Corals look like they are dying

[daniel5455]

Water Tests Ph 8.4, Alk 3.0 meq/L, Nitrate 0, Nitrite 0, Amonia 0, SG 1.022, Ca 850. Setup 45 gallon tank with 50lbs of LR temp 78.

I connected a refuge yesterday and today my corals and fish look bad.

here are links to my corals and fish..

http://dansreef.homelinux.com/images/corals/xenia.jpg

http://dansreef.homelinux.com/images/corals/shroom.jpg

http://dansreef.homelinux.com/images/corals/fox.jpg

please help dont want these to die. ..

 

[steve-s]

The corals looked stressed but they do not appear to be dieing just yet. You have a few issues to take care of but they can all be combined in one shot. Mix your next batch of SW @ 1.024 and do a 15% water change daily for the next week. The SG is far too low for the corals to stay healthy. 1.024-25@ 80° is a better range. The low alk high Ca is also a large problem. The water changes will also help with that if the saltmix is properly balanced. I would test it after mixing to be sure. This type of chem imbalance is typically due to a large deficiencey in magnesium unless you've been dosing unnecessarily. So check for that if possible.

Cheers
Steve

 

[daniel5455]

The Xenia died today at least i think it did. It had a tear on the stem and stuff was comming out so i pulled him out. What is the correct way to remove dead animals. I dont want an ammonia spike. Should i have removed him earlier?

thanks
Dan

 

[daniel5455]

I take that back, not dead yet, i put the xenia in a bottle when i thought it was dead and when i checked back a few hours later it looked the same. so when i was about to flush the critter down the toilet but then it moved. So I then fragged it and im hoping it will revive.

 

[brndfrb]

how long has your tank been set up?

 

[daniel5455]

about 3 months

 

[brndfrb]

In my opnioin that is to early for coral. Again that is just my opinion. And is your calcium really 850? Wow that seems like alot to me. How long have you had the corals? What kind of lighting tdo you have? HAve you just recently upgraded the lighting. Need to know more about your tank.

 

[daniel5455]

My Ca is back to 430. I think it was that high cause i just added salt to the tank an hour before i tested the water. Here is a link to my setup. http://dansreef.homelinux.com/setup.htm I also have a Refuge that is not added to the site and the bioballs are removed from my wet dry.

thanks
Dan

 

[steve-s]

The set up seems fine for what you have and IME for the corals you have indicated trouble with, a 3 mo old tank should not be a problem providing you keep the water parameters in line.

This part is a bit of a concern though.

I think it was that high cause i just added salt to the tank an hour before i tested the water.

Did you add undissolved salt to the tank or where you adding predissolved SW in order to raise the salinity?

Cheers
Steve