Help!!!!!

[sberg39]

I am fairly new to reef tanks I have about a 1 1/2 yrs of experience.
I have a 180 gallon RSM tank that has been up and running for 8 months. Corals have never thrived in this tank. The corals always shrivel up and start to die. I had this problem when I had t5's over it so swaped them out for Radions. I still have the same issue with the radions above it. The parameters are very close to the tank the corals came out of. I can take them and place them back in the orginal tank and they recover and start to thrive again. I have 1 lettuce coral, brown candy cane and a green candy cane that are holding its own. I put some xenia in this tank the other day and they have shriveled up to nothing in 2 days.

Water Parameters as of today.

Temp 78.6
NH4 0
NO3 0
NO2 0
PO4 0
Salinity 1.026
PH 8.2
ALK 2.74 meq/L or 7.672 dkh
CA 425
MG 1485

Thanks for the help in advance!

Steve

 

[fishguy69]

How much are you driving the radions? Maximum or Mins? Percentages?

 

[DyM]

Is the rock base rock, or live rock? Do you have coraline algae? Any nuance algae? What fish do you have in there?

 

[zombie]

How much flow do you have in the tank?

 

[jda123]

Parms look OK. Post a few pics of the tank, the rocks and some of the coral.

 

[Shaunv]

How old are the test kits and what type? Are you using a refractometer? Is it calibrated?

 

[sberg39]

I have the radions on coral acclimation with a max is 35% they are currently set to 50% of 35%.
It is mostly base rock with a small amount of live rock. I cycled the base rock for 3 months checking water parameters twice a week and changing 20% of the water every other day during the process.
I have a little bit of coraline alge on a couple of the rock but not a ton of it either. I never got any of the little white barnicals all over like I did when I started my 40 gallon. The back glass is clean of any sort of coraline alge. there is no nuisance alge growth. do get a little brown alge on the glass every week.
Fish list in tank: Blue hippo Tang, Tomini Tang, 3 clowns and a 6 line wrase.
Water flow: Main pump 3600 GPH, I have 4 circulation pumps that give 570 gph each.
Test kits: I went and bought new test kits. My salifert ph, mg, nitrite, nitrate all exp. 10/2016. I use Hanna checkers for alk exp. 11/2015 and Phospate exp. 4/2017. CA is Seachem and have no expiration date. I confirmed my reading on the ca with a salifert kit and came up with the same reading.
Refractometer I calibrate with distilled water prior to taking a reading.
Will post pics shortly.
Thanks!
Steve

 

[sberg39]

[attachment=68626:name]Here are a few pics will get a few more of the rocks and entire tank.

 

[SynDen]

Checked for stray voltage?

 

[sberg39]

Here is the rest of the pics
This is the xenia I put in a few days ago.
[attachment=68627:name]
[attachment=68629:name]

 

[sberg39]

No have not done that. How do you check for that??

 

[sberg39]

Okay figured out how to check for stray voltage and checked.I did not see any change on the display of my voltage meter. The way I checked was black probe in ground of outlet and stuck red probe in the aquarium water.

 

[SynDen]

Haha that was fast, but that was the first thing that came to mind after reading the post and a possible candidate imo. Maybe check at different times, like when the heaters are on or something, otherwise... hmm the only other things I can think of would be that some contaminant is getting into the tank, or was already in it. Where did you get the tank and where is it set up in the house?

 

[sberg39]

lol It's a Red Sea Max tank I purchased from Aquamart. It is setup in the family room of my house. it does see some afternoon sun as the family room faces west. When I got the tank I rinsed it out with vinigar then filled it twice and let run both times for 24 hrs each time then drained. Then filled with saltwater and cycled. I will check a few different times during the day tomorrow. Thanks for your help. My little 40 gal. that the stuff grows well in does have stray voltage in it. trying to track that down as well.

 

[zombie]

I would put my money on either light or flow.

For light, try increasing to 25% for a day or two, do you see immediate improvement or do they recede further. If they recede further, try 10%, does that make it better or worse.

Flow is a bit simpler. Do you see a bouncing movement in the lps coral that appears to be in random directions. If you dont, reorient your pumps so that every pumps flow is directed toward a rock with no coral on it, toward the wall, or directed toward another pump so their flows intersect. Adjust until all lps have visible movement that is never predominantly in one direction. Using a controller to pulse them makes this process much simpler.

 

[edekgb]

Looks like a nice start how are things going now - are you still in to it

 

[Havs]

I'd calibrate the refractometer with a calibration fluid. Distilled and RO/DI water gave me a different reading than the calibration fluid. I was about 10ppm low calibrating with distilled and RO/DI.

 

[dvenson]

I am fairly new to reef tanks I have about a 1 1/2 yrs of experience.
I have a 180 gallon RSM tank that has been up and running for 8 months. Corals have never thrived in this tank. The corals always shrivel up and start to die. I had this problem when I had t5's over it so swaped them out for Radions. I still have the same issue with the radions above it. The parameters are very close to the tank the corals came out of. I can take them and place them back in the orginal tank and they recover and start to thrive again. I have 1 lettuce coral, brown candy cane and a green candy cane that are holding its own. I put some xenia in this tank the other day and they have shriveled up to nothing in 2 days.

Water Parameters as of today.

Temp 78.6
NH4 0
NO3 0
NO2 0
PO4 0
Salinity 1.026
PH 8.2
ALK 2.74 meq/L or 7.672 dkh
CA 425
MG 1485

Thanks for the help in advance!

Steve

Your DKH is 7.6 thats to low. You want your DKH no lower that 8.3 i would say aim for about 9.

 

[dvenson]

just notice this thread was from February hope he figured it out