PowderBlue Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Tank info Size-10 gallon Nuvo AIO Light- AI Prime Filtration media rack with sponge filters, purigen, and a minimax media reactor half way filled with aquamaxx gfo. I replace the gfo every week Flow is a maxi jet 900 on the return pump and a sicce nano powerhead I thought I narrowed down my issue to phosphates. My phosphates have tested 0.00 on my Hanna meter twice now over a week and a half span. I don't have any hair algae or anything of that nature. But every piece of my sps is starting to die. I can't keep the stuff alive for any more than a month. It will all eventually just lose its skin and die. Even my lepto is starting to look bad and that's my favorite piece of coral. My nitrites nitrates and ammonia and 0 as well. Someone wanna come over and check this [language filter] thing out for me?! I also do water changes every week to every 2 weeks at the longest. I am unsure what my alk, calcium are but that's the last I can think of. this was taken when I brought the sps home from Arson in the top right This is the same piece now :( as you can see the flesh is starting to melt Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexinverts Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) Well, the first thing you need to do is test for Alk, Ca, and Mag. Your Alk should be 7-9, your Ca 380-450, and your Mag should be 1200-1400. Do you dose any 2 part to replenish these? Or do you rely on water changes? Either way, you should test for them at least once per week. Another possibility is that your water is too clean. SPS will fade and melt for many people if their Nitrate and Phosphate are at zero. I shoot for nitrates of around 5-10 ppm and phosphate .03-.10 in my system. If I let them get too low my SPS pale and then proceed into rapid tissue necrosis. With a 10 gallon tank, you could probably keep your nutrients in the range that I mentioned just using water changes. If so, I would take out the GFO and the purigen. Also, you need to test alk and ca right away. Good luck! Edited August 20, 2015 by Lexinverts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackice Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 You want to keep sps alive and you don't know your alk cal mag??? Sorry couldn't resist! I would say start with the three tests and if those are good possibly start feeding more and pull the gfo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catfish2 Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Couldn't agree more with lexinverts. Coral need some nutrients to live. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 I do 70 percent water changes on a nearly weekly basis. That's the only reason I haven't bought the test kits. Changing 5 gallons in a tank that holds apx 8 gallons I highly doubt the corals are depleting the nutrients that fast. Now I've been wrong once or twice before, but that would be extremely fast to me. I'll get the kits and test but if everything is in line I'll be officially stumped. Aside from what lexinverts said and maybe it's too clean and I should remove the gfo. Thanks for the help but this is a serious question. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexinverts Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Just to be clear, when we are referring to "nutrients" we are referring to nitrate and phosphate. By doing those large water changes, you could be controlling for depeletion of important ions like Ca, Carbonate (Alk), and Mg, but who knows? One other possibility is that in such a small system, you might cause the parameters to change substantially with each large water change. A spike in your alkalinity every week right after your water change could be stressing your corals as well. However, I think the most likely culprit is that your nutrients are too low and you are starving your corals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 (edited) So what would be your plan of attack lex? Do a few gallon water change, test all the parameters, wait 4 or 5 days, test again? And either dose for alk mag and calcium. Then maybe go longer between water changes? All other corals seem to be OK minus the sps and lepto, but I know others are much more forgiving as well. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Edited August 20, 2015 by PowderBlue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lexinverts Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 I would drastically reduce the amount of your water changes that you do each time. Drop it down to 10-20% per week. I would test your Alk and Ca every few days and see what patterns that you see (including right after a water change). I find the Salifert test kits to work best for me for alk and ca. If you see your Alk and Ca change too much between water changes, consider doing water changes every 3 days. Alternatively, there are "nano" dosing systems that you can use to replenish Alk and Ca, but I would see what you can do with some small water changes first. I would also pull out your purigen and your GFO and do the same monitoring for Nitrate and Phosphate. Check it every few days and see what you see. If you can keep nitrate in the range of 5-10 ppm and Phosphate between .03 and .1 using only water changes to export nutrients I think that you will be golden. I prefer the Red Sea test kits for Nitrate and Phospate. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 20, 2015 Author Share Posted August 20, 2015 Awesome, thank you and here goes nothing! Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beer503 Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 70% weekly water change is alot lol swing in parameter can definitely stress out the sps. Also Chris runs T5, you run LED, did you light acclimate your coral? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Exodus Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 Gonna have to agree with both lex and blackice. The Calc/Alk drop at astonishing rates in smaller volumes of water. I recently had my corals in a 10g holding tank while upgrading and I had to dose a ridiculous amount of 2 part daily to keep them in ideal ranges otherwise I would be sitting at a low 6 Alk within a matter of 2 days, I pretty much was testing almost every other day to keep things in line reassuring my upgrade to 30Gallons was a wise choice as I never want to babysit a tank like that again. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackice Posted August 20, 2015 Share Posted August 20, 2015 It sounds like you got the right idea but have taken a little to far. I tried to rely on water changes to replace my supplements it work for a while but there is a lot of swings with that especially when you're changing 70% of your water. that's a lot, good to keep stuff clean but your Parameters Will swing a lot especially if you get a bad batch of salt. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LadySaber Posted August 21, 2015 Share Posted August 21, 2015 on my two nanos I had my alk drop like crazy lately and have been fighting to keep it up. I realized it was from a bad batch of salt I used to set up the 20 gallon (glad I only bought a small box of it) and the gfo with purigen I added at the same time to both of the tanks. New batch of salt will be ordered soon! When I do water changes on my 10 gallon is only about a gallon and on the 20 maybe 2 gallons a week seem to work just fine. oh yeah and only use purigen or your gfo not both. I learned that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 Tested all my levels, calcium was crazy low, alk was Dead on target, and mag was low as well. Did a 3 gallon change, turned off my gfo reactor and removed the purigen. I'm going to let the dust settle and test everything again tomorrow morning. And then each day for a week and see what I need to dose and how much. I also bought some Vitro fuels to help feed the corals. Hoping we are on a positive slope up and no more negatives haha! Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blackice Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Sounds like a great start. Hopefully it's a easy fix get those levels back up! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 I'm hoping the water change will bring them back up, if not then I guess it's mad scientist time lol Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 So after a 3 gallon change and a day of settling my levels are here Alk- 8.4 Mag-1300 ish Cal-400 I'm going to test again the day after tomorrow and see where everything falls. By the looks of it calcium will be what I'll need to dose. I'm hoping kalk in my ato will be enough. Time will tell! I may even be able to get away with a weekly change of a few gallons. Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 A quick read on SPS coloration issues. Easy on those water changes and things should start turning around. Fuel should help as well. http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/help-my-sps-are-paling-and-i-dont-know-what-to-do.210035/ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Z Reef Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I can relate to 5 gal changes, it's how I've always done the mixing since day one so its easy to default to known mixing amounts. With a tank that small though, I think a gallon is the most I'd be changing. Maybe get ahold of some gallon milk jugs and force yourself to only use one at a time haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 That's a good idea, I mix 5 gallons but I can just pull out a milk jug and then dunk it in the bucket and fill it back into the tank haha! Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 What salt are you using ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 I get my water straight from upscales. Salt and fresh. After the water change everything was right in great range. I think I went too long between changes I tried to go 2 weeks and that won't work Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 I get my water straight from upscales. Salt and fresh. After the water change everything was right in great range. I think I went too long between changes I tried to go 2 weeks and that won't work Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk Oh, ok just wondering which salt mix. I used Kent in the past which was fine because in the bigger tanks we would monitor and dose but sometimes we would get a bad batch. I have been happy with the red sea coral pro so far. The alk stays more stable. In the past I couldn't keep magicians alive in my tank but think that's because the alk was so low. Happy to say the ones I got from Robert are alive and well just refuse to grow! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 It blows me away how quick these little corals rip the ions out of the water! Sent from my SM-N910V using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PowderBlue Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 (edited) Little update I removed all my sticks, I removed the purigen, and turned off my gfo reactor for 5 days. My question is, now that I've removed the sps, can I turn the gfo back on? I'd like to keep phosphates as low as possible. All of my other corals aside from the sps and my lepto seemed to be doing fine. The lepto is doing considerably better. I think the lack of calcium and the deadly low alk etc was my biggest issue. So should I leave the gfo off or is turning it back on ok? Phosphate ppm is now 0.02 so it hasn't come up much. I'd hate to have an algae battle on my hands Sent from my SM-G928V using Tapatalk Edited September 2, 2015 by PowderBlue Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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