I'm looking for that experienced reefer in Boise to come check out my tank and tell me what's wrong

[Empress]

I can't keep corals alive anymore. Fish are fine. Who wants to come looking at my tank?

 

[paphater]

Have you tested your parameters?

 

[Empress]

My po4 is at .05 with the Hanna checker and nitrates at 20. Alk is stable at 9ish. PH is 8.0-8.2. So what could be wrong? I can't even get gsp to stay alive. I have a fairly good cuc. There's hardly any algae at all. I think my tangs eat it. I have small patches on the rocks here and there of cyano but not enough to worry about.

 

[paphater]

What corals are you losing? What is your lighting and flow like? You may want to consider one of the ICP water tests.

 

[Empress]

I have metal halides. I am changing them out this weekend with new bulbs. I do that every June. 400 watt 14 & 20K. They used to be on 12 hours a day, but I turn them down to just 8 hrs to help with the heat and cyano. Seems to be helping. So I'm pretty sure my lighting is good and not a problem for my corals.

My flow is a 150 Gyre and 3 of the highest gph Korollas. It's way more flow than I need. It blows sand all over the place. The Gyre is only running at 50%. Any higher than that and water splashes every where.

I have excellent lighting and flow. My problem has to be with the water quality but I don't know what. I quit dosing kalk and started using vinegar as my carbon. Four oz a day and 4 oz of alk. Every morning.

I have a homemade turf scrubber. It works pretty good. Im using a hydroponic grow light bulb in the sump. Seems to be doing a good job growing algae on the scrubber.

So what am I doing wrong? Lost all my torches, gsp, sticks, montis, whiskers are receding into their skeletons. All that's left are mushrooms and a bubble.

 

[paphater]

I'd consider getting the triton or ati icp test so you get a complete breakdown of what's going on with your water. I do the ati 3-4 times a year.