Hi All,
I am hoping for some input from the community on a problem that started yesterday afternoon. My tank is an Innovative Marine AIO Fusion 40 gallon. I use a Reef Octopus HOB skimmer. This is our first venture into a reef tank so we are still relatively new. I have separate 40 gallon jugs in the basement beneath the tank (one for fresh RO/DI ATO and one for replacement salt water - mixed using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals). I do a daily 1/2 gallon water change, which results in approximately 40% water change per month. Tank is running under a Kessil A360WE.
The tank has been running for a little over six months with no problems whatsoever. Water parameters have been incredibly stable, with very few tank losses.
Now start yesterdays problems. Around noon I was doing some cleaning and did our daily water change. The water immediately clouded up and our star polyps got this really weird look. Almost burned. They got a brownish color and looked like wilted flowers. Within 30 minutes, every coral we have in the tank had wilted or closed. In the back of my mind I knew something wasn't right, but attributed it to the fact that I had just stirred a bunch of stuff up.
Getting up this morning, most of our coral still looks closed up - certainly not healthy. So I dig into the Apex and take a look for clues. At the instant I did the water change yesterday, the ORP dropped from around 400 to 270. So I get online and see that a dead animal can cause significant (and instant) drops in ORP. We just lost a sizable Cowry a couple days ago and his shell had been sitting on the sand bed. Maybe, that was it, maybe not... So I do another 1/2 gallon change this morning and we get another significant drop to around 210 ORP. Both times, the water clouded up immediately upon adding the new mix and cleared up within about an hour. The mix in the reservoir is about two weeks old. I've had no problems using it up until yesterday.
The water parameters all look normal, with the exception of the new salt mix ORP. It's tough for me to understand how a 1/2 gallon (or 1.25%) water change can cause such a large drop in ORP.
Tank
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrate - 5 ppm
Alk - 10
PH - 8.15
ORP - Normal 400, After water change yesterday 250, After water change today 215
Ca - 583 ppm
Salt Reservoir Downstairs
Alk - 11
PH - 8.20
ORP - 205
Ca - 600 ppm
The only other variable is that yesterday was the first day running a new water pump that is used to fill the tank with new salt water mix. I used a very small amount of the waterproof PVC glue to fasten the flex tube to the pump (very small amount). I also didn't rinse the pump in water before dropping it into the salt water reservoir (maybe was a poor decision).
Can anyone shed some light on what might be happening here? I'm trying to decide if I should drain my entire salt water reservoir and make a new mix. Alternatively, bad salt? Other type of contaminant in the reservoir - perhaps from PVC glue? Or maybe just me overreacting to some type of natural occurrence?
Thanks for any thoughts from the expert community!
I am hoping for some input from the community on a problem that started yesterday afternoon. My tank is an Innovative Marine AIO Fusion 40 gallon. I use a Reef Octopus HOB skimmer. This is our first venture into a reef tank so we are still relatively new. I have separate 40 gallon jugs in the basement beneath the tank (one for fresh RO/DI ATO and one for replacement salt water - mixed using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals). I do a daily 1/2 gallon water change, which results in approximately 40% water change per month. Tank is running under a Kessil A360WE.
The tank has been running for a little over six months with no problems whatsoever. Water parameters have been incredibly stable, with very few tank losses.
Now start yesterdays problems. Around noon I was doing some cleaning and did our daily water change. The water immediately clouded up and our star polyps got this really weird look. Almost burned. They got a brownish color and looked like wilted flowers. Within 30 minutes, every coral we have in the tank had wilted or closed. In the back of my mind I knew something wasn't right, but attributed it to the fact that I had just stirred a bunch of stuff up.
Getting up this morning, most of our coral still looks closed up - certainly not healthy. So I dig into the Apex and take a look for clues. At the instant I did the water change yesterday, the ORP dropped from around 400 to 270. So I get online and see that a dead animal can cause significant (and instant) drops in ORP. We just lost a sizable Cowry a couple days ago and his shell had been sitting on the sand bed. Maybe, that was it, maybe not... So I do another 1/2 gallon change this morning and we get another significant drop to around 210 ORP. Both times, the water clouded up immediately upon adding the new mix and cleared up within about an hour. The mix in the reservoir is about two weeks old. I've had no problems using it up until yesterday.
The water parameters all look normal, with the exception of the new salt mix ORP. It's tough for me to understand how a 1/2 gallon (or 1.25%) water change can cause such a large drop in ORP.
Tank
Ammonia - 0.0
Nitrate - 5 ppm
Alk - 10
PH - 8.15
ORP - Normal 400, After water change yesterday 250, After water change today 215
Ca - 583 ppm
Salt Reservoir Downstairs
Alk - 11
PH - 8.20
ORP - 205
Ca - 600 ppm
The only other variable is that yesterday was the first day running a new water pump that is used to fill the tank with new salt water mix. I used a very small amount of the waterproof PVC glue to fasten the flex tube to the pump (very small amount). I also didn't rinse the pump in water before dropping it into the salt water reservoir (maybe was a poor decision).
Can anyone shed some light on what might be happening here? I'm trying to decide if I should drain my entire salt water reservoir and make a new mix. Alternatively, bad salt? Other type of contaminant in the reservoir - perhaps from PVC glue? Or maybe just me overreacting to some type of natural occurrence?
Thanks for any thoughts from the expert community!