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1st frags, all dying! (1 Viewer)

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Keroppi667

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Now I understand why ppl give up on this hobby so easily.

So I set up my 1st saltwater tank a few months ago, cycled it, got a couple of fish (ocellaris and damsel, had a little tang but he got stuck to the gyre when the power came back after a quick outage)

So, night before last, I decided it was time to get some frags. Bought a 15 pack off a nice local reefer. Asked for all soft/lps, but he threw in a couple "easy" sps. Whatever.

Water parameters:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate 0-5ppm
ph:~8.0
PO4: 0.06ppm
Alk: 144ppm
Temp: 78.6
Salinity: 1.025
Ca: Have a Hanna checker but need de-ionized water

...drip acclimated the corals 3 hrs, turned the light (Ocean Revive T247b) down to 1 (of 100) since ppl say too strong of light will kill, but too dim generally won't (although this thing certainly isn't dim on it's lowest setting). The schedule is: ch2 (blue/moon) is on 24/7, ch1 (day) is 0700-1800.

I put everything in, nothing opened up/extended polyps. Fine, I read that is no reason to panic, give it time.

the next (yesterday) morning: No change.
Yesterday evening: no change exchept the damsel is eating one of the SPS (watched him bite off 3 polyps with 5 minutes)

Today: everything is bleaching, withering away, and receding from it's skeleton. I turned the light off a bit ago, just in case it's killing them. I really don't know what to do. I did my diligence, spent plenty of money, check all the parameters 15000 times. I go to my LFS and see "swamps" sustaining corals. I can't even keep a few frags alive for a few days?

Anyone, please help!

NPRgqRU.jpg

ch9JE6a.jpg

zHrrVM4.jpg

QkIN4tL.jpg

leyAAEZ.jpg

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pDZqvbz.jpg


When first put in:
ODO5Nly.jpg


Now:
cfgMrdx.jpg


When first put in:
n27GFEV.jpg


Now:
Q52X2ht.jpg


When first put in:
DuoVKfW.jpg


After Damsel got a hold of it (it's bare/gone now):
lBSkU58.jpg


Closed zoas (no change):
unWA0Um.jpg


Frogspawn (visibly receding, retracted this whole time):
5HXgGgr.jpg


 

Tenny

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None of the pics are working. So i can't give you an opinion on that.


Param's look good, and you are right corals can survive low light a lot better than high light. If you think the light is still too strong you may want to put them under an overhang or at a corner of the tank on the sand bed, and then slowly move them closer every few days to where you eventually want them. Your light time is actually a bit long in my taste because of the blue/moon but that may be dimmer than I realize.

You could try doing a coral-revive dip, but that may be just more stress and end up killing them more.
 

steveb

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Can you tell us more about your system?

How is your salinity managed? Auto top off or you adding water? Do you have your own RO/DI unit or are you purchasing from somewhere? Or are you using dechlorinated tap water?

What setting did you have your LED's on before turning down? How far off the water are the LED's and how far down in the tank were the frags?

Also what kind of corals?


In general I don't drip acclimate corals.. I temp. acclimate them to my system only.

If I buy them local, they go straight from store w/bag water into a container. Typically I will try and remove the frag plug. I then take some of the bag water mix up some bayer and dump that in with them. Let them sit 15 minutes swishing occasionally then take 2 more containers of tank water, swish them around in the 2nd and then the 3rd and then plop them in the tank (with new plug if removed).

If they ship overnight the only thing I do different is use tank water for the bayer portion and just dump the bag water.

On my black box leds I run 100% blue and 40% white. My lights are about 16" off the water surface and both tanks are <12" deep. I keep LPS along the edges and SPS in the middle.
 
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Luman01

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How big is your tank? And adding anymore than 3 frags at a time for a brand new tank is bad business, most people don’t get away with it. Even tho my tank is almost 8 months and my dads tank is 3yrs we never add more than a few frags at time. See what happens is that by adding some many corals at once it kinda throws the natural balance off wack. Also what is your magnesium that’s a very important thing to check. Also Hanna are really crappy they where reading false for a long time, now I use Salifert the best test kits ever and a lot more easier to use and cheaper than Hanna! But that’s my opinion.
 
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Keroppi667

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Sorry, I don't know how to fix the pics, they work fine on this end. Here is the link for them: https://imgur.com/a/8BPlDaw

The tank is 55g+35g sump, with an auto top off from 4 stage RO/DI. The Light is 17" off the water. It was on the lowest setting the whole time the corals were in the tank. The corals were a varied mixture. Frogspawn, acan, zoa, a couple sps twigs, etc.
I didn't check Magnesium, and TBH this is the first I have even seen mentioned in quite a while, much less stressed the importance of checking.
I hear good things about the Salifert kits, but having heavily invested in the hannas, I am hesitant to scrap them and start over. The Hannas are still highly regarded by many, and not to be regarded as junk. I do however want to replace my API testers. steveb, can I pick up that NO3 kit I msg'd you about yesterday? :)
After 5 pages of discussions, the consensus is:
I ran my lights too long (the blue is not a moonlight, I am told, but more of an actinic)
I ran my lights too low
I acclimated the coral too long (2.5-3 hrs) and this could have been a temp shock

...at any rate, this is an obituary thread. Everything but the zoas is now completely dead or close to it.
 

TooSalty

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I doubt you acclimated them too long. What type of lighting was the person you bought your coral from using? The death you are seeing is usually from a huge swing in ALK. I bet those corals came from a high alk tank. Your Alk is at 8.06.
 
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Keroppi667

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I was only considering the argument of the acclimation time due to the temp swing it could have been, as I didn't use a heater.
He was using leds, I don't remember if they were radions or what. I dunno his Alk, I'll ask.
 
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Keroppi667

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His Alk is 8.5 vs my 8.05....would that be a big enough swing to cause such issues?
Also got a full set of Salifert kits for $60...We'll see soon if the API kit was correct. Guess I won't be needing that nitrate kit after all.

20180916_150415-jpeg.848276
 

Tenny

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His Alk is 8.5 vs my 8.05....would that be a big enough swing to cause such issues?
Also got a full set of Salifert kits for $60...We'll see soon if the API kit was correct. Guess I won't be needing that nitrate kit after all.

20180916_150415-jpeg.848276
Nice, where'd you get them? I've been wanting to buy them but they've always been a bit more pricey.
 
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Temp can't be it. I never have issues with buying from others and acclimating . That alk difference ahouldnt be a issue.

Where you get all those kits for that price?


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Kingb4c0

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What’s your source water output TDS? If all the corals are death in that short period of time the problem is your water. Also how you measure your salinity?
If you are not far from me come and get a small birdnest frag, this is the best specie for test water quality in my experience.
 

TooSalty

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0.5 swing in ALK is not that bad, so no, it shouldn't have caused your death. API test kits are fine for general measurements. If you want exact measurements then use hanna and/or red sea etc.
 
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Keroppi667

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I plan to get the Mag kit as well. I bought them off a reefer on reef2reef.i export nutrients with a sea side aquatics cs 3.5 skimmer. Basic little unit but it works. My TDS was 0 when I mixed the water. I know my DI resin is almost spent, I need to check it again. I measured the salinity with a refractoneter. Need to get a PM2 for my Apex but I am broke. Should a bought that instead of frags lol. I did put them all together when I acclimated them. Many have speculated this could be the major contributing issue. Chemical warfare between the frags in the bucket.
 
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