What is killing my reef?!?!!

essop3

essop3

New member
Some of you may remember awhile back my leather corals weren't opening. We thought it was my huge colt. I got rid of it, problem still not fixed. Thought it might be phosphates since I got a little cyno/hair algae. Nope, not it. The problem has escalated so far that my reef is in a state of emergency. Almost all corals are closed, some look really bad, 70% of xenia is melted. All shrimp are hiding.

Readings are

ammonia 0
nitrates 0-5 (very slight color change)
calcium 400
alk - good range (thats how the test reads)
pH 8.2
copper 0
salinity 36
temp 80 (same for years)

I did a 50g water change Sunday and another 15 tonight. My only plan of attack is to continue water changes. Carbon hasn't helped. Ozone made the water better but no change in corals.

Any ideas?? Please help!!
 
thats specific gravity, measured with a hydrometer. salinity is measured with a refractometer and is much more exact.
 
Hmm...I read some post earlier that the guy had brass parts in his plumbing. Any metal parts attached to your tank?
 
nope,

Do you think it may have been anemone wars? I have the BTA which is doing great and just got rid of the carpet, which had started to look a little down. The problem really got worse since then though.
 
Are you using ro/di? If not it could be possible that the water company could have changed something.
 
I use RO. The water is used in both tanks. One is fine, the other is doing bad.

I ran water last night to do a 30g water change, added new carbon and plan to remove the xenia rock today. This has to get better.
 
Okay, I'm going to say something that may sound simply crazy. My sister-in-law burns sented candles in her house all the time, she sprays fragent smells in her house, and cleans her outside tank with glass cleaner. She can not keep her aquarium clear for more than a day without adding stuff to it, she tried saltwater only to loose everything in no time, ever fresh water fish only live a short time, yet I tell her not to do the above things and she still does. I think this is her problem. Her water goes in clean and filtered, within 24 hours is a mess. If your home is having something done to the air that was not before, maybe that could be the problem. Anything in the air also gets in the tank. Just my thoughts in trying to help. Good luck.
 
On top of what Reef4Fun mentioned I have heard of people losing complete systems because they painted some room in their house that wasn't even near the tank.
 
Was there anything you added to or changed in the tank prior to this event?

What kind of sand bed do you run, and when did you recharge it last?
 
I have a 4" dsb I recharge it about every 6 months.

I am not for sure but this may have began when I changed from a Dolphin return pump (plastic) to a Mag-9 (metal). I am not sure about the timing but its an idea.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7108851#post7108851 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by firefish2020
What kind of sand bed do you run, and when did you recharge it last?
Click to expand...
I was going to ask the same thing.

My sister-in-law burns sented candles in her house all the time, she sprays fragent smells in her house, and cleans her outside tank with glass cleaner.
Click to expand...
Trust me burning candles shouldn't cause a problem :D
Spraying air freshners near the tank might though.
fwiw I've always cleaned the glass with glass cleaner, sprayed on a towel in another room
 
Any chance of stray voltage. I had a short from a cracked heater and then another time from my lights that were proped on the tank.
 
Here is my current working hypothesis; Phosphates were very high stressing corals. This also my explain why Xenia was growing like mad, since it likes "dirty" water. While getting rid of the carpet helped levels were already harming the reef. Using phosban took out all remaining phosphate stopping cyno/hair algae. Phosban stressed some of the corals. It also stressed Xenia to the point of melting. This released all kinds of stuff into the water. All test results are nearly perfect, But I don't test phosphates. I will go buy a test this evening, test, change 30g and continue to monitor.

Does this sound like a possiblity? A good plan of action?
 
Ok, the tank looks a little better tonight. No further Xenia melt down (that I can see) over the last 20 hours. 1 leather that was closed is open, a few others just "look better". A little cyno has returned. Here are tonights test results

PO4 0.5
alk 2.2
calcium 400
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
pH 8.2
salinity 35
temp 79.7

I read that a phosphate of greater than 0.3 was too high for a reef tank. Think this is it?
 
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