This will probably be a long post (and my first), hopefully I’m providing all the info you’ll need.
The basic issue is my coral and snails are dying rapidly, and the reason doesn’t seem to be obvious.
I set up my tank in November 2022 and have had two significant outbreaks of green algae. October 2023 was the beginning of the most recent outbreak and is basically still going. In November 2023 I noticed cyanobacteria taking over. I dosed Chemi-Clean and within a week the cyano was gone. However this is when the significant problems seemed to start. By December, all of my snails had died and I lost a Hammer coral and a Torch coral. My Zoanthids and Toadstools closed up almost entirely and haven’t opened since. I initially chalked this up to shock from the cyano.
In January, I added more snails and they all died within a couple of days. The Zoanthids are starting to die and flake off and one of my Toadstools is looking quite sick and is shriveled up.
I have a Fluval Evo 13.5, currently stocked with 2 clownfish, 4 gobies (2 types), 2 Toadstool corals (each a different variety), and Zoanthid corals. Filtration is: filter floss, Purigen bag, Chemi-Pure Blue bag.
I do a daily 2% water change with a 10% weekly change with substrate sifting (started doing the weekly change when the algae got really bad, used to be monthly). I use exclusively RODI water from a LFS.
I dose Brightwell MicroBacter Clean daily (since algae outbreak, used to be weekly), and Brightwell MicroBacter 7 weekly. I used to dose Reef Enhance and Live Rock Enhance, but stopped when everything started dying.
Tank parameters are tested weekly and are:
Salinity: 1.026
Ph: 8.3 (drifts between 8.1-8.3)
Alkalinity: 7.8 (fluctuates pretty bad, 7.5-8.5)
Ammonia: 0.003 ppm
Nitrites: 0.03 ppm
Nitrates: 5.3 ppm (fluctuated from 2-30, but hasn’t gone above 10 since December)
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm (fluctuates from 0.05-0.2 at a high point at the moment)
Calcium: 550 ppm (fairly stable)
Magnesium: 1350 ppm (fairly stable)
I recently had my water ICP tested by Triton and here are the outliers:
Tin: 9 micrograms/l (high)
Iodine: 23 micrograms/l (low)
Barium: 62 micrograms/l (high)
Silicon: 2500 micrograms/l (very high)
The fish are doing fine, no observed issues. I feed them DKI pellets and they are minimally fed at the moment as I try to combat this algae ( they eat all the good within 2 minutes).
Any ideas on what is going on?
The basic issue is my coral and snails are dying rapidly, and the reason doesn’t seem to be obvious.
I set up my tank in November 2022 and have had two significant outbreaks of green algae. October 2023 was the beginning of the most recent outbreak and is basically still going. In November 2023 I noticed cyanobacteria taking over. I dosed Chemi-Clean and within a week the cyano was gone. However this is when the significant problems seemed to start. By December, all of my snails had died and I lost a Hammer coral and a Torch coral. My Zoanthids and Toadstools closed up almost entirely and haven’t opened since. I initially chalked this up to shock from the cyano.
In January, I added more snails and they all died within a couple of days. The Zoanthids are starting to die and flake off and one of my Toadstools is looking quite sick and is shriveled up.
I have a Fluval Evo 13.5, currently stocked with 2 clownfish, 4 gobies (2 types), 2 Toadstool corals (each a different variety), and Zoanthid corals. Filtration is: filter floss, Purigen bag, Chemi-Pure Blue bag.
I do a daily 2% water change with a 10% weekly change with substrate sifting (started doing the weekly change when the algae got really bad, used to be monthly). I use exclusively RODI water from a LFS.
I dose Brightwell MicroBacter Clean daily (since algae outbreak, used to be weekly), and Brightwell MicroBacter 7 weekly. I used to dose Reef Enhance and Live Rock Enhance, but stopped when everything started dying.
Tank parameters are tested weekly and are:
Salinity: 1.026
Ph: 8.3 (drifts between 8.1-8.3)
Alkalinity: 7.8 (fluctuates pretty bad, 7.5-8.5)
Ammonia: 0.003 ppm
Nitrites: 0.03 ppm
Nitrates: 5.3 ppm (fluctuated from 2-30, but hasn’t gone above 10 since December)
Phosphate: 0.2 ppm (fluctuates from 0.05-0.2 at a high point at the moment)
Calcium: 550 ppm (fairly stable)
Magnesium: 1350 ppm (fairly stable)
I recently had my water ICP tested by Triton and here are the outliers:
Tin: 9 micrograms/l (high)
Iodine: 23 micrograms/l (low)
Barium: 62 micrograms/l (high)
Silicon: 2500 micrograms/l (very high)
The fish are doing fine, no observed issues. I feed them DKI pellets and they are minimally fed at the moment as I try to combat this algae ( they eat all the good within 2 minutes).
Any ideas on what is going on?