Tank crash!

[krazykarl]

Wow for those of you who have experienced a tank crash I now know how that feels. I am at a loss and cannot for the life of me figure out what is going on. I woke up this morning to a cloudy white tank and two dead fish. All of my LPS are looking like they a going to die and the SPS are not looking too hot. I switched test kits for MG and not sure if I added too much as i was not used to that kit. I also noticed that the SG was a little high so I took out some salt water and put in some RO water. Not sure what is happening and not sure what to do. I did do two ten percent water changes which has not helped much. I also read that it could be a bacterial bloom and adding an air stone was a must. Any thoughts or advice would be great. Not putting up water test results as i need to get some new test kits which i am used to.

[FragIt Dan]

Alkalinity might have gotten too low, causing a large swing in pH and precipitation of Ca. I would take a water sample before doing anymore water changes so that you can test it later and hopefully figure out what it was. Hard to say right now with the limited info. How often do you do WCs? Do you dose? Do you use RODI? Do you let WC water stand for 24hrs before adding to your tank? Do you have corals? The fact that fish are dying is a pretty serious indication things are way out of whack. IMO, Mg would be low on my list of things to look at. I have dosed as much as 700ppm at one time and had it as high as about 1800ppm, unless you aren't doing WCs and it was really, REALLY low. Just a start to looking for the cause. Good luck and I'll keep an eye on the thread. I just about lost my DT before Xmas... let my Ca creep up over 600ppm! Did 2 50% WCs two days on a row and managed to recover. Burned and bleached out a lot, but it is all mostly recovered. Best of luck with things,
Dan

[freezetyle]

it may be helpful to post what equipment and how your tank is set up in order for people to get a better idea of causes.

If your not running a form of carbon dosing (biopellets/vsv, etc.) i would find it hard to believe that you had a bacteria bloom.

you can always take a water sample over to blueworld and have them test it until you get new kits.

[asylumdown]

What's controlling the temperature on your tank, and do you have an independent thermometer confirming that the temp is what you've set it at? Heater malfunctions are one of the biggest causes of tank crashes.

[krazykarl]

Tank set up would be a 17 gallon with HOB Remora skimmer. Nova extream T5 lights with LED antinics. Vortec Mp 10w. I have a mixed reef with LPS and SPS live rock and sand bottom. It has been up and running for at least 2 years with no major issue prior to this. I dose tailord aqutics dkh daily to maintain around 8. I dose Tailord aqutics Ca when i do WC's to top up to around 420. Dose Mg when required which is not often. I use Rodi water for top up and WC's which i get for a water store. I dolet it sit at least 24hrs before use. Yes i do dose Vodka to help controll the aperance of cyano. Very minor amounts of Vodka. I tested the water tonight after work and here are the results of what i tested.
dkh 8.1
Ca 350 (little low)
Mg 1040 (with a test kit i am not used to could not find a Salift kit) used to be 1280 a 1300ppm
Did not test anything else.
Temp 82F
I did also add a mech filter with just fine sponge to help clear the water.
If i stressed a LPS could it have released toxins and caused a warfare as the LPS's were the first to show sings of damage and they are the only loses so far.
Also noticed that my skimmer has not produced any foam (skimmate) since the white cloudy water.
Thats all I can think of right now just kepping my fingures crossed. Thanks to all the thoughts hope this answers some questions. Mybe it will help trigure the cause.
Regards
Karl

[asylumdown]

White cloudy water is what happens when there's a bacterial bloom, which can be caused by overdosing vodka. 17 gallons wouldn't have much room for error in the vodka dosing, any chance you added a little too much?

[krazykarl]

There is always a chance for error. I could have double dosed it i guess. I do only dose three tiny drops from a very small feeding baster. Tank did not seam as bad last night so just gonna keep my fingers crossed.

[ChizerBunoi]

Did you stir your sandbed up recently? Did you maintain it over the last 2 years?

[krazykarl]

I have not stired the sandbed recently or ever. I did not think you are suposed to disturb the sand bed.

[FragIt Dan]

A little OT, but I always diluted my ethanol dose 1:10 (ended up at about 4%) and then dosed 10x the volume. This way I could use a syringe to add a more accurate dose. Having said this, I don't think adding +/- a drop or two would have crashed your tank, but you never know.
Dan

There is always a chance for error. I could have double dosed it i guess. I do only dose three tiny drops from a very small feeding baster. Tank did not seam as bad last night so just gonna keep my fingers crossed.

[krazykarl]

Well still not sure what was going on in my reef tank but it seems to have stabilzed a bit. Looks like the losses were not too bad as for awhile I thought i might loses everything. I did lose 2 fish and looks like to LPS corals. The rest look like they are gonna pull through. The only thing i know for sure is it looks like the Mg levels were below 1000 ppm not sure if that is what caused the crash. I thought i read somewhere if Mg levels are too low Ca can precipitate. Thanks to those of you who put in their two sense.

[daniella3d]

You lost 2 fish in a 17 gallons? how many fish did you have in there? Your temperature is very high and at that high temperature oxygen level is low, put too many fish in there and a bacteria bloom and there goes the oxygen and the fish die, plus the cloudy water from the bacterias.

That's my guess so far.

Is 17 gallons the total amount of water? that is very small and unstable to be dosing a carbone source with fish in there.

Calcium precipitation might affect the corals but it would not kill fish.