Problem with the tank

[ddouglass1577]

So this problem has been plaguing me for the past 8-10 months now. I can not keep corals alive for more than a month in my tank, and the ones that have been in the tank for over a year have not grown at all. I have tried a few things but now I am at a lost. I am so fed up with it that I'm thinking about taking the whole thing down and starting over to see if it will fix the problem. So here is the details of the tank:



My tank is a 38 gallon IM with GFO, carbon, ATO, and a skimmer running. I currently have 2 blue chromes, 3 clown fish, 1 bicolor blenny. The fish are doing great, beside the few that have jumped out of the tank, but that problem as been fixed and added more fish to replace the fish that died. I do have a clean up crew of snails, hermits, and a cleaner shrimp. I feed the fish once a day with pellets, flakes, and once a week of PE pysis. I do have coralline algae every where. I have 2 MP10wes on reef crest, lagoon, and at night 3 hours of nutrient export mode. I have a radion pro G3 at 40% on for 14 hours a day with a VERY slow ramp up. I change the water every week, I have cut back to once a month to see if the tank is too clean (still keep up with my mag, cal, and alk levels). I also have 3 RBTA that are happy (1 became 3 over the course of a year). After the water change there is no change in coral action. My levels have been great:



Mag - 1300

Cal - 400 to 450

Alk - 8.0

Phosphorus - 15 - 30 ppb



Amm. - 0

Nitrites - 0

Nitrate - 0.2 ppm



I did have a problem with hydroids, on one rock, I took it out, cleaned it, bleached it, unbleached it, and dried it. They have not shown up in the tank since then, and that was about 6 months ago. Other than the coral death my tank is doing great. I talked with a friend who owns a online coral selling company and he thought that the tank was too clean, so for the past 2 months the GFO has not been running. No jump in Phosphorus, no algae and no change in coral. I have noticed that at night I have polyp extension than during the day when I have none.



Like I said, I have not idea what's going on, I have bought a lot of coral and they all die. The only ones that are in the tank that will not die or grow are zoa's and one golden torch coral. Any one have an suggestions?

 

[ddouglass1577]

Here is my schedule for both vortech and radion

 

[ryeguyy84]

How do the existing coral look? All I can think of is either to much flow or to much light. The G3 pro is pretty powerful. I run my G3 at 50% and I've got 5 inches more depth than you.

Can you post a pic of a surviving coral? Maybe we can go from there.

 

[mr.maroonsalty]

First, the sessile hydroids we know are not a problem, but I will have to look at "bleach" threads. I don't cook liverock, but is there any correlation to the problem and reintroducing the cooked rock back into the tank? I doubt there is, because the tank would have been affected too, not just new additions. I would double confirm the tank's sg. I had a similar problem a long time ago that came down to shock from having dead sea level salinity, that came up in the tank slowly enough that the corals in the tank adjusted, but new additions, especially fish had a hard time.

 

[ddouglass1577]

First, the sessile hydroids we know are not a problem, but I will have to look at "bleach" threads. I don't cook liverock, but is there any correlation to the problem and reintroducing the cooked rock back into the tank? I doubt there is, because the tank would have been affected too, not just new additions. I would double confirm the tank's sg. I had a similar problem a long time ago that came down to shock from having dead sea level salinity, that came up in the tank slowly enough that the corals in the tank adjusted, but new additions, especially fish had a hard time.

I agree with you I don't think it's the rock. The salinity I didn't put down but I check it weekly, it's at 1.024 - 1.025

 

[PhaneSoul]

Do you carbon dose? Is the coralline growing at all? Has your light schedule always been the same? Have you ever tried putting a Kenya tree or Xenia in to see if it grows?

 

[ddouglass1577]

Do you carbon dose? Is the coralline growing at all? Has your light schedule always been the same? Have you ever tried putting a Kenya tree or Xenia in to see if it grows?

Lots of question which I will answer in bullets

-I do not carbon dose

-coralline seems to also be at a stand still

-yes and no. I have never changed the schedule but I have increased the intensity from 35% to 40% about 3 months ago.

-I do have a Xenia and it has been shrinking slowly over the past 2 months.

 

[ddouglass1577]

How do the existing coral look? All I can think of is either to much flow or to much light. The G3 pro is pretty powerful. I run my G3 at 50% and I've got 5 inches more depth than you.

Can you post a pic of a surviving coral? Maybe we can go from there.

Here you go

 

[JoelA7]

Thoughts-2

First try feeding 2x a day and add more variety. Frozen spirulina brine and bloodworms or Rods or others. Corals like fish poo. Your fish will enjoy this too.

Also plus 1 to above suggestion that your light might be too strong. I have effective depth of between 22-24" to the sand and also max out at 40%. But that's the peak. For about 6 hours it's above 30%. I use the stock 14k setting.

Tank was doing awesome prior to an Ick infestation. Hope to regain this in two more months.

 

[PhaneSoul]

how much and what do you feed? I too think food is probably a factor here.

 

[PhaneSoul]

hmm but that wouldn't explain the coralline.. but either way im a believer in heavy feedings.

 

[Big_Boss_77]

I don't know how feasible this is... but have you checked your PAR? My local reef group just pooled for a PAR meter and my Reef breeders light at 40 blue 20 white (roughly, don't remember exactly) was pouring out over 250 par at the sand bed. Needless to say, my corals looked like hammered $h!t and I basically burned off 50 dollars worth of shrooms... cut it in half, put the PAR at a respectable and sane level and stuff started perking back up. Not saying this is your problem but it couldn't hurt to check if you've exhausted all other possibilities.

 

[ddouglass1577]

I changed my schedule on my lights to be on only 10 hours during the day and decreased the overall to 35%. I have also increased the amount of feeding I do. Hopefully this is the problem. Does anyone else have a suggestion? I still have some dieing coral in my tank that I would rather not die

 

[Big_Boss_77]

I changed my schedule on my lights to be on only 10 hours during the day and decreased the overall to 35%. I have also increased the amount of feeding I do. Hopefully this is the problem. Does anyone else have a suggestion? I still have some dieing coral in my tank that I would rather not die

Unfortunately they're not going to recover over night. My bleached corals are just now starting to recover, it's been over a month. It's hard to say, but if they're to far gone for what ever reason there's not a lot we can do but learn from our mistakes.
Keep fighting and giving them the best possible chance. Keep constant eyes on your tank and make sure everything you can control is perfect and hope for the best.
Keep us posted.

 

[Perth_reefer]

I have bought a lot of coral and they all die. The only ones that are in the tank that will not die or grow are zoa's and one golden torch coral. Any one have an suggestions?

Is it Acropora that is dying? I might go the other way to what people have said and say it's not enough light. You seem to be able to keep corals that require lower light levels ok (although you're not getting the growth you want)
I run 3 Hydra52s at 80% on my tank to get Acropora growth, these are at about 11" from the water surface.

I'm just wondering what your settings are? There was a post in the lighting threads from someone who wasn't getting growth from his coral and when we looked into it he was running his lights at a bit of a strange setting (not purposely but sometimes LEDs can be tricky to get the spectrum right on).

When you saying your corals are dying, what is happening to them? Bleaching, RTN etc