Reef Troubles

[BFEHRENBACH]

I have a 54 gallon corner reef tank and all of the sudden its giving me fits! I did water tests today with following results:

pH - 8.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0 ppm
Nitrate - 10 ppm

All of my inverts are suddenly dying! In the last few weeks, I have lost a coral banded shrimp, several hermits, 2-3 emerald crabs, and a brittle star!!!! And today, my cleaner shrimp is awol! He may have just molted, I just found his old shell, but normally he comes right out when I feed and today there is no sogn of him!! My fish and most of my corals seem to be doing great, so I can't figure out what is going on!!!

Can anyone please help!

 

[jenjen]

What's the temp? SG? Have you added anything new recently?

 

[BFEHRENBACH]

SG = 1.022
Temp = 70 F

 

[BFEHRENBACH]

The last things added were a reef package several months ago. Everything seemed to be thriving until just recently

 

[es1887]

could just be out of food. that is a pretty low temp also

 

[downhillbiker]

temp seems kinda low, probably not low enough too kill, but it should be closer to around 80 degrees. salinity should be around 1.024-1.026. i would slightly increase the temp and salinity.

 

[phenom5]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15295456#post15295456 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BFEHRENBACH
SG = 1.022
Temp = 70 F

Is that a typo? Cause that could be the problem. I keep my reef at 78-81. Natural reefs are in the 76-82 range (I believe).

I'd also bump up the SG to ~1.025, but that in itself would be a killer IMO.

 

[Rich D]

if a low temperature is kept stable then it would work fine. I have seen thriving tanks that have temperatures under 70 degrees.
You might want to try using a polyfilter to test for copper. Copper will kill off any worms and crustaceans first, then kill corals eventually. They can be found at most LFS and are pretty cheap. If it turns blue, you have a problem...

 

[MrRyanT]

+1^

 

[BFEHRENBACH]

I'm an idiot! Yes that was a typo. The temp was 80 yesterday when I checked it, and 76 this morning when I woke up. Good news though, when I fed the corals last night, the cleaner shrimp came out, just as lively as ever!

 

[noahm]

When you say dying, do you mean just dead? killed? or missing?

 

[BFEHRENBACH]

Dead or missing. I did a 20% water change last night, and did a calcium test this morning. It show calcium levels at around 600 ppm. The test said they should be around 450. Could that be my problem?

 

[Rich D]

If your calcium is really at 600 ppm then your alkalinity is too low. Im not sure if that would affect your inverts but it would definitely slow your coral growth. You should seriously check for copper with a polyfilter...

 

[Peter Eichler]

What is your alkalinity?