sand bed trouble

[Stephen]

so the corals that i put on my sand bed are dying, my water params are fine i just had them tested a few days ago and everything was in check. So i have no idea what is going on and it is bumming me out since now my big fungia is starting to show a little skeleton towards the base and hasnt puffed out in a day or two. Any help or suggestions would be very helpful. So far the corals that have died have been a frogspawn, a lobo, and a digi

[jt_milstead]

How long has your tank been running Stephen?

[Stephen]

Just over three months now

[Stephen]

I guess i should add a little information to see if that will help at all. I mix saltwater using red sea coral pro salt, i dont currently dose anything, i have one fish(a red scooter blenny), 10 turbo snails, about 20 lbs pf live rock, 20 lbs of live sand, i feed one cube of mysis shrimp every three days or so, i run chemi-pure elite, have a tunze 9002 skimmer, and have a k-nano and my return pump for flow

[Shells]

Was is new sand or used?

Why do you believe it is the sand since I am assuming you did not have the digi in the sand. again assuming.

What is your salinity?

[Stephen]

It was a new bag of "live sand". Salinity is a little low at 1.020, and im not sure why I think its the sand since the digi wasnt in it. Im going to do a 5 gallon water change tommorrow and see if that helps. Also with the fungia I just fed it half a cube of mysis yesterday so maybe thats why it is looking the way it does?

[jason142]

What size tank is it? How long do you let your salt mix before you add it and what water are you using?

[Stephen]

Its a 25g cube and at let my salt mix for 12 to 16 hours. And I use water from those water machines

[jason142]

I know you said you do not dose but do you make sure the levels in your mix match the levels in your tank, also the temperature?

[jt_milstead]

It was a new bag of "live sand". Salinity is a little low at 1.020, and im not sure why I think its the sand since the digi wasnt in it. Im going to do a 5 gallon water change tommorrow and see if that helps. Also with the fungia I just fed it half a cube of mysis yesterday so maybe thats why it is looking the way it does?

As you already said your salinity is pretty low....Why do you have it that low?

[davocean]

Those water machines first off do not add optimum water quality, and they tend to really vary in TDS readings, almost always a good bit above what I would put in my tank.
Also, that live sand comes w/ dieoff from shipping, that alone could be causing some issues.
In mixing water, best is let it sit for a day/overnight so the PH stabilizes, and I always make it exact to display temps.
I would get water from a LFS if you don't have the means for your own RO/DI, and I'd do some good WC's to help level things out, especially after adding the live sand, and get that salinity up to 1.025-1.026

[Stephen]

As you already said your salinity is pretty low....Why do you have it that low?

I had some issues when I first started mixing with what amount of salt to use, and have been having trouble getting it back up now

[Stephen]

I know you said you do not dose but do you make sure the levels in your mix match the levels in your tank, also the temperature?

I do not no, i need to get some test kits and a small heater so I can start doing so

[jason142]

What I did to raise my salinity was mix a gallon of saltwater and topped off with that until my salinity was where I wanted it.

[jason142]

That could be part of your problem, as time goes by in your display your levels start to decrease. Then when you mix the levels are higher then in the display and shocks everything when you add it. How many gallons are you changing at a time and how often?