corals not thriving....

[daisy]

Hey - so here is a little challenge: in a 75 gal tank full of SPS, LPS and softies, stable params (not perfect params, but also not moving much...): DKh 6.4 (- a bit low and working to correct it with B ionic), pH about 8, ammonia zip, nitrite zip, nitrate about 20... Ca too high (not dosing Ca)

T5s with 2 white, 2 blue bulbs

five rics, one is melting away - no clue why. all others are doing great.

seven heads on neon green candy cane coral - once of which is melting away. why?

a few heads on blasto are totally bleaching - why?

SPS not looking good (can't even describe what's going on...) - why?

so I am sure I haven't given enough info - flow is pretty good - I have increased feeding recently because I've added more food-eating animals (one ravenous fish, several meat-eating corals...)

help me trouble shoot. I'm thinking you're gonna say:
1. check all pumps to make sure they're not gunked-up, thus decreasing flow
2. do a water change

...but perhaps there is more......

Thanks for helping me out!

 

[daisy]

...and why does it look as if some of the polyps on the sps are not polyps but rather aptasia? (look closely - do you see it, too? perhaps I'm just loosing my mind...)

 

[jackson6745]

Having nitrates of 20ppm and increasing feeding is not a good idea.

What is your salinity? Using a refractometer?

What changes have you made lately and when did this start?

Do you have a full picture of your reef?

 

[House of Laughter]

check all 3 of the ionic balance Mg, Ca and Dkh

House

 

[prattreef]

I was going to suggest checking the salinity too. Over time, B-Ionic (and all 2-part additions )will raise the salinity.

 

[daisy]

...oops - forgot to report that salinity is 1.024 according to refractometer.

i do not have Mg test kit.

i thought to increase feeding b/c i basically tripled the meat-eaters in the tank. I usually watch to make sure everything gets eaten, though I was gone for a week a week ago, and perhaps my tank-watcher fed more than was eaten? It's possible....

Ca has been WAY too high ever since about a month ago, so i stopped dosing it. alkalinity was way too low, so i continued to dose that part. Mg I never dosed and never tested for (since I lack the test) dkH is 6.4 right now - working to raise it to 8, and have been doing so very slowly.

 

[daisy]

FTS I'll have to give you tomorrow - the lights are already out for the night. I will say that from a foot away, the tank looks great. There are far more success stories in there than unhappy stories, but I am not used to there being this many things going wrong at once, so I'm thinking there is something systemic going on... Hopefully, it will go on slowly enough that I can correct before i lose much.... :frown:

 

[prattreef]

...oops - forgot to report that salinity is 1.024 according to refractometer.

Have you calibrated it recently?

 

[daisy]

...calibrated my refractometer? I had no idea I had to do that from time to time.

 

[basiab]

The problem may just be the mix of corals and the resulting chemical warfare. They all give off chemicals besides their ability to sting. The chemicals will affect some corals more than others. Water changes and carbon help reduce their affect.