Is my tank crashing?

[SupernovaGoesPop]

Hey all, first post here so apologies if I'm not in the right place.

Up until Friday of last week my 150 reef tank was running smoothly. It has been up and running for around 3 years.

All fish and corals seemed happy and healthy. However, sometime Friday after I got home I noticed almost all of my corals showing signs of distress. Bubble tip anemones are closed up as well as my one rock flower. Xenia is all withdrawn and starting to melt (I've been removing pieces to keep them from breaking down in the water). Toadstools are closed or barely open. The tank also smells bad now. Never had a smell before at all.

This is from today. Zoas are all still closed, Xenia is still melting, GSP is the only thing happy for the most part. Fish all still seem fine. No heavy breathing or anything out of the ordinary that I can tell at this point.

I had my water tested at my LFS on 12/29 and the results are below:

Salinity - 1.026
Alk - 5.87 (tested again this morning and it's up to 6.8 or so)
PH - 7.7
Phos - 0.3
Cal - 382
Mag - 1347
Ammo - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

Any ideas what could have caused the sudden issues and bottomed out nitrates? I know the Alk and PH are low and I'm working to bring that up with a buffer. Phosphate is too high which I guess along with the nitrate is causing the outbreak of algae. The only change I had done was cleaning out the skimmer cup. Water changes are done every 2 weeks. I have a relatively light bio-load still at this point. Scopas tang, Whitetail Bristletooth, 2 Ocellaris Clowns, Sixline Wrasse, Engineer Goby, plus cleanup crew (snails, 2 conchs, hermits, sand sifting starfish). I've tried to feed extra to bring up nitrates along with correcting the Alk/PH issue but I'm worried I'm making things worse.

I could really use some advice and help here as this is the first time I've had any major issues with this tank and I feel like I'm not making any progress to right the ship.

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Sorry about your issues, the first pic looks fantastic!

My humble observations is that your Alk looks quite low, that may be what's upsetting things.

And to me, it doesn't look like you have much surface agitation, unless you turned off a pump for the pics.

I'm sure someone here will be able to help you figure this out. Good luck!

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

Sorry about your issues, the first pic looks fantastic!

My humble observations is that your Alk looks quite low, that may be what's upsetting things.

And to me, it doesn't look like you have much surface agitation, unless you turned off a pump for the pics.

I'm sure someone here will be able to help you figure this out. Good luck!

Thank you for the kind words. I do have a gyre style pump for surface agitation, but I've been wanting to add another to help with the surface film and get better oxygen exchange at the surface.

 

[Dan_P]

Hey all, first post here so apologies if I'm not in the right place.

Up until Friday of last week my 150 reef tank was running smoothly. It has been up and running for around 3 years.

All fish and corals seemed happy and healthy. However, sometime Friday after I got home I noticed almost all of my corals showing signs of distress. Bubble tip anemones are closed up as well as my one rock flower. Xenia is all withdrawn and starting to melt (I've been removing pieces to keep them from breaking down in the water). Toadstools are closed or barely open. The tank also smells bad now. Never had a smell before at all.

This is from today. Zoas are all still closed, Xenia is still melting, GSP is the only thing happy for the most part. Fish all still seem fine. No heavy breathing or anything out of the ordinary that I can tell at this point.

I had my water tested at my LFS on 12/29 and the results are below:

Salinity - 1.026
Alk - 5.87 (tested again this morning and it's up to 6.8 or so)
PH - 7.7
Phos - 0.3
Cal - 382
Mag - 1347
Ammo - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0

Any ideas what could have caused the sudden issues and bottomed out nitrates? I know the Alk and PH are low and I'm working to bring that up with a buffer. Phosphate is too high which I guess along with the nitrate is causing the outbreak of algae. The only change I had done was cleaning out the skimmer cup. Water changes are done every 2 weeks. I have a relatively light bio-load still at this point. Scopas tang, Whitetail Bristletooth, 2 Ocellaris Clowns, Sixline Wrasse, Engineer Goby, plus cleanup crew (snails, 2 conchs, hermits, sand sifting starfish). I've tried to feed extra to bring up nitrates along with correcting the Alk/PH issue but I'm worried I'm making things worse.

I could really use some advice and help here as this is the first time I've had any major issues with this tank and I feel like I'm not making any progress to right the ship.

Nitrates are too low but that might be an effect not a cause.

What’s going on probably started weeks ago. Has the circulation in the aquarium degraded recently? Did the power-heads burn out or become clogged? The growth on the sand tells us something, but it might be the result of what went wrong.

I think the tank looks like a mess because things are very stressed, possibly dying. and fueling micro algae and bacteria growth.

Let us know about the circulation.

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

Nitrates are too low but that might be an effect not a cause.

What’s going on probably started weeks ago. Has the circulation in the aquarium degraded recently? Did the power-heads burn out or become clogged? The growth on the sand tells us something, but it might be the result of what went wrong.

I think the tank looks like a mess because things are very stressed, possibly dying. and fueling micro algae and bacteria growth.

Let us know about the circulation.

Hey Dan,

Thanks for the response. Circulation has been the same for months on end. The gyre up top and 2 AI Neros for flow. The only thing I had noticed recently was some SMALL patches of algae on the sand, but that was it. From what I could tell, all of my corals were previously very happy and growing. Always had good polyp extension and color.

Thank you!

 

[Uncle99]

Nitrates zero, if true, that might have triggered that pest stuff in your DT.

Beware of zero nutrients in system, everything starves. But pest crap loves the unstable waters.

Check that again, if still zero, bump them to 2-3ppm, but slowly, .5 most daily.

Suck out as much as possible into a filter sock and return the water.

Try and lower phosphate a bit but only after nitrate has been stabilized.

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

Nitrates zero, if true, that might have triggered that pest stuff in your DT.

Beware of zero nutrients in system, everything starves. But pest crap loves the unstable waters.

Check that again, if still zero, bump them to 2-3ppm, but slowly, .5 most daily.

Suck out as much as possible into a filter sock and return the water.

Try and lower phosphate a bit but only after nitrate has been stabilized.

Thank you for responding.

Yeah, as soon as I saw the 0 nitrates, I knew that was an issue. With the low bio-load that I currently have, could it be over filtration or maybe I should slow down on the water changes? I've got some of the Brightwell Neonitro to add, but I knew it needed to be done slowly.

 

[UMALUM]

First thing I would do is a large water change. If your nitrate is already 0 its not gonna do anymore damage then what's already happening. There's a good chance the brown growth your seeing is chrysophytes which can be extremely toxic especially to those softies. Get some good carbon in there and get your nitrate to register.

 

[Uncle99]

Thank you for responding.

Yeah, as soon as I saw the 0 nitrates, I knew that was an issue. With the low bio-load that I currently have, could it be over filtration or maybe I should slow down on the water changes? I've got some of the Brightwell Neonitro to add, but I knew it needed to be done slowly.

That’s perfect, bump her up with Neo-Nitro, then test after 24 hours, repeat till it’s 2-3ppm then stop and see if it holds, if not repeat…etc

 

[brandon429]

I have crash arrest threads. #1 move we do

Reduce your overall light power by 30% and sustain until correction

Also factoring

Those are great succession pics, succession pics are what we collect in the threads/ nicely done there.

Would you say your symptoms overall are tied to that minor outbreak/ change in pigmentation in the system/ the corners have accumulative they didn't originally have_ or are your crash systems unrelated to that change

Temporary light reduction and sustain is #1 bleach prevention move as you work to find a cause.

Second factor shown in large work threads: rip cleans arrest all crashes though we have not agreed it's a crash just yet. Could be simple trophic succession irritating nearby corals

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

First thing I would do is a large water change. If your nitrate is already 0 its not gonna do anymore damage then what's already happening. There's a good chance the brown growth your seeing is chrysophytes which can be extremely toxic especially to those softies. Get some good carbon in there and get your nitrate to register.

Ok, thanks. I did do a water change on Saturday. I've added well rinsed carbon in mesh bags to my filter cups and I'll work on dosing up the nitrates, Along with another big water change.

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

I have crash arrest threads. #1 move we do

Reduce your overall light power by 30% and sustain until correction

Also factoring

Those are great succession pics, succession pics are what we collect in the threads/ nicely done there.

Would you say your symptoms overall are tied to that minor outbreak/ change in pigmentation in the system/ the corners have accumulative they didn't originally have_ or are your crash systems unrelated to that change

Thanks for the tips Brandon.

I did turn down the lights now this afternoon. I'll keep them lower until things are back to normal.

I'm honestly unsure. Nothing at all looked out of the ordinary until Friday when everything went sideways.

 

[Tahoe61]

What testing methods are you using?
The initial images shows a protein film at the surface
A drop in Nitrates is not responsible. Low alkalinity and drop in ph is more likely.
Appropriate water changes would the be my next move.
Honestly I have never seen a tank crash from low nitrates over night.

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

What testing methods are you using?
The initial images shows a protein film at the surface
A drop in Nitrates is not responsible. Low alkalinity and drop in ph is more likely.

I got the water tested at one of my LFS, they have one of the multiparameter testers....I forget the name, but it pulls all the parameters at once.

The film is definitely something I've always had a bit of. The plumbing design of this tank doesn't do a great job of surface skimming, but I'm looking into ways to help with that too.

What could have caused the sudden drop in Alk/PH? That was my initial thought as to why the corals so suddenly looked irritated/sick.


Thank you for your help!

 

[UMALUM]

Ok, thanks. I did do a water change on Saturday. I've added well rinsed carbon in mesh bags to my filter cups and I'll work on dosing up the nitrates, Along with another big water change.

I think you can beat it but remember most leathers only defense mechanism is to release toxins when threatened or in this case possibly starving. In short you could be seeing a battle royal taking place. I've seen toads take whole tanks with them.

 

[Tahoe61]

I got the water tested at one of my LFS, they have one of the multiparameter testers....I forget the name, but it pulls all the parameters at once.

The film is definitely something I've always had a bit of. The plumbing design of this tank doesn't do a great job of surface skimming, but I'm looking into ways to help with that too.

What could have caused the sudden drop in Alk/PH? That was my initial thought as to why the corals so suddenly looked irritated/sick.


Thank you for your help!

I am inclined to think it was a subtle issue and finally the chemistry caught up, resulting in a ph drop.
Water changes and improving surface aggitation should help.

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

I think you can beat it but remember most leathers only defense mechanism is to release toxins when threatened or in this case possibly starving. In short you could be seeing a battle royal taking place. I've seen toads take whole tanks with them.

Chemical warfare between corals had been a concern. Was hoping adding carbon would help with that potentially, along with water changes.

 

[SupernovaGoesPop]

I am inclined to think it was a subtle issue and finally the chemistry caught up, resulting in a ph drop.
Water changes and improving surface aggitation should help.

Ok. Thank you for the help!