help please!

[slkNic]

hello everyone im new to all of this posting stuff so bear with me. i have a tank that has been set up for about 8 months now and everything has been fine. the last week or so things have gone crazy. i have 3 kenya tree corals that are not opening up and loosing size in there bases, my green pagoda is loosing skin now and my ricordias and zoas are not as happy looking but my star polyps are great

33 gal tank
ammonia 0
nitrate 0
nitrite 0
ph 8.0
temp stays at 80-82 i cant get it to go lower

i add about 3 mls of iodine and reef building complex every 2 to three days
did a water change of 4 gals 4 days ago now

i have 2 clowns one has had ich and pop eye off and on since i got him i cant get it to go away at all the other one never gets anything and i have a banggai cardinalfish, who doesnt eat anything i put in the tank but eats some of the live things in my tank. i have a ton of bristle worms, a peanut worm, snails and stars and three hermit crabs a bunch of algae that i dont mind too much and i cant figure out why my tank is so unhappy if everything is good plese help any ideas or things i can look into all thoughts are appcieated.

[reefone]

welcome to the board. look around there is alot of useful info.

couple things.
what r u using filtration?
do u have a skimmer or sump.
do u use rodi water for ur water changes? how often do u do them.
what kind of lights? have u changed the bulbs recently?

how long have u been iodine dosing ur tank? u shouldnt dose anything that u dont test for. and iodine dose not need to be doses very often if at all. ur water changes should take care of that.
what is the reef building complex? is it a calcium and alk suplement. if so it can be over dose and cause problems if not tested for.

star polyps r not a good indicater of water quality as they r almost impossible to kill

[weimers75]

I agree. Don't add anything you aren't testing for. Your iodine is likely way too high. That should not be dosed that frequently. Also, if you're adding a supplement for calcium and alkalinity, again - you should be testing them (which you should be, your pagoda needs calcium).

What is your salinity at and what are you using to measure it?

[DoubleD]

I agree with the above posts about dosing, unless you are testing for it and know what your levels are you are not only wasting money but potentially building up levels that are detrimental.

The other problem is your temp. I know you said that it is hard to get lower, but what kind of lighting do you have and how close is it to your water? Also do you have a fan blowing on the lights to carry the heat away? The other problem that can cause heat in the tank is inefficient pumps.

[binford4000]

I agree with the above post's.I personaly like to keep my temp below 80.I would back off on the iodine.To much is not a good thing.I only add two drops about once a month and that's for a system with over 100 gallons.The kenyon trees are great early indicators of trouble.It's what I like about theme most.I would do a water change first atleast 20% to get the iodine down and then retest the levels including calcium.Your PH needs to be a bit higher 8.2 to 8.4 steady water changes should keep the calcium levels and ph around that.Pagoda's need lots of flow and good light and then calcium levels should be steady at 450 to keep theme happy.What are you feeding it?and how are you feeding it?pagodas need to be target fed or bottle fed with the flow turned off so they have time to absorb the food from the surounding water.The algae is a good indicator of either not enough flow,bad PH levels or No3 problems.Letting us know more about your system would help in suggesting a path of correction Good luck and hope it gets better

[shroomtrippin]

big water changes are a way to adjust water parameters... if not testing, dont add anything.. check salinity with a refractometer as hydrometers can be inaccurate.. your ph is a little low... do you have a refugium? i have found that running the lights on my refugium at night when the tanks lights are off, minimize ph swings.. also you need good flow in the tank, flow is another way to stabilze ph vis gas exchange and it suspends debris in the water colunm so that your filtration can remove it..