dying coral, mushrooms, star polyps

Question
HI, I TESTED MY NITRATES AND YES THEY WERE AT VERY DANAGEROUS LEVELS. I HAVE BEEN TRYING TO GET THEM DOWN WITH WEEKLY 20 GALLON WATER CHANGES AND THEY ARE NOT GOING DOWN VERY FAST. THEM MIGHT HAVE COME DOWN A LITTLE. DO YOU HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS ON HOW I CAN GET THEM DOWN FASTER. THANKS ALOT FOR YOUR HELP.
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Followup To

Question -
HELLO, I HAVE A 55 GAL REEF TANK. SET UP FOR ALMOST 1 YEAR. THINGS WERE DOING GREAT. NOW MUSHROOMS, CORALS AND POLYPS ARE ALL DYING. I HAVE HAD WATER TESTED AND EVERYTHING IS OKAY. I DID HAVE A METAL CLAMP IN THE SUMP AND REMOVED IT AND PUT IN A ACTIVATED CHARCOAL BAG TO ABSORB AND DID A LARGE WATER CHANGE. FISH ARE DOING FINE, ALSO HAVE SHRIMP HERMIT CRABS,SEA CUCUMBER. I DO REGULAR WATER CHANGES. I FEED THE CORALS REFRIGERATED PLANKTON. THEY TELL ME MY LIGHTS ARE OKAY. WATER TEMP IS OKAY. I CAN'T FIND ANY REASON WHY THEY WILL NOT STAY ALIVE. THE POLYPS JUST CLOSE AND NEVER REOPEN. THE MUSHROOMS JUST ROT AWAY. I DO HAVE A MUSHROOM ON THE BOTTOM OF THE TANK THAT IS DOING FINE. BUT NEXT TO IT IS POLYPS THAT WON'T OPEN AND ARE SLOWLY DISAPPEARING. THIS HAS BEEN GOING ON FOR ABOUT 2 1/2 MONTHS. NOTHING DIES IMMEDIATLY JUST SLOWLY. I WAS TOLD OF MAYBE AN URCHIN MIGHT BE EATING BUT REMOVED IT AND NOTHING HAS CHANGED. I JUST PURCHASED ANOTHER POLYPS TO SEE IF IT WOULD BE OKAY AND IT OPENED UP THE FIRST COUPLE OF DAYS AND NOW WON'T OPEN. I AM SO FRUSTRATED BECAUSE I LOVE MY TANK BUT I CAN'T KEEP ON LOSING MONEY. I HAVE TALKED WITH DIFFERENT PEOPLE AT THE FISH SHOPS AND EVERYONE SUGGESTS SOMETHING ELSE AND IT DON'T WORK. I HOPE YOU GIVE ME SOME POSSIBLE THINGS IT COULD BE.

Answer -
Hi Deb,

   How frustrated you must be. I wish I was more familiar with reef but this I do know - in my own experience the culprit was usually nitrates. Although harmless to fish and some invertebrates, any thing over a reading of ten will cause harm to reef inhabitants. The nitrates will creep up slowly over time and the stronger inhabitants will survive but the delicate ones will fall ill and die. Usually water tests are done for salinity, ammonia, nitrites and ph, but some may overlook a nitrate test. The nitrate build up could be in your substrate, system filters, or anything else that should be cleaned as nitrates will thrive. as your system does its job eliminating ammonia, then nitrites, and turing it continuously into nitrates they can reach unacceptable levels. If you system checks okay for nitrates, preferrably zero, then try to think of things that might have changed. Did you add to, or take something from, the system? Is your water source the same for changes? How much and how often do you change your water? Did you test or have tested the source water you are using? There have been instances, though fairly rare that bacteria in the water source could be a problem. Please let me know how you make out and I will get you in touch with someone well versed with reef tanks. good luck, gerry.

Answer
Dear Deb,

    On the saltwter aquarium site at about.com there is a good but " lots of work " way to get the nitrate levels down. Ther are also some products on the market and that you can make yourself which will help with denitrafication. You will find all that info on their site. I'm so glad we might have discovered the problem but let's reserve judgment and see how things go after the nitrates are reduced. Good job, You will be successful, I just know it, Gerry.