coral slowly dying (or not thriving)

[fatoldsun]

I am not having any luck with coral growth - recently some of the stuff that was doing well has started to recede/bleach. I’m not sure what I may be up against. I have a guess – I have a VERY inadequate light. It’s a twin 150 HQI coralife fixture with 2 actinics. It’s a basic entry level fixture. Problem is my bulbs are old and I’ve spent everything over the last year or so accumulating parts to build an LED rig. I have all the materials I need but none of the time to get started. There’s no cash left for two new HQI bulbs. They are at least 9 months old now. I’m not sure if that’s contributing.
Otherwise the tank is stable except for Nitrate. It’s been running around 1.5 for the last month or so. Parameters are

Nitrate 1.5 (red sea kit)
Phosphates 0.07 (Hanna)
Alk 9.07 (Hanna) (Range over the last 2 months, High: 10.36 on 10/11/12, Low 7.50 on 9/19/12 – my Calcium Rx had been offline for about 2 weeks)
Salinity 1.0255 (pinpoint meter)
pH 8.14 @ 2 AM (AC Jr) (range, this was the high, low was 7.97 @ 11:30 PM on 9/28/12

I’m not sure what to make of this – if the bulbs are the cause or the nitrates are too high. Basically, I have a few pieces of green hammer which are doing very well but my other LPS, 2 heads of candy cane and a small brain are receding. On the SPS side, I have a small tri-color acro that was doing well – no crazy growth but ok and that has started to SLOWLY bleach at the base. Also I’, seeing this with a small green slimmer frag as well as the base of a purple nana frag. I have a nice sized piece of ‘birds of paradise’ that RTN’d almost completely away (which I thought was the result of placement and too much flow, but moving it hasn’t helped) and another piece (different color) from the same source (thanks DanK) and that piece is thriving – go figure. I have a piece of blue tipped staghorn that almost RTN’s after using Red Slime Remover about 6 months ago. That has been continuing to heal up and grow over the bleached parts quite nicely and most of the Monti’s are doing well (all but one red plate) which actually was all but gone. A small mark remained on some rock after I tried to remove it b/c an RBTA was killing it. Trying to take the piece off the rock was a disaster. about a year ago the BTA moved slightly and the tiny piece just srarted to grow out of a pore in the rock. That piece got to be about 2" and now the oldest part has turned brown and dingy...

Notable changes;
I’ve switched to feeding the fish live blackworms as much as I can (had been a mix of homemade and new life spectrum pellets)
I’ve used some Reef Roids although this seems to have coincided with the downfall so I think I will cut back on that for a bit
Also I’ve used some Kent PhytoPlax and ZooPlex and /or BRS Reef Chili from time to time

I have an MTC MiniCal
Run GAC, GFO and Bio Pellets (and still have some phosphates - 0.07). I’ve had the bio pellets in a BRS reactor for a while and only recently saw my Chaeto start to wither away

Any thoughts? (other than get my light done) Can I assume it’s the bulbs or is there something else I should be focused on?

 

[TanksNStuff]

Dave, the first thing I thought of is the fact that you have your tank in the sunroom. IMO, this causes some instability with regards to your lighting because the longer summer days will provide your tank more light. Now that it's winter, the days are shorter and your corals are getting much less natural light. Granted, you still have your HQI bulbs that are fairly consistent. But you also noted they're getting older too, so that can also be a factor in diminished lighting.

I'm not certain that this is the only issue. But it seems to me like it might be a contributing factor for sure. Getting the LEDs done may allow you to control the intensity to make up for the lack of summer light your corals may have gotten used to.

Also, I don't know your water change schedule, but maybe if you increased it by another 5g per change... that might help you get some of your parameters back to optimal? That extra 5g might make a big difference on water quality (both dilluting the bad stuff and also adding a tad bit more essential minerals.)

That's about all I can think of at this time of the evening. Hope that helps.

 

[NikkiT]

George raised very good points. I would add, check your salinity with a refractometer if possible, and check the expiration dates on your test kits. Mike and me went through a horrible coral die off that sounds a lot like yours due to an improperly calibrated refractometer last fall- it took Ethan at AO coming in to diagnose the problem help us get the tanks back on track.
One last thought: what is your temp doing? Is it swinging?

 

[TanksNStuff]

Good advice also Nikki. Salinity probes don't last forever and do eventually go bad.

Dave, if you have a refractometer, I have some calibration fluid that I can let you borrow to make sure it's accurate. Or, if you don't have one, I can lend you mine to check it.

 

[fatoldsun]

Thanks guys. I have a refractometer but it's sort of a cheap one and I need natural light to read it so I'll check it this weekend. I also recently got the calibration fluid for the pinpoint and while the swing a bit I find it's pretty accurate. I did have a salinity issue. I lost some without realizing from a skimmer issue running too wet and taking out close to 3 gallons a week which the ATO just added in daily.

Water change schedule is 15 to 20% every 2 weeks. I think I overestimated my total volume in the past. I think realistically I'm closer to 95g than 115-120g. Anyway my changes are usually 15g and occasionally I'll do 20. I have someone in my QT so that changes my schedule a bit since I do 10% in that every other day. I burn through my NSW more quickly and have to remember to make an extra batch for a PWC.

Nikki, thanks for the input. My temps swing a bit but I have 2 smaller heaters and the ACjr acts as a safeguard to their thermostats. I also have a chiller - the sunroom can get hot in the summer. The chiller ran as recently as last week. Of course my ACjr and the Ranco I have for the chiller never agree. I tried to program the jr to compensate

 

[premnas]

How old is the system, do you have a sand bed? How old is the sand bed? Older than five years? Change it, IMO older sand beds not only lose the ability to buffer they can and will leach toxins that precipitate out of the water column, no sand bed?, look at the rock, same as above, it's the simple things we tend to overlook, me included. Lost an SPS/ Clam tank a couple of years ago, turned out to be " old tank syndrome ", the sand was poison, the halides were two years old, changed the bed and half the rock, not the bulbs, problem solved. Not the most analytical approach, but it worked.

 

[fatoldsun]

It's actually relatively young. The current tank's been set up about 2 years. The sand bed was new with this setup... It's a very slow and steady decline. I've had a few bouts of RTN. This is more of an STN. I am trying to find time here or there to get my light project at least over the tank - even if it's not pretty yet. If that doesn't turn things around I'll be back to the drawing board.
Thanks for the input

 

[trivan]

When I started my tank, I experienced this as well. It seemed as everything was good, parameters were in line, but I wasn't able to keep anything well. I kept up with water changes, increased to 2x a weekend making sure salinity and temp matched. I left everything alone, no dosing no treatments and went back to basics which was sump, skimmer and water changes. People (not this forum) were telling me to change my salt, do this do that, but I think when your not able to pin point the problem, going to the bare minimum is the best. Then you can start to factor out the causes as there are less variables.

In a few weeks, things turned around and things start to come back. Maybe new tank syndrome in my case' or more likely new tank owner syndrome - couldn't keep my hands out of the tank


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[fatoldsun]

I just tested everything and I think my NO3 is high. It's been at 1.5 for about 6 weeks now. Not sure why. I have bio pellets in a BRS reactor which were clumping a bit. 2 weeks ago I cleaned that and got it running better. I also added more chaeto (mine's been dwindling either from the pellets or the urchin I had to throw down there that seems to be eating it - weird...). I checked my change-water and that was 0.5 ppm. Not great... I then checked my RO/Di from my top off reservoir which I empty into my drum for mixing new SW that was 0.0 NO3.

I did a smaller WC today b/c I only had about 10 gallons of water made up. (I have 2 new fish in my QT and I do 15% WCs every other day so my reserves were low) I made 20g more for tomorrow. That'll be about 25% in 24 hours. I'll wait and do another 20g on Tuesday or Wednesday and 20g next weekend and re-test....

Phosphates were 0.0 on the Hanna in the tank. I didn't check the new water and after I did the change I realized the GFO, pellets, chaeto, etc may be eating the phosphates in the tank but there may be some in the new water and that may feed the NO3 in the tank when I add it. Oops. I'll test the next batch that mixes for a few days.

So if it's not the bulbs, the Nitrates are my next guess. Other than more aggressive WCs I'm not sure what to do about that though...

 

[trivan]

Maybe cut down feeding a bit. I do think if WC do not help lower the NItrates then some other factor is causing it to remain high. If I remember correctly, nitrates are the end result from ammonia, so something is significantly adding more then the biopellets can handle.


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[fatoldsun]

I actually cut back quite a bit about 6 months ago - I had a cyano outbreak and that was suggested following treatment as a way to keep it under control. Cyano has stayed away for the most part. I also started using a lot of live black worms for most feedings. I try to rinse them well. I wonder if that has contributed???