I need help big time... My tank is slowy declining!!!

[gump3842k]

Ok so my tank has been running for about a year now and about 2 months ago i bought one of those water deionizers so i woudnt have to go to the fish store to get ro water. Ever since then i have started to see a decrease in my corals, and to tell the truth it has gotten bad. So i went back to RO water and have done several water changes and its not seeming to help. My polyops hardly come out and some of them just stay closed... It also looks like they are shrinking in size. Also about 3 months ago i updated my lights to 150 watts VHO's and upgrade from my PC 120's. However yesterday i purchased a 175 watt metal halide it just has to get here its being shipped. I dont dose anything becuase i only have 3 small corals. Some yellow polyops, some candy canes ( NOT LOOKING GOOD ), And a rose bulb tip anemone that also looks green now. I am not sure what to do i'll keep doing water changes, however i have allready done 25 gallons in water changes in a 35 gallon tank,so its starting to worry me. My ammonia is O, Nitrate 0, nitrite 0 and PH is 8.1 or 8.2. My salinity is 1.0025 ( i may have added 1 or taken a 0 out excuse my ignorace ) basically im baffled what to do my pair of clownfish are doing great, any help i would love, THANKS RYAN

[Serge]

Hi Ryan. Not that I have any of what you have, but some of the questions that will be asked later are: what's the water temperature? What do you feed your corals and and other specialties? How many hours are your lamps turned on?

Be prepared for probably more questions from the real experts in here. Good luck.

8)

[gump3842k]

ok umm lights are on from 10 30 to 8, water temp is like 80 and feed my corals cyclopeez and phytoplankton and i feed my fish once every 2 days.

[Thumper]

What about ca and alk levels, big factors in coral.

[Phyl]

What salt have you been using (has this changed)? Any increase in algae? How old are your bulbs? Maybe the corals you have don't like the increase in light? What RO/DI unit did you get? Do you have a TDS meter? Have you checked to see what your TDS is out of the unit?

[gump3842k]

I buy my water and all water now from my LFS so im hoping its good and it had allways been good before i started using my deionizer( i have now stopped )...i have had a slight increase in a soft brown algae on the glass that didnt used to be there...But if i switched lights over 3 months ago woudnt it have adjusted by now, thats what my LFS guy said

[DaveBeaty]

Two thoughts:

One, there may be a non organic (so the carbon pad wouldn't absorb it) non ionic (so the resin bed wouldn't adsorb it) pollutant that is getting through your de-ionizer and affecting your corals. I work in the fuels field, so most of my chemical knowledge is organic (in short, aside from silica, I don't know what the pollutant would be).

OR

two, there may be a trace nutrient in your water (calcium and iodine come to mind) that the de-ionizer is taking out that the fish store water had in it.

I don't keep corals, but I have two years experience with the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Tap Water Filter. I had good luck with it breeding fresh water angelfish.

[gump3842k]

i dont see how iodine or calcium would be in there because i dont dose either, i dont dose anything

Where are the corals positioned? This could simpley be a matter of changing locations to suit light/flow needs. Possible aggression as well.

Yellow stick polyps generally prefer med-strong light and med flow. With the mount of light you have now (2x75w VHO) I'd suggest somewhere midway or lower. Especially once the MH is added.

With the candycane, they actually like med-low light and low flow. Somewhere stuck in the sand away from strong water flow is where I find they do best.

If you don't already, I would also run carbon at least weekly. With an anemone in the tank, nematocysts will be plentiful. The carbon will help remove that as well as any unseen chemical toxins emitted by the corals. Personally I have carbon on the go 24/7.

Cheers
Steve

[gump3842k]

Run carbon you mean in the filter? Becuase right now all i have in the filter is chemi-pure bag....TIA

Chemi pure is the same thing, just fancier packaging. I use it as well.

Cheers
Steve