Reef Dying. Help!!

[shewolf]

Hi, I am a saltwater tank newbie. I bought an established reef tank in July of last year, moved it 150 miles, set it up and it has been running beautifully until about a month ago. My corals are dying. First was a gorgeous candycan the size of a soccer ball. Now my leathers of several kinds don't look good. The 2 gorgonian, one gold and the other a lavender color have died, my flame scallop looks like it's going, the frog spawn is looking ill, but the green ricordea are spreading, pulsing xenia are so so. I had a gorgeous feathery something I have no name for that looks like is died from lack of water if it were a land plant. I attempted to remove it but it was TOTALLY loaded with tiny banded starfish so I left it in there. All my peppermint shrimp have disappeard and a four inch queen conch has died. My fish are all healthy and eating. 120 gallon tank. These are my perameters. Salinity 1.027-28, nitrates neg, nitrites sl. high (I cut back on feeding twice a day) ammonia negative. PH 8.0. Zoo's which had about taken over the tank are cutting back, mushrooms are looking peaked. I have alot of algea coming also. Hair I think. The lawnmover blennie is having a heyday..... Other fish are a Yellow Tang, 1 tomato clown, 2 percula clowns, flame angel, 1 green goby, 1 black and white damsel, 2 blennies, and a purple something. I have no idea what I am doing wrong after all these months.
Tanks.

Shewolf

[James]

What is the Temp. of the water? With your SG at 1.027-1.028 and taking a guess that your tank may be around 80 (noting that you didn't metion a chiller), I would say your salinity is too high.

Second with a rise in nitrites, I would say you probably have been over feeding. Check your phosphate level, this is what is probably causing the grouth in green hair algea and causing your corals to respond the way they are.

Do a good water change around 20-25% and test your phosphates. Drop your SG slowly over the next week to around 1.023.

If you can post us some more info on your system, (filtration, lighting) this way we can pinpoint more accuratly any potential problems for you.

[showfish]

I agree, salinity is a bit high. Are you using RO/DI water for your evaporation supply? If so check your membranes. Your phosphate problems may stem from this. I would also agree, do a good water change ASAP (20% to 25%). If you have a friend or a good LFS that will babysit your corals for you, I would QT them until you can figure out whats going on in your system. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[shewolf]

Thanks, I will try those things. I don't have a LFS or close tank here living in rural america. I'll let you know what happens.

Shewolf

[Reefland]

I would target the specific gravity around 1.025. Have you been adding anything new (added any new livestock) or changed your maintenance routine lately?

[shewolf]

OKay, here is the update. I changed out 20% of the water. I don't have a chiller. Temp is 74-76 degrees. For the refugium I use water from a reverse osmosis water filter. Here are my perameters now. Salinity 1.024, phosphate 0.5, pH @ 7.9, Nitrite O, Nitrate between 10 and 20, Ammonia 0. I also found that my protein skimmer is not working, it was chugging and has now died. I have no way currently to check the calcium levels. Fish still look terrific! Corals continue to decline. Flame scallop bit it, purple anenome is looking pale. Frog spawn is dying a branch at a time, xenia pretty much aren't pulsing. HUGE leather looks good. I will get the skimmer fixed asap, but we live in the back of beyond. Any ideas in the meantime? Thanks very much.
Shewolf

[bguile]

First off, your pH is quite low. Should be around the 8.2 to 8.4 mark. There could be a couple reasons for it. Nitrates are high but being eaten up by the algae, low oxygen...not enough turbulence in your water which might have been done by your skimmer, and overfeeding which again goes back to the nitrate circle. The fact that you have so many things dieing in the tank doesn't help either. I'm going through a few issues myself but when my tank was pretty healthy, my xenia was the first to let me know something was off. It's very sensitive. Some don't like it and consider it a weed, I considered it an early warning system that looked good! Either way, there's much to be done here. I'd work on getting that pH up by first fixing the skimmer and making sure that there's good air exchange with the water. HTH some.

[bguile]

BTW...unless you have super sensitive fish (Moorish Idol, etc.) the fish will be one of the last to let you know somethings wrong.