Coral Reduction After Water Change

[islandreefer345]

Hey, I recently had a problem in my tank. It’s about 7 weeks old but it was going really well and I couldn’t really tell what had happened. All my corals were open but after i did a 20% water change they all closed up and none have opened back up since then. I thought it might be that one of parameters had dropped but they are as follows

Alk - 8.0
Mag - 1400
Calc - 420
Phosphate - 0.02
Nitrate - 12
Salinity - 1.026

Alongside that the water temperature of the water change was only 3 degreee different but I water change every week and nothing was wrong so I’m unsure of the problem. If anyone could let me know a reasoning that the corals may not be opening up that’s great. Most of them I brought back to my LFS since they weren’t doing well where they have opened up there but i kept a few hardier frags hoping they would do better.

I will show video before the water change, after the water change and present day

 

[lapin]

I would suspect something different about the water.

 

[Hydrored]

Tank is young, still have more nasties coming. Good for you for bringing the coral back. What size tank? Using RODI? How are you testing salinity? Last time calibrated? 3 degrees can be a lot depending on the tank size

 

[islandreefer345]

I would suspect something different about the water.

Nothing had changed in the chemistry the only difference I noticed was my alk was 9.0 before the water change and 8.4 after. Otherwise nothing was different from my past conditions so I was unsure.

 

[islandreefer345]

Tank is young, still have more nasties coming. Good for you for bringing the coral back. What size tank? Using RODI? How are you testing salinity? Last time calibrated? 3 degrees can be a lot depending on the tank size

Tank size is a 25 gallon. I use RO and Saltwater I buy from my LFS. I test salinity with my refractometer which I try to calibrate every 2 weeks.

 

[lapin]

I noticed was my alk was 9.0 before the water change and 8.4 after.

Nothing was different except?

 

[islandreefer345]

Nothing was different except?

Not that I could see. I checked everything after and the only thing that had changed was my alk. So i was unsure.

 

[Hydrored]

Tank size is a 25 gallon. I use RO and Saltwater I buy from my LFS. I test salinity with my refractometer which I try to calibrate every 2 weeks.

how many gallons was the water change? 3 degrees can be a lot of a larger change was done. I would look into making your own water and mix it yourself using a salt close to the alk you want to keep. I would never trust the LFS personally, and that removes one of the factors of questioning what went wrong.

My guess is the parameters were too far off and shocked the corals, small tanks a tough like that

Going to give you some tough advice here- keep some fish for awhile and enjoy the tank while it matures, once you have coraline growing with consistent parameters start adding corals

 

[X-37B]

Tank size is a 25 gallon. I use RO and Saltwater I buy from my LFS. I test salinity with my refractometer which I try to calibrate every 2 weeks.

IMO, refractometers should be calibrated before each test.
If you get a strange number then recalibrate. I now use a Tropic Marin floater.
I just tested my 120. Refrac said 1.025. TM was 1.0263.
I recalibrated again and it was 1.026.

 

[islandreefer345]

IMO, refractometers should be calibrated before each test.
If you get a strange number then recalibrate. I now use a Tropic Marin floater.
I just tested my 120. Refrac said 1.025. TM was 1.0263.
I recalibrated again and it was 1.026.

Alright, I’ll start recalibrating before each test now. But salinity hadn’t changed. I also made the LFS check it when I brought back the corals as well.

 

[Alexopora]

how many gallons was the water change? 3 degrees can be a lot of a larger change was done. I would look into making your own water and mix it yourself using a salt close to the alk you want to keep. I would never trust the LFS personally, and that removes one of the factors of questioning what went wrong.

My guess is the parameters were too far off and shocked the corals, small tanks a tough like that

Going to give you some tough advice here- keep some fish for awhile and enjoy the tank while it matures, once you have coraline growing with consistent parameters start adding corals

+1 start with some fish and allow the tank to mature. In my experience I generally see the best results around the 6 months mark. Doesn’t mean you cant have corals before that but gradually increase and progress from hardier softies>lps. Start with a simple star polyp or mushroom and once you see them stable and growing you can dabble with the stonies. But since you already have some lps, I guess you’ll just keep up with your maintenance, test diligently and remember to vacuum up the algae. Get a couple of cuc to assist you (trochus snails, limpets, stomatellas, reef safe hermits). If you don’t physical remove as much of the algae each time you do a water change, the nutrients are just going to remain in the tank and gradually build up. BRS TV on youtube posted a video recently which might be a insightful, do check it out.

 

[Thespammailaccount]

Can you double check the salinity could be off

 

[islandreefer345]

Can you double check the salinity could be off

I checked it today after i recalibrated my refractometer today. It’s still sitting at 1.026 and I have a auto top off running as well

 

[islandreefer345]

+1 start with some fish and allow the tank to mature. In my experience I generally see the best results around the 6 months mark. Doesn’t mean you cant have corals before that but gradually increase and progress from hardier softies>lps. Start with a simple star polyp or mushroom and once you see them stable and growing you can dabble with the stonies. But since you already have some lps, I guess you’ll just keep up with your maintenance, test diligently and remember to vacuum up the algae. Get a couple of cuc to assist you (trochus snails, limpets, stomatellas, reef safe hermits). If you don’t physical remove as much of the algae each time you do a water change, the nutrients are just going to remain in the tank and gradually build up. BRS TV on youtube posted a video recently which might be a insightful, do check it out.

I’ve been keeping tanks for about 7 years so this is my first time having such a weird problem. I had a 10 gallon running for 8 months before which i switched over to this 25 gallon and added the media from that alongside its fish and this has been running really well until I did that one water change. I know it’s normal for new tanks since it’s not my first rodeo just unsure because it’s really weird after a small 4 gallon water change with little changing parameters.

 

[Alexopora]

I’ve been keeping tanks for about 7 years so this is my first time having such a weird problem. I had a 10 gallon running for 8 months before which i switched over to this 25 gallon and added the media from that alongside its fish and this has been running really well until I did that one water change. I know it’s normal for new tanks since it’s not my first rodeo just unsure because it’s really weird after a small 4 gallon water change with little changing parameters.

Do you have any other other sw tank set up? I take that since you have been in the hobby for a quite a while you most likely would have another set up? If you do, I’d suggest you transfer the remaining corals there while waiting for the tank in question to mature and stabilise. Each tank is a whole new challenge itself, I guess no matter how much experience anyone has there is always something new to learn.

 

[islandreefer345]

Do you have any other other sw tank set up? I take that since you have been in the hobby for a quite a while you most likely would have another set up? If you do, I’d suggest you transfer the remaining corals there while waiting for the tank in question to mature and stabilise. Each tank is a whole new challenge itself, I guess no matter how much experience anyone has there is always something new to learn.

I’m now in uni so I’ve only got space for the one tank, but I’ll leave the corals at my lfs until I can get it figured out. Was hoping someone might have an idea but there’s always something