Calling out all Chemists!!!!

[Dr. Reef]

hey guys,
i got my water test results back today. in short i cannot keep any corals happy more than few weeks.
lps and softies live but slowly fade away over few months.
some lps like brains and scolys live about a month.
clams 1 month
SPS-1-2 weeks.
i am killing anything and everything i put in this tank.
parameters are more than perfect and stable.
i got every hardware u can think of. (listed in signature)

can someone look at these results and see what stands out.

 

[Dr. Reef]

currently i am running:
temp 79F
ammonia,nitrite and nitrate 0 (sulfur denitrator)
phos 0.05 (hanna checker)
sg 1.026
ph 8.2
cal 440
alk 8.25-8.5 dkh
mag 1340

5x Vegas (aqua illuminations set at 40%)

i use red sea coral pro. i change 3gal everyday.
if i do 30 gal water change every 3rd day all corals seems to do good but i cannot afford a 30gal every 3rd day its not practical.

 

[Dr. Reef]

here is a pic of my setup if anything stands out.
thanks in advance.

 

[Dr. Reef]

for flow i have 2x 3200 powerheads = 6400gph
4x sea swirls 800gph = 3200gph
closed loop 1260 gph

so a total of 10400gph in a 240gal tank. which breaks down to 43 times the volume.

 

[Jstn]

Do you acclimate your coral to the leds, AKA do you put them low and move them up?

Also how old is this tank, how long has it been doing this?

 

[Dr. Reef]

all corals are light acclimated. tank is an upgrade to a 120gal in same spot.
tank's been setup since feb 2012 and i have been reefing for over 15 yrs. this is the first time i have had problems with corals and tank.
Tank has been killing corals since setup.
i have had professional companies come out look at it and not pin point anything and now a water analysis (costly) and no result.

 

[Jstn]

So the only thing that changed is the tank its self, the liverock, fish came from the previous setup. Is the tank new, is there a possibility of using antibacterial silicon, or leaching something else organic that is killing your coral (not showing up in the metal tests)

 

[pscott99]

Are you killing fish as well. What about other inverts, snails, cleaner shrimp.

 

[rtparty]

Is that your garage? If so, are cars parked in there? Do they ever sit idle and just run?

Also, have you tried different lights? I'm not blaming the LEDs but just curious. It could be something as simple as that.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

 

[coralsnaked]

So if I am correct w/ my math here your Aqua Illumination Sol Blue X6 = 75watt x 6 which is = to about 1620 watts of Metal Halide. At 1620 / 240 = 6.75 lumens per gal in ancient standards which is why i converted to MH watts. So considedering you are an experienced reefer and have controls set to proper lighting standards that is not an issue. Looks like all water params are normal so that is not an issue. Looks like fiiltration is not an issue w/what is mentioned and what I see from pics.

New rock? Water source?

The only other thing that leaves is contaminates from the tank or set up. Is the tank new? If yes then you can probably eleminate it. If no then you can consider it a possible problem. If new tank then that leaves the set up. What was used for plastic pipe connections, only a potable or food-safe PVC glue and primer and not anything contianing Toluene and/or Trichloroethylene can be used. It is possible if you bought something at the hardware store it could have been lacking in information described or mis labeled. Also any silcon used must not contain certian types of mold or mildew inhibitants.

And thats it nothing else unless the new tank was contaminated w/ foreign substance prior to or during installation.

 

[Dr. Reef]

So the only thing that changed is the tank its self, the liverock, fish came from the previous setup. Is the tank new, is there a possibility of using antibacterial silicon, or leaching something else organic that is killing your coral (not showing up in the metal tests)

the only things that changed is the tank. tank is a custom build by glasscages and last one was theirs too. i also upgraded the cal reactor from a korallin to dual chamber reef octopus and also upgraded the skimmer from a smaller reef octopus to a larger recirculating skimmer.
rest everything came from the old setup.
lights went from sols to vegas.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Are you killing fish as well. What about other inverts, snails, cleaner shrimp.

fish and inverts are perfectly fine and thriving. only inverts i kill are anemones and clams.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Is that your garage? If so, are cars parked in there? Do they ever sit idle and just run?

Also, have you tried different lights? I'm not blaming the LEDs but just curious. It could be something as simple as that.

Sent from my SCH-I535 using Tapatalk 2

this setup is in the garage but cars are not parked inside. sometimes 1 car is parked in the garage in winter time with snow predictions but its in and out not running idle.
i had 2x 250w MH and 4x 54 T's before and things were fine. then came the upgrade tank and leds.

 

[jerpa]

Contaminated calcium reactor media?

If water changes help then IMO it must be water quality related. Maybe try a polyfilter?

 

[Dr. Reef]

So if I am correct w/ my math here your Aqua Illumination Sol Blue X6 = 75watt x 6 which is = to about 1620 watts of Metal Halide. At 1620 / 240 = 6.75 lumens per gal in ancient standards which is why i converted to MH watts. So considedering you are an experienced reefer and have controls set to proper lighting standards that is not an issue. Looks like all water params are normal so that is not an issue. Looks like fiiltration is not an issue w/what is mentioned and what I see from pics.

New rock? Water source?

The only other thing that leaves is contaminates from the tank or set up. Is the tank new? If yes then you can probably eleminate it. If no then you can consider it a possible problem. If new tank then that leaves the set up. What was used for plastic pipe connections, only a potable or food-safe PVC glue and primer and not anything contianing Toluene and/or Trichloroethylene can be used. It is possible if you bought something at the hardware store it could have been lacking in information described or mis labeled. Also any silcon used must not contain certian types of mold or mildew inhibitants.

And thats it nothing else unless the new tank was contaminated w/ foreign substance prior to or during installation.

tank is new custom made by glasscages. i have used several of their tanks before and i doubt they used a non reef safe silicone.
for plumbing i did use pvc pipe and a regular pvc glue sold in hardware stores like lowes and home depot no primer. just an all purpose pvc glue.

 

[Dr. Reef]

Contaminated calcium reactor media?

If water changes help then IMO it must be water quality related. Maybe try a polyfilter?

cal reactor is a later on upgrade and problem existed before. i have tried poly filter and they just turn tan to brown only showing organic material.

considering doing 30 gal water change everyother day keeps corals happy i am suspecting something is contaminating water slowly over time i think.

 

[Dr. Reef]

i looked up msds of this glue and there is tetrahydrofuran 30-45% in it.
how bad is this stuff? and after being in use for about 1 yr will it still be an issue?

MSDS:
CAS # Component Percent
109-99-9 Tetrahydrofuran 30-45
108-94-1 Cyclohexanone 10-20
67-64-1 Acetone 10-20
78-93-3 Methyl ethyl ketone 8-18
9002-86-2 PVC (Chloroethylene, polymer) 8-15
68648-82-8 Ethene, chloro-, homopolymer, chlorinated 3-7
112945-52-5 Silica, amorphous, fumed, crystalline-free 1-5

NOTE:Can be used for potable water, pressure pipe and drain, waste and vent piping

 

[Allmost]

I hope you find the problem soon.

but meanwhile, what did you test MG with ? seems off from the value on the lab results !

 

[Dr. Reef]

lab test is accurate on mag, i was low on mag at the time i pulled the sample. i was told not to do any dosing and water changes for a while before pulling the sample so i didnt do anything for a month thus mag did drop to 1200 according to salifert kit i have.
now after the sample was pulled i did bring it back up to 1340.

 

[CHSUB]

how many corals are we talking about and what kind? how about putting a hardy leather in (sinularai ) and taking the phos. reactor and the de-no3 reactor off line and see what happen to the leather. i ran a methonal base denitrator years ago and i think it caused problems...