Arce's Tank

[ml86743]

I think i have a salifert nitrate kit. But dont have a phos kit. I have a god amount of algae, so clearly i have nutrients. But the algae could just be using all the phos and trates on top of my water changes and siphoning the BB. Im due for a w/c today but im going to skip and see if things get better over the week. Ill just siphon into a sock and not do a w/c.

Thats what I'm doing, I recently added a reactor with a donor dose of phosguard and some carbon. Trying to slowly bring nutrient levels down without shocking the coral. My goal is to be able to feed corals pretty much daily but maintain proper export levels through skimming, chemical filtration, and WC's. This week I decided that I was going to skip cleaning day just to give the inhabitants time to adjust to the new water chemistry, unless PO4 starts to shoot up again.

You have some very nice corals in here btw! That sunset millie from your old tank is amazing.

[Arce]

Tank continues to spiral down. Joe the coral STNing tips down. Slimer brown out. Kat frag still loving life same with my pc rainbow, idk wtf is going on. Bout to call it quits once again. Thought i could make this system work, and have for just under a year but i cant do it anymore. When i move i cannot wait to set up a real tank.

[spectra]

Sorry to hear things are not good. That is the thing with this hobby it is a crap shoot. Hopefully things turn around for you!

[metrokat]

I was just thinking that if the flesh is thin on the corals, moving it to another tank would stress them out even more.

[Arce]

Im away for the next 4 days. Probably guna come home to a bare white tank. Better to just rip the bandaid off than peel it over time ya know. Lol

[Arce]

Thinking maybe changing from reef crystals to red sea blue bucket being the cause of my sps issues... Thoughts?

[Mariaface]

Do it!

[Arce]

Do it!

Do what?

[Mariaface]

Oh, geez. I thought you meant you were going to switch to Red Sea. If that seems to be the change that caused issues, then I'd say maybe alk or another parameter is dipping too low now that water changes wouldn't cause a spike? Maybe there are nutrients in the RC that don't exist in RS, or vice versa?

[markalot]

Red Sea Blue Bucket is quality salt IMO, something else is going on.

 

Sorry to hear of these issues.

[myarmolich]

^ While I agree it is a quality salt, I have heard that blue bucket has a high alkalinity content. Maybe thats causing swings and making things brown out?

[jedimasterben]

^ While I agree it is a quality tank, I have heard that blue bucket has a high alkalinity content. Maybe thats causing swings and making things brown out?

That is Red Sea Coral Pro, the alkalinity of that is like 12-14dKH. Standard Res Sea salt (blue bucket) is in the 7dKH range.

[myarmolich]

That is Red Sea Coral Pro, the alkalinity of that is like 12-14dKH. Standard Res Sea salt (blue bucket) is in the 7dKH range.

 

^ and thats why I dont speak about salt mixes I dont use . Didnt realize Red Sea made different versions of salt. Thank you for the correction!

[Arce]

Alks been stable. And was adjusted to the 8 range before the switch to avoid swings. Idk im on a beach for another two days. Lets see what things look like when i get home.

[metrokat]

#BEACH

[Arce]

#deadsps

[metrokat]

staaaap

[Arce]

Came home from the short vacation. Nothing died while i was gone. Things arent getting better though. Joe the coral STNing tips down, slimmer has thin flesh and stning base up. PC rainbow and kat look better than ever. Clam, acans and nepthea look healthy. Tierra del fuego, green tort, pink lemonade, fenneri, and pink table all very pale and showing symptoms of low nutrient from my experience.

 

Didnt have time to do any tests yesterday. Going to check alk, calc, salinity and nitrate tonight. If those clear i might have to invest in a phos kit to determine low nutrients.

[markalot]

Interesting that we both have nepthea and I just threw out the slimer that was in my 40 due to it looking horrible and slowly dying. Do you run any carbon? Mine was too old and during the water change yesterday I noticed the water smelled strongly of soft corals.

[Arce]

I usually run chemipure blue or elite

[Arce]

Things continue down hill. Some more sps are pretty much shot. Only have a couple pieces that look like nothing has even happened. Pretty much lost hope, going to let things just be and see what happens. Wont take this tank down because i dont want to lose my fish, clam, acans and such so itll just be what it is till the day i can make a real system, hoping for the beginning of next year.

[dropped]

What's your tank temp like? Is it stable?

And is there anything rusty in the tank?

[Arce]

What's your tank temp like? Is it stable?

And is there anything rusty in the tank?

Temps stable. Rust, dont think so.

[Arce]

Trying to go back and think about whats changed over time. Only things i can think of are.. Changed t5 bulbs but did them 2 1 week and 2 the next. Changed salts from IO Rc to red sea blue bucket. Added a wp10 i had in storage. Last coral before this all went down i think was a monti cap.

 

Kat frag, pc rainbow and blue stag are all unaffected and appear in good health. Why idk.

 

Slimer is pretty much gone, has some pe barely any flesh showing through, STN base up. Green tort is following the same symptoms. Joe the corals pretty much gone, only difference is it STNed tips down. Now my forest fire digis are beginning to show side effects as well, no pe, pale and starting to stn. Tierra del fuego is extremely pale, good PE, no stn. Pink lemonade is ok, decent PE, no stn but not looking hot. Pink table, extremely pale, decent pe but not full. Monti caps pale but not stning.

 

Acans all healthy, clam is healthy, nepthea healthy. None show any signs of stress.

 

So.... breakdown of possibilities.

 

1. Low nutrients - I bought red seas reef energy 2 part. Trying a small dose daily to see if this shows any changes.

2. Salt change - Changing from RC to RS blue bucket, i dont think this would cause my issues? Ive seen people switch salts without problems unless its a bad batch.

3. WP 10 - Stray voltage, rust. Definitely dont have either, havent been shocked and no rust on the magnet. Cant think of anything else negative about adding another pump.

4. Nepthea releasing toxins - Possibility, I run carbon so not sure if its just gotten to the point where carbon wont control it. No way to test this besides taking it out.

5. Bugs - ruled out the top contenders, AEFW and red bugs. Dont have bite marks or any bug signs.

6. Temp swings - I fixed any doubt i had about these by putting a fan on my tank set on my RKL to turn on at 79. I went home twice from work during lunch around 1pm on 2 hot days and tank was barely hitting 79 and the fan was never turned on.

[dropped]

Has work be done on the house recently? Painted, sprayed, treated?

any other magnets in the tank? frag racks etc?