Loosing corals need help

[jlaudiofreak]

I am loosing corlas left and right and can not figure out why. The coral will look good then I go back an hr later and the flesh is melting away. My tank is 120 gallon 30 gallon fuge , 24 gallon sump and 20 gallon frag tank. I am using 250 watt radium bulbs.

Calcium 650
Mag 1200
KH 12
Nitrate 0
Nitrite 0
Pos 0
Amoina 0
Temp 79
Ph 8.2

I have done 65 gallons of water changes, running carbon. I am just at a lost and can not figure out whats going on.

 

[ritter6788]

Calcium is really high and alkalinity is a little high. What are you dosing?

 

[murphreef]

your alk is high at 12dkh it needs to be down towards 8dkh and your calcium is at 650ppm it should be around 420ppm

this could be stressing the corals right away and causing them to RTN

 

[nikewoven]

Calcium and KH is too high, CA Keep 420-450, KH keep 7-8

 

[jlaudiofreak]

I am not dosing anything thats the things. How do you lower calcium and kh since I have never had to lower them before

 

[murphreef]

what salt mix are you using?? is this a brand new tank how long has it been up and running?

 

[allsps40]

I keep my alk at 10 with no problems. I agree your ca and alk are to high this can cause stn or rtn in sps. Check you salinity with a calibrated refractometer to make sure it is not to high, this will cause high ca and alk.

 

[jlaudiofreak]

the salt is corallife same salt i have been using for 4 yrs, chaeck my refractometer several time and my salinty is 1.026

 

[dzhuo]

Coralife is high in cal so that's probably why. Is your tank 4 years old? If not, how long has the tank been set up? Do you mind posting a picture of your tank? Are the SPS OK in your frag tank but not the display? If you add the SPS and it dies within hours, something is very wrong with the tank.

 

[jlaudiofreak]

My tank is about a year old,
Here is a before pic

Here is a pic from 5 mins ago

 

[jlaudiofreak]

The SPS in the frag tank are doing ok not great but nothing like my display tank. No a couple of the coral that are solid white still have polyp extension some what

 

[dzhuo]

It seems to me a lot of your acros are wild or mari-culture? Are those the ones you had problems or pretty much all frags?

 

[jlaudiofreak]

aquacultred, its both them and the frags. I have pulled out 15 frags that have died

 

[dzhuo]

Your tank looks to be well matured and although a few of your params are higher than usual, I don't think it would be to a point it kills the acros in hours. Oceanic is a fairly popular salt so I imagine others who have success would have similar params.

Have you ever be able to keep SPS in this tank? What about other corals such as LPS or zoas or softies? What are the history of this tank? For example, any copper or other medication has ever been used in the past? Are you running RO/DI?

 

[iriejp1]

Obviously your CA and Alk are a little high...reduce that SLOWLY. Dont panic and do more damage!

But my suspicion is either your test kits are wrong and you are way off on a parameter or two or you have pests you haven't seen yet. Take a dead/nearly dead coral out and dip it in Revive or Coral Rx and see if anything flys off in about 10 minutes. Thats how I found AEFW I never knew I had (and I examine and DIP hardcore!).

 

[jlaudiofreak]

I have had all the corals for awhile and have I have sps growning very well since Dec. Every coral was dipped in coral RX before ever going into the tank. The test kits are brand new Elos kits, I also even double checked it with my old Salifert test kits.

 

[jwoyshnar]

I know everyone is saying your alk is high Red Sea coral pro is at 13. They say it helps improve growth on sps. I know there was a thread earlier in the week on this. My alk is at 11 and (knock on wood) i have no issues like that. How are you checking your salinity?

 

[jlaudiofreak]

I have used 2 different refractormeter

 

[dzhuo]

I have had all the corals for awhile and have I have sps growning very well since Dec. Every coral was dipped in coral RX before ever going into the tank.

So you used to have success and now you can't keep SPS? If so, at what point did you start to notice your corals die off? What has changed at that time? I assume you are in fact using RO/DI and there is no chance of things like chloramine entering your tank?

 

[anthony27]

Hey buddy,


I had a alk swing of 14 in my tank and it was bad news lower the alk and cal and you are good to go just do some water changes till it goes down and you should be good.