Corals Dying PLEASE HELP

[nova918]

Hi guys i need you guys advise some of my corals i see are dying and im going crazy to figure it out on what is causing it …. I will put here all parameters including lighting and temperature….

Here are my most recent test with hanna chekers

Alk- 11.7 ….
Calcium-515
Mag-1400
Phos-0.21
Nitrate-17
Ph-8.3 steady

Just dosing kalkwasser as auto top off

Salinity at 1.025

Tempature-goes from 79 some times to 82 depends how hot the day is im in florida… and have the house set at 68 ….

I also check for copper reading at 0.09

Lighting have 5 radeons with all blues with schedule intensity at 40% and have 3 kessils at about 40 percent as well tank is a 500 gallon tank and hight of tank is 28 inches tall…


Please i would appreciate any help thank you all!

 

[Nate Chalk]

Pictures? What coral types dying? Most history of your husbandry?

 

[nova918]

Pictures? What coral types dying? Most history of your husbandry?

Here are some that i see

 

[VintageReefer]

Alk is high
Nitrates are slightly high
Phosphates please confirm if you actually mean “71” and if so what unit of measure is this.

 

[VintageReefer]

Is your ac system maintaining the room at 68? Or is it set for 68 but the room still gets in the 80’s?

 

[nasdds]

You sure some of these corals aren’t stinging each other causing chemical warfare? They seem close to each other. Also Alk seems pretty high.

 

[VintageReefer]

What model radions and have you checked par?

 

[Nate Chalk]

That Tracy for sure got burned by the hammer.

Imma guess new ish gonis?

And .... Candy candy's idk. Long term decline?

 

[VintageReefer]

That Tracy for sure got burned by the hammer.

Imma guess new ish gonis?

And .... Candy candy's idk. Long term decline?

I agree with this. I’ve had to relocate a hammer colony at least twice because they send out long sweeper tentacles that sting and kill neighbors. That hammer is waaay too close to the trachy. And the scoly will be next

Your Goniopora are also very very close to what appears to be an anemone. Anemones can and will sting and a Goni will not win

 

[nova918]

Alk is high
Nitrates are slightly high
Phosphates please confirm if you actually mean “71” and if so what unit of measure is this.

That was phosphorus so it would be 0.21 i corrected it

Alk is high
Nitrates are slightly high
Phosphates please confirm if you actually mean “71” and if so what unit of measure is this.

 

[nova918]

Is your ac system maintaining the room at 68? Or is it set for 68 but the room still gets in the 80’s?

Is set at 68 but during the day goes down to like 71 72 if its a hot day

 

[nova918]

What model radions and have you checked par?

Radions XR15w G6 Pro

 

[nova918]

You sure some of these corals aren’t stinging each other causing chemical warfare? They seem close to each other. Also Alk seems pretty high.

How can i bring the kalk down …. All im doing is adding Kalkwasser as auto top off … normaly PH is constant at 8.3

 

[nova918]

You sure some of these corals aren’t stinging each other causing chemical warfare? They seem close to each other. Also Alk seems pretty high.

It could be ill try to separate them im going to add carbone also to see if it helps

 

[UGASealDawg]

I agree with this. I’ve had to relocate a hammer colony at least twice because they send out long sweeper tentacles that sting and kill neighbors. That hammer is waaay too close to the trachy. And the scoly will be next

Your Goniopora are also very very close to what appears to be an anemone. Anemones can and will sting and a Goni will not wi

 

[VintageReefer]

That was phosphorus so it would be 0.21 i corrected it

Ok. Much better

Still high though. Should consider running gfo to maintain < .1

.21 certainly not lethal or toxic. Just slightly elevated

 

[VintageReefer]

Is set at 68 but during the day goes down to like 71 72 if its a hot day

I wonder how your tank is getting 10 degrees above ambient in this room

 

[VintageReefer]

Radions XR15w G6 Pro

I suggest buying or renting a par meter. Xr15 g6 has lowish par, on larger and deeper tanks. And you’re running around 40%. I was just in a thread and a guy had to have 2 xr15 g6 at nearly 100% to get decent par in a 36” tank. You do have a lot of them, but at low intensity and supplement with kessils, so basically - your setup is custom, we really can’t advice if it’s “good enough” or if your settings need to be increased, without par measurement in the tank

I will say - and this is a guess and opinion - your probably too low in the settings.

 

[VintageReefer]

How can i bring the kalk down …. All im doing is adding Kalkwasser as auto top off … normaly PH is constant at 8.3

Water changes. Reduce kalk. Your calcium is high, not harmful at all, but this has room to safely decrease and alk will go down also

 

[UGASealDawg]

Agree with what you got from other contributors.

New system? New coral?

QT is almost a necessity - it's an investment that will help protect your major investment in this reef.

Do you see any brown jelly or fleshy like discharge from the affected corals? If so, PM me. That would be brown jelly and not going to be, ummm, fun!?. I'll dump everything I know from a year long battle with a 180 gal system and $10k of coral.

For the temp - 80 seems to be a threshold that affects a lot of coral too. If you don't have a chiller, then get fans pointed at your sump. You can also freeze chunks of RODI water and add them to the sump - not a good plan long term. Need to find a way to keep the temp as stable as you can under 80 and , ideally, between 76 and 78. Do you have to turn on the heaters at night? Perhaps setting the on temp a bit lower so that the tank starts off lower when the heat starts. Temp swings are bad and they are very hard to ID as the culprit because it may be a few days/weeks before the coral starts to show signs of distress from temp shock. That's why a very stable QT is needed.

For the locating, it definitely looks like coral warfare. When the lights first go out, feed your corals a couple evenings in a row. Then watch their tentacles come all the way out after a couple nights when they get used to feeding at dark. Then you can see the room each one needs. Definitely get the trachy and goni moved asap. That definitely looks like stinging from the hammer and the anenome? respectively.

Also, bare in mind, some corals poison the water and the attack can be widely distributed...and some corals are more aggressive and others sensitive. That's why QT then adding one at a time is the best method imho.

Err on the side of too much space between them. Especially different types. A lot of corals are more tolerant/resistant to their own kind. Euphyllias have amazing long tentacles at their disposal...they will reach out and touch some one - if you are old enough to get the reference.

QT the affected if you can.