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Michael_D · 01/19/2018, 07:48 PM

Hi all,

For the past week or two, many of my corals have been irritated and are showing poor polyp extension and looking shriveled. I have LPS, SPS, and soft corals all in the same tank.

The tank is 75G, I have a sump, a skimmer, lots of water flow (two gyres), ample lighting (2 maxpect ethereals), and a light bio load of fish. The tank is less than a year old, but was an upgrade from a 3 year old tank.

At first only my GSP was sucked in, which I thought nothing of. But it didn't come back, and soon my other soft corals were becoming irritated. I did a 50% water change to no avail. Now many of my SPS corals, especially frogspawn are irritated as well. Some of my SPS is showing reduced polyp extension, but most of it is totally normal. I've moved my GSP to another tank and it is starting to come back. I did the same with my toadstools and kenya tree, thinking coral warfare, and now they're coming back in the other tank, but my main tank is still screwed up. I have a hammer coral that, if anything, looks better than usual. Some various SPS frags that look fine and are showing new growth, but my zoas, torch, frogspawn, some palys, and birdnest coral are all quite ****ed. Also, I am noticing a very bad diatom bloom. I can clear it all up with my hand, but within 24 hours it will be back covering my rocks and sand. And my skimmer is going crazy periodically, which it never used to do.

My parameters:

Salinity: 1.026
Temp: 78F
Alk: 8dkh
Ca: 380ppm
pH: 8.3
nitrate: 0
phosphate:0
Nitrite: 0
Ammonia: 0 (but I did detect some on one day that I tested it, but I don't know if this caused the irritation, or if whatever is causing the irritation was causing die off)

I tested for stray voltage with my multi-meter and didn't see anything weird. I thought it might be my water supply, but my other tanks are doing fine.

Any idea what could be happening? Any suggestions on something I could check for? I am going a little crazy. Can lighting cause this? I am on a custom cycle with my ethereals at about 30% for 5 hours, then moving to 90% for two hours, and then ramping down over an hour until moonlights for a while followed by dark.

Thanks!

01/19/2018, 07:48 PM	#1
Michael_D Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2017 Posts: 6	All corals irritated, parameters fine Hi all, For the past week or two, many of my corals have been irritated and are showing poor polyp extension and looking shriveled. I have LPS, SPS, and soft corals all in the same tank. The tank is 75G, I have a sump, a skimmer, lots of water flow (two gyres), ample lighting (2 maxpect ethereals), and a light bio load of fish. The tank is less than a year old, but was an upgrade from a 3 year old tank. At first only my GSP was sucked in, which I thought nothing of. But it didn't come back, and soon my other soft corals were becoming irritated. I did a 50% water change to no avail. Now many of my SPS corals, especially frogspawn are irritated as well. Some of my SPS is showing reduced polyp extension, but most of it is totally normal. I've moved my GSP to another tank and it is starting to come back. I did the same with my toadstools and kenya tree, thinking coral warfare, and now they're coming back in the other tank, but my main tank is still screwed up. I have a hammer coral that, if anything, looks better than usual. Some various SPS frags that look fine and are showing new growth, but my zoas, torch, frogspawn, some palys, and birdnest coral are all quite ****ed. Also, I am noticing a very bad diatom bloom. I can clear it all up with my hand, but within 24 hours it will be back covering my rocks and sand. And my skimmer is going crazy periodically, which it never used to do. My parameters: Salinity: 1.026 Temp: 78F Alk: 8dkh Ca: 380ppm pH: 8.3 nitrate: 0 phosphate:0 Nitrite: 0 Ammonia: 0 (but I did detect some on one day that I tested it, but I don't know if this caused the irritation, or if whatever is causing the irritation was causing die off) I tested for stray voltage with my multi-meter and didn't see anything weird. I thought it might be my water supply, but my other tanks are doing fine. Any idea what could be happening? Any suggestions on something I could check for? I am going a little crazy. Can lighting cause this? I am on a custom cycle with my ethereals at about 30% for 5 hours, then moving to 90% for two hours, and then ramping down over an hour until moonlights for a while followed by dark. Thanks!