What do you guys think?

[waverz]

So my moms tank is having some issues, it seemed to start with zenia and anthelia shriveling up, then the green hammer branch started spewing brown crap and dying off. She tested the water and it seems the ALK and PH are both pretty low. I am thinking it is because she has been topping of with straight RO water, and being its been so hot lately she has had to top-off alot more causing there to be too much acidic water added to the tank.

 

[leeweber85]

If it's RO the water shouldn't be acidic.. What about the bulbs, I know she said it had been awhile since she's replaced them.

 

[waverz]

Lee, i havent checked the PHof the RO water but i do know that it is very low, or more acidic than a reef tank should be.

 

[Atticus]

RO water should be close to pH of 7. This normally would not be an issue, but since she is not monitoring calc. and alk levels. Corals deplete the buffering capacity of the water and pH will drop. Add 8.3pH buffer to the top off, do more frequent water changes, and make calium and alk additions as needed to avoid this problem. I would not even look to the lights for this problem as it sounds like water chemistry issues. Also, do a water change as I am willing to bet her nitrates are creeping up as we speak.

 

[waverz]

Atticus, thanks for the help. Ill do a water change tommorow.
BTW:the lights are only 2 weeks old.

 

[got2lb]

I've actually been having the same problem with my xenia and anthelia for about the last month. It's just been real shriveled up looking. After I did a water change last night a little bit of the anthelia perked up a little bit and is looking better but it's still not as good as it should be.

What are some good products to buffer the calc and alk Atticus? I had been dosing pickling lime for my topoff water (1 teaspoon per gal.) But I haven't been real good at doing that the last month or so as I've been extremely busy.

 

[glaspie69]

I hate to say it Matt but your problem might be caused by your lighting, I have had xenias under about every light possible including the exact same set you have on your tank. I've found they usually don't do well unless they have really strong lighting or really dirty water. They in a way are like anemones, if they don't have the lighting to pull the energy from they need food from the water column, if they can't pull food from the water column or the lighting they slowly start to starve. You might have to dose some DT's or green water, it might help might not.

 

[leeweber85]

I agree, xenias need bright light. The ones I had that were slightly shaded slowly dwindled away but the ones up towards the top are doing great.

 

[tibbs2]

Whats the salinity and temp of the tank?

 

[waverz]

Pretty sure salinity is 1.024 and temp 78-80, i havent checked but im sure she has....

 

[Lori M]

These two both crashed at the same time. No more SPS for my tank. I can't keep them alive. The hammer was doing so well and was ready to be fragged again.

My CA is 400, salinity 1.024, temp 78, pH 7.8, alk 120 ppm, NO3 30 ppm, NO2 0, PO4 0.1 - 0.2 ppm. New lights 2 weeks ago, new anenome and 2 new clowns 2 weeks ago that I've been overfeeding. Did a monthly water change and it took lots more salt to get the salinity to 1.024. Is the salt a problem? Maybe old tank syndrome? Maybe I should be dosing Kalk? I have Kent Marine Superbuffer. Can I add it every day?

 

[got2lb]

Just throwing this out there. Seeing as your old bulbs were pretty old maybe it's kind of shocking everything adjusting to the new bulbs??? Otherwise I'd do a couple big water changes. After I did mine the anthelia is starting to look better. The xenia still looks terrible, I think Jason might be right on that one, it looked good at first but has slowly been dwindling the last 5 months I've had it.

 

[tibbs2]

I'd bump the salinity up to 1.025 and raise the Ph to 8.0 or above. Test your salinity with another person's refractometer to make sure your instrument is accurate.

Your NO3 at 30 is high. It should be 0. What kind of skimmer are you running? You may want to reduce feeding. I feed my fish every other day most of the time.

Chris

 

[cabenn]

Bulbs can definitely kill things. If you switched MH bulbs and they were really old you need to break them in slowly. I wouldn't totally take those things out of the tank. I had a sps bleach and it came back to full color in 2 weeks time. There maybe some little flesh that's still alive on it. But I'd definitely do some huge water changes ASAP!

 

[tibbs2]

Like the others said it could also be the change in light intensity. You could try placing several layers of screen over the tank and then every week remove one layer of the screen to slowly acclimate the corals but you've said you have had these lights for two weeks and you've already lost the two corals so I imagine anything that hasn't died by now won't.