!!!!??? It's happening again!

kien · #1 05-05-2014, 12:14 AM

Sorry to hear Adam :-(. If you're ready to give up then i would make a suggestion to get rid of your DI. It was causing me issues. I haven't been using DI for over a month now. Worth a shot maybe. Of course, you will still need to do some hefty water chnages again to get out whatever is currently in your tank.

mseepman · #2 05-05-2014, 12:19 AM

These are long shots but any chance something like a foreign object...maybe a metal clamp in a submerged area or even a penny could have got into the water? Are there power-heads in any of the tanks with magnet attachments that could maybe be rusting?

asylumdown · #3 05-05-2014, 12:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mseepman

These are long shots but any chance something like a foreign object...maybe a metal clamp in a submerged area or even a penny could have got into the water? Are there power-heads in any of the tanks with magnet attachments that could maybe be rusting?

I've looked, I can't see anything obvious. the magnets on my MPs are all intact (I replaced one about 6 months ago that was looking worn), and the magnets on the various koralias in my sump all look brand new. That's why I want a commercial lab to test for heavy metals, I just can't figure this out.

asylumdown · #4 05-05-2014, 12:50 AM

The only other thing I can think is alk. While I was doing the water changes and re-setting everything it got as low as 5.5, then over the course of 2 weeks I got it up very slowly back in to the 7-7.5 range. Things started recovering the fastest when it was around 6. I haven't tested it since last weekend, but today it's 8.5. Like last time I'm not sure if the spike was because the corals have stopped growing or if it slowly crept up and caused damage. In any case I turned off the dosing pump to get it to come back down in to the 7s.

My tank is no where near low nutrient at this point though, so even with (a very small amount of ) biopellets on the system, I just can't accept that an alk of 8.5 would cause so much damage.

Params:
Alk: 8.5
Calcium: 415
Mag: 1260
Nitrate: about 2ppm
PO4: 0.11

I hadn't been running GFO for the past two weeks as the pellets weren't kicking in with PO4 levels of 0.008ppm, which is where they sit with the reactor running. The nitrates are finally starting to fall from a high of about 5ppm. Anyone think those numbers would indicate coral damage?

Aquattro · #5 05-05-2014, 12:53 AM

As for rust, that wouldn't do it. I have hose clamps in my sump that have been there for years. Rusted solid. No issues. I also have add magnets get exposed and rust up, again, no issues.

Myka · #6 05-05-2014, 01:01 AM

Put one of those color-changing Poly Filter pads in the system and see if it turns any colors.

Reef Pilot · #7 05-05-2014, 01:30 AM

There was a problem with some carbon, but that was a couple years ago.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...or-reef-carbon

I think a couple of people here on Canreef ran into that.

asylumdown · #8 05-05-2014, 04:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Myka

Put one of those color-changing Poly Filter pads in the system and see if it turns any colors.

This is exactly what I think I need, can you get them locally?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

There was a problem with some carbon, but that was a couple years ago.
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog...or-reef-carbon

I think a couple of people here on Canreef ran into that.

I remember this disaster for people, I thankfully avoided it because I almost never run carbon. I actually haven't been running carbon since this all began, though tonight I put some ROX carbon in a bag in my filter sock in case this is somehow an organic toxin.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dearth

Could it be something in your tank releasing toxins (ie. Sea cucumber, injured fish) I've read on Reef Central about people who were having mystery die off and it was found to be an injured critter releasing low enough lvls of toxins to not affect fish/inverts but could hurt coral.

It's a long shot in the dark and I've looked but I can't find the article on Reef Central to link

Quote:

Originally Posted by FishyFishy!

What about Ferdinand? Could he be releasing a chemical due to stress of some sort? I know box fish can do that. But I have read about mystery die off being an issue with toxins from a critter as well.

It could also help to ditch the pellets and DI like kein and tony said. I would start from the beginning and bring it back to simple.

I also can't remember...are you running a calcium reactor?

This thought keeps crossing my mind. I know they produce more ostracitoxin when they're stressed, but if there ever was a fish that seemed un-stressed it's this guy. The only time he looks stressed is when he's doing his belly-against-the-glass fin wiggle when he's decided it's time for me to feed him. I'd re-home him if I could find a tank he'd do well in, but at 10 inches there aren't many of them around. None of my sessile inverts or my other fish have exhibited anything I'd call symptoms of poisoning or illness though, so I'm having a hard time pinning this on him. I added GAC back to the tank tonight on the off chance this is somehow an organic toxin.

And no, no calcium reactor. I've always dosed a three part mix and switched to the tropic Tropic Marin 3 line after this all went to h*ll in March. I thought I had brought it back to basics when this all started, but without dosing my alk drops to deadly levels in 48 hours, and without pellets my nitrates just keep going up. I'm not sure where they'd stabilize, but it was going to be in the many tens of ppm for sure.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Delphinus

If I take out my gfo or let it go too long, I lose sps. Exactly the same as what you describe. And I think I mentioned this before, but testing po4 is next to meaningless. I never get a reading that "explains" it. I just know, no gfo = sps losses.

Maybe ditch the pellets for now. I don't think they're doing anything for you.

It's death at the growth tips? What do you think causes it? I know GFO adsorbs more than just P. Based on this I put the GFO back online tonight as well as the GAC. I feel like those pellets have me by the balls though. Without them, my nitrates rapidly leave the range acceptable for SPS, but I can never rule them out as a cause for this.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scythanith

Professional aquarium water testing.

http://aquariumwatertesting.com

Thank you, I'm going to contact them tomorrow.

asylumdown · #9 05-05-2014, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien

Sorry to hear Adam :-(. If you're ready to give up then i would make a suggestion to get rid of your DI. It was causing me issues. I haven't been using DI for over a month now. Worth a shot maybe. Of course, you will still need to do some hefty water chnages again to get out whatever is currently in your tank.

As in the DI resin on my RO unit? What was yours doing?