My tank is crashing. Any ideas? (long post)

[Noxinal]

120 High with sump/refugium, LR, SSB, 2x150MH, 48w Actinics, fallow
Parameters:
Nitrate:5
Nitrite:0
Ammonia:0
PH: 8.0-8.2
Temp 77.5-79
Alk: 12dkh
Calc:480
Phos: 0.25

Fish: none
Frags: Duncan, Blasto, favia, 6 or so zoas, blue ridge coral, birdsnest, chalice

1 large zoa colony, toadstool leather, coral banded shrimp, 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 emerald crabs, 10 or so hermits, and 10 or so snails.


This tank was stable for a while, until I did not quarantine a fish, and got ich. Dosed the tank with one full strength dose of Maracyn saltwater. Stopped skimming. 2 days later, I had 2 dead fish. Removed those, moved all fish to a hospital tank to begin hyposalinity treatment. 1 royal gramma was never found, even after removing all live rock, checking overflows/plumbing, etc. I put all the LR back after catching all the fish, and began skimming again.

The Maracyn caused my skimmer to pull out around 200 gallons of water in 2 days. I did a 50% WC, started running carbon in a sock, and was able to skim somewhat normally (2 or 3 gallons of skimmate a day)

All corals still look normal at this point.

Since Petco was having their $1/gallon tank sale, I decided I would go ahead and get a 20L, and make a new sump. I had glass cut, and used GE Silicone 1 to adhere the baffles. I let it cure a day, then water tested for a day.

I also decided since I was replacing the sump, I would redo the drains with PVC instead of braided nylon. I glued the PVC in place, but they did not contact water for 24 hours.

So 3 days later, I turn the sump on. I made a very small return area, because I have an ATO, but that was not turned on because I was still having lots of water come through the skimmer, and I didn't want it to drop the salinity. The first day when I came home from work, the return pump was sucking air from being too low. I guess it was pulling air for about 2 hours. The water was milky with it. I restored the ATO since I was not pulling as much skimmate out now.

Everything looked fine for the next day or so, then everything closed up hard. The only death looked like an encrusting sponge that hitchiked on the LR. It turned from tan to black. All parameters were cool, so I started up the RODI for another 50% WC. That didn't do anything, and things were looking worse. 2 days ago, I did another 50% WC, and still no effect. Everything is still closed. The birdsnest looks like it's bleaching, and all the zoas are even closed.

I also have 1.21 billion pods everywhere since the fish are gone.

I know it's a lot, but any ideas?

[Cable_Guy]

I would test again and how old are the test kits?

Also, is it possible that the tank was exposed to any toxins?

Also with all of the water changes and evap, what is your SG?

[Noxinal]

Thanks for the reply Cable_Guy. The parameters have been tested a few times. I'm pretty diligent about it. The expiration date on the test kits are 2-3 years away (depending on the test). My SG is 1.025, measured by a calibrated refractometer.

Here are my theories:

1. The maracyn killed some sort of bacteria that was helpful or filtered an unknown toxin.

2. The royal gramma parts are rotting somewhere I can't find. But I think this would throw my ammonia or something off.

3. The sponge that turned black is releasing some sort of toxin.

4. The enormous amount of pods are irritating the corals. I have seen pods among the corals before without ill effects.

5. The silicone in the sump or PVC glue are leaching chemicals into the water. The silicon is door and window 100% silicone. No mention of anti-mildew stuff in it though.

[Paco]

What's your SG? You don't list it. I suspect it's the Maracyn that did it in. But it also could have been just a lot of environmental mess (your skimmer too out 200 gallons? That's amazingly bad I think.) Good luck.

[Noxinal]

Yeah, my skimmer was filling a 5 gallon bucket every 45 minutes or so for 4 days. It made it go crazy. I'd put the drain tube back into the sump at night, and only let it drain while I was awake.

I had one 50 gallon barrel with mixed saltwater ready to go, and started on the second barrel when the skimmer went crazy.

[sporto0]

First off, I am sorry to hear about your disaster, Maracyn is some pretty heavy duty medication, you must NOT run your skimmer during the treatment as you have discovered. I would chalk this up as a lesson hard learned, never try & medicate a Reef tank, the chances are too great that you will upset the delicate balance. Set up a QT tank in the future. It would seem to me that changing almost all of your water was just as bad for it as the medication, you have to shut down the skimmer & do partial changes every day until your skimmer runs normal again. Hopefully a few inhabitants will survive & you can resume your normal maintenance without having to completely start over. Good luck to you.

[Hendogg0]

Seems to like you just had a crash and it happens. So now all you can really do is just get things back on course. What is brand of test kits you have I don't know what 5 is for your nitrates.

[Noxinal]

My test kits are API. I believe the nitrates are 5ppm. My skimmer is normal now. My stuff is still closed though.I did have some tentacles start to come out of the toadstool lately though. It's a good sign I hope!