Everything is slowly dying… What could be wrong???

Where is your calcium sitting ? I had a calcium crash a couple of years ago, the corals started shrinking, snails all died off, then the corals dissolved ................ My 7 stage filter was striping out everything, the water was simply clean wet stuff.
Have u posted ur ca levels ? How are u measuring them. ?

 

I am a little confused, your 7 stage filter filters water prior to it being mixed with salt. Salt mix should have a balanced Ca, KH and Mg... No? Or is the filter working on the water that is already in your tank? If so, which media would strip out Ca?

6 days ago (was the last time i measured) and the stats were:
KH 8.4
Ca 460
Mg 1520
I am using "Reef Foundation" test kit by Red Sea

 

Good test kit, I also use red sea

 

I am a little confused, your 7 stage filter filters water prior to it being mixed with salt. Salt mix should have a balanced Ca, KH and Mg... No?
This is correct.

Or is the filter working on the water that is already in your tank?
This is incorrect.

Kh should be a little higher. That will help stabilize pH.

 

Yeah 42 is a little high. Doesn't necessarily mean it's killing corals but over all water quality suffers since you don't really know what is in there. Best to just have cleanest water you can get. I change filters any time TDS is anything but zero.
Next time you order stuff online pick up a few sediment filters and change more often than the other filters.:
http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/10-purtrex-sediment-filter.html
They're super cheap and worth the money.
I change those when they get kinda dirty.

 

Ok so I've received my RO/DI a few days ago. TDS shows 0ppm, pH however shows 9.7... I've read other forums that say dioinized water isn't easily tested for pH and is thus showing incorrect values. However when mixing it with salt should show a true pH level. After mixing it shows 8.7... Still very high in my opinion. So far I've changed a total of 15 gallons (3 changes 5gallons each over 3 days) I've also cleaner up algae from the glass and the tank looks like it is improving. Some corals are opened up to about 40% of their full size while others (frogspawn and mushrooms) remain closed.
Nitrates are at 0
nitrites are at 0
ammonia is still at 0.25

Didn't run any other tests yet.

What also found very strange black looking algae on the rocks and on bases of some corals. I tried looking it up but haven't found anything that looks like it... Any ideas?

I will do another WC this weekend and then go back to once a week. Unless suggested otherwise.

 

Don't chase PH numbers.Atmospheric conditions play a large part.
IT IS BEST TO MIX THE SALT FOR A FEW HOURS TO ALLOW THE PH TO STABILIZE.Sorry dum caps.lol

 

Not that I am chasing numbers but I am very conscious of them, and i thought that atmospheric conditions would lower pH, not raise it... but like you said, for now ill kust let it be. I typically mix water overnight.

 

What Vinny is saying is: In a well ventilated room you'll see a higher pH. In a room in a basement or a house during the winter that is always closed up or a smokers house you'll see an accumulation of CO2 an acid, an acid is going to drive your pH down. Sometimes something as simple as running an airline out side will bring up a pH.
Alkalinity the solutions ability to maintain a stable pH, water hardness is a better indicator to treat by. For years I treated the pH with buffer, this leads to erratic swings. It's probably been 5 years since I measured pH.

 

just throwing in a thought, is there a pathogen that is specific to LPS and possibly fish? or the fish is dying from the coral dying? I know acans are also LPS I believe but most of those look great. very strange

I agree with Corailline, don't chase ph