Can anyone tell me what's wrong

[Trevor]

Today I just noticed one of my sps my hammer, frogspawn and candycanes seem to be dying, I cannot figure out why, it seems the the flesh that goes down the skeleton is starting to recess a bit, my calcium is at 500 my sg is 1.024, I dont know phosphates alk or ph, but I'm hoping someone on here has a clue and a suggestion of something I can do, the only thing that has changed in the tank is I added a reactor running less then the recommended amount of GFO, temp stays a constant 77.4-80 I top off every day or every other day so sg doesn't swing to much,my skimmer is skimming wet, I have good flow, water change every 2 weeks like clockwork with reef crystals, everything else is doing great, I'm lost.. Does anyone have any ideas?? And of course it's my 3 favorite corals..
Here is a pic of the hammer, it's the only good pic I could get, but they all look like there doing the same thing as this
Large Image Link (275 kB)

 

[dz6t]

you should test Alk, your calcium level seems too high.

 

[SteveDola]

when did you stat gfo? and when did your problems start? a little more info on dose and setup

 

[Trevor]

I don't dose anything and started running GFO on the 14th, and the calcium is approx using API test kit, I only started GFO with 3 tbs in a 30ish gallon setup

 

[JohnK]

You need to get an alk kit, and probably mg as well. It's almost impossible to figure out what's going on without those numbers.

 

[Trevor]

Wait! I found my ph and alk test kit, by Red Sea, but.... I lost the directions so I don't know how much water or anything how to use it, >.<. Anyone know?

 

[Trevor]

So I found a thing online that says its 10 ml and 5 drops, so I did that and all I can tell you guys is by the chart on the side of the box it says its on the line between normal and low, maybe just a hair on the low side, it's very hard to tell, doing the ph test now

 

[Pat02026]

With GFO being the only recent change, just over a week ago, I would suggest taking it offline. If you aren't testing for foundation elements Ca, ALK, Mg etc. or Po4/No3 you don't really know if you have a phosphate problem that needs to be fixed anyhow. I added GFO to my last tank thinking it would cure Cyano based off recommendation of a few fellow reefers...... well turns out I almost lost a few nice corals, since the ALK swing (albeit small like 1.0dkh, but in only 30 gallons of water it was fairly large) did more harm to the corals than the cyano I was trying to eliminate. Dont try to do anything quick or drastic, just quit the GFO for now, if your not seeing algae growth, your tank is naturally dealing with nutrients which is a very good thing. Water changes are your best friend.

 

[Trevor]

Well I can't find directions to do the ph test although I just unplugged the reactor and drained the water out so we will see what happens, that's all I should do right? Should I do a water change also or will that clean the water quicker?

 

[JohnK]

Can't argue against that ^ at all (edit, responding to Pat's post)

Interesting you mention an alk swing, I thought I had seen alk drop a bit when I've added GFO in the past but never knew for sure if that was because of the GFO since I don't test levels as often as I probably should. Going with that thought- lets say his alk was a little low, maybe then the addition of GFO made it drop a little more, just enough to stress out some corals?

 

[JohnK]

Well I can't find directions to do the ph test although I just unplugged the reactor and drained the water out so we will see what happens, that's all I should do right? Should I do a water change also or will that clean the water quicker?

Don't worry about the PH really. It's a function of alk and Co2. Then again, if you are unsure of the alk and you get an accurate PH test the PH test will at least suggest if the alk is low or not (if alk is low the PH might be low, if the PH is normal then your alk is most likely normal or high.)

 

[JohnK]

Google knows everything, first hit finds those test kit directions;
http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f...ter-test-kit-for-marine-aquariums-116817.html

 

[Pat02026]

Water change wont hurt. It will help to bring your parameters back into balance. If your tank has been thriving, which in the video you recently posted it looked great, then everything is used to where your parameters end up from your salt mix alone, and your dosing regimen. I don't recall you mentioning dosing ever though, and you shouldn't be without monitoring the levels anyway. Stability is of utmost importance and if theres an imbalance somewhere as long as its not extreme, then the fact that the corals are used to those levels they are happy. As soon as something changes suddenly, thats when you run into problems. My tank always seems to look its best when I do nothing but 5% weekly water changes, the top off tank stays full, and the calcium reactor doesn't change. as soon as I stick my hand in the water, or add gfo, or put any type of additive aside from normal brine/mysis or nori, all hell breaks loose. Then a few water changes over the course of a week or two fix it


John, Its been over a year but if I recall correctly it made my tank's ALK drop. I will do a quick search and I'm sure I'll dig up some info.


Good read:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1781862

 

[HuuTa]

Take the gfo offline.u might have shock your corals and stress them.I resently sold 2reacter and gave them some gfo and told them to start with one and a half teaspoon on a 75g tank.from what i see,a little po4 is actually good for the corals.also your cal is high and your alk cold be low.I think that your mag might be low too

 

[JohnK]

Good read:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1781862

Nice link. Simple question, not so simple but very relevant answer

 

[Trevor]

Also the ph is about 7.8 if that tells you anything

 

[CoralJunkie]

I would dose 10 ml of strontium asap

 

[Trevor]

I would dose 10 ml of strontium asap

What is this?

 

[CoralJunkie]

Its an additive that prevent corals from expelling from their skeleton look it up, I dose it once a month

 

[CoralJunkie]

How long have you had the corals? something is stressing them out what's happening is called polyp bailout