About to call it quits

[anthony]

So I use the Hannah checker for Alk. Refractometer has been calibrated. I will check again. Sand gets vacuumed each week during water changes. I have never had a sump. Simple 55 gallon with hob filter and hob reef octopus skimmer. For the first several years barely detectable nitrates. I use phosguard for phosphate when needed. I know the perception of phosguard but never had an issue with it. I hate the mess of GFO. Weekly 10% water changes. Was using Kent salt but now use fritz salt. Hard to find Kent these days. It still confused me how the GSP, mushrooms, inverts, fish, and anemones are unaffected by whatever it is. Going to order an ICP test.

I know you probably don't want to hear this but if you can, you should get a sump. I know it can be done without one but its so much better with one. Eliminates a lot if problems. Jmho

 

[jcook54]

I'm sure you've tried it but do you run carbon? You'd think that after a year on auto-pilot, whatever toxin may have gotten in would be gone since you still kept doing water changes.

 

[Adam]

The one thing you didn't list was pH. Do you know what it is?

 

[donniea1800]

PH usually stays around 7.8 to 8. Hey is there a parasite is something that could cause this? Is there something I could look for? Just a thought.

 

[donniea1800]

I'm sure you've tried it but do you run carbon? You'd think that after a year on auto-pilot, whatever toxin may have gotten in would be gone since you still kept doing water changes.

I do run carbon. I also ran poly pads for a while trying to filter anything out.

 

[donniea1800]

I know you probably don't want to hear this but if you can, you should get a sump. I know it can be done without one but its so much better with one. Eliminates a lot if problems. Jmho

Yeah I know but unfortunately the stand won't fit a sump of any kind. I know they help but to honest I have run this tank so long like it is. My tank looks good and no algae issues just the wierd coral issue. Honestly my mom has a sump and I hate dealing with it. If I break this tank down my next tank would be all all-in-one with the back chamber. Hey what about parasites? Is there a parasite that could cause these issues?

 

[donniea1800]

Hey everyone. Parasites? Is there a parasite of some kind that may cause this? May explain why soft corals and anemones unaffected?

 

[donniea1800]

Also on the hammers it's wierd because the polyps appear fully extended but peeling off the skeleton.

 

[Adam]

Sure, there's plenty of parasites. Red bug, black bug, aefw... quite a long list. But usually when their food supply is exhausted they die off. And most specialize on a specific variety of coral. Not all sps.
You said the birds nest was the 1st to go. Birds nest is like the canary in the coal mine, they let you know when something's wrong with your water.

 

[donniea1800]

I read an article about someone who noticed tiny brittle or serpant stars eating coral from the base up. I have seen alot of these stars lately in my tank everywhere. My thinking was micro serpant stars. No big deal. Are there ones that will eat coral?

 

[donniea1800]

Maybe I will take a look in the tank at night with a flashlight just to see if I can see anything going on.

 

[donniea1800]

So just an update. I went with the Aquamedic ICP test. The main benefit to me is that it is within the US so results come back much faster. Will update when I get results.

 

[donniea1800]

So I keep coming back to the salt mix. When I did that water change last year using it literally the next day things started going south. Then when I ran out of salt a few weeks ago I used that salt again before putting in the new corals. Should not have done that. I guess if I see heavy metals on my test results I will then send in a sample of the mixed salt I used.

 

[Adam]

I know you want fast results. But in addition to the icp test you got it might still be a good idea to bring a sample in to a LFS and see what they get.

That's why I recommended the ATI test. They test for alk and nitrate that the others don't do. They also do the full battery of tests on your rodi water.
I used to get their's exclusively till they raised the price and I'm getting icpAnalysis.com now. But if I was diagnosing a problem I'd get the ATI again in a heartbeat.

If you try sps soon get a small cheap birds nest. If it does well you'll know things are getting better.

 

[jcook54]

I'm really hard pressed to think the salt mix was the problem but who knows? I always preach stability and there is certainly variation among the different mixes available. Brightwell probably puts all kinds of good stuff in their salt, maybe you tank didn't like it? To me, it seems like a stretch but if it's caused problems both times you've used it, I would certainly avoid using it again. If it was the salt mix, a large water change with the salt you've had success with should fix the issue.

 

[Mom2Many]

I agree about the birdsnest statement. My crown of thorns is the first to have STN if there is an issue. I think it really could be the salt. I had issues in my 10 recently when trying to avoid dosing. I was using Instant Ocean and tried to switch to Red Sea pro. If I used the Red Sea pro straight I had issues with my SPS so I cut it 2/3 Red Sea Pro and 1/3 instant Ocean. When researching it, I read that Red sea pro had higher Alk so I cut it and have had no issues now with my sps. It could have been the sudden jump, even though I was trying to make the switch over slow.

My thought, test a small batch of the salt you normally use and put the results against the salt you used that gave you issues. Then your tank as it is currently running. See what you have there...might be a big swing in PH, Alk or something that Sps dont like.

Hope you figure it all out.

 

[donniea1800]

The wierd thing is that I did test the Brightwell salt after the first issue and I did get a fairly high phoshate reading which I found off. I know that would not kill corals but if I had a high phoshate reading what else could be in there?

 

[donniea1800]

I know you want fast results. But in addition to the icp test you got it might still be a good idea to bring a sample in to a LFS and see what they get.

That's why I recommended the ATI test. They test for alk and nitrate that the others don't do. They also do the full battery of tests on your rodi water.
I used to get their's exclusively till they raised the price and I'm getting icpAnalysis.com now. But if I was diagnosing a problem I'd get the ATI again in a heartbeat.

If you try sps soon get a small cheap birds nest. If it does well you'll know things are getting better.

Yeah I looked at the ATI test but what turned me away was the long turn around time. I used icpanalysis.com also which is also coralvue. I liked the price and the quick results. I don't think it's anything with the RO as I have always used the same water and change filters regularly.

 

[Adam]

Yes, the turn around with ATI, and Triton for that matter, sucks. I wish there was a domestic ICP test that was as comprehensive as what ATI gives you.
I thought my RODI was fine too. Regularly changed filters, resin looked good, TDS reading zero... Silicates were high and getting through and I would never had known if I didn't get it tested.

 

[donniea1800]

Here are the test results. Anything jump out?