My Elegance and open brain doesn't look good

[JMALACHI]

My elegance and one of the open brains haven't looked good in days. I've tested and done a couple water changes but still doesn't look much better.

My temp is consistently at 78/80, spec is 1.025
as of 10/30
Nitrates were at 160ppm (before the second water change)
phosphate - 1.5ppm
Kh - 13/232.7ppm which i'm not sure if that's too high or just a little high
Ca - 27/28 or 540/560 ppm

I have anther kit that tests a little different and with this one
Ph - 8.6 (high)
Nitrites - .1/.2 (low)

I'm going to test when I get home and see if there have been any changes but I need some advice, if any.

Thanks!

[ReeferRob]

First thing I notice is your nitrates at 160 ppm, that is extremely high. Phosphates are quite high as well, most shoot for .03-.05.
I would double check these values again, possibly take some water to an LFS and have them triple check. What's the expiration on the test kits you are using and brand?
What kind of fish are in the tank? How long has the tank been set up? How long have you had these particular corals?

[Wy Renegade]

One of the things I have noticed over the years, is that open brains in particular hate alkalinity swings - get your KH stabalized and keep it consistently at that level.

[EMUreef]

I agree with reefer rob your nitrates were super high!
Phosphates are high too.

They still might not look good because they are recovering.

[JMALACHI]

First thing I notice is your nitrates at 160 ppm, that is extremely high. Phosphates are quite high as well, most shoot for .03-.05.
I would double check these values again, possibly take some water to an LFS and have them triple check. What's the expiration on the test kits you are using and brand?
What kind of fish are in the tank? How long has the tank been set up? How long have you had these particular corals?

I did notice this happen after I bought this polyfiber filter. I cut two to size and put them in my baffles then a couple days later i took them out to rinse, checked my levels and that's when I noticed it was high. Could that have been the issue?

I then took it to the lfs who said i was fine. I had a funny feeling that he may have not did the test right so I bought a new kit that tested at ppm. Did the water change and then tested the next day and the results were what I put up.

As for fish, I have a yellow tang, coral beauty, mandarin goby, scooter blenny, lawnmower, diamond goby, 3 green chromis, a maroon clown and a zebra dart goby (remembered the name). Then some hermits, snails and nassarius.

The tank has been running for six months and the corals have been in my tank for a couple months and doing great. Full bodied, full color, eating well (elegance)...

I plan on checking the levels today and hoping the levels went down.

Can a skimmer be the cause if its not working properly?

[jolson10450]

woah nitrates are SUPER high thats as high as if the tank just got done cycleing! i would do a 50% water change everyday until you can get it down to 20 or lower.

phosphates are also super high! water changes may help that out.

check around your tank and see if anything has died it in, seem like something died which is causing the problem. you need to get a handle on this asap or i can forsee a tank crash resulting from it because its going to cause things to die and as things die toxins will get release and water levels will get even worse until its all gone so do this asap!

check ur test kit with a LFS just to be sure!

[jolson10450]

a workign skimmer will for sure help you out on this! if you have one get it tuned in and working asap

I did notice this happen after I bought this polyfiber filter. I cut two to size and put them in my baffles then a couple days later i took them out to rinse, checked my levels and that's when I noticed it was high. Could that have been the issue?

I then took it to the lfs who said i was fine. I had a funny feeling that he may have not did the test right so I bought a new kit that tested at ppm. Did the water change and then tested the next day and the results were what I put up.

As for fish, I have a yellow tang, coral beauty, mandarin goby, scooter blenny, lawnmower, diamond goby, 3 green chromis, a maroon clown and long body fish that I cant remember the name. Then some hermits, snails and nassarius.

The tank has been running for six months and the corals have been in my tank for a couple months and doing great. Full bodied, full color, eating well (elegance)...

I plan on checking the levels today and hoping the levels went down.

Can a skimmer be the cause if its not working properly?

[JMALACHI]

I have a new bubblemagus nac6 that I bought a little over a month ago but has been very loud and lately it's not skimming as dark. I'm also in the process of getting it worked out with nuocean. I wasn't sure if that could be hurting the tank.

[tazzy695]

one thing I noticed in my tank is that my lps hated bare bottom when I tried it if you don't have sand in the system I would recommend adding some but only after you get your water parameters back in line

[JMALACHI]

This is a pic of my tank right before this started happening. Elegance on left and the brain in the middle is the one not looking well. The other is doing great. If I get a minute i'll get current pics of the two.