Coral Dying, what am i Missing

[mr_X]

If there was a bristle worm living in it, it's not copper. I'm thinking it's high nitrate and/or phosphate.

 

[jeffaquarius]

Yikes. I don't even want to think about getting all new rock.

In that case you will just end up with FOWLR just like the previous owner of your tank had.

 

[bkushy]

Ok, new test results. Using a red sea max reef foundation pro kit. Seems like it should be far more accurate.

KH is 13.3 dkh
Magnesium is 1000
Calcium is 350

From what I can see KH is high, will it hurt anything at this level?
Mag and Calcium seem low.

What would be the recommendations to raise the two and lower the third??

Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Not bad checkout randy Holmes reef chemistry alk and cal .com can't post links on my phone. Good info and how they affect each other with ways to raise or lower them. I don't think this is your problem my alk has been higher and comes down on its own. What type of salt are you using? Any ammonia, nitrites or nitrates test?

 

[bkushy]

I am using instant ocean reef crystals. Ammonia is zero. Nitrites are zero. Nitrates are 15-20. Doing 10 gallon water changes to bring it down.

 

[jeffaquarius]

That readings won't affect soft corals more so with snails but lfs and sfs yes. Regular pwc with the a good salt mix will correct it. It will only go hay wire when you dose it with kaulkwasser blindly.

 

[Sniperhank]

How long has it been running? If this is a fresh move trying to throw things into it right away then everything being stirred up might caused mini cycle(s) and the deaths/losses.

Nothing water changes won't solve.

 

[bkushy]

Tank is about 13 years old. Was moved for about three weeks. Numbers seemed stable except for the bit of nitrates. Was a little earlier than I wanted to be adding items but we are about five and a half hours from the nearest saltwater store so rolled the dice on some cheaper frags to see how they would do. Not well.

 

[Daniel Fishy]

Idk parameters are good to keep corals alive little nitrates wouldn't make things melt. A guy at a frag swap told me low mag or alk will affect corals in that way also mine was the alk. If you have a trusted lfs near by ask them about your mag if your wc are not bring it up maybe you can supplement until its in the proper range. idk what to low is for corals to die, 1000 seems low but not that low.

 

[jeffaquarius]

If you reused the old substrate then that might be one of the problems. You need some more time to stabilze parameter and make sure it is fit for your new corals. I would still test for copper though.

 

[nikki_kaiser]

How deep is the sand bed? How long since you moved it and are you running carbon?

 

[mr_X]

If there are living inverts in the tank (bristle worms), there's no danger from copper.

 

[jeffaquarius]

If there are living inverts in the tank (bristle worms), there's no danger from copper.

None of the inverts left according to him.

 

[mr_X]

I must have missed that. Then I suppose a 20 dollar investment in a salifert copper kit wouldn't hurt.

 

[bkushy]

Forgot, when I purchased the tank he also had two red legged hermit crabs. My son has those in his tank now as I did not want the crabs and he already had. Copper test is on its way none the less. Very minimal carbon use right now. Sand bed is 3-4" deep. Also to just mix another question in, would the addition of a phosphate reactor be a good idea with a lawnmower blenny? I have read of some people having one with a lawnmower but would that not wipe out its food source?

 

[jeffaquarius]

Most of the house plumbing today are made of copper. I wonder if ro/di or just an ro unit can filter out the copper element.

 

[mr_X]

Algae blennies are omnivores, meaning, they will learn to eat prepared foods. You can also supplement nori. If hermit crabs were living in this tank, I would say there's no lethal amount of copper.

 

[bkushy]

So here are some new reading. Tipped the tank right off as I didn't realize how much it could affect the numbers when it is almost ready to top up. Will have to do smaller daily top ups.

Kh. 11.2
Calcium 360
Magnesium 920

Although low for cal and mag would it be enough o kill the corals off? Also are six t5ho bulbs too much and perhaps killing the coral. The fish store had metal halides so I can't see mine being brighter.

Thanks for your input.

 

[mr_X]

No to both. Low calcium and mag will not kill corals, and neither will somewhat less intense lighting, short term.

 

[bkushy]

Sigh. So far all I can figure then is copper yet the hermits were living. I hope that test doesn't take too long to get here cause I am stumped. All of my parameters seem ok yet coral seemed to have no chance.