Bit of background info: most of my liverock is about 1.5 years old. September last year I moved, bascially resetting the tank (with new sandbed). Moved my tank again 2 months ago across the room, removing all the liverock, fish and corals. My liverock lies on top of the sandbed, so it didn't disturb much. The tank was running for about 10 months at that point.
So I've got 2 problems sort of.
Problem 1: the oldest hammer in my tank. Used to be pretty and extended really well. Over the past couple of months it has slowly shrank and I don't know why. I've tried several different spots in the tank: low flow, slightly higher flow, even higher flow, low light, higher light etc. It's currently pretty much at the bottom in low flow, which it seems to like best. Picture 1: top is 1.5 years ago, bottom is today.
Problem 2a: even since moving the tank across the room my second oldest hammer is half the size it used to be. More worryingly (I think), there's a very clear, rough skeleton edge. My other hammers, frogspawns and torches aren't showing that rough edge and I know this one didn't look like that before the move. I thought it could've been stress and just left it alone, but nothing's changed. Hasn't gotten worse or better. This one is also near the sandbed in med-low flow. Pretty much in the same area as before the move, with the same amount of light and flow. Pic 2: left is today, right is 4 months ago.
Problem 2b: a softy, but I don't want to open a different thread for this one and it's related to 2a. One of my mushrooms looks miserable. Again, this happened after the move, before that no problems at all. It doesn't inflate or deflate, always looks the same. Every now and then it's mouth is wide open for a day or so, but it won't eat. I tried a bunch of different spots, but none of them seem to be 'the' spot. It did open up slightly for a day or so after I moved it to its current spot, but then looked miserable again. Pic 3: left is 4 months ago, right is today.
All my Euphyllia are together on some rockwork, like they always have been. Hammers and frogspawns all get pretty much the same amount of flow and lighting, torches a bit more flow. All of them look absolutely fine. I actually added a new torch just a week after the move and another frogspawn a little over 2 weeks ago. They're looking great and extending properly. Other corals are doing fine as well, except for some browning sps due to exploding phosphates.
I've got some wrasses (flasher, fairy and H. chrysus), a tailspot and a flametail blenny, 4 cleaner shrimp, bunch of hermits and snails. Nothing that I know of that'll bother them. I never dip corals, but these problems occured before adding the frogspawn and torch. I run activated carbon 24/7 and gfo since 2 weeks.
Ok, the mess that is parameters. As of last week:
KH: 9.7
Calc: 490
Mag: 1900
NO3: 20
PO4: 0.5
Salinity: 1.024
Temp: 24.2
2 weeks ago I did a 30% water change with a brand new bag of my go to salt brand. Turns out, it was a bad mix or something. Alk went from 8.3 to 9.7, calc 440 to 500, magnesium was already extremely high, probably something like 1700. Alk and calcium have been pretty stable before that though, no major swings. Tested a bucket of freshly made salt water after that, with alk at 15!
Phosphates and nitrates in my tank have always been high, around 0.8, with nitrates around 20. 2 weeks ago I found out they were at 2.0! Immediately put a bag of gfo in the sump, which is doing its thing. I suspect the move caused a spike because of detritus trapped inside the liverock came loose or something.
I think that's about it. Hopefully you've made it through so far.
I'm still suspecting my sky high phosphates are (part of) the problem, so I'm thinking about just waiting things out. However, I don't want to just sit here and do nothing, while these corals are slowly dying because there's a different cause. This doesn't however explain problem 1. That hammer has always been in high phosphate water and started declining wayyyyy before sliding the tank across the room. I've only now realized this, because I compared pictures of last year to now. It changed so slowly that I never noticed.
So I've got 2 problems sort of.
Problem 1: the oldest hammer in my tank. Used to be pretty and extended really well. Over the past couple of months it has slowly shrank and I don't know why. I've tried several different spots in the tank: low flow, slightly higher flow, even higher flow, low light, higher light etc. It's currently pretty much at the bottom in low flow, which it seems to like best. Picture 1: top is 1.5 years ago, bottom is today.
Problem 2a: even since moving the tank across the room my second oldest hammer is half the size it used to be. More worryingly (I think), there's a very clear, rough skeleton edge. My other hammers, frogspawns and torches aren't showing that rough edge and I know this one didn't look like that before the move. I thought it could've been stress and just left it alone, but nothing's changed. Hasn't gotten worse or better. This one is also near the sandbed in med-low flow. Pretty much in the same area as before the move, with the same amount of light and flow. Pic 2: left is today, right is 4 months ago.
Problem 2b: a softy, but I don't want to open a different thread for this one and it's related to 2a. One of my mushrooms looks miserable. Again, this happened after the move, before that no problems at all. It doesn't inflate or deflate, always looks the same. Every now and then it's mouth is wide open for a day or so, but it won't eat. I tried a bunch of different spots, but none of them seem to be 'the' spot. It did open up slightly for a day or so after I moved it to its current spot, but then looked miserable again. Pic 3: left is 4 months ago, right is today.
All my Euphyllia are together on some rockwork, like they always have been. Hammers and frogspawns all get pretty much the same amount of flow and lighting, torches a bit more flow. All of them look absolutely fine. I actually added a new torch just a week after the move and another frogspawn a little over 2 weeks ago. They're looking great and extending properly. Other corals are doing fine as well, except for some browning sps due to exploding phosphates.
I've got some wrasses (flasher, fairy and H. chrysus), a tailspot and a flametail blenny, 4 cleaner shrimp, bunch of hermits and snails. Nothing that I know of that'll bother them. I never dip corals, but these problems occured before adding the frogspawn and torch. I run activated carbon 24/7 and gfo since 2 weeks.
Ok, the mess that is parameters. As of last week:
KH: 9.7
Calc: 490
Mag: 1900
NO3: 20
PO4: 0.5
Salinity: 1.024
Temp: 24.2
2 weeks ago I did a 30% water change with a brand new bag of my go to salt brand. Turns out, it was a bad mix or something. Alk went from 8.3 to 9.7, calc 440 to 500, magnesium was already extremely high, probably something like 1700. Alk and calcium have been pretty stable before that though, no major swings. Tested a bucket of freshly made salt water after that, with alk at 15!
Phosphates and nitrates in my tank have always been high, around 0.8, with nitrates around 20. 2 weeks ago I found out they were at 2.0! Immediately put a bag of gfo in the sump, which is doing its thing. I suspect the move caused a spike because of detritus trapped inside the liverock came loose or something.
I think that's about it. Hopefully you've made it through so far.
I'm still suspecting my sky high phosphates are (part of) the problem, so I'm thinking about just waiting things out. However, I don't want to just sit here and do nothing, while these corals are slowly dying because there's a different cause. This doesn't however explain problem 1. That hammer has always been in high phosphate water and started declining wayyyyy before sliding the tank across the room. I've only now realized this, because I compared pictures of last year to now. It changed so slowly that I never noticed.