6 year old system dying

dwdowney

New member
All-
Over the last two weeks I have lost, one by one a large blue milli colony, a very large blue turiki colony, the tips are browning and growing algae on my football size purple nana and I have lost two other bali corals. All have been in my tank or a previous tank for 6+ years. Everything else in the tank is looking great. My tank is testing as follows:
Phosphorus: 20 ppb - .06 ppm phosphate
Alkalinity: 7.6 "โ€œ 7.8
Calcium: 430
Mag: 1250
Salinity 1.026
System: 675 gal main display with 2x Xp 5000 cone skimmers, 4000ml of EcoBak in a custom reactor, 3 400 watt 14k Ushio, 6 Tunze pumps on Apex making the wave ect
They only three thinks that happen before this starts is I replaced my 7 month old Ushio 14k 400 watt bulbs with the same bulbs. I did a 100 gallon water change, 1/8th of the system volume with Instant Ocean salt ( same salt I have been using for moths however the boxes were wet because they probably sat in mop water (could be the problem) and I add some GFO to my system but forgot to rinse it well and a lot of fines when into the system. I am afraid I'm going to kill $10,000 worth of SPS over the next few weeks and I cannot stop it.
I will take pics of the coral tonight but the flesh is literally peeling away from the center of the coral out and brown algae is growing on many of the tips. I cannot see any bugs but that is the only other thing that I can think of. Some people have had problems with flat worms and redbugs in this area in the past.
I am replacing my lignite carbon with bituminous carbon tonight thinking that if the cleaning lady got something in the water that the bituminous would take it out quicker.
If anyone has any ideas, please give them to me no matter the cost.
 
Confirm your alk reading... has it been swinging? Alot of times alk can swing a bit when new GFO is added to the system. Burnt tips with algae growing on them is a classic sign of alk damage
 
your alk and mag seem a little low and given your tanks usage that could be a big problem combined with light shock from your new bulbs ... did you acclimate to your new bulbs?
 
mag is very low. ALK is "OK" for usage of pellets. I'd also double check your refractometer is calibrated. It's one of those wacky things that can throw you for a loop now and then.
 
My Alk was testing 8.5- 8.6 with my Salifer test kit, but I just got a new Hanna checker which is reading almost a point lower. I will check my refrac tonight.
 
Your Mag is fine, your not going to get problems like that from mag being at 1250, 1200-1500 is fine. I have killer growth on my SPS and my Mag sits between 1250 and 1350. If the tissue is receeding from the middle the GFO is probably the culprit, or a pest. Any new additions coral wise to the tank. Lighting could be the issue also if you didnt acclimate the corals to the change, where are the affected corals located at in the tank.
 
Confirm your alk reading... has it been swinging? Alot of times alk can swing a bit when new GFO is added to the system. Burnt tips with algae growing on them is a classic sign of alk damage

+1

Adding new GFO (especially if you didn't rinse it), will cause your KH to drop by as much as 1-2 dKH depends on the quantity of GFO you added.

Read more about it here:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-11/rhf/index.php

This kind of KH swing maybe the cause of your problems.
 
eh, I donnu about the mag comment as soon as my mag gets out of line I notice it in my corals. Montis first. Dipping below 1300 = trouble for me.
 
If mop water got into the salt and you did a 100 gallon water change, this could be the problem.

I dont see having a few GFO particles in a tank your size could be that big of a issue. Is GFO new to the system? is that what you alk is always reading??

How long have you been running the eco-bak? GFO and ECO Bak can be a deadly combo??
 
Sounds like time for drastic measures your tank has probably been poisoned by the mop water. Large water changes (several) and carbon to try and save the corals is what I would do and start fragging the colonies to try and salvage what you can. Also shorten the lighting cycle for a while to help acclimate the corals to the new bulbs and lessen the light shock. Anything else new happen just before all of this??You might try to let the alk drift down to around 8 where it had been also. Hope some of this helps. GL
 
Not to be a weenie. But why would you use salt that may have been tainted? I know salt is not free. But with a system of such titan size and colonies, why would you even risk it over $25 worth of saltmix? Live and learn.

I would avoid BIG water changes at all costs. I would do a couple 50 gallon water changes per day (1 in the AM and 1 in the PM ) with the alk value matched as close to your tank's alk value as possible. I'd do this for the next 7 to 10 days and see how it goes. The carbon running can only help especially if you're having some die off. You might be able to turn things around.
 
How long have you been running ecobak? I dumped mine after a few weeks as my acros started to go pale.
 
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