Why are my corals dying?

[ChrisKirkland]

Very unlikely it is Red Sea Coral Pro. I use this salt and have exclusively since early 2008. Not saying there couldn't be a bad batch out there but its unlikely. Your duncan looks irritated by something. What did you use to calibrate your refractometer with? RODI water or Pinpoint calibration fluid?

 

[drukkosz]

I used calibrating fluid that came with refractometer. Its Sybon

 

[ChrisKirkland]

Gotcha... Thinking....

 

[SDiver]

You said your RODI is 4. Is that a TDS of 4? RODI needs to be 0.

 

[drukkosz]

yes 4 tds, but i really dont think its a huge difference between 4 and 0. if you put rodi water in the glass that you are drinking from it wont read 0.

 

[power boat jim]

What do you mean the coral is dying? Does it rtn, stn slowly bleach, turn brown and die... Its hard to find the culprit if we dont know how the coral is behaving before its death. I can tell you though its not the pH. Anything over 7.8 and under 8.6 generally is fine long as the daily swings are fairly small.

 

[drukkosz]

they slowely bleached, but letelly i also lost fwe lps as well. you can se it on the pictures they are bleaching. and i have had those sps for like two months now.

 

[ChrisKirkland]

What is your lighting setup?

 

[JAustin]

If your rodi output is 4 you may want to get a cheap total chlorine test kit and check it out. That 4 TDS could be all chloramine.

 

[Mark 75g]

See if you can get a par meter from someone local. You might be burning the sps with your lights. Not sure how high up you are placing coral. I just gav a large frag to a buddy and I had the frag under mh lighting but in middle of my tank. He put it up high in his tank under t5s and the coral started to die from the tips down just like your pictures.

 

[drukkosz]

Par meter is a good idea. I will post it on my local forum and hopefully somebody will help me with that.

Anyway, I just tested my water and took some new pics. Here are the results:

temp- 79
sal - 1.025
alk- 9
cal- 460
mag 1300 - slowly raising
pho- 0.11 - working to get it down
ph - 8.13



That was my favorite sps

 

[drukkosz]

Ane more ideas??

 

[Jarred1]

Test for copper in your system and stray voltage.


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[drukkosz]

Test for copper in your system and stray voltage.


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I have 4 shrimps and 3 star fish so i know that there is no cooper in the system.

 

[SushiGirl]

How long have those lights been on the tank? Are they new to the tank?
Started any biopellet reactor?

Just trying to throw a few more ideas out LOL.

 

[trameaa]

Your nutrient levels are way too high and I see an awful lot of algae in your photos.
Algae encroaching on SPS is a recipe for disaster.
I don't remember what size tank you said this was, but I bet you don't have enough flow.
The TDS of 4, combined with inadequate flow, IMO could cause what you're seeing.

I'm not an expert by any means, just sharing from what I've seen in my personal system.
I've learned the hard way - if you think you have enough flow, double it..and your TDS should always be 0 right out of the RODI.

 

[kawicivic]

I think you need to find a nitrate test. My guess is that you are having issues with high nitrates. See if an Lfs will test it for you or a local reefer since you don't have one.

 

[Aqualund]

I recently moved my DIY leds up from 12 inches above the water to 24 inches above the water because I was frying my corals with too much light. maybe check your par readings? you'd be surprised how much par your getting and how it affects the corals.

 

[ihavtats29]

i used to have issues keeping SPS years back i have found that even low levels of nitrates/ phosphates and unstable chemistry . as for your ro/di it should be reading 0 TDS time to start replacing your filters. not keeping up with replacing the sediment filter can cause failure in the rest of the unit and eventually getting into the RO membrane , every 6 months i change my sediment and carbon filters. depending on the quality of your supply water you may need to do this more or less.
refractometer the calibration fluid may not be correct as well exp if it has been open and been around for a long time . you can calibrate you refractometer with ro/di set it to 0 and you will know its correct. test kits if you dont have them get them they will help you find what you issue is and always test for anything you are dosing. i work for my lfs and you would not believe the customers that come in with dead fish and corals cause they are adding buffer or part A/B and not testing . ive seen alk levels above 30 dkh.
temp is another thing that needs to be stable too much of a swing can cause your sps to die

 

[drukkosz]

I got those lights probably a year ago. I don't have a biopallet reactor

Yes, I know I have a little algae problem , that's why I do more often water changes and run GFO to lower phosphates. And scrub the rock with a toothbrush before water change.

I did order red sea nitrate test and it should be here today., so I will test it.
Its 90 gallon tank with 2 tunze 6095, tunze 6045 and tunze wavebox, so I believe I have enough flow.

I did test my rodi water yesterday and it was 2. I replaced membrane 3 months ago.

I do have APEX controller so my temp is always stable.
Right now all my alk, cal and mag are dosing through dosing pump.