I am Slowly Murdering my Coral

[Nu-Nu the eel]

Alk at 7.7 shouldnt kill corals IMO, mine was low around 7 for a few months and all my coral were fine and grew. I just recently bumped it up to around 10

 

[fort384]

While I agree that 7.7 is on the low end, I don't think it outside the normally accepted range, and certainly shouldn't be so low as to cause my coral to shrink away and die.

 

[scottayy]

I think I remember saying you don't run carbon. Maybe you should for a bit. There could be something in the tank that's not tested for. Manufacturing oils, residues, accidental spills (air fresheners being sprayed in the room), etc. Really can't hurt. I run carbon and gfo in a reactor 24/7.

 

[fort384]

I ran it for 3 or 4 weeks before. It didn't help. I am not currently running it.

 

[Qube]

Just a thought, but what is your tank temp? I just skimmed back through and didn't see it listed. Also, what kind of thermometer are you using? For example, I use a Coralife digital thermometer on my nano, it reads 2.5 degrees lower than the actual tank temp. On my 75 I run a cheap glass thermometer in the sump, and it's dead on. I came to this conclusion by comparing both temps to a standard everyday digital thermometer from CVS. You might look at what kind of temp swings you are having through the day. Just a thought...

 

[fort384]

It stays steady at 79. I have 2 digital thermostats and a digital thermometer. All 3 always read 79.

 

[melosu58]

I have not read all of this but do you have a ground probe on the tank. Maybe some stray electricity from the lights and pumps? I`ve heard of this hindering corals.

 

[Keithhjs]

I have not read all of this but do you have a ground probe on the tank. Maybe some stray electricity from the lights and pumps? I`ve heard of this hindering corals.

Even if it's not, the few bucks a ground probe costs is worth it IMHO after all we spend on our reefs for a possibility of eliminating a potential problem. I run mine in my sump, it's small and I even forgot it's there until reading this lol.

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

I work at my LFS and I asked one of the marine biologists on at that time about iodine and he said honestly he never added iodine. He said if you do water changes atleast ten percent it adds the lost iodine without overdosing. He also told me it is extremely easy to overdose and wouldn't add anything without a test kit. Just my opinion but it's a waste of money to buy and add iodine or test kits etc on iodine. As long as you have a decent salt mix you should be good.

 

[scottayy]

Have you been feeding, fort? IMO, no coral can survive on just light.

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

+1 for carbon. It draws all the bad out like copper and other harmful residues like you said and even the tiniest presence of somthing can kill corals. +1 for higher alk. dKH should be around 10-11 for faster growth. Salinity should be at or around 33. I think it's 1.024-1.026ish. When in doubt use CARBON!

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

Have you been feeding, fort? IMO, no coral can survive on just light.

+1!!! 100% correct! Your supposed to mimic the reef. The reef has a constant food supply and can't survive on just light. light is feeding the algae within corals and the excess food the algae can't use gives to the coral to eat. Say your parents ate till they were full and the scraps of what was left go to you. Same thing basically. It may be ok for a while but eventually your body will need more. Also a dramatic change in light can bleach corals which mean the algae within the coral has released from the coral in need to find a new host. Feeding would be it's only survival after that till algae grows again.

 

[fort384]

I really don't think it is feeding that is an issue. Not feeding would cause slow growth, not death.

I feed the tank rods reef daily. I don't target feed but there are nutrients in the water.

I have ran carbon in the past for a month or more. There was no change in the condition of the coral. It continued its slow decline.

I am intrigued by the iodine idea and have done 3 15% water changes this week. The only issue I have with it as a culprit is it has been at least 10 weeks since I last dosed it. I can't imagine it still causing an issue unless it did permanent damage to the coral. To test this I added a new hammer to the tank this week and did not do a lugols dip prior. So far it seems to be doing ok. We will see how it looks in a week or 2.

I tested for stray voltage today when I got home. There was none.

While I appreciate all of the advice, I cannot make multiple changes to the tank too quickly. I need to try different solutions one at a time.

Before I try to raise alkalinity or start trying to constantly run carbon I want to see if the increased lighting and multiple water changes has any positive effect.

 

[scottayy]

We're just trying to help. I totally agree. One change at a time.

 

[melosu58]

One thing I do disagree with is about the feeding. I have not target fed my corals in the 14 yrs I have had them. They get all they need from the lighting and water column. That is with very good growth also.

 

[CorallineAlgae]

The carbon you used.. was it Kent brand by any chance? Kent had to recall a large batch of their carbon due to copper contamination that caused lots of reef crashes. I know it's a shot in the dark.

About iodine, I've used Lugols solution in multiple reefs without any issues for years at a time. Not that it couldn't be a problem at high doses. When I used it i was only doing monthly doses so replenishment made sense.

Another shot in the dark could be cleaners. My parent's maid once killed lots of the corals in their tank by spraying cleaner on the floor while moping. The spray got into the shimmer's air pump and set off a crash. We figured it was that because the swifter had just come out and she used it for the first time the day before the disaster. After that, no sprays like febreeze, floor cleaner, the Orken man or even glade style plug-ins were used in the room.

 

[scottayy]

One thing I do disagree with is about the feeding. I have not target fed my corals in the 14 yrs I have had them. They get all they need from the lighting and water column. That is with very good growth also.

I didn't mention target feeding. Food in general.

 

[Madcrazyroyboy]

What about diseases? It is possible for corals to get a disease. Many like receding from the skeleton and others are unfourtunantly uncommon. Even if you haven't doused in a long while it can take a very long time to rid of too much iodine. Think about it. Your replenishing what you have "lost" with waterchanges with the salt mix so it won't do much good unless you have a crap load of mushrooms. If anything you might be adding more or very slowly declining on the amount of iodine. I had the same problem with alk or my dKH. Before I found out about what effects the pH and having a hard time keeping it at 8.3 (a room where lots of oxygen passes through or lights etc. Keeps it high) I doused stuff that also raises Alk. My alk was sky high because of that and my dechlorinator raised alk also!! It was like 20 dKH. And still to this day it's been a.year now and it's finally 11.5 dKH. Like I said once it's doused it takes awhile for it to come down. Basically you gotta wait for the corals to consume it. My lps corals did fine fourtunantly and now do awesome now the alk is under control.

 

[fort384]

The thing is the only sps in the tank is doing great. It's the softies and zoas and Lps that have ha problems. That being said I retested everything this morning:

PH: 8.3
Po4: 0.00
No3: 0
Calcium: 480
KH: 7.3d

I tested my salt mix water and it is 11d KH. Maybe this is a contributing factor. Also I am into a new bucket of salt mix now - maybe the last bucket was low on carbonates? I will keep doing water changes and see if I can get the tank up.

 

[scottayy]

That is odd. The only way your carbonate would get used up is through corals using them to build their skeletons in the form of calcium carbonate. It also seems weird that your pH is 8.3 but dKH is 7.3. Usually when the pH is that level the dkH will be around 12 or higher.

Whats your calcium testing out of the box?