Something bad is in the tank - Help!

[Melissa Skasik]

We have a Red Sea Max 250, Steve’s LED’s, Red Sea salt.  Tank had soft corals, Xenias, mushrooms, leather, Kenya trees with T-5 bulbs and a chiller.  Corals were doing fantastic, great color and growth.  We also had red planaria. 

 

Two years ago the chiller died.  When we got home, the water temp was 94 degrees and we lost all the corals and all but two of the fish.

 

 

 

After the crash and after waiting six months, we added bacteria to the water to restart the tank.  Water changes have been done every six weeks for the last two years. Tank has been a FOWLER since the meltdown.  Switched the tank to LED’s about a month ago.   In the last six months, I’ve noticed a deep maroon, almost black growth on the live rock but not on the glass or the back of the tank.   The LFS called it a black sponge but it’s not slimy.  When I touch it, it is very smooth, not raised.  I did a fresh water dip on a small frag and the stuff floated off.  Looked like black pepper.  It only grows on the top side of the rock where the light hits, not on the bottom.    

 

 

 

Water Parameters are:  pH 8.4; Ammonia 0; Nitrite 0; Nitrate 0; Phosphate 0.22 (according to the LFS) but 0.00 using Red Sea test kit; Alkalinity 1.72; Calcium 1.03; salt 1.022.  Use only Red Sea salt.

 

 

 

After checking water parameters and thinking everything was fine, we bought soft corals two weeks ago, zoanthids and xenias and a Kenya tree.  I bagged the corals, dripped them for 25 minutes, set them mid-level in the tank and not in the direct water flow.  LED’s were at 30%, less than the LED’s in the frag tank at the LFS.  Two days later they were dying.  LFS says it is due to Phosphates.  Phosphates, as far as we could tell with the Red Sea Phosphate testing kit, was OK.  Could the stuff on the rocks be killing the new corals after only two days?    Is this growth putting a poison into the water?  Even after the water changes for almost two years, could there be poison from the red planaria dying?  If so, why didn’t’ it kill the Pacific Sailfin Tang and the Orange Clownfish? 

 

LFS in San Antonio said not to drain the tank. Told us we needed Coralline Algae for the corals to do well and tank cleaners.   Bought a small rock with Coralline Algae, five Turbo Snails, two Tuxedo Urchins and hermit crabs.  That was on Monday.  By Tuesday, all the cleaners were dead and the small piece of coral he gave us was also dead.  Nemo is till alive!

Has anyone else gone through this nuclear meltdown and experienced this growth?  Will we have to drain the tank, throw out the sand and the rocks and start over?  Any suggestions, insight or anything else would be very much appreciated!

[jolt]

Sorry to hear about your problems.  I am guessing your units for the alkalinity measurement is meq/L?  I am thinking 1.72 is a bit low for keeping corals, but maybe others have a different opinion?  Also, I do not recognize your units for the calcium measurement, that number looks odd to me.  Also, I feel like your nitrate is too low for coral.

You have a lot of things going on there.   It's possible the snails died because of shock during acclimation.  Your salinity is on the low side and ph a little on the high side.  Snails are sensitive to quick changes in both, so how you acclimate or not could make a big difference.  Shock caused by big changes in alkalinity can kill corals, and if yours is low and the fish store's is high that could be an issue.  When the LFS said you need corraline algae, what they meant was you need to see that corraline is growing well and this is a sign corals would be happy too.  It's not that corals need coralline, its that corraline likes the same conditions and can be used as a 'canary in a coal mine'.  It takes time for coralline to establish and grow.  So, putting the rock and coral at the same time probably did not have accomplish what you intended.

I don't think the planaria posion is whats happening.   To be safe though, I would run carbon.  Those softies can release toxins too.

Is it possible to post a picture of the black stuff?

[Isaac]

its really hard to chase something down knowing the water parameters might be off.  best course of action is to get the water parameters within "acceptable" ranges first.  This page has a pretty decent summary:  https://www.liveaquaria.com/article/89/?aid=89  only thing i'd note with these is the nitrate, many of us try to stay in the 5-15ish range, not zero.

Parameter	Suggested Level: Reef Aquarium	Suggested Level: FOWLR Aquarium	Average Level: Coral Reefs
Specific Gravity	1.023 - 1.025	1.020 - 1.025	1.025
Temperature	72 - 78°F	72 - 78°F	82°F
pH	8.1 - 8.4	8.1 - 8.4	8.0 - 8.5
Alkalinity	8 - 12 dKH	8 - 12 dKH	6 - 8 dKH
Ammonia (NH3)	Undetectable	Undetectable	Near Zero
Nitrite (NO2)	Undetectable	Undetectable	Near Zero
Nitrate - Nitrogen (NO3)	< 1.0 ppm	< 30 ppm	0.25 ppm
Phosphate (PO4)	< 0.2 ppm	< 1.0 ppm	0.13 ppm
Calcium	350 - 450 ppm	350 - 450 ppm	380 - 420 ppm
Magnesium	1250 - 1350 ppm	1150 - 1350 ppm	1300 ppm
Iodine	0.06 - 0.10 ppm	0.04 - 0.10 ppm	0.06 ppm
Strontium	8 - 14 ppm	4 - 10 ppm	8 - 10 ppm

 

[Cdklos]

I would check your water that you are doing your change outs with. RODI is the only way to go, I agree with Jolt, run some carbon. I run carbon 24/7 in my tank. Also, I think your salinity is too low. I ran mine at 1.021 for a while and had no coral growth at all. I increased it to 1.026 and my corals came to life within a day or two. 

[Melissa Skasik]

Thank you, Cdklos.  We do make our own RODI water and the filters are fairly new.  I can add carbon to a bag and put it down in the filter area.  I will add salt slowly to bring it up.  The tank salinity for several years was 1.022 and the corals grew well.  Should I get a few hardy Damsel fish for the tank to help raise the Nitrites and should I add a pH buffer to lower the alkalinity?  Should I take the rocks and do a two minute fresh water dip to loosen some of the gunk?  I've found copepods recently but am not sure the rocks are still alive.  Thoughts?  Suggestions?

 

Melissa

[jolt]

I was suggesting you might want to raise your alkalinity.  Alkalinity range in meq/L is suggested at the link below ranging from 2.5-4, you said yours was 1.72

https://www.reefcleaners.org/target-parameters-for-a-saltwater-aquarium

I would not add salt directly to the tank.  Just replace evaporated water with fresh salt water instead of RODI water to raise salinity slowly.

You want to raise nitrates, not nitrites, but any kind of bioload you can add will help.

Still hoping for a picture of the black stuff ...

[Melissa Skasik]

Will send a picture this weekend when I am home to take a picture.  I understand about not adding salt directly to the tank.  That wasn't my plan.  If I add 4 cups of RODI water, how much salt would you put into it and would it be best to add it to the pump in the back left of the tank instead of directly into the water column?  I'm glad you said to raise the alkalinity.  I was assuming it was too low.  How do you raise the alkalinity? 

Thanks!

 

[jolt]

I would use 2 rounded tablespoon2 of their salt in 4 cups of RODI.  They recommend about 36-38 grams per liter for coral.  There are a little more than 4 cups in a liter, and 28 grams in two tablespoons

There are many options , but you might try something like this for getting calcium and alkalinity where you want it. 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-code-a-p-balanced-calcium-alkalinity-system-dry-part-a-calc-brightwell-aquatics.html

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-code-b-p-balanced-calcium-alkalinity-system-dry-part-b-alk-brightwell-aquatics.html 

I use the Bulk Reef Supply 2 part

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/2-part-calcium-alkalinity-starter-package-bulk-reef-supply.html

They have a calculator here to determine dose: 

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/reef-calculator/

[Melissa Skasik]

Thank you.  How often should I add salt?  I have a spectrometer to check the salt density.

 

[jolt]

I would just add salt water instead of fresh to replace evaporation as needed until you reach the salinity you want and then go back to replacing with fresh water.

[Bluemoon]

Jolts to the rescue with some awesome suggestions! I would also ensure that your RODI unit is running effectively with a TDS meter to measure the filtered water if possible. I burned up a lot of a DI resin on CoSA water in the medical center area before realizing it was CO2 related.


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[Isaac]

try not to "chase" using your tests.  get one parameter in line at a  time.  getting your salinity up would be the first thing.  once its stable at 1.024-1.026, retest alk.. it should have risen w/ the salinity. if its not in the right range yet, then add alk.  once salinity+alk is in the proper range, test calcium.  once   salinity+alk+calcium is in range, test magnesium.  alk+calcium+magnesium is the foundation to a healthy reef.  normally on newer tanks when 2 are in range, the 3rd is naturally there already.  on more established tank, they require tweaking at diff levels.  your tank is somewhere in between, so focus on those 4 things in that order and you should be set.  

once we see a pict, we should be able to better guide on what it is and how to resolve.

[HarleyGuy]

I can tell you from experience that if your Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium level are not close to the ranges provided above by Isaac or close to the ranges in natural seawater, softies and LPS will at best - grow slowly or not grow, or at worst die. In the past I've lost LPS because of one or more of these parameters being low and mine were higher than yours appear to be.