acrylic51
Active Member
Ok guys.....I'm at a total loss and don't know where or what to actually test for.....I ran into an old friend from years ago, that is still in the hobby......He's been having ongoing problems with the tank for the past 5 years lets say.....He did a complete tear down a bit ago on the tank due to some metal he used in his lighting that corroded and dropped into the overflow box out of sight, and when finally caught the tank was tore apart and pieces removed.
The tank is a 125 gallon. The tank is predrilled and has dual overflows, and years ago I had drilled the tank for him to install a CL system on the tank, which he did install an OceansMotions 4Way.....The tank does have a sand bed, but is a SSB; which he used the Carib Sea live sand. Not sure on the amount of LR currently in the tank, but it isn't packed full of LR, and is landscaped very nicely.....The tank is currently lit by (3) 250W MH's. Current inhabitants of the tank include (1) Yellow Tang, (1) Powder Blue Tang, (1) Blue Chromis, and (1) Clown.
The problem lies in that he has never been able to keep corals or fish for that matter in the tank. He tried corals a bit ago, and when they started dying is when the rust pieces were found in the overflow. Then my friend proceeded to try his hand again at corals with no success. This time he noticed what appeared to be "red bug" infestation the tank eating his corals. He proceeded to use interceptor and the apparent "red bugs" disappeared. This was some time ago, so really can't give you a definite time frame as to when this was.
Anyways yesterday we all met up to go to the big Anniversary Sale down at That Pet Place. My friend decided to give fish and coral a try again.....He purchased a small piece of frogspawn and a Flame angel......We had known that we would be going to the sale well in advance, so my friend setup a quarantine tank next to his main tank just to isolate his new purchases just to be safe.......The water used in the quarantine tank was from his main display tank.......He acclimated his new additions yesterday afternoon, and by roughly 7pm he texted me and advised the Flame had died!!!!!
He always has water made up and ready to go for emergency water changes. He noticed the Flame acting funny and gasping for air. He did a water change on the quarantine tank to try to mitigate any issues......The Frogspawn was also in the same quarantine tank as well. The Frogspawn wasn't doing well either. The water change appeared to have no "positive" response for the little guys, my friend decided to move them to the main tank. The Flame appeared to be a bit better and swimming, but then went downhill as he did in the quarantine tank. The Frogspawn still showing signs of distress as well. The Flame again died roughly 4 hours after purchase. My friend texted me this morning that the Frogspawn was toast this afternoon.
I had my friend run a full set of tests before we left for the sale yesterday. He tested Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Alk, Ca, Copper, Phosphates. The only thing he hasn't tested was PH.....I don't remember the specific numbers, but I know Jerry will chime in here at some point......All numbers were withing range. Alk was a tad low, but I do know he uses a 2 part buffer system from BRS. Jerry is very attentive to his water parameters. He has gone so far as testing source water entering the RO unit, and water exiting the unit, and O TDS on the output water from the RO unit.
He's currently running and MRC1 dual beckett skimmer pushed by a Blueline pump....The skimmer is a beast and isn't a skimmer for the faint at heart.....He also runs the BRS carbon in their reactor. His sump is currently a Rubbermaid plastic container....
This is were were currently at....Some have suggested that the Rubbermaid container is leaching "bad" into the tank. I know a lot of people chime in about using food grade containers for your sump and water change vats......I'm not a real believer in this disclaimer, because everyone that I've seen or heard say so about this type of thing states so, but they never have really stated proof as to what these containers are leaching, and how you go about testing for what might be possibly leaching......????
Our theory at this point is possibly either the plastic sump is leaching bad things into the water, but it obviously isn't something that the standard battery of tests are picking up, or it's the water change vats he's using doing the same as well. Could it also be possible for the LR be leaching contaminates back from the rusting material back into the system? He's tried in the past running poly pads to see if they detect any contaminates, but they too aren't detecting anything........
Looking for advice as to where to start looking or testing.....
The tank is a 125 gallon. The tank is predrilled and has dual overflows, and years ago I had drilled the tank for him to install a CL system on the tank, which he did install an OceansMotions 4Way.....The tank does have a sand bed, but is a SSB; which he used the Carib Sea live sand. Not sure on the amount of LR currently in the tank, but it isn't packed full of LR, and is landscaped very nicely.....The tank is currently lit by (3) 250W MH's. Current inhabitants of the tank include (1) Yellow Tang, (1) Powder Blue Tang, (1) Blue Chromis, and (1) Clown.
The problem lies in that he has never been able to keep corals or fish for that matter in the tank. He tried corals a bit ago, and when they started dying is when the rust pieces were found in the overflow. Then my friend proceeded to try his hand again at corals with no success. This time he noticed what appeared to be "red bug" infestation the tank eating his corals. He proceeded to use interceptor and the apparent "red bugs" disappeared. This was some time ago, so really can't give you a definite time frame as to when this was.
Anyways yesterday we all met up to go to the big Anniversary Sale down at That Pet Place. My friend decided to give fish and coral a try again.....He purchased a small piece of frogspawn and a Flame angel......We had known that we would be going to the sale well in advance, so my friend setup a quarantine tank next to his main tank just to isolate his new purchases just to be safe.......The water used in the quarantine tank was from his main display tank.......He acclimated his new additions yesterday afternoon, and by roughly 7pm he texted me and advised the Flame had died!!!!!
I had my friend run a full set of tests before we left for the sale yesterday. He tested Ammonia, Nitrites, Nitrates, Alk, Ca, Copper, Phosphates. The only thing he hasn't tested was PH.....I don't remember the specific numbers, but I know Jerry will chime in here at some point......All numbers were withing range. Alk was a tad low, but I do know he uses a 2 part buffer system from BRS. Jerry is very attentive to his water parameters. He has gone so far as testing source water entering the RO unit, and water exiting the unit, and O TDS on the output water from the RO unit.
He's currently running and MRC1 dual beckett skimmer pushed by a Blueline pump....The skimmer is a beast and isn't a skimmer for the faint at heart.....He also runs the BRS carbon in their reactor. His sump is currently a Rubbermaid plastic container....
This is were were currently at....Some have suggested that the Rubbermaid container is leaching "bad" into the tank. I know a lot of people chime in about using food grade containers for your sump and water change vats......I'm not a real believer in this disclaimer, because everyone that I've seen or heard say so about this type of thing states so, but they never have really stated proof as to what these containers are leaching, and how you go about testing for what might be possibly leaching......????
Our theory at this point is possibly either the plastic sump is leaching bad things into the water, but it obviously isn't something that the standard battery of tests are picking up, or it's the water change vats he's using doing the same as well. Could it also be possible for the LR be leaching contaminates back from the rusting material back into the system? He's tried in the past running poly pads to see if they detect any contaminates, but they too aren't detecting anything........
Looking for advice as to where to start looking or testing.....
