Coral problems

[newman101]

I have 90 gallon
Sump filtration with bio balls, 2 filter socks and UV
2 power heads
LED lighting.
Live rock and substrate
Protein skimmer

Salinity: 1.023
Nitrate 30-40 mg/l (higher than usual despite recent water change)
Nitrite 0
Alk 250
PH 7.8
Temp 79-80
Use test strips
Use stront/moly, calcium, mag, accel, and iodide
Pretty careful about not over feeding
Set up 6 months ago
Livestock: clown, sail fin tang, 2 chromis, 1 coral beauty (fairly recent), fire shrimp, snails/hermets, lost flame angel couple weeks ago

Issue: can't seem to keep coral alive. Have tried a variety of them. Some lasted longer than others. Not sure what else to do




Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[jrcordero4]

I think it would be safe to assume its because of your nitrates. IME, u shouldn't pass 10ppm for corals. How much water do u change? Which salt do you use and how often do you change your water? Also, are u using rodi water?


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

What type of LEDs? They're not all equal. I agree with the nitrates being to high also.

 

[54seaweed]

bio balls are a big nitrate trap
I replaced mine a while back with live rock rubble and things got better
but trates that high need attention big water changes
especially if you keep coral you need to keep up on things on a more stable time frame
i check things daily water change and sump get done weekly its almost another full time job

 

[mr_X]

Besides the nitrates, you are adding things you probably aren't testing for. stop all of this "Use stront/moly, calcium, mag, accel, and iodide"
All of this is in your salt mix and your parameters are most likely way out of whack.
Test strips are inaccurate. You need test kits if you want to know for sure, and not API test kits. If you want to go the API route, at least get a Salifert calcium kit.

Why are you losing fish? How long did you have the flame angel?

 

[newman101]

More info:

I buy the water already made/mixed at local salt water aquarium store.
I change about 20-25 gallons a month
My LED lighting is a Current model 5103

I see your point on nitrates. Definitely needs fixed. Unfortunately I may have more than one issue I am dealing with. Part of my confusion as to the coral issue has been that the nitrates have been pretty nonexistent the whole time and only recently spiked in the last week or so. I've had coral issues before the spike when it seemed to be fine. I had some one else test the water a couple of weeks ago before the recent issue and it was fine. So now I guess I have 2 issues to solve.



Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[mr_X]

If the water was "fine" the corals wouldn't die.

 

[newman101]

Thanks for asking. The flame just disappeared. I had it for maybe a week.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[newman101]

Poor choice of words on my behalf. By "fine" I meant the particular things they tested for did not appear to be an issue including nitrate.


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[mr_X]

Corals- Besides the main things like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, alkalinity is a fast killer.
Not to forget all the other things you've been adding blindly, that I mentioned earlier. I'm thinking if it isn't the nitrate, it's those things. The tiny amounts of strontium, iodine, and such that are needed are easily overdosed. I would do a series of water changes with a reef grade salt mix to dilute the above and it should correct the problem.

Fish- If you had the flame for a week it wasn't the acclimation. 40ppm nitrates probably wouldn't have killed it , nor would some extra iodine IMO. It could have been a parasite that was already on it when it arrived. How much rock do you have in the tank? can you post a picture of it?

 

[newman101]

Here it is. Thanks for assistance. Very cool to get this kind of feedback


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Talon]

I'm new to this but how many watts is that light? I couldn't find that model but I just did a lot of research into lighting for my 90 gallon tank and I had to order two 165 watt led lights to get over 3 watts per gallon like I was told I needed. U might need more light but like I said I'm just starting out.



Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[mr_X]

Yes, light is another factor, but it certainly wouldn't kill fish and the fact that one died makes me wonder about our current parameter reports.
My request for a picture was to see if you had enough surface area for bacteria. The amount of rock you have is not terribly low, so I'm assuming an ammonia spike is not what's happened here.
I have seen corals live through some pretty poor lighting, but not poor parameters.
Can you post a link to this fixture?

 

[newman101]

The tag on unit says model 5103 which I can't find on line. There is a 4103 on the web page which is only 43 watts or something like that

http://current-usa.com/aquarium-led-lights/orbit-marine/


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[mr_X]

If it's that fixture, it will allow you to keep soft corals and LPS, but sps will not flourish. What corals did you lose, and what was the time period for each?

 

[newman101]

I lost:
Leather after about 2-3 weeks
Hammer after longer maybe a couple of months
Elegance after maybe a couple of weeks

I currently still have:

Mushroom: have had for several months and only recently declining
Star polyps: had for months and did great until recently stopped coming out
Button polyps: doing pretty good


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[Talon]

From what I read online and forums, and from the lfs near me that is not enough light for any corals. I could be getting bad info but I had a high output t5 at 54 watts for my tank and was told by everyone that was no where near enough. Maybe someone could help both of us understand that subject more. It also seems something is going on with your water but I don't know what.


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[newman101]

Thanks!


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice

 

[mr_X]

The fixture linked will keep the corals you mentioned, but we aren't sure that's the right fixture. Mushrooms can be kept in almost any light so, I think your water parameters are off.

 

[newman101]

Thanks again. Determined nitrites were elevated, although that was was a more recent deal. Fixed that . Determined hydrometer was inaccurate. Fixed salinity. Determined pump was not working to capacity as sucked piece of plastic up into it. fixed that. On the road to recovery


Sent from my iPad using Aquarium Advice