Losing Coral

[mphammer]

Well I guess I spent too much time on the canopy I just built and not enough time paying attention to my tank and water chemistry. My coral are looking pretty awful...
I have lost quite a few acro already and my gonis look like they are next. Zoas look pretty pissed off too









Tank Parameters

Salinity- 1.025
Phosphate- .21!!!!!!!!!
Ammonia- 0
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- <10
Calcium- 480
Mag- 1480
Alk- 8.2


So obviously my phosphate it through the roof. I was pretty consistent at .08 until about a month ago.

I also added some rock to my tank about a month ago. The rock was a diy rock that had been curing for about 3-4 months and I thought I had cycled it in fresh water in my garage... maybe not?
I have done a large water change and have a GFO reactor running now. Anything else I can do to save my coral?

 

[linhdinh1987]

My phosphate always>.2 but my coral doing just fine especially zoans. I would move a goni to a medium or high flow since it a red roni, and leave it for a week to see any of improvement.

 

[Rainblood]

I've got some commercial grade seaklear that'll drop your phosphates pretty fast but you need to be careful with it.
You have to drip it into a 5-10 micron sock in a flow area and if you don't catch all the flocculent, you can end up killing your tangs.
Read up on it and if you need some, let me know.

Some gonis will die no matter what...
The phosphates are fairly high in my DT as well and I find that only the robust strains of acros survive - WD, tricolor, bonsai

 

[mphammer]

My phosphate always>.2 but my coral doing just fine especially zoans. I would move a goni to a medium or high flow since it a red roni, and leave it for a week to see any of improvement.

Interesting. I have heard that a few times now... so maybe it isnt the phosphate? I am at a loss...

 

[CatoJa]

How new is your tank? Think you are getting ALK swings?

 

[mphammer]

How new is your tank? Think you are getting ALK swings?

Tank has been established about 6 months now.. so on the newer side. Alkalinity seems to be pretty consistent from what I can see during testing. But the coral are acting like there is some type of swing. My torches and frogspawn are typically wide open and swollen. They are shriveled up shells of themselves currently

 

[Trizzino]

What size tank and do you monitor temp? Temp swings can cause this too.

 

[linhdinh1987]

Tank has been established about 6 months now.. so on the newer side. Alkalinity seems to be pretty consistent from what I can see during testing. But the coral are acting like there is some type of swing. My torches and frogspawn are typically wide open and swollen. They are shriveled up shells of themselves currently

One you see them kind of swollen and lost a colors. You should need more flow.

 

[Wmb0003]

Very similar to what I went through with about same age tank. I chalked it up to the sudden change in phosphates also. I haven’t lost any more acros but my torches still don’t look 100% yet. I’ll let you know if I figure anything else out with my tank. And I’ll be following this thread closely also.


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[Trizzino]

In my experience, I honestly think the first year of a tank is the hardest. Once it stabilizes, you get to know the tank and can pinpoint things much easier. Even with the best husbandry, the first year will have its ugly and challenging moments due to the maturation process and sometimes our desire to correct it without letting it run its course only causes more issues.

 

[mphammer]

What size tank and do you monitor temp? Temp swings can cause this too.

Temp has been stable at 78-79 kept by apex and a second temp controller as backup

Very similar to what I went through with about same age tank. I chalked it up to the sudden change in phosphates also. I haven’t lost any more acros but my torches still don’t look 100% yet. I’ll let you know if I figure anything else out with my tank. And I’ll be following this thread closely also.


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Maybe thats all it is, hoping so as least

 

[mphammer]

In my experience, I honestly think the first year of a tank is the hardest. Once it stabilizes, you get to know the tank and can pinpoint things much easier. Even with the best husbandry, the first year will have its ugly and challenging moments due to the maturation process and sometimes our desire to correct it without letting it run its course only causes more issues.

I guess I will just keep an eye on parameters and make sure nothing else gets out of hand. Maybe try to slowly bring the phosphates down but other than that let it ride?
I try not to overreact but really hate seeing those bleach white corals

 

[SaltwaterGardening]

Once I got my GFO reactor in place, my Goni still struggled as parameters came down to normal range. I purchased a food called Goniopower that helped them along in my mind. I ordered from Amazon.

 

[Trizzino]

I guess I will just keep an eye on parameters and make sure nothing else gets out of hand. Maybe try to slowly bring the phosphates down but other than that let it ride?
I try not to overreact but really hate seeing those bleach white corals

Yeah. Just do some water changes, you could do half gfo dose at first and slowly ramp it up if needed. I’ve stripped the water of nutrients too fast and did more damage to the corals than if I just slowly changed things.

 

[Adam]

Stability is key. People are all over the range with where they keep their organics. Some say they have no problems with them high others are doing fine running ULN. I've always shot for keeping nitrate at 10 and 0.03 to 0.05, but under 0.1, for PO4. Whatever you do try to keep them just as consistent as the big three.

The 1st year to 18 months this can be easier said than done. The tank goes through so many changes in that time plus you're still learning how it runs, no two are the same. When I first setup the 220 Marcus now has I couldn't keep a zoa to save my butt for the first six months. I'd put them in and they'd shrivel up and melt away. After that I couldn't kill them if I tried.

You should hold off on the type coral you're having problems with for a while. Give it some time and try again in a few months.

 

[Rainblood]

Was your tank doing ok prior to adding the new rock? If the timing is any indication - would running carbon help clear out anything that the rock may be leaching that isn't measurable?

 

[Adam]

I didn't know about the rock addition. Just the canopy work and a bit of neglect while doing that. That's two somewhat larger changes to the system. Running carbon for a week is not a bad idea at all.

 

[mphammer]

Was your tank doing ok prior to adding the new rock? If the timing is any indication - would running carbon help clear out anything that the rock may be leaching that isn't measurable?

I didn't know about the rock addition. Just the canopy work and a bit of neglect while doing that. That's two somewhat larger changes to the system. Running carbon for a week is not a bad idea at all.

Thanks for the extra thought guys. The timing is definitely adding up to the rock addition and they were two very large pieces.
I will get some carbon going as well. Okay to run the carbon in line with GFO so I can use a single pump instead of 2?

 

[Adam]

Thanks for the extra thought guys. The timing is definitely adding up to the rock addition and they were two very large pieces.
I will get some carbon going as well. Okay to run the carbon in line with GFO so I can use a single pump instead of 2?

That's the way I've done it.

 

[Rainblood]

Ditto. I run both carbon & gfo in the media reactor