Hi all, over the past month or so I've noticed my tank is starting to go a bit south. This is noticeable in the corals of course, the fish seem fine. Here's a general timeline:
- Utter Chaos paly's started to disappear / melt a few months ago, maybe 3-4 months ago.
- Purple monster paly's have all closed up (month ago)
- Half of the GSP on back glass are closed up (3 weeks ago)
- Strawberry shortcake acro turned purple, lost its purple / green color (3 weeks ago)
I did searching and apparently paly's like to close up sometimes, and sometimes they melt, then come back weeks or months later. Ok, so I didn't make a big deal of it. The acro I don't know, it's my first one so I am somewhat unfamiliar with its behavior.
Now one week ago I bought another acro, put it in my tank, and it IMMEDIATELY bleached. Like not even 2 days old, it went white. I attributed this to my poor placement but 2 days?? Something seemed off.
It came to a head yesterday when I noticed a big chunk of my SS acro I mentioned earlier bleached. And was bleaching fast. My bird's nest also showed signs of small bleach spots.
It was at this stage that I decided to do some mass water changes, so last night I did a 25g water change (70g system volume). Between the time in the AM I noticed the acro bleaching and the time I did the water change it was almost all bleached. As I type this, the entire acro is gone except for one small part which still has some green and purple for some reason (maybe it'll grow back?).
In addition, my hammer coral which has been doing so well started to close up and spew slime from its mouth. This is not good.
I recently got an ICP test done, the water was from 2 weeks ago. It showed nothing major. Low iodine, elevated (4ug/l) iron, but that's it. Nothing to indicate a serious problem.
At this stage I should mention my system is a Reefer 250 with an aftermarket sump. Total system volume 70g I'd say.
I should also state:
Alk: 9.0
Calc: 425
Mag: 1315
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Salinity: 1.025
I run carbon for filtration as well as my fuge. Skimmer has been offline for a month or so, but again 0 nitrates.
I have automatic water changes done daily with a DOS pump. 1 gal / day.
I know the Nitrate and phosphate is an issue, but it's been like that for a very long time and I am trying to correct now by feeding more. I have a hard time judging how much to feed.
As far as recent changes to my tank:
- Cleaned my gyre's which of course resulted in increased flow (I seriously hate these things).
- Removed half my chaeto (it was huge and I think eating too much nitrate).
- Added that acro that died, a sand sifting starfish, a porcelain crab, and a small tang about 2 weeks ago (the sand in my tank is less than a year old so I dont think the starfish 'struck oil')
Something else I noticed last night, the water line that feeds my tank for automatic water changes was black. BLACK. From the bucket to the DOS pump and then a bit more from the DOS pump up to my tank. I've attached a pic. I don't know what this stuff is. Doesn't have an odor. My salt water is mixed using RODI 0 TDS in a 35gal brute bucket which is clean, no black in it. I am using Tropic Marin Pro but the bucket I just finished is from Germany. So is my new bucket, so I am not sure if I am experiencing the issues related to TMP's disaster.
I am trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Aside from the black stuff in the lines the only other thing I can think of is somehow the water got contaminated by something...
I am going to continue 33%+ water changes for the next 3 days and see what happens. It's all I can do. I've also turned the skimmer back on and I am going to swap the carbon, and also clean the bottom of the fuge out just to get the detritus removed. I don't like making these big (water) changes but I figure this is going to go bad fast if I don't.
Anyway I wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts or insights? I'm honestly at a loss which is why I am lugging buckets lol.
Thanks
-J
- Utter Chaos paly's started to disappear / melt a few months ago, maybe 3-4 months ago.
- Purple monster paly's have all closed up (month ago)
- Half of the GSP on back glass are closed up (3 weeks ago)
- Strawberry shortcake acro turned purple, lost its purple / green color (3 weeks ago)
I did searching and apparently paly's like to close up sometimes, and sometimes they melt, then come back weeks or months later. Ok, so I didn't make a big deal of it. The acro I don't know, it's my first one so I am somewhat unfamiliar with its behavior.
Now one week ago I bought another acro, put it in my tank, and it IMMEDIATELY bleached. Like not even 2 days old, it went white. I attributed this to my poor placement but 2 days?? Something seemed off.
It came to a head yesterday when I noticed a big chunk of my SS acro I mentioned earlier bleached. And was bleaching fast. My bird's nest also showed signs of small bleach spots.
It was at this stage that I decided to do some mass water changes, so last night I did a 25g water change (70g system volume). Between the time in the AM I noticed the acro bleaching and the time I did the water change it was almost all bleached. As I type this, the entire acro is gone except for one small part which still has some green and purple for some reason (maybe it'll grow back?).
In addition, my hammer coral which has been doing so well started to close up and spew slime from its mouth. This is not good.
I recently got an ICP test done, the water was from 2 weeks ago. It showed nothing major. Low iodine, elevated (4ug/l) iron, but that's it. Nothing to indicate a serious problem.
At this stage I should mention my system is a Reefer 250 with an aftermarket sump. Total system volume 70g I'd say.
I should also state:
Alk: 9.0
Calc: 425
Mag: 1315
Nitrate: 0
Phosphate: 0
Salinity: 1.025
I run carbon for filtration as well as my fuge. Skimmer has been offline for a month or so, but again 0 nitrates.
I have automatic water changes done daily with a DOS pump. 1 gal / day.
I know the Nitrate and phosphate is an issue, but it's been like that for a very long time and I am trying to correct now by feeding more. I have a hard time judging how much to feed.
As far as recent changes to my tank:
- Cleaned my gyre's which of course resulted in increased flow (I seriously hate these things).
- Removed half my chaeto (it was huge and I think eating too much nitrate).
- Added that acro that died, a sand sifting starfish, a porcelain crab, and a small tang about 2 weeks ago (the sand in my tank is less than a year old so I dont think the starfish 'struck oil')
Something else I noticed last night, the water line that feeds my tank for automatic water changes was black. BLACK. From the bucket to the DOS pump and then a bit more from the DOS pump up to my tank. I've attached a pic. I don't know what this stuff is. Doesn't have an odor. My salt water is mixed using RODI 0 TDS in a 35gal brute bucket which is clean, no black in it. I am using Tropic Marin Pro but the bucket I just finished is from Germany. So is my new bucket, so I am not sure if I am experiencing the issues related to TMP's disaster.
I am trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Aside from the black stuff in the lines the only other thing I can think of is somehow the water got contaminated by something...
I am going to continue 33%+ water changes for the next 3 days and see what happens. It's all I can do. I've also turned the skimmer back on and I am going to swap the carbon, and also clean the bottom of the fuge out just to get the detritus removed. I don't like making these big (water) changes but I figure this is going to go bad fast if I don't.
Anyway I wanted to see if anyone had any thoughts or insights? I'm honestly at a loss which is why I am lugging buckets lol.
Thanks
-J
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