Mysterious coral deaths

[cane]

My current tank has been up for a few years (Upgraded from another 2 yr old tank I had).  Everything has been growing great.  It's a Mixed reef so I have pretty much every type of coral.  But recently I have been loosing some of my acans, trumpet corals and I think one expensive mushroom unless that thing floated off somewhere else in the tank as I have seen before.  Colors are the best they have ever been for everything else.  Even some pieces that didn't have the greatest color in the past look great.  Help me find the problem please.

 

Recent changes: 

Switched from Radion light schedule to similar Apex Schedule

Switched from ESV to Tropic Marin Parts A/B/C (Stopped C after 2 weeks in case that was the problem)

 

 

Tank: 8' 350gal system running an Apex controller

Sump: Basement with skimmer and Chaeto, carbon

Lighting: Gen 4 Radions ran off Apex Schedule

Flow: Medium to High

Dosing: Tropic Marin A/B, Amino

Running Carbon

Run GFO occasionally

 

Temp: 78

Ph: 7.88

Alk: 8.5

Calc: 430

Mag: 1350

Phos .07 (try to keep it under .05)

Nitrate: 0

 

I think that is everything

 

[menglish]

do a Triton ICP to see if all is ok.

Those parameters look fine, but you are not testing for everything

[cane]

1 hour ago, menglish said:

do a Triton ICP to see if all is ok.

Those parameters look fine, but you are not testing for everything

Great idea

 

[Jon Lazar]

1 hour ago, menglish said:

do a Triton ICP to see if all is ok.

 

Yep.  I dosed too much magnesium sulfate last fall and ended up with very high sulfur levels, which killed nearly all my acros.  The only way I figured it out was a Triton test.

 

FWIW, their recommendation was to do a lot of water changes. That might be a good idea for you to start while you're waiting for your test results.

 

Good luck!

 

[DFR]

Hey!!! Sorry to hear of your current issues.  Doing an ICP test will definitely uncover any chemical abnormalities within your system.  The only downside would be the time it will take to acquire results, which will in turn affect how soon you would be able to rectify any issues.  Depending on the company used, it could take about 3 weeks to receive results, and now possibly longer due to covid19.   Out of curiosity, I actually just mailed out some samples to be tested on Monday (still pending receipt of samples).
 

Have you checked your power heads or pumps for rust?  Have you made any changes to your flow recently?  I don’t think the changes made to your lighting schedule would affect your LPS to that extent.  Generally, doing a couple water changes could also help if there is a chemical imbalance or elevated pollutants in the system.

[WheresTheReef]

What fish/inverts do you have? Any fish/crabs/shrimp acquire a taste for corals?

 

Did any of those corals (or others) show signs of stress?

 

What is your salinity, and do you calibrate your measurement device?

Edited May 7, 2020 by WheresTheReef

[cane]

Thanks for all the help.  I’ll start major water changes tomorrow.  I will also check for rust in power heads etc.  
 

in terms of fish no new additions and the corals that are dying showed no sighs of stress.  Just withered away sadly. Updated my refractometer a few months ago and found out I was a little high then. I also calibrated it.  I’m sitting at 1.26 salinity. I also have an electronic tester I use just to confirm.  
 

Based on you guys ideas I’m going to check my apex temp probes for accuracy.