please enlighten me......

My tank has been going for over a year now and for the most part everythng is going great. My one issue now is with my Xenia. I was having to frag it every month or so but now I can barely keep the thing alive. I tested my water and I believe it is good.
Temp 82
Nitrates 0 ppm
Nitrites 0 ppm
ph 8.2
Salinity 33.5 ppt
Specific gravity 1.025
Amonia 0 ppm
calcium 480
alkalinity 11 dKh
phosphate 0

That is all I have been testing for. I know I need to do magnesium test but I have been putting it off. I noticed a difference a few weeks ago when I read in a post somewhere that if you increase the salinity and specific gravity your protein skimmer will work better. I raised both from a 32 ppt and a 1.024 SG to what I listed earlier. The skimmer does in fact seem to work better. The skimmate is much darker and thick. I didnt make any adjustment to the skimmer. I also added some phosphate mat that is supposed to help with phospahte reduction. I had a worsening cyno problem and without making any changes to flow or feeding habits, my cyno is completely gone. The downside is my Xenia has retracted and the frags that I had growing are all but dead.
Can anyone tell me if maybe the water is too clean? I have heard that Xenias like a "dirtier" water. If thats not it, can anyone point me in the right direction? Or am I now just one of those that cant keep Xenias alive?

 

How old are your bulbs? Try removing the Po4 media and see what happens.


Luna

 

The bulbs are about 1 month old now. I changed all of them. I thought about removing Po4 media, just wanted to see if my train of thought was on track with those more in the know. Thanks