CORALINE IS TURNING WHITE!!! WHY????

[AK47]

i have found a Ca. test kit. my Ca is at 420 . its good right? the water change helped. my skimmer has been working these past days. i have almost a half container. i will keep a closer eye on my filter and clean them more often.
i will try the baking soda method thanks..
yes i have tested my water source and everything looks good .
i will do a PWC this sunday and test it on monday.
hopefully the levels get better.
is there such a thing as having to much LR?? wont my purple tang have less swimming space??
one more thing .. i dont use a undergravel filter.. is this causing a problem maybe??
i spent alot of money on the CC. i didnt know about using sand until after i set up everthing. i will eventually use sand.. does it have to be live sand???
thanks to everyone...

 

[EELectric]

Do you have a sump? If not maybe while doing a waterchange it became exposed to air and killed. Just a idea!

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

i have found a Ca. test kit. my Ca is at 420 . its good right?

Yup... that sounds good to me. Surprising, but good! Guess we can rule out the low calcium issue.

i will try the baking soda method thanks..

Yes, you do want to raise that alkalinity to the levels MT79 mentioned. Don't do it all at once though. Slowly raise it over a several days to a week.

i dont use a undergravel filter.. is this causing a problem maybe??

Regarding the high nitrates? Pretty sure not.

i spent alot of money on the CC. i didnt know about using sand until after i set up everthing. i will eventually use sand.. does it have to be live sand???

Nope. If you're adding sand to an established tank, the "live" stuff is already in your rock. It will eventually find itself to your "dead" sand and make it "live"... at no added cost to you!

Regarding EELectric's comment about your coraline being damaged from being exposed to air... I suppose that may be true if it was exposed for several hours, but I'm guessing you're quicker at your water changes than that.

Once you get your alkalinity back into range, see if that doesn't help speed things back to life. Also... one thing MT79 asked that you didn't mention: when was the last time you changed your lights?

 

[MT79]

is there such a thing as having to much LR?? wont my purple tang have less swimming space??

Regarding space usage, yes you can have too much LR. It depends on the fish you keep, and their habits. A purple tang is not going to farewell overtime in a tank as small as yours, regardless. It may not physically out grow the tank, but instead suffer from skeletal and organ dysfunction due too stress and lack of swimming space. That will drastically reduce the overall health and life span of the fish. They are very demanding in their need for space. 100 gal is the minimum tank size recommended for any type of long term success.

will try the baking soda method thanks..

Be sure to use baking soda and NOT powder.

one more thing .. i dont use a undergravel filter.. is this causing a problem maybe??

Not many people use them, especially on reefs. It would probably be difficult to find someone on here that does. They tend to cause NO3 issues overtime AFAIK. I see you use a HOB filter. You need to clean any mechanical filtration or anything else that will trap dirt, food, once a week or more. When detritus builds up on media, it will cause NO3 production to increase. That, along w/ switching to sand, should do it IMO.

 

[roka64]

All of the above is great advice! When you decide to switch to sand (which I did about 4 months after I had set up my tank) I did it about 1/3 of the tank at a time and waited a week to do the next one. Make sure you have extra water and it is best to do a PWC after you switch.