Xenia and Coral issue

[JasonMHorn]

I'm not exactly sure where to list this so please excuse me if this is in the wrong area.

I have a 72 Bow that is set up as a community reef. I was running a Tide Water Bio-Wheel 2 on it for about 2 years and everything was going great!! Well I decided to make a sump out of a 20 gallon long and coincidence or not, that night things got bad.

What I mean is that my Xenia, Kenya Tree and Bubble Coral are barely open. My Purple San Jay pretty much went from perfect to a skeleton in 2 days. And everything else looked bad.

I installed the 20 long (Skimmer, UV Filter Sock and some rock from old filter) late the other night. The next morning things didn't seem to good but I figured that I wait till after work to see. So after work things seemed a little better but not much. So I did a 25 gallon water change. And now my Zoas & Shrooms look good. But the Xenia, Kenya and Bubble still look bad. I tested for PH, Nitrate, Nitrite, Phosphate, Ammonia and Salinity and they are all good. So at this point, I'm confused. Any ideas?

Did me swapping out the filter cause something to spike which caused the corals to suffer? And the water change correct this because the test were good after the WC? Should I just give it a few more days?

Today is Saturday, I put the new filter in Wednesday and did the water change Thursday.

None of my fish seem to be affected.

 

[rapture]

did you buy a new tank for the sump or get it used?
if used someone could have used copper in the tank previously to treat some freshwater fish and that stuff doesn't go away, it would kill nearly everything

also the bio wheel was putting beneficial bacteria back into your tank,

 

[JasonMHorn]

The 20 long was mine. I've had it for a long time. In fact I think that it was my first saltwater tank when I was younger.

As for the wheel, I know that. But I didn't think that it was that substantial. That's why I put the rock (2 pieces bigger then a fist in there) from the old set up.

 

[JasonMHorn]

I wanted to do an update: I figured out the issue. I used GE Silicone 2 for the baffles for the bubble trap. Even though it is 100% silicone it still has an anti-mold additive and that is NOT good.

I just want to stress to people do NOT use the GE Silicone 2!! I used it because I saw that someone said that they had used it for years and never had an issue. Well to that I call BS. I noticed an issue in less then 12 hours.

Since I had identified that it was the silicone, I removed the baffles and all of the silicone that I used on the sump. I then cleaned the sump (tank) and baffles and remade the sump using Marineland Aquarium Sealant. Now everything seems to be on the up and up and even the corals that were on their way out seem to have turned around and are doing better. Unfortunately I lost some things. I guess that is the price that I pay for being cheap and not researching it more.

Again I just want to stress, do NOT use GE Silicone 2!!!