I'm at a loss, both literally and figuratively...
As some of you will recall, after cruising along with an "ok" tank for years, my system crashed a little over a year-and-a-half ago - most everything died, even my hardiest corals that had survived plenty of other mistakes in the past.
At the time (and after ruling out things like stray voltage, etc.), I chalked it up to the fact that my phosphates were a bit on the high side (often in the .15-.2 range... corals didn't grow gangbusters, but they did grow), probably due to the fact that I had a 4" sand bed for years, and both it and my rocks may have finally reached the point where they could no longer help soak up extra phosphate.
After removing the sand bed (gradually) and using GFO for several months, I finally got the phosphate levels back to the .05 or better range (Hanna checker). Not an ideal "0", but well within the range at which I was able to grow corals in the past.
Anyhow, after waiting several months with just a few hardy survivors in the tank (living, not dying!), I recently decided to take the plunge and restock my tank, and, unfortunately, the corals I purchased less than three weeks ago are already dying off at fairly rapid clip... and I don't know why.
Some of the SPS showed signs of trouble within a day or two after going into the tank, and now even some of the LPS are having the same issue (in all cases, the tissues gets more and more faded and "thin" looking as time goes by... and then eventually sloughs off - see pic below)
My numbers over the past few weeks:
salinity (swing arm) 26.3 26.5 26.5 26.5
pH (Salifert) 8 8.1 8.1 8
alk (Elos) 8.5 8.5 8 8.5
ca (Salifert) 420 430 430 425
mag (Salifert) 1350 1350 1380 1380
phosphate (Hannah) .03 .04 .03 .04
Perhaps I've somehow gotten a wrong "target" in my head for one of those parameters, but they seem acceptable to me(?).
I've ruled out stray voltage as the culprit, and after spending a lot of time reading various forums on the internet, all I'm left with as ideas to explain the rapid die-off are:
a. there's actually still a lot of phosphate in the tank, but it's in a form that isn't picked up by test kits (don't know if this actually happens, but I've read about it as a possibility - is there a way to check?)
b. bacterial infection of some sort (seems odd that it would kill off acros in less than 5 days though?)
c. contaminants in my salt (Red Sea)?
d. other contaminants from something leeching out of tubing or other plumbing parts (is there a way to test for this? I've ruled out copper, but don't know how I'd test for other chemicals)
e. a bad test kit somewhere along the line?
I do still have a bit of GFO and activated carbon in the sump, in case that is useful information.
Anyhow, if anyone has anything thoughts or experiences with this sort of across the board "burning" that might help me pinpoint the problem, I'd love to hear them!
Thanks for your help!
As some of you will recall, after cruising along with an "ok" tank for years, my system crashed a little over a year-and-a-half ago - most everything died, even my hardiest corals that had survived plenty of other mistakes in the past.
At the time (and after ruling out things like stray voltage, etc.), I chalked it up to the fact that my phosphates were a bit on the high side (often in the .15-.2 range... corals didn't grow gangbusters, but they did grow), probably due to the fact that I had a 4" sand bed for years, and both it and my rocks may have finally reached the point where they could no longer help soak up extra phosphate.
After removing the sand bed (gradually) and using GFO for several months, I finally got the phosphate levels back to the .05 or better range (Hanna checker). Not an ideal "0", but well within the range at which I was able to grow corals in the past.
Anyhow, after waiting several months with just a few hardy survivors in the tank (living, not dying!), I recently decided to take the plunge and restock my tank, and, unfortunately, the corals I purchased less than three weeks ago are already dying off at fairly rapid clip... and I don't know why.
Some of the SPS showed signs of trouble within a day or two after going into the tank, and now even some of the LPS are having the same issue (in all cases, the tissues gets more and more faded and "thin" looking as time goes by... and then eventually sloughs off - see pic below)
My numbers over the past few weeks:
salinity (swing arm) 26.3 26.5 26.5 26.5
pH (Salifert) 8 8.1 8.1 8
alk (Elos) 8.5 8.5 8 8.5
ca (Salifert) 420 430 430 425
mag (Salifert) 1350 1350 1380 1380
phosphate (Hannah) .03 .04 .03 .04
Perhaps I've somehow gotten a wrong "target" in my head for one of those parameters, but they seem acceptable to me(?).
I've ruled out stray voltage as the culprit, and after spending a lot of time reading various forums on the internet, all I'm left with as ideas to explain the rapid die-off are:
a. there's actually still a lot of phosphate in the tank, but it's in a form that isn't picked up by test kits (don't know if this actually happens, but I've read about it as a possibility - is there a way to check?)
b. bacterial infection of some sort (seems odd that it would kill off acros in less than 5 days though?)
c. contaminants in my salt (Red Sea)?
d. other contaminants from something leeching out of tubing or other plumbing parts (is there a way to test for this? I've ruled out copper, but don't know how I'd test for other chemicals)
e. a bad test kit somewhere along the line?
I do still have a bit of GFO and activated carbon in the sump, in case that is useful information.
Anyhow, if anyone has anything thoughts or experiences with this sort of across the board "burning" that might help me pinpoint the problem, I'd love to hear them!
Thanks for your help!
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