Not a good Monday so far...

mr86mister

mr86mister

Saltaholic
I woke up this morning to find my entire tank cloudy and half my corals dead. All of my Euphyllia's have melted except for my largest colony(god thank you), Xenia's melted, Green and Pink Bubble Corals almost dead, Clams are shut but don't look dead yet, mushrooms won't open, Duncan's closed, etc. The fish looked fine and still are doing great. No alarms went off for my RKL, the temperature never went above 81. Parameters were consistent for my aquarium.

Temp-78.8-79.8(RKL's stats)
SG-1.023
pH-8.1
Amm-Not detectable
Nitrite-Not detectable
Nitrate-0.2
Ca-400
Alk-12
Mag-1200
(These were before I did the water change)

After the water change I tested again and the parameters were a bit different. Ca and Mag changed.

Ca-410
Mag-1300

I did a 50 % water change today and checked everything. The water has cleared up a bit.

My alkalinity has always been high. I just don't know why. I have well water and use RO/DI 3-Step System.(I don't have a TDS meter...I know that's a no no...and my Filters I purchased last month)I have added nothing to my aquarium for a few weeks. I dose rarely because I don't have a large livestock of corals. My aquarium is covered so nothing could have fallen in it. Everything has checked out fine I just am confused. I checked my heaters, protein skimmer, bulbs, pumps, electric wiring. Grrr, I don't know what to do!!! Please I need more possible issues.

I have a buddy who is holding on to my Torch Colony and will probably hold on to my other corals and inverts if things get progressively worse. I can't afford to fill my tank again. If things get bad I plan on keeping 1 or 2 fish and selling off my system and get a much smaller system maybe a Solana or 75 Gal. I don't know. I'm extremely frustrated.

:uzi:*Fish Tank*
 
Wish I had more suggestions for you Mike. But my experience limits me a ton. Just some words of encouragement. Hang in there and hopefully you'll get this all straightened out. I'm sure someone will be along with more suggestions..
 
Yeah same as Dave,Wish I can offer you some suggestions.Odd your inverts are not affected? I hope everyone can come together on this and get this worked out for ya!
Everything I could think of you checked already. I dont have enough exp with alk issues
either wish I could be of more help :(
 
sorry to hear. If you didn't add anything is there any chance of kids or pets adding anything? Any recent cleaning near the tank (backing soda?). Do you have a PH alarm set of the reef keeper?

Hang in there. every hobby has it's ups and downs! Live learn and go back to enjoying!
 
Very sorry to hear this Mike. :( Hopefully you'll be able to track down the issue but if not, don't lose heart.

Do you usually run the Alk at 12dKH? 10 is the highest I've dared to go with mine and when I removed my large grain sand bed I found a lot of it had started clumping together. Do you have any precipitate on your heater(s)?
 
ah man, that stinks! sorry but i have no clue what would cuase the tank to cloud, have you double check your temp with a different intrument so to compare what the RKL is reading?

hope things will gets better :)
 
Blurry-I don't have a pH probe for my RK, it's on the lite version. Booooo...lol.

Shawna- I thought of that, it could have happened over night and never registered but I did check it again with another digital and it was the same as the RK.

Mel-I wish I could get my Alk lower, I've had it tested everywhere and my well water and water that comes out of the RO/DI has a dKH of 12. Nobody has ever tested it higher. But it has always been that way since I started my tanks so I figure it might not be an issue. Also, no clumping and no precipitation on my heaters other than those little white rock like shell shaped things. I try to make sure to keep my heaters clean so they don't over heat.
 
Wait, so your water from the well and through the RO/DI measures 12dKH already, before salt? Does the water go through any treatment between the well and the RO/DI?
 
Mel-Great question I have only tested it after I put in the salt. Reef Crystals is the product and I have never had issues with that but I will test my dKH tomorrow on the well water itself. Also it is not filtered from anything out of the well, the house water is but the plumbing I get it from pulls it directly from the well. Then I run it through the RO/DI.
 
do you have anything with low power draw attached to the center ports of the ReefKeeper? The ports can stay on with lower power draw items like ATO's. any chance you have any dosing equipment connected?
 
Nope, the only thing connected is the Temp prob. Then I run my lights off of it that's it. ATO is done manually as well as dosing.
 
Well I tested the dKH of my RO/DI without salt and it tested at 2.2. Is this normal for freshwater? The area I live in is mostly clay earth. Does that have something to do with it? Should I get a better RO/DI system? I don't know I'm just trying to figure out ways to fix this or something else to do.
 
My alk test kit only reads "Low,normal,High" Wish I could help out :( I myself have a well and use an R/O. My alk is usually Normal range and only gets low when I run Gfo and skimp on WC every 2 weeks.
 
Possibly, I have a 7 Inch T. Gigas and 4" T. Deresea.

The corals have been looking worse so I have moved them all into a temporary tank for the night. Luckily I had a whole entire spare system to put them in. Nothing wrong with extra pumps, lights, tanks, heaters...woot woot. I'm bringing them to my buddy tomorrow and hopefully I can figure this out. I'm just so confused because my fish look completely fine.
 
wow, Mike...please keep us posted on the outcome and any possible sources for this....i feel for you...sincerely.
 
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