Help me solve my tank crash. Plenty of evidence...

[Indiana Reefin]

Hello reefers!
My 18 gallon AIO is going through a crash. This is my first tank crash in 10 years of experience and I can't quite put my thumb on it. Here is some basic info on my tank:

18 gallon AIO Cadligts aquarium
Intank media rack with filter floss, chemipure blue, and Purigan
Tunze 9001 skimmer(pulls nasty stuff all day long)
Plenty of flow
Kessil 350 Tuna blue narrow
25 lbs of live rock
10 lbs of live sand
1 small lightning maroon clown
1 small pajama cardinal
1 cleaner shrimp
LPS/softie corals
Tank salinity 35 part
Tank temp 78.5
Phosphates .004 (phosphate Hanna checker)
Nitrates 0-5 ppm
Alkalinity 8.3
Calcium 425
Magnesium 1400

Housekeeping:
2 gallon water changes weekly
Dose kalk2+ with my ATO to keep my all stable

Current tank status:
All LPS are almost dead. Corals turned pale slowely over 2 months
All ricordia, yummy mushrooms, zoas look really rough and don't look like they are going to make it.
My leather coral is the only coral that looks happy.
My rose bubble tip anemone looks rough and isn't going to make it
Hair algae
A small amount of cyano

Things that I think could have caused the crash:
I dosed chemiclean in my tank about 7 months ago to get rid of cyano
I swapped from a Nano box mini tide to the kessil 350 Tuna Blue Narrow
I use all distilled water
I moved my tank twice in a week. My office got remodeled and painted so I had to move it home and back to my office. This is really when my tank started looking bad.
I left my Nano mag on my glass at all times and found that the magnet on the inside part of the cleaning pad was rusted. The water right seal failed. Lesson learned, I don't leave cheap magnets in my tank anymore.

I can't figure this out. I was expecting my phosphates and my nitrates to be through the roof. I just tested this today.

Please help me out. This is very discouraging for me

 

[DreadCapn]

I swapped from a Nano box mini tide to the kessil 350 Tuna Blue Narrow

It's 99% your lighting. When you list a bunch of problems that your photosensitive things have, and no problems with anything else, it's the lighting.

It might just be too much - that seems like a whole lotta light for a 20g cube. How much distance is between the water and the light's lens?

Do you know how stable your temp and ph is 24/7? Things could be getting out of whack in the middle of the night, because you are using such strong lighting during the day. I feel like either of those things would be effecting your shrimp though.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

Temp is pretty steady through the night. Temp drops down to maybe 76.5 at the most.
My blue Chanel is at 100% and my whites are around 30-40. I will turn the light output down to half what it is. Light is 15” above the surface.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

It's 99% your lighting

Personally I'm not sure if we can be that confident.

What was the timing of the lighting change with respect to the issues?

I know you said you moved the tank twice, and that was when the problem started. Can you describe what you did to move it? How long had the tank been running before the first move? Is there sand or any other substrate?

 

[ca1ore]

Did you mean 350 or 360? Not sure that the older 350 was adjustable. Regardless the 360 narrow is a very strong light. At the very least i'd be turning it way down for a tank that size.

 

[Gorgok]

I only read corals suffering... how are the inverts? And fish?

If that magnet was a neodiddlyium magnet you could have copper in the tank. Neodymium magnets are often nickel, copper, and nickel plated...

 

[Indiana Reefin]

Personally I'm not sure if we can be that confident.

What was the timing of the lighting change with respect to the issues?

I know you said you moved the tank twice, and that was when the problem started. Can you describe what you did to move it? How long had the tank been running before the first move? Is there sand or any other substrate?

I kept 90% of the water and all of the sand and rock. I think where I screwed up
is that I kept the sand in the tank with a little water in the tank. Everything else I put in buckets and Tupperware. The tank was taken down and put back together within 5 hours both times. The water and livestock were kept at an adequate temperature for the entire time.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

Did you mean 350 or 360? Not sure that the older 350 was adjustable. Regardless the 360 narrow is a very strong light. At the very least i'd be turning it way down for a tank that size.

350 sorry. I have it around 40% white and 100% blue

 

[Indiana Reefin]

I only read corals suffering... how are the inverts? And fish?

If that magnet was a neodiddlyium magnet you could have copper in the tank. Neodymium magnets are often nickel, copper, and nickel plated...

My cleaner shrimp and snails are fine. My anemone is not doing well though.

If copper got into my tank will I be able to get it out with water changes or will it absorb into my rocks and sand?

 

[Gorgok]

A poly filter would absorb heavy metals (and tell you which ones it did) but if the snails and shrimp are fine it may not be that.

 

[Indiana Reefin]

I just bought a copper test kit and a Reefkeeper Basic lite. I am going to try and sell or trade my light so I can get a less intense light fixture.

 

[saltwater_wannabe]

This may or may not be the cause, but I had a similar situation in my 50g a year ago. I took my LFS advice and removed all of the Leathers in the tank. It took a few weeks but I haven't had any significant coral issues since.

The LFS justification was that there might have been some 'chemical warfare' going on between the SPS/LPS and the Leathers. I can't say for sure but everything that looked like it was on death's door perked up within a week.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

Many leathers do engage in strong chemical warfare. Most people find you can mitigate this by running carbon, and given the OP's chemical media I'd assume that's not an issue here.

 

[sde1500]

350 sorry. I have it around 40% white and 100% blue

That is pretty strong. Might not be at the heart of your issues, but I would dial it back for a bit. I would say run carbon, but you are. Very weird. When was the light change. Might be a combo of overly intense lighting and a couple moves causing extra stress on the corals.

 

[der_wille_zur_macht]

That is pretty strong. Might not be at the heart of your issues, but I would dial it back for a bit. I would say run carbon, but you are. Very weird. When was the light change. Might be a combo of overly intense lighting and a couple moves causing extra stress on the corals.

That's basically my guess too. Stirring up an older sanded can release all kinds of nasty stuff beyond just the measurable N and P nutrients we are trained to look for. Corals weakened by toxins from the sand and then dumped under higher intensity are probably not going to do well.

I would keep a good eye on nutrients, do regular water changes, and knock the lighting back a few percent a day until you're at maybe 2/3 or 1/2 your current level.

 

[alton]

"I moved my tank twice in a week. My office got remodeled and painted so I had to move it home and back to my office. This is really when my tank started looking bad."
I think you answered your own question. A lot of good advice here, hopefully your tank improves

 

[joesig]

Help me solve my tank crash. Plenty of evidence...

Yeah the inverts would die if you had to many metals in there. Like all accidents it's probably a combination of things, the move the rust and most definitely too much light.
I would say turn down lights and do daily water changes like 5g a day for a week. Its never really that easy to pinpoint a crash like yours there are always to many variables


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[joesig]

Good luck hope it recovers


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[Indiana Reefin]

Thanks all for your help.
I got a copper test kit coming and I sold my light and went with a AI nano. I am going to tackle everything.
Really appreciate all your advice everyone

 

[Indiana Reefin]

Well it wasn’t copper. Thankfully.
I am really at a loss here. I will post results of water parameters tomorrow. I noticed that my sand clumped up a little on the right side of my tank. I believe that is from my kalk dosing.

I am also getting a differnt light. I got a killer deal on a AI nano.
I am going to try and tackle as many theories as possible.