Cali Kid Corals

Please help! (tank maybe crashing)

Are you sure something is not feeding on these corals? Hitchhiker crab, shrimp, hermit crab etc.

It seems odd the chemistry is good enough for SPS but the LPS are going off. On the chance it's some chem related issue, I agree with Erin. Go simple, do WCs.

Hunt for coral eaters after dark.
 
I don't have any crabs, shrimp is in the sump... only CUC I have are some snails.

Still don't understand how this can happen when SPS & softies are healthy :(

The melting rate is fast! In just a day I see more skeleton on the scoly & trumpet. I might have to move the coral out in the next day or two till I resolve this...

Can Dino cause this?
 
Hey Nav, also look into the Purigen. Since it requires bleach to regenerate, there could be residual chlorine entering the water column.
 
my opinion... i would get rid of all those chem bags for a while, keep up with frequent water changes, and add a bunch of carbon to help remove anything that could be in the water. I've had trouble with all those chemicals. Now I run only the ATS and carbon, and I finally have all of my corals happy
 
Marc, Bryan, could be true... Last refresh was on Nov 2. Removed both bags, one was pretty brown and other still fresh.

Yesterday did a 35% PWC & added ChemiPure Elite.

Hope things get better...
 
Nav,

For some reason I never saw your replies. IMO, I think your PAR values are way low. Are those values with White + Blue actinics (adjusted)? Or is there some math you're doing? Which of the 3 scenarios are you in right now? I'm thinking that maybe move your pieces toward the center a little bit so it's at least getting 220 PAR? Or are you reading somewhere about something I don't know about?

Let me send you a pic of my PAR values. They will be listed like: " MH / Actinics " .. just add the two numbers that sit next to each other, and it should be total PAR.
 
I'm in between 1 & 2. 70% white & 70% blue.

If you look at my original thread on PAR concerns, people mention LEDs have a multiplier to get actual par. I think 1.3x or something like that.

I've been using setting 1 for months and everything did very well. I know the sides have very low par cos it's 36" wide but max surface area for a Kessil is 24".
 
ok, but are those values you listed on the previous post adjusted or unadjusted (with x1.3?).

FYI, it took a week before i saw bleaching and issues with coral during a heat-wave when I had to turn my MH off. I lost a lot of color in my corals for a while.
 
Unadjusted, readings straight from the BAR PAR meter.

Temp is stable between 78-80. Now have 2 x 100w heaters, one in sump and one in DT for stabler temp.
 
I just was chatting with another local reefer (Barney Lee, who might not be a member here), he suggested looking out for hitchhikers & LPS eating Nudis.

He said if the coral dies from the center could be health, if dying from the edges, surely params or hitchhikers, and mine are all dying from edges.

I've observed these dying coral after lights off every night and so far never spotted anything. If any of you have specific hitchhiker pics I should look out for, pls let me know.
 
Nav said:
I just was chatting with another local reefer (Barney Lee, who might not be a member here), he suggested looking out for hitchhikers & LPS eating Nudis.

He said if the coral dies from the center could be health, if dying from the edges, surely params or hitchhikers, and mine are all dying from edges.

I've observed these dying coral after lights off every night and so far never spotted anything. If any of you have specific hitchhiker pics I should look out for, pls let me know.
Click to expand...

I've been keeping a close eye on them. I've also been hitting them with a flashlight at night to perform a quadruple check on everything-- nothing out of the ordinary so far. Your scoly really likes to reach out and touch things at night (I've moved everything away from it). The scoly skeleton that was showing has not been covered in coraline yet. I imagine that will take a bit of time before it grows over that.

I broadcast fed using reef roids and reef chili on Saturday night when everything had tentacles out, including your chalices. Everything is appears healthy as of this morning. I'll send you updates tonight.

Have you considered sending in for triton testing? Maybe it's something you haven't tested for yet.
 
My opinion:
Water quality was likely marginal. Very common.
Heat issues helped weaken corals, triggering decline.
Now the algae is out-competing the corals.

You have likely fixed temp.
The carbon and water changes will help.

But you mention difficult bryopsis and other algae issues.
That makes me guess is that you are still over feeding.
Can you detail exactly what food (coral + fish) you are putting in the tank?

Given all the posts above, I tend to doubt it is lighting or pests.
 
Thanks Alfred. Maybe triton if things don't get better in a few weeks.

@rygh, here's detail on my feeding:

I'd say water quality is pristine, cos I've always done 25% weekly PWC and 35% last 3 weeks. Phosphates is 0 (checked with 2 different kits).

Food for fish:
Auto feeder for pellets (1mm NewLife Spectrum) - Using Eheim and taped the smallest opening so each feeding round drops max 10-15 pellets max (I've counted & its consistent). These pellets are gobbled within seconds cos the fish know exact feeding times & are waiting right user the feeder ring.

The feeder was set to 3 times a day few weeks ago, changed to 2 times and its 1 time a day for the last week. I doubt this is could be any issue cos not a single pellet goes uneaten. I had 5 healthy fish (4 now, blenny jumped).

Food for coral:
I'm pretty anal about not leaving free floating foods, I take a lot of time and patience in feeding coral. I have frozen mysis that I mostly feed twice a week. I take a cube, put it under running water till every shrimp breaks apart so literally no old water from the cube. Then use a long tweezer to either feed a full or half cut piece of mysis to each head/eye of every coral. No broadcast or target feeding, its mouth feeding ;) so in this case too, not a single piece of mysis is uneaten or suspended in water. I even use cut plastic bottle heads over many corals to ensure no fish picks on it. This is the same reason my cleaner shrimp sits in the sump.
 
Ok .. so you are not over feeding. :)

So there is a theory out there. Read it on the net.... be warned.
If your system has super low nitrates, but normal phosphates, it can cause serious problems.
Unexplained Dinoflagellates is one symptom.
The problem is that the different ratio allows different life forms to out-compete the normal ones.
It can happen when you reduce nitrate intake and still have algae present.

The solution is two part:
1) Aggressive GFO to reduce phosphates.
Including adding socks to main display tank, not just sump.
2) Feed more, not less.
To increase nitrates a bit.

BUT: Just a theory on the net. Fortunately, those solutions are pretty safe.
More so than hydrogen peroxide and such.
 
Makes some sense, but isn't it crazy to increase nitrates that will feed cyano, GHA, bryopsis & dino (more free floating nutrients).

I'll do some more reading on this... so far the 3 day blackout seems very safe but concerned my melting LPS will just give up completely if I blackout :(
 
Nav said:
Makes some sense, but isn't it crazy to increase nitrates that will feed cyano, GHA, bryopsis & dino (more free floating nutrients).

I'll do some more reading on this... so far the 3 day blackout seems very safe but concerned my melting LPS will just give up completely if I blackout :(
Click to expand...

Did you have a chance and read the article that I linked to you in post #20 in this thread in regard to nitrate & phosphorus ratio?

Also a reminder if you do go the GFO route, I have a reactor & the media just PM me if interested.

Also as I have mentioned I have done a 7day blackout with NO loss to fish or corals (LPS included)
 
Here is the pdf and the links on post#20 worked for me on chrome.

The first link on post#20 is the pdf
The second link was the working calculator but you have to use Google translation due to this written in German to get the results ....lol

Here is another link with a calculator in English, just need to adjust gallons into liters...lol
 

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