Not Happy with my Tank….

[kleach]

Hey everyone,

A few months ago I switched my supplements from Red Sea to Bulk Reef and hooked up a dosing pump. Something happened with the pump where it wasn't dosing anything because it was in the wrong mode and I had a pretty significant alkalinity swing down to 6 or so. Needless to say, some corals died and some other stuff looked like crap. This was back in July or August.

Some of the corals, like my meteor shower, had lost flesh on the top but is now encrusting over its wounds and doing better. Other coral looks amazing with full polyp and colors. But, some stuff that had been doing well is starting to crap out on me. One acro colony slowly lost flesh over the course of a month until it died, and now another one that had survived the all swing is doing the same thing. Another bright green acro has lost its flesh color but still has many green polyps fully extended. Orange setosa, which is usually very hardy, is looking pretty crappy too, but that might be the birds nest that's right next to it killing it.

My fish are all prefect, clam is great, LPS looks fantastic but a few across are slowly crapping out. Might be psychological but I think my coralline isn't as purple as it usually is. Is it possible that the tank is still adjusting from the ALK swing? I have an ATO, chiller with temp controller, bubble magnus dosing pump and all levels have been relatively stable.

Mg - 1400
Ca - 420-430
Alk - 9.0-9.2 (Used to be lower but over the course of weeks crept up b/c of dosing pump)
Salinity - 1.026 (was 1.024 or 1.025 last time I checked a week or 2 ago)
Nitrate - 2.5 - 5
Phosphate - .04

Have PhosBan in a mesh bag and chemipure elite in bag in back sump of my red sea max.

Let me know what you all think. Thanks!

 

[Reefist]

I'm in the same boat. I got rid of my CA reactor because it was too small. Bought a bubble Magnus doser and use all BRS additives. Lost all coralline on my back wall. The things that were doing good are not doing so well and vice versa . I have same parameters as you. I'm not adding anything till I get it right. There's more to reef chemistry then Alk,Ca,Mg,nitrate and phos. I'm plugging along but like you not happy with what I see. No help but your not alone.
Tom

 

[quagmire]

Kevin it sounds like a kh issue to me. Have you double checked it with a different test kit. Is there any chance you're reading off the wrong scale meq/L vs dkh?

 

[kleach]

Kinda sucks Tom…At the very least you made me realize I might not be going crazy with the Coralline loss lol.

John, I think the Alk test kit might be off a little bit. It's a Red Sea kit, but the color change from the titration was never as noticeable as my previous test kits. Maybe I'll swing by the store and grab a new one. The Red Sea only has one scale so I know it's not that. I do have an API, but don't trust its accuracy so never use it…rookie mistake buying it lol.

Thanks for the responses and if anyone else has had issues like this let me know how I might be able to fix them. I've only had my tank running for 1 year 7 months so I've never dealt with issues like this before.

 

[792404]

I dont remember seeing a chiller on your system? Hows your temp holding? Lately my temp has been up and down with this weather, I notice it in my corals also. Just wondering if your temp is stable.

 

[kleach]

I've got a chiller and my heater hooked up to a Ranco Controller which keeps the temp within 1 degree. My temp is set at 78.

The ATO would prevent salinity swings and the bubble magnus should prevent swings in Ca, Mg and Alk.

I'm CLUELESS!!!

 

[catman78]

Give it time to settle in. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.
Monitor parameters and don't make any drastic changes.
Look close for stabilization of coral loss and signs of turnaround.