deperately need help confusing problem

[dunhawk]

ok I had an amazing 125 gallon tank and I have been in the hobby for about two years. When I got started i bought a ro unit and I did not know you had to change the filter parts so I did not change them. About 16 months later I started to see a few corals die so I changed the water more thinking that was a problem. However it just kept getting worse and more corals died. Finally I tested the ro water and it had 60 parts per million which was not much better than our regular tap water which was 80 parts per million. I checked my ammonia levels which were fine and my nitrate was 0 and my nitrite was low. Phosphates were a little higher than normal. My fish are doing fine as well as shrimp, snails, and crabs. I bought a new ro filter and it tested 0 parts per million. I then replaced all the water and sand and cleaned the live rock by letting it dry and placing it in purified ro water. I then restarted the tank and have let it run for a month. Fish, shrimp, crabs, and snails still doing fine but when I tried adding coral it still desinigrated. Everytime I add coral it looks like it melts. any ideas on what to do? could this all be caused by not changing the filters on a ro filter? If it is the live rock is there a way to clean it and any ideas on the problem? I have never added anything copper at all but could that be the problem considering my other inverts are fine? thanks for the help

 

[saltwaterdud3]

Am I reading this right? You took your tank apart and let your live rock dry and then placed all of your live rock in FRESH RO WATER? So many things wrong with that.
You may want to buy a chelated copper test kit, but I doubt that anything will show up. You should probably send a water sample off to one of those water testing sites to see what your exact parameters are and go from there.
btw, if you are using any brass fittings in your RO well; just letting you know that brass leaches copper.
I would need more information on your tank and a whole description of what you did in detail to really get any answers. Sorry man.

 

[kiefers]

Didn't really understand all you said....... took your L/r out and stuff..... anyways in my opinion I would get a polyfiber filter and run that for awhile. I should filter out some of the copper (changes colors to let you know what got filtered out) Just how long, I don't know, until the ploy fiber filters it all out. Water changes too would be helpful.
Hope this helps.

 

[2quills]

Could be an issue with copper and other metals if the carbon filter on the ro unit was no longer doing it's job after that long. I agree with getting a copper test kit and see if you get any readings. Running carbon on the system and the poly fiber could help. I guess it just depends on if that is the case or not and to what degree.

 

[acrylic51]

Am I missing something??? Everyones mentioned copper

I agree part of you issue could be the RO unit not being serviced regularly.....Did you buy a whole new RO unit or just replace the filters? What about the membrane as well?
As far as copper fittings.....Anything before the RO unit isn't an issue. Just as the copper pipes in homes......I could possibly see an issue with you removing the sand and then reusing it. If you had a sand bed previously as you stated and removed and reinstalled you just opened a can of **it!!!!!! I would be more curious as to what all your parameters are. Moving a sand bed and back should show a little more than Phos being a bit high.....A poly pad wouldn't hurt.

 

[bang guy]

If the Snails are doing fine then I'm going to guess against it being anything related to copper. The polypad will tell you though.
What is the Phospate level in the tank?
Take on of your rocks where the coral has died in the past and place it in a bucket with tank water and a powerhead. In the morning test for phospate.
How old are the light bulbs?
What types of corals have you recently tried?
What are the water parameters?
How much waterflow in the tank?

 

[kiefers]

Quote:
Originally Posted by acrylic51 http:///forum/thread/386857/deperately-need-help-confusing-problem#post_3400155
Am I missing something??? Everyones mentioned copper

I agree part of you issue could be the RO unit not being serviced regularly.....Did you buy a whole new RO unit or just replace the filters? What about the membrane as well?
As far as copper fittings.....Anything before the RO unit isn't an issue. Just as the copper pipes in homes......I could possibly see an issue with you removing the sand and then reusing it. If you had a sand bed previously as you stated and removed and reinstalled you just opened a can of **it!!!!!! I would be more curious as to what all your parameters are. Moving a sand bed and back should show a little more than Phos being a bit high.....A poly pad wouldn't hurt.
Totally missed the sand issue. I thought of the poly pad because it would almost be a good tattle tale one what the issue could be. With the corals "melting" usually being a good indicator of copper or very high trates

 

[saltwaterdud3]

I wish the OP would show up to this thread again... I'm anxious to know some information!

 

[dunhawk]

Sorry I am on vacation and only have my iPhone so hard to type but I will do my best to answer questions. I got a completely new reverse osmosis unit with a deionizing unit attached I also replaced with completely new sand bed so no danger there.
I have no copper fittings . And I thought it could not be copper because snails and shrimp are fine. Also before and after cleaning and all the stuff I did mentioned earlier there is a light brown diatom?? Stuff on all the live rock. Before I did the cleaning new sand bed etc I had all kinds of corals all doing well Lps sps zoos and mushrooms.
I have tried this time after cleaning frogspawn and ricordea mushrooms.
I need to test phosphates when I get home but they were about 1.0 + . Another weird piece of info is that copepods are not surviving to my knowledge and they used to thrive in my system . Also I have been running carbon for about four months once this all started
what is the best way to clean live rock?
Thanks for the help I really appreciate have tried everything

 

[kiefers]

Quote:
Originally Posted by dunhawk http:///forum/thread/386857/deperately-need-help-confusing-problem#post_3400602
Sorry I am on vacation and only have my iPhone so hard to type but I will do my best to answer questions. I got a completely new reverse osmosis unit with a deionizing unit attached I also replaced with completely new sand bed so no danger there.
I have no copper fittings . And I thought it could not be copper because snails and shrimp are fine. Also before and after cleaning and all the stuff I did mentioned earlier there is a light brown diatom?? Stuff on all the live rock. Before I did the cleaning new sand bed etc I had all kinds of corals all doing well Lps sps zoos and mushrooms.
I have tried this time after cleaning frogspawn and ricordea mushrooms.
I need to test phosphates when I get home but they were about 1.0 + . Another weird piece of info is that copepods are not surviving to my knowledge and they used to thrive in my system . Also I have been running carbon for about four months once this all started
what is the best way to clean live rock?
Thanks for the help I really appreciate have tried everything
when you get home from vaca... do a water change. Save some of you old water in a large bucket and slowly take out the L/R. Put the rock in the bucket and swish it around gently or scrub lighty with a new tooth brush. This should help with some of the problem IMO. If not you may need to change out your carbon. Just a thought.

 

[dunhawk]

Thanks any other ideas bump

 

[flower]

Hi,
Just chiming in...Your original and only problem was the RO no longer filtered properly. When you replaced the sand and cleaned the rock you started a new tank. That's why you have diatoms. Like all new tanks, it takes time to stablize. The corals can't thrive in a new tank not quite stablized, and phosphates at 1.0 and I also wonder about your tast kits and how old they are and the brand. Your old critters could be used to the mess your perameters are in if your test kits are bad, but new coral that you add would die fast. This is all just a theory of coarse, I'm no expert.

 

[dunhawk]

Is there any heavy metal or something that could get into tank and then seep into live rock so corals could not survive

 

[2quills]

Yes but it's like BangGuy said, if your inverts are all doing ok then that's probably not the case. Maybe you can post up your water parameters, maybe there's something going on there other than the fact that you pretty much have a new system all over again. Calcium, PH, Alk, specific gravity...etc.