Corals Dying after upgrading tank

[highlite2nice]

Hello Everyone,

This is my 1st post, but I have been browsing for about a year now. I have learned a lot over the last year, but still have a lot to learn.

About a month ago I upgraded my tank from a 75 gallon to a 125 gallon. When I first moved everything over from the old tank to the new tank all the corals were doing good and there was no issues. I started getting a diatom bloom a couple weeks after and currently still have diatoms in the tank.

I am running a sump set up with a skimmer, refugium with Cheato, return
Lights are led full spectrum 120w evergrow.

I am running carbon and phosphate remover

Corals not doing good:
-I have a frogspawn that was doing great and growing it is now closed up and dying.
- plate coral that turned white
- open brain that is dying I can see the skeleton
- Zoes are open sometimes but not that much in the last couple weeks
-Green star- sometimes open and sometime closed
-both BTA is now hiding- might be due to increase flow that I added to tank

Corals doing good
-candy cane that seems to be doing great
-clam that looks healthy
-Bubble coral looking good.
-Fish all look good

perma

Temp 79
Salt- 1.025
Amonia-0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate-0
Calcuim- 380
ak- 6
Phosphate-0

PH- seems to be swinging anywhere from 7.82 to 8.16 I don't know if my probe needs to be re calibrated

Flow is on a wave maker about 3100 gph alternating from one set of power heads to another set of power heads and then about another 1800 gph from the return pump running at all times of course. I have tried adjusting flow and sometimes I have run all power heads at the same time about 6200 gph on 15 min off 15 min.

I just started dosing 2 part reef fusion to get my calcium and alkalinity up.

Not sure what other information my be helpful. Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[Zer0.]

What lights were you using? The same LEDs?

 

[Zer0.]

What lights were you using?

 

[highlite2nice]

I was using a lower grade light a marineland Led light 48"

 

[wcarterh]

Might have bleaching due to increased lighting. Try eggcrate on top of the tank under the lights. Corals and anems need to slowly adjust to changes in lighting.

 

[tmz]

Could be low alakinity or a change in PO4 and NO3. .Zeros for PO4 and N)3
are often a problem.More intense lighting could also be contributing.

 

[Dan_P]

That's enough to drive you to drink. Sorry to hear it.

When you upgrade an aquarium, you are likely resetting the bacterial community to a smaller and possibly less diverse one. How far back no one knows, but new tank blooms of diatoms, algae and cyanobacteria are often reported on this forum with upgrades. These nuisance algae do not grow unless there are nutrients. Without a robust bacterial community, a lot of nutrients become available to these organisms and you do not need to invoke the mysterious nutrient leakage from rocks explanation.

Another thing concerning bacteria and coral. There are bacteria on the outside of coral, some on the surface of the tissue. These can grow quickly and smother the coral. Carbon nutrients can cause this rapid bacterial growth. This is a "gotcha" that we know little about. Maybe it is luck that some upgrades don't have this explosive growth. Maybe it is something else, e.g. someone suggested a change in light intensity.

Of course, we don't know how many upgrades proceed without problems because they are not reported. It would be good to hear from forum members on what they think is the "right" way to upgrade. We could then use this wisdom of the crowd to guide future upgrades.

 

[JoelA7]

Knee jerk reaction your alkalinity is low. Ca too. I've just had the opposite problem with dKH up to 15. Shut off CO2 into the Ca reactor and 4 days later corals are looking better. Need to see current dKH but I know it's lower, probably around 13 which is the value of my salt mix.

Second thought is that the poster above who mentioned bacteria on corals has a point. Not sure how much bacteria it kills but there many posts from folks whose corals were having trouble which subsided after a Bayer Advanced dip. You might try it. Certainly will not hurt.

Good luck!