soft coral problems

boardingbennett

Help.... my tank has been running for 6 months and I just had some of my soft coral die, frogspawn died and my mushrooms. I have good filtration and a protein skimmer that runs at full blast constantly. what could the problem be?????

chadf

What are your nitrates, phosphates, calcium, alkalinty, ph, and salinty? What type of lighting do you have and what size tank? Also what type of water are you using for changes and top off?

boardingbennett

All of my levels are pretty good, I also use a hydrometer all the time, I think the problem may be with water. I use tap, with aqua safe and reef crystals, so I know that all my nutrients are included. also I have halide lights, and I suppliment all of my corals. do you think that r/o water would make a big difference!!!

chadf

I'm not sure if your water was the cause of the loss of your corals, but RO or even better RO/DI will create a healthier, more natural environment.

Nereaga

Hello there,

I would recommend 2 things for you that COULD be the cause of your recent deaths.

1. The use of tap water.

Tap water contains not only chloramine/chlorine, but heavy metals and minerals aswell. These will be minerals that are NOT found in natural seawater. Hence, COULD be dampering your corals from thriving.

2. The use of a hydrometer.

Hydrometers are NOT very accurate at all. They will always be consistenly off about .002-.003. Corals need very stable environments to thrive. If your salinity is bouncing around and not stable, this too could adding to your problem. I would suggest looking into a refractometer for measuring salt levels. They are the most accurate way of measuring salt content in water. That is of course as long as they are calibrated correctly. They are around $40 new.

You say your parameters are "pretty good". Could you be more specific and tell us exactly your pH, Ammonia, NitrItes, NitrAtes, Alkalinity, Salinity, Calcium, and phosphates readings?

Thanks

Brad