Coral declining need HELP

[longjohn]

Ok so I've been fighting off coral decline for a few weeks now and can't figure out what's going on with my tank.

The tank is 8-9 months old it's a 32G aio I've got about 45 pieces of coral I've lost quite a few pieces over the last 3 weeks birds nest acro, anemone,acan,chalice, clove polyps, tyree toadstool. im running aqua forest for salt and dosing daily with B-ionic and reef pearls. Using ro/di system, running aqua forest salt.

Everything tested with salifert or hanna and everything has been calibrated.

Phosphates started showing signs at 0.82 Sunday may 26th tested
Saturday June 01 50%water change then tested phosphate at 0.35
Sunday June 2nd tested phosphate again and it's back to 0.76
Tested again last night June 5th phos is at 0.84

Tested Saturday June 8th
Phos .82
Alk. 10
Cal. 440
Mag 1410
Ph 8.2
Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 ppm
Salinity 1.025

I applied a bag of chemi pure blue to help mitigate issues with phosphates and other toxins. I also realized my filters for my ro/di system where about 8 months into use and it's only a small ro/di buddy so I changed those out (membrane,carbon,sediment) I regularly kept up with my DI resin changes so that wasnt an issue.

I tested my water parameters this morning and they are as follows.

Alk- 10
Phos-1.0
Mag- 1500
Cal- 460
Nitrate- 0
Nitrite- 0
Ammo- 0
Ph- 8.2
Salinity 1.026


I am at a loss for what is going on. I've attached pictures of the corals and my tank.

 

[TX_REEF]

1.0 phosphate, especially without a balanced amount of nitrate, can likely cause coral unhappiness. I'd look to lower P and raise N if I were you. Alk is also high imo but some folks have success with higher alk so I'll reserve advice there.

 

[longjohn]

1.0 phosphate, especially without a balanced amount of nitrate, can likely cause coral unhappiness. I'd look to lower P and raise N if I were you. Alk is also high imo but some folks have success with higher alk so I'll reserve advice there.

I've tried running phosguard to lower it but with no avail. Nitrates dropping suddenly after only 4 days is what has me worried went from 10ppm nitrates to 0 in under 4 days. I cant see alk being an issue been like that for almost 8 months it was at 11 but when I switched salts it brought it down to 9-10

But I was seeing coral decline before switching salts.

I've also been told and shown systems running at a hight po4 one tank was at 5 ppm and thriving and others I've seen at almost 2ppm. I was told not to chase these numbers as I'll drive myself insane trying to lower them and could possibly bottom out the tank. So I've steered away from phosphate being the main reason.

I thought maybe the filters had let in a large amount of heavy metals due to the filters being way out of replacement date but I replaced them on Saturday did a 20% water change and added chemi pure blue and it actually exasperated the issues and bottomed out my nitrates.

 

[Dburr1014]

Ok so I've been fighting off coral decline for a few weeks now and can't figure out what's going on with my tank.

The tank is 8-9 months old it's a 32G aio I've got about 45 pieces of coral I've lost quite a few pieces over the last 3 weeks birds nest acro, anemone,acan,chalice, clove polyps, tyree toadstool. im running aqua forest for salt and dosing daily with B-ionic and reef pearls. Using ro/di system, running aqua forest salt.

Everything tested with salifert or hanna and everything has been calibrated.

Phosphates started showing signs at 0.82 Sunday may 26th tested
Saturday June 01 50%water change then tested phosphate at 0.35
Sunday June 2nd tested phosphate again and it's back to 0.76
Tested again last night June 5th phos is at 0.84

Tested Saturday June 8th
Phos .82
Alk. 10
Cal. 440
Mag 1410
Ph 8.2
Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10 ppm
Salinity 1.025

I applied a bag of chemi pure blue to help mitigate issues with phosphates and other toxins. I also realized my filters for my ro/di system where about 8 months into use and it's only a small ro/di buddy so I changed those out (membrane,carbon,sediment) I regularly kept up with my DI resin changes so that wasnt an issue.

I tested my water parameters this morning and they are as follows.

Alk- 10
Phos-1.0
Mag- 1500
Cal- 460
Nitrate- 0
Nitrite- 0
Ammo- 0
Ph- 8.2
Salinity 1.026


I am at a loss for what is going on. I've attached pictures of the corals and my tank.

May I am what are you feeding the tank/fish/coral?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

How much are you feeding your tank?

 

[longjohn]

May I am what are you feeding the tank/fish/coral?

Reef pearls and dosing with B-ionic
I have no fish
Stocking list:
Cleaner shrimp
Blood shrimp
Emerald crabs x2
File fish
Multiple snails
3 anemones

 

[TX_REEF]

I've tried running phosguard to lower it but with no avail. Nitrates dropping suddenly after only 4 days is what has me worried went from 10ppm nitrates to 0 in under 4 days. I cant see alk being an issue been like that for almost 8 months it was at 11 but when I switched salts it brought it down to 9-10

But I was seeing coral decline before switching salts.

I've also been told and shown systems running at a hight po4 one tank was at 5 ppm and thriving and others I've seen at almost 2ppm. I was told not to chase these numbers as I'll drive myself insane trying to lower them and could possibly bottom out the tank. So I've steered away from phosphate being the main reason.

I thought maybe the filters had let in a large amount of heavy metals due to the filters being way out of replacement date but I replaced them on Saturday did a 20% water change and added chemi pure blue and it actually exasperated the issues and bottomed out my nitrates.

I know that many systems thrive with high phosphate, but I'd venture to say they also have balanced nitrate. I'd be surprised if you could show me a system with zero nitrate and high phosphate that is thriving.

 

[longjohn]

How much are you feeding your tank?

Very minimal once a week

I also only feed my anemones brine shrimp but I rinse and clean it before putting into my display tank.

 

[longjohn]

I know that many systems thrive with high phosphate, but I'd venture to say they also have balanced nitrate. I'd be surprised if you could show me a system with zero nitrate and high phosphate that is thriving.

I understand that but what I'm saying is I was experiencing decline in corals before the nitrates dissipated I had a stable Nitrate level of 10 ppm and like .2 p04 for months without issues now I'm raising my po4 and losing nitrates in the same time.

And it seems to be affecting certain corals not all are dying/losing color my torches hammers zoas and such are fine 2 of the 3 anemones are also fine. But my clove polyps, toad stool, chalice and acans aren't doing good and my birds nest has bleached right out in the last 8 days.

 

[longjohn]

Not sure of the relevancy to this but I've also noticed I have no algae growing anywhere nothing not even hair algae where I had alot of it almost two months ago I figured the clean up crew was just doing a really good job.

 

[TX_REEF]

I understand that but what I'm saying is I was experiencing decline in corals before the nitrates dissipated I had a stable Nitrate level of 10 ppm and like .2 p04 for months without issues now I'm raising my po4 and losing nitrates in the same time.

And it seems to be affecting certain corals not all are dying/losing color my torches hammers zoas and such are fine 2 of the 3 anemones are also fine. But my clove polyps, toad stool, chalice and acans aren't doing good and my birds nest has bleached right out in the last 8 days.

Got it. It's hard to say what caused the slow decline when everything was "stable", but as of now, you have had a 100% drop in nitrates and a 20% increase in phosphates in 3 days - in my opinion, that's more than enough to tick off or bleach some corals. There is something in your tank causing phosphates to rise, and it seems like your chemipure must have absorbed nitrates much faster than phosphates.

 

[longjohn]

Hmm so its probably a good idea to pull that chemi pure out for now. I also don't have a skimmer and haven't ever ran one. I'm upgrading to a innovative marine 75 in another few months and I have a eshopps skimmer for thst but other have told me that shouldn't be an issue.

I thought about flow being a problem as the back of my tank isn't very exposed to flow and I have what looks like diatoms starting on the sand bed under the rock where little light gets to and not as much flow.

Whats got me concerned the last day is my big elephant ear has retracted it's polyps and tightened up and has this very odd shiny appearance to it. It's not slime or anything that can be wiped off its just the coral is smooth and shiny. (Picture above for refrence)

 

[longjohn]

I dunno I'm at a loss here and losing hundreds of dollars a day in corals. Along with my sanity.

Seriously considering taking everything to my friend who owns a pet store and putting all my corals in one of his acclimating tanks untill I set my new tank up and running in the coming months.

 

[Cell]

Nitrate/PO4 levels seem out of whack and not stable. Phosphate jumping around and now 0 nitrate. Get these numbers stable.

 

[scowall]

I had the same problem, I found red bugs was the problem with mine. Even though I had dipped every one of them. Just my experience

 

[longjohn]

Nitrate/PO4 levels seem out of whack and not stable. Phosphate jumping around and now 0 nitrate. Get these numbers stable.

Ya thanks for the heads up, why do you think I've made this post I'm trying to get them back to stable and can't. Obviously there's an underlying issues somewhere. The tank was stable and thriving for 7 months not a single issue now out of no where with NO change I have po4 increasing like crazy and as people have suggested I've probably bottomed my nitrates out trying to correct the po4 problem.

 

[longjohn]

I had the same problem, I found red bugs was the problem with mine. Even though I had dipped every one of them. Just my experience

I'd would dive deeper into this but in theory if it was red bugs it would be affecting all.corals not just a specific few. I have over 43 pieces of coral and only 6 are dying/losing color the rest seem fine maybe a slight color drop but besides thst they are all OK even my anemones are fine and those are from what I've read over the years the most temperamental to parameter changes.

 

[Cell]

Ya thanks for the heads up, why do you think I've made this post I'm trying to get them back to stable and can't. Obviously there's an underlying issues somewhere. The tank was stable and thriving for 7 months not a single issue now out of no where with NO change I have po4 increasing like crazy and as people have suggested I've probably bottomed my nitrates out trying to correct the po4 problem.

OK good luck.

 

[Sharkbait19]

Seeing that phosphate has risen while nitrates have fallen, the corals are likely starving from the lack of nutrients, and the high phosphates will cause the corals to brown out. You’ll want to dose nitrate to gradually get the levels back up (I had made a sodium nitrate solution that I dosed at 5 mL a day until the levels rose). Once nitrate goes up, use water changes and phosguard to bring both back down slowly. If you try to lower phosphate before dosing nitrate, the problem will likely persist and your corals will continue to bleach/starve.
Do you have fish in the tank? Because the phosphate/nitrate problem happened for me when I didn’t have fish, and I had to dose nitrate to compensate for the lack of fish. Once I had a good fish population I was able to stop dosing nitrate. I still do regular water changes because phosphate will occasionally leech into the tank from my rocks.

 

[Rjukan]

Sounds like something has a lot of phosphate bound up in it and is now leeching into the tank. Have you added any rock or anything similar that could be the source? Are those coral foods high in phos? I'm not familiar with reef pearls or B ionic.

Have you considered using lanthanum chloride to try and bring down the phos?