coral are dieing and don't know why!!

[hnguyen]

lol. I wish I did. At least If I see a body then I can sleep better at night.

 

[hnguyen]

whewww ok!! I finally had some time to test my water. I did a 20% WC last weekend and these are the readings I got just now after testing.

Nitrite - 0.0 - 0.2ppm
Nitrate - 15ppm
ammonia - 0.6ppm
calcium - 420ppm (low right)?
magnesium - 1100ppm (low right)?
pH - 8.0
alk - 170ppm

I just put two new 150w odyssey bulbs in about 2 weeks ago and everything seems to be doing fine now. But just the other day I notice that my torch is dieing. Other then that, everything seems to be doing fine. I have a red, blue and purple hornet that are making babies right and right along with a duncan that never use to open which is now opening up every nicely.

Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

 

[gnashty]

Hnguyen;583856 wrote: whewww ok!! I finally had some time to test my water. I did a 20% WC last weekend and these are the readings I got just now after testing.

Nitrite - 0.0 - 0.2ppm
Nitrate - 15ppm
ammonia - 0.6ppm
calcium - 420ppm (low right)?
magnesium - 1100ppm (low right)?
pH - 8.0
alk - 170ppm

I just put two new 150w odyssey bulbs in about 2 weeks ago and everything seems to be doing fine now. But just the other day I notice that my torch is dieing. Other then that, everything seems to be doing fine. I have a red, blue and purple hornet that are making babies right and right along with a duncan that never use to open which is now opening up every nicely.

Any advice would be greatly appriciated.

your CA is fine, you can bump it up a touch if you like...Mag is a bit low, I struggle with Mag too sometimes but try to maintain 1250-1350. I would be more concerned with the Nitrites and the Ammonia you have, If those are real readings - I would do a WC today.

 

[hnguyen]

I think my mag is low because I put in some magnesium media in my calcium reactor hoping that it would work the same way calcium media works, but I guess its not melting the mag fast enough to replenish what my tank is using up. So now I'm going to have to check my mag more often and keep up with dosing if I must.

As for the nitrate and ammonia problem, I just ordered a media reactor last week which should be coming in something tomorrow along with some bio-pellets I ordered. They claim to help remove nitrate or nitrite (can't remember which one) and phosphate at the same time. I'm also going to be running carbon along with the bio-pellets in the same media reactor. The carbon I got are round beads so its suppose to have better water contact and all that good stuff. Hopefully with that running, everything will lower down a little. I'll keep you guys posted on it once I get it in and running.

 

[raisedonnintendo]

Didn't read all messages but did n e 1 mention the iodine?? Possibly od

 

[raisedonnintendo]

Hnguyen;579637 wrote: Let's see. My setup is a 120g with 30g sump. I run a 300 reef octopus skimmer with a geo 618 calcium reactor. I have an ato to top off my water. I dose strontium and iodine and trace elements once a week. I do 20% wc ever two weeks. All my water perimeters are good. Everything is as close to zero as allowed. I dunno if this helps but about 3 weeks ago I started going crazy and bought about 20 corals home within a single week. Some frags but most are big pieces. Thanks for the help so far guys.

Are these most of the corals dead?

 

[grouper therapy]

How is the temperature / what is it and how stable?

 

[hnguyen]

RaisedOnNintendo;584007 wrote: Didn't read all messages but did n e 1 mention the iodine?? Possibly od

I don't have an iodine test kit so I wouldn't know where I stand with that. But I do dose every week

 

[hnguyen]

RaisedOnNintendo;584019 wrote: Are these most of the corals dead?

Yea. Pretty much almost all the new sps I
Just got have all died but 1 or 2

 

[hnguyen]

grouper therapy;584045 wrote: How is the temperature / what is it and how stable?

Temp I'd always at 77 day and night for the past 3 months. During the summer it would be 77 at night. And 78 during the day. No big temp swing there

 

[hnguyen]

Amici;584027 wrote: Without a doubt if your ammonia and nitrite are correct then thats the problem. Those will cause problems with coral and fish quickly. I would dose prime and stability along with your water changes.

What have you changed on your system recently and have you lost any fish? It may be that the octo finally died and caused a spike in the tank.

Also do not dose strontium and iodine. Proper water changes will more than take care of these and never dose something you are not testing for. Those are two chemicals stores push on people just to make money.

Well I started doing wc every 2 weeks and but before that it would be every 3 weeks. I've been doing wc every 2 weeks now for about 2 months. J
Dose trace elements and iodine. Along with strontium every week as well. I haven't lose any old fish so far. I did lose a foxface the other week after bring it home. He only lived for 3 days. My
Tangs beat him up

 

[mvm]

Obviously your nitrite and ammonia are the problem. They are toxic to fish and lethal to corals. Are you removing ALL of the fish and corals as they die? If not, I would guess that you are continually poisoning your tank with decaying fish/corals.

 

[hnguyen]

MvM;584176 wrote: Obviously your nitrite and ammonia are the problem. They are toxic to fish and lethal to corals. Are you removing ALL of the fish and corals as they die? If not, I would guess that you are continually poisoning your tank with decaying fish/corals.

I remove my dead SPS and dry them out for a day then I just throw them in my sump. Of course If its a dead fish then I take it out and in the trash it goes.

 

[hnguyen]

I'm hoping that the bio-pellets I ordered which is coming in tomorrow along with a media reactor will help solve some of these problems. Bio-pellets claim to remove nitrite or nitrate I can't remember which one, along with phosphate as well.

 

[mvm]

If you are unfamiliar, the biological process consists of:
Ammonia (toxic=fish poo, decaying food/fish ect) > Nitrite (toxic) > Nitrate (not really toxic unless high levels).

This process occur as bacteria grows in a tank and converts each to the next level. The only way to remove nitrate is water changes or other methods of export. If you're tank is established, the point is that you should have a "0" reading on ammonia and nitrite.

 

[raisedonnintendo]

Hnguyen;584114 wrote: Yea. Pretty much almost all the new sps I
Just got have all died but 1 or 2

If u does every week it could slowly build up to toxic levels to corals if u only dissed every other week it wouldn't hurt them but over dosing can. Also sps corals and corals like chalice or my touchy when it comes to a dip. I assume u dip your corals first. Plus if u just added a bunch of corals n they r dying that will thro your water off wack pretty fast with death n decay going on

 

[hnguyen]

RaisedOnNintendo;584186 wrote: If u does every week it could slowly build up to toxic levels to corals if u only dissed every other week it wouldn't hurt them but over dosing can. Also sps corals and corals like chalice or my touchy when it comes to a dip. I assume u dip your corals first. Plus if u just added a bunch of corals n they r dying that will thro your water off wack pretty fast with death n decay going on

I think thats whats happening right now. My water is all wached up due to all the death of my coral all at about the same time. Before all of this happen, my water was perfect (short of). Now I'm having Nitrate problems. I'm due for another WC this weekend so I'll test again the day after I do it and I'll post a new report for you guys.

Thanks again for all the help that you guys have provided. I really appriciate it.

 

[superclown]

Sorry for your bad luck with your water I hope you can get them in check. I have learned the hard way don't dose it if you can't test for it. Thats like driving a car down the road without headlights You know your driving somewhere but you can't see where your going with it and sooner or later just like a fish tank with messed up levels you will crash

 

[raisedonnintendo]

No iodine dosing this time to

 

[hnguyen]

good advise guys!! I really appriciate it! I guess I'll just stop all my dosing for now and let it ride out for a few weeks. I test everything except for my trace elements, iodine, and strontium.

So do you guys think I should stop dosing all together since I'm not testing it or should I only dose it about once every other week?