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jsol12 
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 Topic: What am I missing???
Posted: October 01 2015 at 9:12pm |
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Ok great! Thank you everyone for all your suggestions and input! I've got some things I can try out and I'm sure I'll be back again in no time with more questions/issues/frustrations!
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150gal/25gal sump Red Sea Max S650, started 3/28/15
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 8:37pm |
 jsol12 wrote:
Ok, so I guess I'll have to go out and get a volt meter now to continue the detective work! |
After seeing your pics showing the condition of the coral currently in the tank, I can confidently say that there is no stray voltage issue.
jsol12 wrote:
I do have carbon, it is SeaChem Seagel. |
From above, "PO4 at zero is going to cause issues. It's difficult to keep PO4 at zero but if a product (GFO or AA) was used from the startup of this tank which has continually kept PO4 at zero, I suggest that as a possible cause for the issues."
Seagel is part AC(Activated Carbon) and part AA(Activated Alumina, called Phosguard by SeaChem). AA is for removing PO4. It should not be used continuously because it strips so much PO4 out of the water that algae cannot grow. Stopping the growth of the symbiotic zooxanthellae algae living in coral will cause those coral to die. I believe this is part of the problem. I would discontinue using the Seagel on a continuous basis and instead use ordinary AC.
I would also use a small pad of Poly Filter to remove a variety of toxic pollutants entering the water from the dead LR.
Aloha, Mark 
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RNKADO
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 5:38pm |
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I totally understand. My wife keeps me in check most of the time. Lol
Ok back to your levels, do you run filter socks? If you do try not running them for a couple of weeks.
What your wanting to do is get some kind of nitrate and phos reading. Once those start going up a bit, then you can raise your alk slowly up if you want. I find lower alk=less stony coral problem for me at least.
Then you can start to up your lighting slowly.
I run my tank 425 cal. 7.7dkh alk 1380 mag nitrate between 5-10ppm. Although i do get better color if i stay around 5ppm. Phos i try to keep 0.06-0.1
Just take your time (I know hard said than done) lol
Try these things for a couple weeks and see if you notice any diffrence in your corals.
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120g mixed reef
Set up 3/14
Ryan
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jsol12
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 5:03pm |
Thanks for your input. I would love to get new fish! Being only 6 months into this, between buying this tank and everything to start it up, the fish, corals, and supplies I'm already making my husband crazy lol. I've been on spending lockdown for a bit 
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150gal/25gal sump Red Sea Max S650, started 3/28/15
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RNKADO
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 4:14pm |
Hi, I know that im new here. But i have a couple of suggestions for you to consider.
ive been looking at you #'s and what concerns me is your nitrate and phos. i think with those being zero and you Alk at 9.5, your burning your corals with the amount of light your tank has.
I would try to "Dirty up the tank a little" as they say. Start by lowering your alk to around 8.0dkh. I see that you really dont have a very big fish load for your tank size. Get some more fish!!! Thats always a fun thing to do. Then feed them good. I feed my fish 3 times a day, with a varity of frozen foods and blackworms.
You want a little or phos. and nitrate. I keep my nitrates at 5-10ppm salifert test, and my phos. under 0.1 on my hanna checker.
Your calcium is fine where its as well your mag.
lower your alk slowly by not changing your water until you get to around 8dkh. but do keep an eye out for calcium and mag, and dose as those accordingly. This will also help "dirty" your tank a little in the process.
Thats all i can think of right now.
p.s. I hang out w/ Rusty at benepets for all you who i am. He can vouch for me. Thanks
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120g mixed reef
Set up 3/14
Ryan
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jsol12
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 2:11pm |
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Nope the anemone has been in the same spot since I put it in the tank
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150gal/25gal sump Red Sea Max S650, started 3/28/15
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Marcoss
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 2:06pm |
You mentioned moving corals. Does your anemone cruise around a lot? Could be stinging a lot of stuff along the way. The favia/favite (or whatever it is) in the 5th image down looks stung to me. Mine looked exactly like that when an acan fell on it.
Edited by Marcoss - October 01 2015 at 2:12pm
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RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin
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Adam Blundell
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 1:34pm |
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Pictures help immensely.
Tank looks good at first observation.
Adam
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Come to a meeting, they’re fun!
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jsol12
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 1:26pm |
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I had a hydrometer but it broke so I bought a refractomer instead. It's always been stable at 1.025.
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150gal/25gal sump Red Sea Max S650, started 3/28/15
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rwgoose
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 1:24pm |
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Just a shot in the dark here, but what are you testing your salinity with? I only ask cause I just went through something I couldn't figure out also. My salinity was sitting around 1.030 for about 3 weeks without me even knowing. I had a hydrometer that I was testing with and it was way off, reading about 1.026.. Bought a refracometer, pulled about 40 gallons out and added fresh water, poof 1.026 and holding.. Lesson learned.. Just a thought.
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getting fishy??
8016348673
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jsol12
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 1:16pm |
As for lighting, Red Sea site says: 800w T5 flourescent 5 x 15,000k/ 3x Actinic (22,000k)/ 2x Pink + LED moonlights. I've been running 2 lights for an hour, then 6 of them for about 6 hours, then the 2 for an hour again before the moonlights come on. I kept the timing down because I was having continued algae and cyano outbreaks.
With the SPS, they stay good for about a week at the most before they start bleaching out and then just die. For LPS, when I put the kryptonite in, there were 5 heads, after 2-3 days they starting shrinking, and eventually shriveled up and 3 died, and 2 still have flesh but as you can see from the pic they are very sad. I moved them a couple or so weeks ago to below a shelf so they have less light, and in the last day or so they actually seem slightly bigger to me. I have a sad favia that I've never seen anything extended from, and it has faded. The torch I put in just died, head by head, kind of disintegrated. And then like I said, the duncans and blastos have done ok, just faded a little in color and haven't grown at all. The duncan actually has grown 1 new head, but I am told they grow pretty fast, and those have both been in there since 6/27. I have a mushroom that has made 2 babies, and the zoas have seemed to be doing pretty well, but lately not open as much.
Edited by jsol12 - October 01 2015 at 1:20pm
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150gal/25gal sump Red Sea Max S650, started 3/28/15
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jsol12
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 12:59pm |
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150gal/25gal sump Red Sea Max S650, started 3/28/15
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bstuver
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 11:46am |
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You can use photobucket.com to upload pics it works great.
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Jackie Stuver
"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
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Lyscer
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 11:21am |
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I would say that your flow is good. 36x with just your circulation pumps. How quickly do your SPS die once you add them and what does that process look like?
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jsol12
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 10:56am |
Ok, so I guess I'll have to go out and get a volt meter now to continue the detective work!
Powerheads according to the Red Sea site (these numbers mean nothing to me!) 13,600 l/h (3600gph) main system pump with 4x 2150l/h (570gph) circulation pumps Then like I said I added another circulation pump that is 3170gph
I do have carbon, it is SeaChem Seagel. I also tried Prodibio once about a month ago because I was having a bad cyano outbreak that wouldn't go away
I'll keep working on pics
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150gal/25gal sump Red Sea Max S650, started 3/28/15
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Marcoss
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 8:59am |
I've read a couple of well documented cases that had stray voltage causing death to more sensitive corals, etc., without issues to others.
Furthermore, a brand new tank could have a manufactures defect and have a frayed wire without ever touching water. Or, a wire could simply be pinched in a door jam, zip tie, etc. and be cut. :) I'm certain that someone has damaged a wire unintentionally. Anything is possible in an aquarium.
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RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin
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Lyscer
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 7:59am |
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a couple more questions:
1. What is your lighting schedule?
2. What are the 4 power heads? Many people recommend 30x-50x turnover in the main tank for SPS.
3. Do you run carbon? Didn't look like it from the info above but wanted to double check.
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: October 01 2015 at 6:48am |
PO4 at zero is going to cause issues. It's difficult to keep PO4 at zero but if a product (GFO or AA) was used from the startup of this tank which has continually kept PO4 at zero, I suggest that as a possible cause for the issues.
I doubt that a Red Sea tank so new could have a stray voltage problem. That happens when the electrical wire insulation gets old and cracks, exposing bare wire to the water. If that were happening, all coral and fish would be having problems, not just a select group of animals. To test for stray voltage use a volt meter with one lead connected to ground and the other lead in the water. A reading above 40 volts indicates inappropriate stray voltage.
A pic of the tank is worth a 1000 words. Please keep trying to upload a pic of the tank. Try using a pic from a computer after changing its name. One way to get a phone pic in to your computer is to email it to yourself. I don't know if this helps any.
Something that has not been mentioned by anyone above is the dry rock. Using old, dry rock that was once alive but died when left out of water, can create serious issues that can take a year or more to resolve. It's the dead, decomposing animals, including a ton of bacteria that were growing in LR, even deep in the center of the rock (Live Rock is actually semi-porous), that can later prevent some animals from thriving. The dead rock leaches a mix of pollution into the water which, for reasons not completely understood, irritates many coral animals. The easiest way to resolve the issue is to run the water through a product called Poly Filter by www.poly-bio-marine.com. Replacing the rock with other LR from a healthy tank, or with sterile rock like Utah Rock, Marco Rock, etc. is, of course, another good solution. I'm not saying it's definitely the dead rock (I'd need to see the tank, or at least see a pic of the tank), but this would not be the first time in 20 years that I've found old dead rock to be the reason for the problem.
Aloha, Mark |
Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks:www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
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jsol12
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Posted: September 29 2015 at 9:14pm |
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I have had someone else test my water with the same results. I got a test for copper today and it was zero. I dose calcium, mag, and alk as needed, and just got some coral vite today for trace elements. Yes the Red Sea lights are a lot, I've been running 6-8 out of the 10.
I can't ever get photos to load because it keeps saying I already loaded one with the same file name.
Today it looks like my blasto isn't doing well, so I'm still at a loss since it seems the only questionable thing now has been temp fluctuations and that has been resolved. What is stray voltage? Argh this is so frustrating!!
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Marcoss
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Posted: September 28 2015 at 5:07pm |
Have you compared your test results with other tests? Zero nitrates seems kind of odd to me with daily feeding. Unless you have some sort of reactor or massive amounts of live rock. But your tank is also newer.
By the way, I am just throwing stuff out it could be. It could be one thing or a combo of things that are creating the perfect storm of coral death.
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RedSea Max S400 - 90G Rimless Frag Tanks x2 - 185 Lookdown Bin
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