Mystery Water Problem

[MyOwnGrowOp]

Alright, so I will start by saying, my 120 has been up for 6 years, it has a 45 gallon sump, an ASM g2 skimmer, and an aqualight deluxe pro with 2x 250w HQI. everything has been doing great and growing like crazy for years. I had a Monty cap or 4 years that after probably 30 frags was still the size of a dinner plate. Anyway, the last few months the tank has been getting a bit of an algae bloom, nothing serious, just on the back glass and a tiny bit of red turf type algae on a few rocks. All of a sudden, the few pieces of SPS I had, bleached, a couple of my acans peeled back, and about 100+ heads of fluorescent green candy cane kicked the bucket... What the hell happened? Here are my params...

SG- 1.025
Temp- 78
PH- 8.3
Alk- WAS 5.5 but just got it up to 9
Nitrite- 0.1
Phos- 0.2
Nitrate- 1.5
Amm- 0
Calc- 400

I'm far from a water quality expert. I have just had very good luck in the past with minimal testing.. So what do you guys see that may have causes this?

[HighlandReefer]

The most likely culprits were your low alk level and current high phosphate level. This combination may increase the damages as well.

I would reduce your phosphate as well to below 0.03 ppm.

[HighlandReefer]

Sorry to hear about your loses. :(

[HighlandReefer]

I would test your mag level as well.

[MyOwnGrowOp]

Ya it sucks. Lost my favorite rainbow acan too :( so you think a combo of the 5.5 alk and the high phosphates is what caused the damage to the corals? And the phosphates is whats causing the algae obviously.. And I do not have a mag test, I'm working on getting one today though

[HighlandReefer]

Yes, with the info we have here it would be the most likely candidates. ;)

Alkalinity level has a big effect on especially the sps coral. As the alk level increases so does the growth of the coral skeleton and as it decreases so does the growth reduce and there is a point where no growth will occur, which is somewhere below NSW level of 7 dKH. Dropping alk down below 6.5 is not good IMO. Also test kits for alk can be off as well, which is why I recommend shooting for the middle of the recommended range of 7-11 dKH for alk. If your test kit is off and your alk is lower than you think this can be even more problems.

High phosphate levels will reduce growth of coral skeletons as well. The phosphate interferes when levels are high with the growth of coral skeletons.

So this combination of high phosphate and low alk can add together and cause even more problems than either just low alk or just high phosphate. ;)

Low enough mag levels make it difficult to maintain proper alk levels.

You could take water samples to your LfS and let them also run tests.

[ReeferBill]

What brand of salt do you use? When I swtched to Reef Crystals I saw more growth and better test reults.Thanks for reminding me to get more Kent Tec M Magnesium. I always have a gallon of it on hand , it helps with polyp extension and growth. Have you ever done a 50% or real large water change. I would start their....:fish1:

[HighlandReefer]

FWIW, 3 water changes at 16.66 gallons each will accomplish about the same thing as one large 50% water changes and doing it this way is much safer. ;)

[MyOwnGrowOp]

What brand of salt do you use? When I swtched to Reef Crystals I saw more growth and better test reults.Thanks for reminding me to get more Kent Tec M Magnesium. I always have a gallon of it on hand , it helps with polyp extension and growth. Have you ever done a 50% or real large water change. I would start their....:fish1:

No I have never done a 50%.. I don't think that kind of stress is needed right now. I do 10 gallon water changes every friday. And I use Oceanic salt. Have for 6 years. So I just started running Chemipure elite yesterday... This should help remove the high phos right?

[reefgeezer]

So I just started running Chemipure elite yesterday... This should help remove the high phos right?

You might want to recheck phosphates regularly for a while and change the Chemipure when the phosphates stop dropping.

[bertoni]

If the phosphate remains high, you might want to buy some plain GFO. The Chemi-Pure Elite has some GFO in it, but buying the GFO separately will save some money and allow more tuning of the dosing level.