Unhealthy Soft Corals - HELP!

[trippclark]

Several days have gone by. Some things seem to be getting better, but lots of what is going on is still stumping me. First the good news is that the corals appear to be doing marginally better. Some are starting to open up some. The greeen star polyps are still doing great. The yellow polyps are opening pretty well -- not 100% but much better. It may be my imagination, but they do not appear to be as bright yellow as before and may have a slightly brownish tint. The zoos are still almost completely retracted, but appear to be opening slightly. The ricordia are still very retracted and shrunk up to perhaps 20% of their former size.Many of my readings are still wierd -- KH, CA and PO4 have been unstable. Here is the complete activity for the past 4 days and all readings . . .
Feb 12
PH=8.0
NO3=0
KH=14
CA=375
PO4=0.2
SG=1.027
Activity/Notes: To lower SG, I removed about 2 gallons of tank water and added back RO/DI water. When removing water, I siphoned algae off the back glass. I added 4 scoops of Tropic Marin Bio Calcium to try to raise CA (maximum recommended daily dosage is 1 scoop per 10 gallons of tank water. I estimate that I have not more than 60 gallons of water). I also added Purigen (75 - 100 mL) in a filter bag to my sump in a flow area to try and pull out some organics/impurities.
Feb 13
PH=8.0
NO3=0
KH=11
CA=345
PO4=0.1
SG=1.025
Activity/Notes: I removed 2.5 gallons of tank water while siphoning algae and added 2.5 gallons on new saltwater. I was amazed that CA actually dropped even after adding large quantities of biocalcium. This day I added 5 scoops of biocalcium.
Feb 14
PH=8.0
NO3=0
KH=12
CA=360
PO4=1.0
SG=1.025
Activity/Notes: I added 2 scoops of biocalcium in the morning and another 5 scoops in the evening (I am still amazed by how much calcium my system is currently consuming!). I removed 2.5 gallons of tank water while siphoning algae and added 2.5 gallons on new saltwater. I had a huge PO4 spike! Presumably this is because I am removing algae which formerly was consuming the PO4. I still have no idea of the source.
Feb 15
PH=8.0 (perhaps slightly less, but well above 7.7 . . . the next PH on my scale)
NO3=0
KH=19
CA=360
PO4=0.8
SG=1.025
Activity/Notes: I added 2 scoops of biocalcium in the morning and plan to add another 5 scoops tonight. This huge amount of calcium is not raising my CA levels like I an trying (tested with 2 different kits), but I am afraid to add any more per day since this is already marginally above the recommended daily dosage. I can't figure out why KH is spiking so high, but this is troublesome. Fearing that my NO3 kit may be outdated and not accurate, I purchased a new test kit tonight (Sera - my LFS does not carry Salifert) and am still getting a reading of 0 on NO3. I installed a Phosban Reactor 150 with Phosban to try to get the PO4 down.
I would be grateful for any insight from any of y'all. KH, CA and PO4 are all concerning me right now, and I am also a bit concerned that PH is a bit lower than I would like. Normally I have used the Seachen Marine Buffer to raise and maintain PH, but since that causes KH to go up, I do not dare add that now. Thanks in advance for any help or ideas!!!

 

[trippclark]

<BUMP>
I would be grateful for any insight from any of y'all. KH, CA and PO4 are all concerning me right now, and I am also a bit concerned that PH is a bit lower than I would like. Normally I have used the Seachen Marine Buffer to raise and maintain PH, but since that causes KH to go up, I do not dare add that now. Thanks in advance for any help or ideas!!!

 

[trippclark]

Feb 16PH=8.0 (perhaps slightly less, but well above 7.7 . . . the next PH on my scale)
NO3=0
KH=11
CA=360 or 420 . . . ?!?!
PO4=0
SG=1.026
Activity/Notes: I added 3 scoops of bio calcium in the morning and 5 scoops at night. The Phosban Reactor knocked out the phosphates back to 0 in 24 hours! CA still tests at 360 on my newest test kit (Seatest). I also checked it with my older (but still in-date) Sera CA test kit and Sera reads it at 420!! That is quite a difference! I'd like to believe the Sera kit is right after all of the CA I have been adding. Corals unchanged from yesterday . . . some improvement but still mostly retracted.
Feb 17 . . . A.M.
No tests yet
Activity/Notes: I added 2 scoops of Bio calcium in the A.M. This finished the big container of the bio-calcium. I puchased and am contemplating dripping Kalk, but I have never done this and a bit intimidated by it. I have the Kalk and I have a 5 gallon Kent doser that I use constantly to top off, but I have lots of questions about dosing kalk . . . periodic or constantly with top off? Amounts? Etc. I need to read up on this! There use to be a kalk 101 thread on here, but I can't seem to locate it now.

 

[weberian]

Maybe try Oceanic salt brand. I've been using it, and my calcium is always on the high side. How much live rock do you have?? If coralline algae is growing, then other types of stuff like green algae, brown algae will not be able to grow there. I get the short-hair(fuzz) brown stuff on my glass walls mostly. Probably because I feed the fish every day. Maybe you could describe your feeding procedure?

 

[trippclark]

Originally Posted by Weberian
Maybe try Oceanic salt brand. I've been using it, and my calcium is always on the high side. How much live rock do you have?? If coralline algae is growing, then other types of stuff like green algae, brown algae will not be able to grow there. I get the short-hair(fuzz) brown stuff on my glass walls mostly. Probably because I feed the fish every day. Maybe you could describe your feeding procedure?
Yep, I have considered trying a different mix. I have used Instant Ocean exclusively for the past 3 -4 years. Prior to that I used Reef Crystals once or twice. Otherwise, I have only used Instant Ocean. Perhaps another brand is better.
I am not sure how to properly quantify my live rock. I'd like to have more. I can't remember how many pounds, and I purchased it at two different times. I have a standard 55 gallon tank. Rock extends the full width of the tank, half the depth or so, and a bit above half of the way to the top off of a 2.5 - 3.5" sand base.
My rock is pretty well covered in coralline (50% coverage or so, I'd guess) on the visible exposed surfaces. I am still experiencing rapid growth of money plant (which I undestand is a calcium hog). I pulled nearly all of it out last week and it is coming back quick enough that I can see visible growth daily. I suspect that is the big consumer of my CA.
You said, "I get the short-hair(fuzz) brown stuff on my glass walls mostly." Me too! This is one of my current battles as this seems to be growing much more than usual. I am hopeful that with the recenty added Phosban Reactor which knocked PO4 to zero and since NO3 is at 0, that I'll starve out this ugly algae. Hopefully the snails will get busy also!
I do not feed every day. I feed every other day or every third day. I feed very small amounts of either frozen Formula One food (about 1/8 of a cube that before splitting is about 1 cubic cm) or a few mini pellets of a food recommended by my LFS (sorry, can't recall brand).
I do feel a lot better now that PO4 and NO3 are both at 0. The conflicting CA tests are frustrating, and I'd like to raise PH, but I do not know how to accomplish this other than by adding the Seachem Marine Buffer, but I don't want to raise KH, which I think this will do. Of course, I'd also like to see a quicker rebound by my corals, but I honestly don't know how quick to expect this to occur. I mean, even if all parameters were perfect and stayed that way, how long might it take for the corals to recover and appear healthy again?

 

[weberian]

I am really new to corals so I can't help about that. I've got the same RO unit as you so I am curious about your Phosphate levels. I've got to purchase a test kit for that and then I will test my RO water and based on that perhaps change out the DI cartridge.
Definately I wouldn't add any buffer when your KH readings are over 11.
Personally I think deeper tanks (mine is a mere 16-inches high) need more flow directed into the lower portion of the tank. Powerheads seem to come with brackets that keep them high in the tank. I think too much detritus collects around the base of the rocks down low in the tank. That would cause nitrates.
I caught one of my new pepp. shrimp sticking his prickly arms under the base of a rock. Maybe your new shrimp (and other crew) will help clean up around those rocks. I bet they will help tremendously - it seems you got quite a crew there.

 

[trippclark]

Yep, I hope adding the new crew will help. I had not really added to the crew in a couple of years and slow gradual declines had taken me to almost none. As best I can tell all of the new peppremint shrimp are okay, but they hide in the rocks mostly and I have never seen more than 5 at a time. The hermits seem good too. I did have several of the new snails to die. Of the 35 snails that I added, I have found 6 dead and removed these. I suspect that with that many to die that a few more may have that I cannot find. I added 3 Mexican Tubo snails two days ago also in hopes that they'll really wipe out the algae on the glass. All three are alive, but have not really started munching too much. Perhaps when I get home tonight they will have started to eat.

 

[mudplayerx]

Microalgae can also arise from carbon dioxide saturation and too much lighting. Although nitrates and phospahtes give rise to macroalgae, the algae only needs one of all the mentioned things to bloom.

 

[trippclark]

Originally Posted by mudplayerx
Microalgae can also arise from carbon dioxide saturation and too much lighting. Although nitrates and phospahtes give rise to macroalgae, the algae only needs one of all the mentioned things to bloom.
Thanks! I reduced my lighting several weeks ago to now just abot 5-6 hours per day. Formerly it was set to about 8 hours. I have 4x110W which is about 7.3 watts per gallon. Is this excessive?
Carbon Dioxide saturation???? Is there a way to test for this?