Corals all dying

M

mardigras

Membership Expired
I have a 32 gallon bio cube set up its been running about 3  months now everything has been growing great came home last night and my torch is all but dead it will be dead by tomorrow I am sure of it my hammers are closed up and not looking good zoas and star polyps closed and frogspawn closed as well one of my starfish are dead and the other one prob won't make the night checked water everything is normal except ph a little low I added some buffer ammonia not decetible nitrite 0 nitrate 5-10 ppm mg ca al all normal temp 77-78 absolutely everything I know to check or look for is normal any ideas will be appreciated I did a 15 gallon water change this am which was well over half the water trying to stop the damage but at this point I fell I am gonna lose all except for fish again anything else I should be looking for this could have been cause more than overnight Thursday - Saturday I work long hours like 8am- 12 am so I am not home much thanks in advance  
 
Idk how to check for stray voltage heater seems ok it's brand new and all was 9.8 I think I could b off on that one but I think that's what it was when I checked it this am  
 
when building a timeline as to the cause when all tests are normal can be tough. If you did a water change a day before you noticed issues I would start there. dosing or adding any water treatments a day prior is also a possibility. If non of theses occurred and your tests are not showing an increase in nitrates due to something died I would test for voltage. 
 
1.) There has to be a problem with your water tests - if something was allowed to die, and begin decaying you'd see an immediate jump in ammonia - particularly in a tank that small. Petsmart offers free water testing be sure to tell them it's saltwater.2.) One of the problems in nano reef is once a toxin enters the water column it can have immediate and brutal repercussions. Water changes in a tank so small make it cost prohibitive.Furthermore I stress toxin because I believe there to be a higher chance it was caused by water chemistry and not microbiology simply because moving across species would move slower and generally be rarer.3.) Everyone on DFWMAS is a little knutz* for water chemistry. Put a tank in down cycle 6 months see what lives - a lot more than you think. But, keep water temperature above 80° for 2-3 daylight periods see what happens. - check your temperature!4.) What has changed in the last 30 days? New lighting (probably heat) new pump maybe too much flow (in a nano) or electrical short.5.) This is also debatable but, tank maturity. Most experienced hobbyist talk about 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 months, and 1 year. My first tank lost a hammer after about 4 months of maturity. I tried again at about 6 months and was successful.6.) What and how are you feeding your corals - has anything changed?7.) Maybe give us an idea where you live. Maybe someone near you can eyeball your situation and make a better assessment - I'm just shooting blanks in the dark as it were. *knutz is not meant offensively just there are many amazing hobbyists in DFWMAS who have spent a fortune to insure perfect water quality.    
 
I did a large water change yesterday hoping this helped I noticed 2 snails had died so maybe that was the case after re testing there was a small amount of ammonia it was at about .25 ppm I live about 2 hours from Dallas area and I am the only person in this area that I know that has a saltwater tank I will check tempature when I get home to just make sure it's not way out of control all equipment is brand new I bought it all when set up hopefully the water change will save what I have left 
 
You write; everything is new. What is new in the last 30 days? Does your tank have pods breeding? Does it have bristle worms in the sand bed? How mature is your tank?What are you feeding your corals? What chemicals are you dosing?
 
Only thing new in last 30 days are the starfish and frogspawn when I say everything is new I am referring to tank and equipment it's all about 3 months old I feed the corals 4 different things from Kent marine 1 time a week and currently not dosing all levels have stayed in line with water changes every other week  
 
What 4 different things (Kent makes many things)?What filtration are you using?My initial fear is your corals are going dormant and the problem is heat (unless you have a chiller but, tank that small - doubt it). My heat is out of control because the AC is not on and outside it is still not yet cold....
 
I have the Cora life protein skimmer on it and activated carbon running on it as well and I am using the coral accel phyotoplex xhromaplex and one other one can't remember the name of it I will look when I get home but it's the 4 that are "best if used together"
 
See my above post I edited it without realizing you had posted.  When was the last time you changed your carbon?
 
I changed the carbon yesterday when I did the large water change but I keep my ac on to keep my house cool so heat is not the problem I'm almost certain however I am going to check it when I get home to make sure 
 
Is being too cold a possibility? How old was the carbon before you changed it?If that is the ammonia when you checked it I think it must have been higher before. What did first and how long could it have sat dead b4 being removed?
 
I'm seeing "too hot" and "too cold" but no temperatures listed.  As long as it isn't falling under 77 °F or going over 83 °F (ok, that's pushing it, but it won't kill things in a tank that normally moves a bit) I'm going to say it isn't temperature, but would like those numbers.Ammonia, even with two snails detectable ammonia implies something is off.A picture of the setup would help, although I'll admit that I'm stabbing in the dark and trying to get eyes on it without being there.  Your location would still help, there are a surprising number of members a couple hours out of Dallas in different directions.
 
Is that what currently happened or is that in the past?A picture would help if you are still having problems.If you are having problems still, you also need a 3rd party to test your water - maybe your local LFS. Those test kits have expiration dates (or should). Many have a limited shelf life.  
 
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