elchopo
Active Member
So it seems like it is my turn to be hit with bad luck. I can only pinpoint the issues starting around mid-December when I installed a Reefmat 500 for my Red Sea Reefer 200xl. Every since then my tank has been on a downward spiral and I cannot figure out why.
This was my tank at the beginning of December. This is the latest picture I have of before I installed the Reefmat.
The only thing I did differently around that time was removed the skimmer since I didnt want to also have that plus the Reefmat.
I also changed from weekly water changes to bi-weekly. I was also pretty early on into using Reef Crystals instead of the normal purple salt.
Moving into late January I started noticing most of my torches shrinking. I didnt think much of it since, Mag (1500), Alk (9.5-10.2), Cal (420ish), levels were pretty much the same. But the torches started getting worse as we moved into mid-Feburary. One of my torches ended up dying. So a few things I noticed was the tank seemed to have a lot of gunk in it. I removed some live work from the DT and the sump to try and clean up some of the gunk, which now I know is detritus.
I finally decided to start testing everything. PH was in normal range, and Salt was low (1.020 at one point), TDS was 6ppm, and my Nitrates were through the roof! Well over 100ppm. That must be the problem! I started doing 30% water changes and during that time I lost two more torches. But the Nitrates were getting lower. So I kept pushing. After 3 30% water changes over the course of a week I got the numbers, stable it seems, to around 5-10ppm. All my other parameters are within their normal ranges too. In that time I added Chaeto and a wavemaker in the sump to keep things moving as well as lowered my ai prime light to try and help get some more light. Nothing has seem to really work. I am not sure how long it takes for coral to catch back up. Gonis are hanging on by a thread and my Elegance does not seem like its going to make it. I have one more torch left which is my prized coral that I do not want to lose.
To even help I bought a xr-15 hoping that maybe my AI prime has a melted led or something is wrong with it. As most of my lower corals are not reacting to anything.
I have gotten the salt back up to 1.025-1.026 and I ordered new stuff for my rodi and I am 1ppm.
All fish and inverts are doing great!
Is this just the shock that I just have to let them try and recover from on their own? Is there anything I can really do? I don't want to over do it and do more damage.
Not the best picture but this show the sad state of my tank currently.
This torch died not an hour later.
I dont even remember the last time i have seen the Elegance come out. It was sunk in but its tentacles were still flowing. But now it just looks like green soup.
This was my tank at the beginning of December. This is the latest picture I have of before I installed the Reefmat.
The only thing I did differently around that time was removed the skimmer since I didnt want to also have that plus the Reefmat.
I also changed from weekly water changes to bi-weekly. I was also pretty early on into using Reef Crystals instead of the normal purple salt.
Moving into late January I started noticing most of my torches shrinking. I didnt think much of it since, Mag (1500), Alk (9.5-10.2), Cal (420ish), levels were pretty much the same. But the torches started getting worse as we moved into mid-Feburary. One of my torches ended up dying. So a few things I noticed was the tank seemed to have a lot of gunk in it. I removed some live work from the DT and the sump to try and clean up some of the gunk, which now I know is detritus.
I finally decided to start testing everything. PH was in normal range, and Salt was low (1.020 at one point), TDS was 6ppm, and my Nitrates were through the roof! Well over 100ppm. That must be the problem! I started doing 30% water changes and during that time I lost two more torches. But the Nitrates were getting lower. So I kept pushing. After 3 30% water changes over the course of a week I got the numbers, stable it seems, to around 5-10ppm. All my other parameters are within their normal ranges too. In that time I added Chaeto and a wavemaker in the sump to keep things moving as well as lowered my ai prime light to try and help get some more light. Nothing has seem to really work. I am not sure how long it takes for coral to catch back up. Gonis are hanging on by a thread and my Elegance does not seem like its going to make it. I have one more torch left which is my prized coral that I do not want to lose.
To even help I bought a xr-15 hoping that maybe my AI prime has a melted led or something is wrong with it. As most of my lower corals are not reacting to anything.
I have gotten the salt back up to 1.025-1.026 and I ordered new stuff for my rodi and I am 1ppm.
All fish and inverts are doing great!
Is this just the shock that I just have to let them try and recover from on their own? Is there anything I can really do? I don't want to over do it and do more damage.
Not the best picture but this show the sad state of my tank currently.
This torch died not an hour later.
I dont even remember the last time i have seen the Elegance come out. It was sunk in but its tentacles were still flowing. But now it just looks like green soup.
