Phosphate?

[ErinCahir]

So I bought a sweet coral over the weekend (lobo with xenia attached to the same rock... I have since learned this isn't the best combo).
The lobo (& xenia) promptly shriveled up and died (they looked great for the first five hours). We're talking like 24 hours here. I got a reef test kit (shame on me for not having one already) and my phosphate is between 2 and 5. I know this is high. Could this be what killed my new stuff? I have some zoa and mushrooms and they're alive, but they could look better...
And what does everyone recommend to bring it down?

 

[BL1]

My phosphate level is at 1.0 and I was told that was really high. It's possible that could have been a contributing factor to your coral dying. Use GFO in your sump to help lower your phosphates.

 

[reeffreak]

A phosphate reactor with GFO(granulated ferric oxide) is your best bet.A refugium with macro-algae like cheato or algae scrubber will help too.I'm not sure if the phosphate cause the deaths at least not that fast.

 

[bjohanson1234]

what are your water parameters?

Sounds like something else is going on too.

 

[yote]

How was it acclimated?

 

[BL1]

Do you need need a phosphate reactor to use gfo or can I just put it in the back chamber of my nano-cube?

 

[Jmck]

+1 yote, with phosphates like that, if you did just drop them in, the shock of going to a tank with such high phosphates could have caused death imo. but bj is right, whats your other parameters right? are you overfeeding the tank?

 

[Jmck]

brian, im fairly sure you can put that stuff into a stocking after rincing it well and just place it under the flow of your water going into the sump. and that will work like the reactor.

 

[reeffreak]

Do you need need a phosphate reactor to use gfo or can I just put it in the back chamber of my nano-cube?

For you,sure.

I recommended a reactor for the poster because they have a big 150g. reef tank.

 

[ErinCahir]

Alright, here's the parameters:

Salinity - 1.022
Calcium - 400ppm
KH - 8dKH
Phosphate - 2-5ppm
pH - 8.4
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 10-20ppm

And we floated the coral for 15 minutes and then let a little water in every three minutes for 15 minutes.

 

[daugherty]

your salinity is on the low side. but everything else looks good. lobos need a lower flow area in the tank. maybe they were already dieing when you got them? i really dont know what to say

 

[ErinCahir]

I know. It's frustrating. It looked really good when we got it. Like REALLY good. I would never buy something to "bring back to life". We're not really at that stage yet.
And we have other stuff (shrooms and zoa) that are doing well. Not fantastic, but well.
I had it kind of up on the rock where he got some flow but not a lot (I wanted the xenia to not look so wind-blown). Oh well.
I'll lower the phosphate and see what happens. My husband is ready to just make it a livestock tank. I'm not quite so ready for that yet...

 

[Dakwan]

Where did you buy this from?.. a reputable source? If it was really vibrant when you bought it and it died right away could it have possibly been dyed?

 

[ErinCahir]

I'd like to think he's reputable. We've been going there for five years now. I don't think he'd dye anything. And wouldn't it be hard to dye? It was like four different colors...

 

[yote]

Depending on how quick the acclimation was,the difference on the stores salinity and your tanks could have caused your problem.