Having Problems, Need Help

[mudplayerx]

My reef tank is about one year and 3 months old or so. It has always been very healthy with most corals growing so quickly that they were fragged and sold.
However, recently (last 5 months or so) things have gone downhill. All my xenia is gone. It used to be my cash coral that I fragged constantly. My organ pipe coral has been slowly declining to the point where I'm ready to just toss it. My fungia never inflates anymore. It eats but it never inflates. My galaxea coral about the size of a football has polyps on the shaded undersides that don't grow...they look very unhealthy.
Everything just looks like it is on the decline.

• Temp: 82-84
• Specific Gravity: 1.025 - 1.026
• Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate: 0
• Calcium: 420
  dkh: 7.6-8
  ph: 8.2
  waterflow: 20x

I do water changes 5% weekly. I feed the corals with fresh shrimp, squid, fish. I also dose phyto and zooplankton for the filter feeders.
The odd thing is that some corals and other inverts are doing just fine. For example: bubble coral, kenya tree, various mushrooms, zooanthids, brittlestars, emerald crab, star polyps.
Even the psychedelic mandarin is doing fine. Does anyone have any input? I'm seriously considering closing up shop. I am definately not replacing corals that pass away anymore.

 

[phoenixfla]

I would start by doing a few large water changes, maybe 25% a week for 3 weeks then 10 - 15% each week from then on out. Do you add Iodine?

 

[mudplayerx]

Originally Posted by PhoenixFla
I would start by doing a few large water changes, maybe 25% a week for 3 weeks then 10 - 15% each week from then on out. Do you add Iodine?
I have iodine which I dosed very very sparingly as I watched my xenia decline. I do not dose it anymore as I have researched that there is more than enough iodine in water changes, plus I do not have a test kit for it.
I find it highly perplexing that some corals are doing poorly/dying, yet my brittlestar is fine and dandy. I would think the starfish would be one of the 1st things to croak.

 

[mrdc]

Just some pointers...may mean nothing. Do you think the 3 degree temp change is too much? Isn't alk supposed to be 8 - 12 (just from book reccomendations). Time for a light change? Are you using RO? Well that's my first q's. I will think on it because I would hate to see you quit because you have given me some good feedback over the last few months.

 

[sufunk]

I agree with phoenix. 5% a week doesnt sound like alot, try bumping that to like 15-20% a week and see if anything changes after a month.

 

[mudplayerx]

The temp fluctuates only about 2 degrees in a 24 hour period, so I hope that is not the problem. I do have a slight difficulty maintaining a higher alkalinity. My Salifert test indicates that a dkh of 8 is best, so that is why I have been aiming for 8.
I replaced my 300 watts of 10k about 2-3 months ago with 300 watts of 14k, so lighting shouldn't be an issue unless the bulbs are defective. They are Hamilton, which I researched to have pretty decent PAR.
I use RO water 90% of the time and distilled water when I'm too lazy to carry the empty jugs to the store. I'll try doing larger water changes for a month and see where that takes me.
Thanks for the opinions guys, keep them coming.

 

[phoenixfla]

I agree that Alk should be closer to 11 or 12. Also, I ould get that calcium up a little.
I really think that you may have 2 problems - one that took out the xenia and one that is hurting the stonies.
Does your LFS have an iodine test?

 

[unleashed]

i can tell you right off the bat its temp its too high for corals.although fish can do fine in warmer climate your corals cannot thrive in conditions higher than 78 degrees most reef temps range between 72 and 78 degrees (No higher).if your using internal pumps this can also raise your temps to a higher than desired temp(im going through this in my reef) if your heater is set to keep this temp i do suggest lowering it do this in a matter of days as to not shock your fish.you will find that your corals will be much happpier.you will also find that most fish species found in reef areas are also accustom to these temps

 

[mudplayerx]

That's a good try Unleashed, but my temp has been 82-84 for over a year now, and I've had the corals growing so quickly in that period that it was fragging city. I don't think it is related to temperature, but thank you for your input.
I'm just going to do 4 large water changes over the next month and hope that helps. If it doesn't I'm probably going to just sell my tank.
Is there a cheap way to buff alkalinity without buying supplements in the store? For example, baking soda can be used to buff ph... can any grocery store item be used for dkh?

 

[monalisa]

Hey Mud,
Geez...for all the help you've given me in the past, I sure wish I could help you out here...Best of luck to you!!!
Lisa :happyfish

 

[mudplayerx]

Originally Posted by MonaLisa
Hey Mud,
Geez...for all the help you've given me in the past, I sure wish I could help you out here...Best of luck to you!!!
Lisa :happyfish
Thanks Mona. How is your tank doing by the way? I'd like to hear about it.

 

[unleashed]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
That's a good try Unleashed, but my temp has been 82-84 for over a year now, and I've had the corals growing so quickly in that period that it was fragging city. I don't think it is related to temperature, but thank you for your input.
I'm just going to do 4 large water changes over the next month and hope that helps. If it doesn't I'm probably going to just sell my tank.
Is there a cheap way to buff alkalinity without buying supplements in the store? For example, baking soda can be used to buff ph... can any grocery store item be used for dkh?
well concider it a possabilty still .concidering the effects on global warming in the natural reef barriers its not something that crashes overnite the high temps not being lowered caused bleaching and eventually a complete meltdown of large range of the reefs and you did state its been going downhill for the past 5 months and getting worse.you may find this just to be an issue.
im just saying dont rule it out completely

 

[reefreak29]

i keep my alk at 12-14 ,temp at 79 ,10 percent water changes every week, 1 cup of carbon every week and 2 cups of phosgaurd monthly for 2 days , imo i would bump up my alk and my water changes , as far as xenia goes it does that even in the wild ,it will die of but then come back, also i would never dose iodine

 

[mrdc]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
That's a good try Unleashed, but my temp has been 82-84 for over a year now, and I've had the corals growing so quickly in that period that it was fragging city. I don't think it is related to temperature, but thank you for your input.
I'm just going to do 4 large water changes over the next month and hope that helps. If it doesn't I'm probably going to just sell my tank.
Is there a cheap way to buff alkalinity without buying supplements in the store? For example, baking soda can be used to buff ph... can any grocery store item be used for dkh?

I have used pretty much all ca and alk products on the market and I have to say seachem's alk and ca products have worked best for me. I know they aren't grocery store items but they do work well in my experience. My temp stays at 81 and never budges as far as I can tell though if you have been doing well for such a long time with your current temp setup, I don't think that is your proble. Is this your first time with problems? I'm sure the solution is there w/o having to give up but I can understand your frustration!

 

[mudplayerx]

Thanks for the info guys. Yes, this is the first time I have run into problems since I started over a year ago.
I made one last ditch effort today to save my tank. I got rid of my old Frankenstein skimmer that was highly inefficient and replaced it with a Coralife Super Skimmer. I also bought a 3 stage RO machine so I can stop relying on the machine at Walmart (God knows if they even change the filters).
Another large water change is going to be done tomorrow. I brought my alk up to 11.6 and I'm crossing my fingers.

 

[sufunk]

Keep us posted. If your xenia die, im gonna be really worried! You taught me how to frag mine

 

[mudplayerx]

Originally Posted by sufunk
Keep us posted. If your xenia die, im gonna be really worried! You taught me how to frag mine

Hehe. Unfortunately there are only like 4 tiny, emaciated xenia left in the tank. They look horrible. Hopefully they will recover. The pet store I sell frags to still has one of my xenias and it is so healthy and pulsing madly that it makes me want to cry when I look at the remenants of mine.

 

[hot883]

Could it be the lighting? Whats the age and strength? Need new bulbs?

 

[mudplayerx]

Originally Posted by hot883
Could it be the lighting? Whats the age and strength? Need new bulbs?
I sure hope not. The bulbs are only about 2-3 months old. They are two 150watt 14k hqi hamiltons. I bought them online, but the site seems like a high quality place. They even gave me a free tshirt

 

[pyro]

Random sorta idea...
I've heard of "old-tank syndrome" where your live rock has saturated and starts to bleed off phosphates and nitrates and the such. I'm not pointing the finger at that by any means, but one way to fix it is to replace a chunk of your liverock with new.
Maybe replacing some liverock in your tank or adding some fresh stuff would help.
Perhaps hire a cleaning lady or something and could be getting a chemical like windex in your tank? Season change?
Check for maybe a bad bristleworm species or anything of the sort? Maybe one of your cleaning crew went coral hungry? Fish decide that something looks tasty?
Some of the idea's might be crazy, just trying to think of something different.
Good Luck!