Something's Gone Awry

I keep it in check with distilled water. It's dead on.

 

How is everything today?

 

any updates today Bro ?

 

Today I did another water change. This time 15 gallons. With my corals looking the way they do, I can't see the removal of problem water, only to replace it with better water being a stress to the point where it would do the corals any harm. Geek advised me to only do 5 gallons per day until 100% of the water was changed. I can't see such action on my part making matters worse. We'll see.

I disposed of the chaeto I had and replaced it with a newly purchased ball. The old one started getting whitish in appearance, and overgrown with algae. It appears to be slime and bubble, but I'm not sure. While I was at it, I cleaned the sump and fuge out well. I cleaned the glass and used a PH to remove all detritus from the sump/fuge.

During today's water change, something spooked the yellow wrasse and he jumped onto the carpet. Good thing I was there to bail him out. He seems ok now that he's back in the water.

The tank looks terrible. I'm starting to get heavy algae growth now too. It seems the more water I change, the worse it gets??? I'm doing my best not to get discouraged here. I can't for the life of me see what the issue is.

As of now, I've changed about 50% of the system's water. Time will either be a friend or an enemy here. I'll keep everyone posted.

 

Maybe your bulbs are defective, have you tried another pair? What about your ballast? Is there a way to check if they are bad? Luna

 

How long has your Chaeto been white like that? I know when my Caulerpa Mexicana gets white like that it's time to panic because it has gone asexual or something to that effect and is extremely toxic. Does anyone know if Chaeto can do this and is it toxic like the Caulerpa is.

 

I took off the MH and ran my Aquactinics 5 bulb TX5 fixture for 3 days. Nothing changed. The halides are beautiful. They shimmer and really bring out the color in my hammer, which being newest hasn't turned too badly.

 

Chaeto doesn't go asexual like Caulerpa, however, if it's turning white then it's dying. Dying Chaeto will release pent up nutrients back into the water, so it's a good thing that it was removed.

 

out of curiosity, have you checked for copper?

what are your basic parameters? Ammo, nitrite and nitrate?

Something is being over looked and if the water changes are not helping. Im starting to think it might be an issue with your water.

You said your RO/DI is fed through a ATO, well did a profesional do it?

Was your old tank set up like that with the ATO?

When did this start after you transferred your tank?

What did you add to the tank 6 months prior to this happening?

What are your exact parameters now?

 

ca 450, alk 12, mg 1350. phosphates accdg to my api test: 0. pH 8.4.

I'll be adding the ground probe within a few days upon its arrival.

None of this makes sense. Unless it's stray voltage--which I've tested for and don't detect. Stray voltage wouldn't explain the recent growth of algae, either. :-/