My corals are melting dying all of a sudden. Please help

[tazee]

Hi,

I woke up to find my Kenya tree, almost closed/melting and my hammer coral hasn’t opened up in almost a week… I’m not sure what’s going on but I’m posting a few pictures to show. Other corals looks good and are opened. Would appreciate any help please

I have Nero 3 running at 30% with ai prime light.

My levels are at
Alkalinity 6.9
Phosphates 0.08
Magnesium 1500
Nitrates 3.4
Calcium 400
PH 7.8

 

[Lavey29]

How old is the tank? What are your par levels? Looks dark in the tank. Nitrates are low and PH is low also. What is your salinity?

 

[FragginAwesome]

Alk seems pretty low too. I would consider a water change and then feeding more

 

[tazee]

How old is the tank? What are your par levels? Looks dark in the tank. Nitrates are low and PH is low also. What is your salinity?

Tanks about 5 years old (salt water fish only)….. added corals 4 months ago. I don’t have a par meter. I’m using AI prime with the David template… my PH has always been that and these corals were doing pretty good. Should I up the nitrate?

 

[FragginAwesome]

Tanks about 5 years old (salt water fish only)….. added corals 4 months ago. I don’t have a par meter. I’m using so prime with the Savid template… my PH has always been that and these corals were doing pretty good. Should I up the nitrate?

I would

 

[JTP424]

Agreed with above suggestions. How long is your tank? I think i saw on your other thread you were using an AI Prime?
How far is the light off the water. If it's a longer tank like I'm seeing you might need two to get proper spread for that light at decent par.

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

My first thoughts are low flow and low light, also low nutrients to boot. Corals need light flow and nutrients to thrive.

What size is your tank?

 

[tazee]

I would

Thai is the only things that changed…. My PH is always that so I’ll increase nitrates

 

[tazee]

Agreed with above suggestions. How long is your tank? I think i saw on your other thread you were using an AI Prime?
How far is the light off the water. If it's a longer tank like I'm seeing you might need two to get proper spread for that light at decent par.

It’s a 20gallon innovative marine tank… yes I’m using AI prime and Nero 3 with the David Saxby template… the light is about 10” above the tank… all my levels are exactly the same as always. Only nitrates are low so it doesn’t make sense for coral to all of a sudden melting since they’ve always been happy at these levels :/

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

What is your salinity. I had this issue on a pico. The water was not mixed right at store. First time wiped the tank. Second things closed up. I don't see salinity posted.

 

[tazee]

What is your salinity. I had this issue on a pico. The water was not mixed right at store. First time wiped the tank. Second things closed up. I don't see salinity posted.

Man, I can’t believe this…I checked salinity after calibrating my refractometer and the calibration was off… I recalibrated it and checked salinity and it’s at 30ppm…. How can I safely raise it? Should I do it fast or slowly by topping off with saltwater maybe? … thanks for reminding on sanity. This might be the culprit

 

[JTP424]

Man, I can’t believe this…I checked salinity after calibrating my refractometer and the calibration was off… I recalibrated it and checked salinity and it’s at 30ppm…. How can I safely raise it? Should I do it fast or slowly by topping off with saltwater maybe? … thanks for reminding on sanity. This might be the culprit

That sounds like it could be a potential culprit!
I'd do it as a water change, make sure whatever you're adding is at the proper salinity, and slowly raise it over a day or so. A few gallons at a time. Eventually you'll get it creeped up.

 

[tazee]

That sounds like it could be a potential culprit!
I'd do it as a water change, make sure whatever you're adding is at the proper salinity, and slowly raise it over a day or so. A few gallons at a time. Eventually you'll get it creeped up.

I’m just worried that I’m going to mess it up…. My current salinity is at 30ppt… my mixed salt water will be 35ppt…. Do I need to increase the new salt waters sailinity so that the tanks salinity increases? Kinda confused on this

 

[JTP424]

Nope. I wouldn't increase it. Just replace with what you have made. It'll raise it slower than if you increase above 35 and try to adjust etc. This way you won't go OVER the 35.

 

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

I have done full water changes weekly When this happened I immediately corrected. But you can raise slowly as well and will be safer for inverts and fish. This would explain why some values are also low. Things happen. Glad you caught it.

 

[jabberwock]

Try removing 1 gallon of tank water, and replacing it with a gallon of a good batch of saltwater a few times a day spread out over the coarse of the day for a couple days. Test, and then maybe do a bigger water change when the salinity gap is smaller.

 

[JTP424]

^this

 

[Lavey29]

I’m just worried that I’m going to mess it up…. My current salinity is at 30ppt… my mixed salt water will be 35ppt…. Do I need to increase the new salt waters sailinity so that the tanks salinity increases? Kinda confused on this

Just slowly raise it with multiple 15% water changes.