, so the rocks have been in the water for about 2 years now. No harsh medication has ever been used in the tank (I used a single bottle of Microbacter 7 and a single bottle of vibrant at some point over those two years).
 

Tamberav

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Did you make a DIY sump? Maybe wrong silicone used or such?
 
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Eclyps19

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Sump is the default that came with the Red Sea Reefer 525XL.

Can anyone think of something that might leach into the water that would NOT show up on a Triton ICP test?

Is there a way to test for harmful bacteria?
 

Jon_W79

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Any other thoughts?
I think it might be a good idea to stop using activated carbon, especially if it is rox carbon. Based on what you said about how soon the filter socks get dirty, and how much you feed, etc, I think there may be a very small amount of organics in the aquarium. Rox carbon has the possibility of harming at least some types of corals. If the water has very low organics, I think that may significantly increase the chance of that happening. If I were you I would stop using carbon and I would stop using filter socks at least for a couple of months to see if it helps. Since you don't change the socks very often, I don't believe having no filter socks will raise nitrate much(maybe not at all). According to Triton algae like detritus(I don't believe it is because of nitrate). I think the tank may be too clean.
 
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ZoWhat

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Without physicaly seeing the situation... im out of ideas.

It's either the water source, lighting or something hidden in the tank (lr, maybe plumbing )
 

SaltISlife

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Wouldnt rule out a bacterial infection.. i lost tons of corals a few months back.. everyone on the forums questioned everything but that.. once i dosed antibiotics after doing my own experiments and testing i concluded it was bacterial.. not water. And sure enough after 7 days of sntibiotics the infection stopped and i didnt lose anymorr corals.. and th3 ones that lived have grown back
 

BiggestE222

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pH fluctuates between 8.05 and 8.20 over 24h. I actually haven’t tested my QT pH. It’s in the basement so it could be a little different, but my DT is in the ideal range.
8.05 is pretty low. Significant difference in range because PH numbers are exponential. Get a CO2 scrubber and/or start dosing Kalwasser instead of 2-part.
 

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WVNed

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Have you ever considered a trace element package?
You have a lot of zero's on your ICP
I use the Tropic Marin for example. Some aren't on the ICP like Fluorine
Pro-Coral A- Trace 2 Contains:

  • Bromine
  • Fluorine
  • Iodine yours is 0
  • Lithium
  • Molybdenum
  • Selenium 0
  • Vanadium 0

Pro-Coral K+ Trace 1 Contains:

  • Barium
  • Boron
  • Chrome 0
  • Cobalt 0
  • Iron 0
  • Copper 0
  • Manganese 0
  • Nickel 0
  • Strontium
  • Zinc 0
 

Weasel1960

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For starters I don’t have a tank...yet but I have been doing a lot of research on R2R and also following @Apollo7235 who has same problem. Are you doing any kind of bio block. Several threads lately indicate some leaching of aluminum. Your test result is 47, according to a brief internet Triton suggests it should be 0.1... just a thought.

Any chance a contaminated batch of live rock got out into the market? How old is yours? I know Apollo’s is only a few months.
 

jt17

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Any candles or essential oils used in probimity to the tank? Are you doing water changes? If so how frequent? Are you still using vibrant? That stuff will klll corals in a new tank. How did you rid the tank of dinos? Is it possible you still have them?Dinos can outcompete a lot of microscopic fauna that are essential to a thriving ecosystem. I battled dinos last year and it wasn’t until I began adding microscopic fauna that things started to turn around. I got some mud from Indo Pacifis Sea Farms.
I also added the pink fusion and purple helix coraline algae. The coraline is harvested from their mature systems and bottled and shipped quickly so as to preserve the live creatures. You get more than just coraline, you get different strains of bacteria and micro fauna many of which you can’t get out side of fresh live rock.
also add live phyto, rotifers and copepods. Corals need more than just good water parameters to thrive the need microscopic organisms to feed upon.
 

Apollo7235

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Any candles or essential oils used in probimity to the tank? Are you doing water changes? If so how frequent? Are you still using vibrant? That stuff will klll corals in a new tank. How did you rid the tank of dinos? Is it possible you still have them?Dinos can outcompete a lot of microscopic fauna that are essential to a thriving ecosystem. I battled dinos last year and it wasn’t until I began adding microscopic fauna that things started to turn around. I got some mud from Indo Pacifis Sea Farms.
I also added the pink fusion and purple helix coraline algae. The coraline is harvested from their mature systems and bottled and shipped quickly so as to preserve the live creatures. You get more than just coraline, you get different strains of bacteria and micro fauna many of which you can’t get out side of fresh live rock.
also add live phyto, rotifers and copepods. Corals need more than just good water parameters to thrive the need microscopic organisms to feed upon.
I have never heard that Vibrant kills corals.... I actually dose it weekly in my very successful coral/invert QT and have never had a problem. It keeps the water crystal clear and also helps my Mexican Turbo control the algae.

I’m super excited to hear the good report about the Helix coralline products as I have been considering using them myself.

Once I get my water analysis back, I’m going to make the necessary corrections and dump a bottle of each in!
 

Apollo7235

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For starters I don’t have a tank...yet but I have been doing a lot of research on R2R and also following @Apollo7235 who has same problem. Are you doing any kind of bio block. Several threads lately indicate some leaching of aluminum. Your test result is 47, according to a brief internet Triton suggests it should be 0.1... just a thought.

Any chance a contaminated batch of live rock got out into the market? How old is yours? I know Apollo’s is only a few months.
I would be very interested to hear if you’re using any MarinePure products. I know I have heard mixed reviews of their stuff, but I think I may have received a bad batch of their cubes... Though only the analysis will tell.
 

dieselkeeper

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I read thru your thread and that you had water tested. 8 months ago I had corals dying. I found rusty magnets on a feed clip and frag racks. Maybe a magnet has some alloy in it that a water test doesn't test for. Seems like you covered all bases. Just sharing my experience. Hope you find what it is soon. Very frustrating, I almost threw in the towel.
 

JCM

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Probably not much help but I had a tank just like this. It was setup for about 5 years, fish and inverts did great but corals would never live long and algae didn't grow.

Nothing tested ever showed an issue. In the end, I attributed my problems to using 100% dead rock. I think the tank lacked some necessary diversity to sustain coral growth. No idea what that needed diversity was but even after 5 years, the tank looked sterile. Mostly white rock with lots of awesome fish.

In subsequent tanks, I've always used some real live rock and haven't faced that issue again.
 

PegasisR

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You need to get live rock. Either a marine pure from an established aquarium with thriving corals or liverock from kp aquatics. Dry rock is the issue, I've went through the same thing for 3 years before one of the aforementioned was introduced!
 

Apollo7235

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How’s it going? I received my ICP results and I have heavy metals in my water which seems to be my issue (to be continued), but I was curious how everything is going with you?
 

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