Every Coral Added to Tank dies or browns out in 24 hrs

[madweazl]

Thank you for I will grab some Ree Crystal tonight from Petco and do a 10Gal WC tomorrow evening, I have no faith those corals will live for tonight

Just keep in mind that water changes will only lower your parameters if the salt mixes lower than what your tank has now and IF your salinity is actually correct. I wouldnt do anything until you confirm your salinity with somebody else. And again, your calcium and magnesium levels will not kill corals. They're higher than many run but they arent lethal.

 

[oneilwiz]

Well,

I tried to calibrate the Hanna Salinity Tester with the Cal solution, after two attempts I get the same error displayed.
I went to my BRS Refractor for a test but I can't find the calibration solution.

Readings from both:
BRS refractor Tank Salinity: 1.040
Hanna Salinity Tester: 1.023ppm
Sent an email to Hanna Support to provide feedback on error for the tester.

tomorrow I will see what local reef shop in Northern Virginia has Reef Crystal salt mix as well as a Calibration solution. I will also see if I can bring in my water for testing as well.

 

[madweazl]

Where at in NOVA? I'm in Fredericksburg; if you're close, I have calibration fluid for the refractometer.

 

[Billldg]

Well,

I tried to calibrate the Hanna Salinity Tester with the Cal solution, after two attempts I get the same error displayed.
I went to my BRS Refractor for a test but I can't find the calibration solution.

Readings from both:
BRS refractor Tank Salinity: 1.040
Hanna Salinity Tester: 1.023ppm
Sent an email to Hanna Support to provide feedback on error for the tester.

tomorrow I will see what local reef shop in Northern Virginia has Reef Crystal salt mix as well as a Calibration solution. I will also see if I can bring in my water for testing as well.

View attachment 1219550

If the BRS refractometer is even close to right then that is a big problem.

 

[oneilwiz]

Where at in NOVA? I'm in Fredericksburg; if you're close, I have calibration fluid for the refractometer.

I am in Herndon Virginia, I think 45 miles out

 

[vetteguy53081]

remember - Nothing goes quick in saltwater.
If you order salt from your local Petco and pick it up, you'll get a 10% discount

 

[oneilwiz]

remember - Nothing goes quick in saltwater.
If you order salt from your local Petco and pick it up, you'll get a 10% discount

thanks, thats what I did earlier ordered online but I will pick it up in the AM.

 

[lapin]

Before you change salt mixes you need to look at this chart.

Saltmix Parameters bring on the test results - Page 9 - Reef Central Online Community

Page 9- Saltmix Parameters bring on the test results The Reef Chemistry Forum

www.reefcentral.com

And I agree that you need to first calibrate your refractometer and get your tank salinity to 1.025 -1.026
I would then wait a week or 2 for your big 3 (alk, cal , mag) to stablize before making any adjustments.

 

[oneilwiz]

Before you change salt mixes you need to look at this chart.

Saltmix Parameters bring on the test results - Page 9 - Reef Central Online Community

Page 9- Saltmix Parameters bring on the test results The Reef Chemistry Forum

www.reefcentral.com

And I agree that you need to first calibrate your refractometer and get your tank salinity to 1.025 -1.026
I would then wait a week or 2 for your big 3 (alk, cal , mag) to stablize before making any adjustments.

thank you I will review shortly, also stumble on this as well

Aquarium Salt Mix Guide

Learn how to properly mix saltwater with various brands of aquarium salt from the experts at That Fish Place - That Pet Place & thatpetplace.com.

www.thatpetplace.com

 

[ccombs]

Hey! Keep your head up, we will get through this. I have personally had corals bounce back when I thought they were done for.

Although some of your parameters are out of range, I don't see anything that screams immediate coral death. For example, my tank is plagued by low pH and high nitrates, but they consistently stay there and don't swing all over the place and I have had success with corals. I would focus on stability and slow adjustments to get your parameters in range, as opposed to bottled products with overnight results.

In regards to coral. I would go coral by coral and evaluate flow and lighting needs. Typically this is where I have seen them close up. Be sure everything is placed where it can be the most successful. Patiently wait 48 hours after making any adjustments and re-evalutate.

I would also recommend taking pictures for comparison in a few days.

This hobby is a marathon. Take your time, be slow and methodical, and your tank will be good to you.

 

[count krunk]

You need more mature live rock

 

[davedamage]

I had an uncalibrated refractometer read 1.025 consistently until I took my water to an LFS and had it checked on a Milwaukee digital tester only to find out my refractometer was reading almost 14 points high. I did big water changes on both of my tanks and months of being the "coral killer" changed immediately.

 

[SandJ]

@oneilwiz there are a lot of reefers in your area (and several saltwater stores). If you have not found WAMAS reef club yet, please check them out. Awesome group of people that are happy to help a local reefer.
Blue Ribbon Koi is not too far from you and does water testing (they are mainly saltwater but also sell koi...very expensive koi lol...my daughter LOVED feeding them every trip).

 

[oneilwiz]

@oneilwiz there are a lot of reefers in your area (and several saltwater stores). If you have not found WAMAS reef club yet, please check them out. Awesome group of people that are happy to help a local reefer.
Blue Ribbon Koi is not too far from you and does water testing (they are mainly saltwater but also sell koi...very expensive koi lol...my daughter LOVED feeding them every trip).

Thank you all for your help much appreciated. So I believe I never took a photo of my sump, I have way more rock in my tank than what is displayed. The rest sits in my sump instead of Chaeto. I will attack this slowly as recommended, I started to look at salt mix measurements and so far I think Tropic Marin would be my best to slowly reduce the Cal and MG while increasing the ALk. I guess you can't have it all lol.

Stay tune all, I will keep everyone posted when I get a chance today to test my water at either Reefescape, Blue Ribbon and CapitalAquarium both not too far from me. This hits me last night which shows how SUPER IMPORTANT local Pet Shops are as well as YOU the Reefers. Online stores cant assist when you have a Tank emergency.

 

[Daniel@R2R]

Hope you can get this sorted. I know it's frustrating, but you've got donde great hobbyists giving you help in this thread

 

[oneilwiz]

Good evening gang,

So I went to LFS with a sample of my water. Take a wild guess, is the Hanna Salinity Tester accurate at 1.023? or is it the ATC Refractor Meter at 1.040?. Reef escape (LFS) tested and confirmed my Salinity is indeed 1.040. That will explain all the issues I been having. The Hanna Tester indeed is inaccurate.

Last night I tried twice to calibrate it in the solution that came with it but still get an Error message. Picked up a bottle of Refractometer Calibration Solution, came home and tested with the ATC refractor meter and received the same measurement.

Hands down thank you all for your help on this, greatly appreciated. I will work on slowly bringing down the salinity by doing a very small maybe a cup or two replacement of SW with RO water.

PS if anyone caught this I am selling the following used lights; DM

Kessil A160We with mount $200
Kessil H160 with mount $200

 

[Billldg]

How big is the tank?

 

[madweazl]

Good to hear; on the plus side, you can lower the salinity fairly quickly but things dont like going the other way quickly.

Edit: I typed alkalinity originally, it was supposed to read salinity.

 

[oneilwiz]

How big is the tank?

My tank is 100G with Sump maybe 120

 

[vetteguy53081]

As I mentioned - salinity. Got a false reading with icecap unit..... Told me that I was at 1.022 and upon using three other testers- was at 1.030.
Explained why corals were unhappy