HELP!! corals looking droopy

[RICKY81]

a few days ago my corals started to look droopy.. just not too good. i have a kenya tree which was slumped over, open brain which was shrunken and with a weird color, a closed brains was shrunken and showing some skeleton..... i have a mixture of sps, softies,palys and zoas.. so i checked my levels and nitrate was at about a 40, did a water 10%water change and dropped to about 10ppm...but one major thing that i did was that my tank was used to having an ALK at around 1.4-1.6, so a friend of mine told me need to pick it up quick. so he showed me a website on Reefcentral and used the formula to dose it Seachem Reef builder to raise the Alkalinity..... the thing that i did is that i added all 9tsp that was recommended to raise the alkalinity in 2 seperate doses within a 6-8 hr period...

now the alkalinity did raise up to about a 3.6,
ph 8.4,
nitrates 10,
nitrite 0,
ammonia 0,
salinity 1.23,
calcium 420
phosphates 0.1
temp 72

**my tank parameters have usually been wacky about what i have right now the only drastic change was the alkalinity but i have still noticed that the corals are not looking good but they aren't getting worse. What could be causing this to the corals?

** another thing that i noticed is that since this past incidence my temp.has been fluctuating alot. i forgot to hook up the heater back on and temp was about 62.. corals were shrunken, then next day raised to 78, now is back at 72, should i keep my metal halides on or off... what do you guys recommend any suggestions greatly appreciated... thanks

[ErikH]

Keep your system stable and do a much larger water change. I would turn off all of your pumps and powerheads, stick your arm in and swirl up as much as possible and siphon it out. If it really bad, and you need to remove alot of water, put a filter sock on the end of your siphon hose so you can put only the water you absolutely need back into the aquarium. BRING YOUR TEMP UP. 72 is VERY low.

Keep up on your water changes, especially if you do not want to lose your SPS. Salt is cheaper than coral.

[ErikH]

if your temp is getting above 81, get some cheap clip on fans and clip them on your tank, or your sump so they blow across the water. Get that temp up

[gjuarez]

I am pretty sure it was the quick change that caused this... Corals are very sensitive to sudden changes, especially with alk. Changes in alk also can cause changes is PH. Take your time and make the appropriate changes gradually

[JeffCo]

Yep, pretty much what they said. Your temp should be between 78-82. Somewhere in that range, but you need to pick a temp and try to keep your tank at it within 2 degrees. Alk swings can also cause some problems with corals. You need to keep it stable as well. But, even if your tank params are out of wack, still bring them up slow over a few days.

[Submariner]

Yeah, watch that temp. A while back I poured ONE GALLON of icy cold water into my sump to top off and met with disaster. My RO water is kept outside and it was very cold. I thought hey what's ONE GALLON gonna do to a 175 gal tank. As soon as that cold water came out of the nozzle and hit my Xenia and Colt corals on the other side of the tank they laid down and melted. DOOH!!! (slaps his forehead) Lesson learned.

[RICKY81]

sounds good... i was also thinking that it was probably the sudden change in alkalinity and then much influence the change in temp.... last night i left some water pouring into a bucket and will be adding the salt now to have it prepared for the water change later this afternoon...i guess i should of had done things slowly...