Help Xenia and Kenya Tree Dieing

dcel22

Member
I have a 72 gallon bow front tank with 2 250watt 20k DE MH bulbs which I run for 8-10 hours per day. I am new to reefing(November) and have not had any problems since I returned from this weekend. I have been keeping easy soft corals such as zoanthids, kenya trees, and xenias so far. Anyway I noticed my kenya trees were basically dead and my xenia no longer was pulsing and does not look happy. I noticed that the temperature of my tank was about 92 degrees. I have tested my water parameters and my calcium is 400ppm, Nitrates are under 12.5ppm, KH is 6.1dKH, and my alkalinity is 2.17meq/L. Everything looks in check except for my alkalinity and KH. Do those values even matter as I have soft easy corals? I use a remora skimmer, not too many water changes, and am cautious not to overfeed. Do you feel that my Xenia and Kenya tree are dying because of the high temperature I noticed and if so do you think they will come back? Also another neat thing to notice is I have 2 different strains of Xenia and only one of the strains is having a true problem. I also bought a hammer coral the other day and that seems to be fine. On top of all of this I have bleaching of my corraline on my walls which would lead me to believe my calcium is low but I have no clue!!??? If anyone can give me any help or advice to help me I would really appreciate it. I would hate to lose all my hard work and money.
Thanks!
Joe
PS. I do use RODI water also
 
J

jupoc911

Guest
the temp is def way high and your alk is low. Low alk can cause coraline to bleach.
 

dcel22

Member
The temperature is now down to 80 degrees. I take it I can buy some type of additive and I will have to keep adding that in order for my corraline to remain. As far as my soft corals I would assume they would be fine without adding some sort of buffer?
 

pclown

Member
Do a water chang and that will help with the Alk. I agree about the temp, but your Kenya tree may come back. They are pretty tuff.
 

grumpygils

Active Member
Originally Posted by dcel22
I have a 72 gallon bow front tank with 2 250watt 20k DE MH bulbs which I run for 8-10 hours per day. I am new to reefing(November) and have not had any problems since I returned from this weekend. I have been keeping easy soft corals such as zoanthids, kenya trees, and xenias so far. Anyway I noticed my kenya trees were basically dead and my xenia no longer was pulsing and does not look happy. I noticed that the temperature of my tank was about 92 degrees. I have tested my water parameters and my calcium is 400ppm, Nitrates are under 12.5ppm, KH is 6.1dKH, and my alkalinity is 2.17meq/L. Everything looks in check except for my alkalinity and KH. Do those values even matter as I have soft easy corals? I use a remora skimmer, not too many water changes, and am cautious not to overfeed. Do you feel that my Xenia and Kenya tree are dying because of the high temperature I noticed and if so do you think they will come back? Also another neat thing to notice is I have 2 different strains of Xenia and only one of the strains is having a true problem. I also bought a hammer coral the other day and that seems to be fine. On top of all of this I have bleaching of my corraline on my walls which would lead me to believe my calcium is low but I have no clue!!??? If anyone can give me any help or advice to help me I would really appreciate it. I would hate to lose all my hard work and money.
Thanks!
Joe
PS. I do use RODI water also

Coral dies at 30C. See Great barrier reef problem.
 
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