Help Required from Fellow Reefers!!!

[kilteddj]

I know I am probably late in sending this email, but I thought I could take care of this problem myself.

Over the period of a few months, my zoas have died off, my shrooms have receded to the point that they are about the size of a nickel, my Favia is slowly losing growth and the skeleton is starting to show. All the aforementioned were noted to be bleached and without color (still). All my parameters are fine and have been for a while although I seem to be having an issue with my salinity rising after a week or two. It used to stay around the 1.024/25 mark and (frequently) when I test it, it has raised to 1.029/30. After water changes (20% every 14 days) it always seems to have risen....

Let me show you some of the steps I took to try and rectify what I thought may have been causing the issues. BTW it's a 75G stretched Hex tank with a sump/refugium.

I added a Phos Reactor with GFO as I thought that Phosphates may be the problem. Phosphates now between 0.01ppm and 0.03ppm (still critical?) I had a case of Red Slime Algae and since adding the Ph Reactor it has receded considerably.
I switched out for a new MH bulb (the old one only had about 8 months on it, but wanted to try that route).
I added more flow with a K4, I now have 2 facing each other and have a MJ 1200 breaking the surface.
I took out a frag rack that seemed to have corrosion underneath the plastic cover for one of the magnets (did a big water change after this also)
I have bought an ATO (have yet to set it up as I do not have enough room behind my tank, and an 18 month daughter who will wreak as much havoc with anything around the tank!) as I found out that adding the water in large doses from the H2o Jugs was throwing off the PH. Since a couple of weeks ago I bought PH buffer and the water being added has the same PH as the tank should have.
The tank hasn't been the same since I left one of my wife's friends look after it (with detailed instructions mind you) back in July as I went back to Scotland for 2 weeks. I hadn't added the Kent Strontium and Molbydenum for a while, so I bought some concentrated Strontium and I have been adding that also for a couple of weeks along with Magnesium also. Of course all supplements are dosed as directed.

Please give me some thoughts on what you may think the issues here are, I am a reefer of over a year, and love the hobby, but the issues that I am having right now are discouraging me from venturing further into the hobby and getting that big tank that I once dreamed of.....

All help, no matter how trivial it may seem, is greatly appreciated.

Cheers,

Brent

 

[d2mini]

The only way your salinity can be going up is from massive amounts of evaporation without topping off, or you are topping off with more saltwater instead of plain RO water.

What about the rest of your tank's parameters like ammonia, nitrates, ph, etc?
And i assume you are testing for stuff before adding anything to correct it?

 

[kilteddj]

D2,

Yes, FW not SW is going back into the tank due to evaporation. The only thing that I am not testing for is Mag, which I am dosing as directed on the bottle. All my parameters, Ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates are in check. Temp is at a constant 77° and I have a sand bed with LR. New RO water is tested before it goes into the tank.

Any other suggestions?

 

[tankedchemist]

I would never dose something I'm not testing. it's a delicate balance between alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium that keeps stuff aligned properly in our tank.

That aside, D2's right-- your salinity can't simply creep up on it's own, except by evaporation of the water. How are you measuring salinity?

 

[winyfrog]

Double check your hydrometer or refractometer (whichever you use) From the sounds of it the cause of your corals receding is from your salinity being too high.

I would also run a full water test, we can only guess without knowing what things are testing.

Also if you are over adding something that you are not testing for you could easily overdose as tankedchemist mentioned.

 

[kilteddj]

I'm measuring using a hydrometer, I have 2, I used a Coralife one to start with, but bought an Instant Ocean when I thought the Coralife was crapping out on me. Point taken about the dosing and I will stop as I don't have much in the way of corals anymore anyhow......

 

[winyfrog]

bummer you could have bought one refractometer with what you spent on hydrometers.

If you local LFS has a refractometer, I would take you hydrometer there and have them test it against there refractometer just to be sure its reading correctly. They tend to be 3-8 points off give or take.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 Winy.....hydrometers have a habit of going bad. I was lucky in that my super old hydrometer gave out the same readings as a refractometer, but others have been unlucky in that their hydrometers went bad.

 

[kilteddj]

Okay, I will invest in getting a refractometer, that's no problem. Outwith the Salinity proposal, do you have any thoughts on what it may be? What else should I test for in the RO water going in? I'm testing for Phosphates., Nitrates, and PH.

 

[wontonflip]

What are your ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates like? Are you buying ro water, or do you have an rodi unit? And if you do have an rodi unit, does it have a tds meter?

 

[winyfrog]

Whats your temp?

What fish do you have? could one be nibbling on some coral

 

[kilteddj]

Temp is at a consistent 77 degrees. Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates all come out at 0. I get the RO water from a Water Windmill, I do need to invest in an RO system, but for the time being the last check that was done on the RO water TDS was minimal and I have tested for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Phosphates, and PH on this water and all was good.

Fish (Foxface, Y Tang, 6-line Wrasse, Pyj Card., and 2 clowns) have never been coral nippers and even if they were, that wouldn't explain colonies of zoas dying off (no smart ass comment meant by me there Winyfrog BTW). I am going to stop dosing for the moment and try and do a massive water change, after doing some rock work, and keep doing regular water changes weekly. Still open to any other possibilites to this situation.
Thanks for the help guys.

 

[d2mini]

Ahhhhh... i agree with Winy. Chances are high your hydrometer is giving you bogus readings. Who knows what your real salinity is! I wouldn't even bother doing a water change unless you can get an accurate salinity reading on the new water. Go down to City Pets and get a refractometer stat!

 

[winyfrog]

Temp is at a consistent 77 degrees. Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates all come out at 0. I get the RO water from a Water Windmill, I do need to invest in an RO system, but for the time being the last check that was done on the RO water TDS was minimal and I have tested for Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Phosphates, and PH on this water and all was good.

Fish (Foxface, Y Tang, 6-line Wrasse, Pyj Card., and 2 clowns) have never been coral nippers and even if they were, that wouldn't explain colonies of zoas dying off (no smart ass comment meant by me there Winyfrog BTW). I am going to stop dosing for the moment and try and do a massive water change, after doing some rock work, and keep doing regular water changes weekly. Still open to any other possibilites to this situation.
Thanks for the help guys.

FYI. if something is nipping at corals they will start to die. (no smart ass comment ment and none taken ;)

but thats probably not the issue. I will stick to the salinity reason. agree with d2 you need to know where your salinity is before you should do a water change.

It may be possible that you have a predator worm or critter in there that you are unaware of. But I would start with salinity