Cant keep corals even for a second?

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dm 0620

Guest
so i do have more light i have 3 more 250 watt metal halides that i can use for a total of 5 which is plenty but i turned off three of them cause i thought it was to much light
 
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dm 0620

Guest
i have 5 250 watt metal halides. i only use two right now because i felt like it was to much light. but if 5 is the way to go i can turn them back on. not sure that would kill a coral overnight though.
what about this the live rock and sand that i used came from the tank that i overheated.
could it have something to do with that stuff being dead to start with or maybe there is no biologiocal in there right now because of that.
anythoughts let me know
 
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eric b 125

Guest
depending on how hot the water got, it definitely could have killed off the bacteria, but it would re-populate. did you get a spike in your chemistry when adding the rocks?
 
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dm 0620

Guest
no the levels never seemed to really jump. i started it everything leveled off and i added fish. they all survived so i called it good
i also have added bacteria so i dont think its that
its gotta be something very wrong that i just cant think of because they die so fast
 
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eric b 125

Guest
what do the corals go through when they die (what does the process look like)? what is your acclimation method?
 
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dm 0620

Guest
i have tried multiple stores. my friends have got healthy corals from all of them. i usually just float them for about 20 minutes. ive tried drip acclimation with the same result.
what happens is when i place them in they seem shrivled. they never open up and by the next day or at the latest 2 days later they are completely gone. just dissenigrated
 
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eric b 125

Guest
it's common for softies to shrivel for the first day, maybe two, as they adjust to the new chemistry, light and flow. never had one disintegrate, though.
 
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dm 0620

Guest
yeah its really weird i have never had it happen either. i and no one can figure anything out
 

cam78

Active Member
Maybe something is in the tap or RO water you are using? This is crazy!! What about a mushroom? Will they last? If a Mushroom cant survive there is something very wrong
 
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dm 0620

Guest
no no ich medicines and ive checked it for copper.
i have not tried a mushroom but ive tries other hardy things, zooathids, leathers, other stuff that the store said was hardy
 

gemmy

Active Member
How did you test it for copper? You might want to have the water "professionally" tested like they do at water treatment plants. Many times the standard copper test will give a false negative, and this is do to the fact it can't detect the very low levels that can impact the livestock in the tank. What type of water are you using again?
 
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dm 0620

Guest
i tested with an API water test
i have thought on testing professionally but they want to charge i will probably do it anyway to fix this
i use scripps sea water its out of san diego its just straight ocean water basically
 

frenchy in ny

New Member
sorry to read all that. And from what you are describing, seems to have something quite bad happening in your tank and consistently ... did you think along the line of any chemical you might be non intentionally adding into your tank ? something like cleaning your tools or bucket used to change the water with soap ... Also you do not seem to have any nice stuff built onto your life rock. Still surprised reading your story that the fish seems OK. If I was you I'd then have a systematic approach to find out what is the problem: for example would use my quarantine tank with a hardy coral with minimum equipment on it and then add one by one items you are using on your main tank (chiller, sump ,,,) and see what will turn my coral dead. My 2 cents but defintively fell sorry for you ...
 
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eric b 125

Guest
i wonder if an anti-bacterial soap would linger that long, if one was used
 
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