reef problems

isistius

Active Member
i haven't been on in quite some time due to a very busy work schedule. all of the issues i am going to describe have been on going for quite some time. first some background:
i had a 135 up and running for about 18 months and a 30g frag tank running for about 5 months before i downsized and condensed both tanks into my 54 corner. right now there is about 110+ lbs of lr and 20lbs ls. my flow inside the display is about 50x with the water being pushed by 2 koralia 4s. i have a phosban reactor running with new (3 weeks) phosban and carbon (3 weeks also). i have an octopus dnw-110 (recirc) as my skimmer. it's rated at 150g. i have yet do do a few mods to it like a mesh mod and a gate valve mod. but that will be done within the next few weeks. my lights fixture is an aquactinics tx5. 5x39watt. my bulbs consist of (from front to back) actinic plus (geisemann), 6500k (ge), actinic plus, 3500k (phillips), actinic plus. the bulbs were installed in june of '07. stock consist of 1 false perc, 1 b&w perc, yellowtail blue damsel, royal gramma, sixline. i just lost the female false perc this morning after noticing that she was extremely skinny, to the piont where her bones were showing. all of the others are almost fat enough to throw on the grill (need to mention that she was at least 5yrs old).
on to my issue(s):
all of my softies are doing fantastic. the growth of zoas/palys, mushrooms and my neon green leather is almost explosive. i have a few lps in the tank, consisting of 2 acans, a blasto, and a yellow tipped torch. due to the direct feedings, the acans are blasto are doing well...nice and plump but i have not noticed any new growth since i've had them (the acans since sept/oct and the blasto maybe since august) my torch on the other hand has slowly but steadily declined. out of the original 9 heads, there are 5 left, and the flesh is very slowly receding.
onto my sps:
i have lost god knows how much $ on sps since june. after setting up my frag tank, i saw some growth on some of my frags. some i lost almost immediately due to rtn. others bleached and took months to recover. one that has recovered nicely is a pink-tipped green pocillipora. the others that i have had major issues with and that are still alive are an orange monti, red monti, and rose milli. i have given a few to saltn00b to try and bring back to life, such as my superman monti (where all flesh receded, but polyps remaind) and my sunset monti (the only sps to brown out when all the otheres eithered bleached or rtn'd). getting back to what i have in the tank.......the orange monti and red monti have lost all color except for the polyps. this happened over a period of many many weeks at a distance of 18-22" from the lights.
i owed many of the issues to the tank transfer, but i don't know how true that is. maybe my tank just isn't stablle yet after the transfer? idk. the transfer took place in mid december. now almost 3 months ago.
i am about to do a 15-20% water change so i thought i'd share my current levels with you before i do it. i use red sea coral pro salt, and do the same change every 2-3weeks. i also dose diy 2part every other nite to keep my alk steady.
temp 79-80
sg 1.025
no2 - 0
no3 - 10
ca - 480
ph - 8.2
alk - 7.0 dkh (low - i know)
po4 - 0
lastly - all water changes and topoff are done with ro/di that reads 0.000
if anyone has any suggestions i would love to hear them.
i know it was a lot to read, so thanks to those that did...
 

isistius

Active Member
no bugs, disease. haven't changed the diet in almost a year. no stray voltage - which only affects animals w/a nervous system. bad salt? unlikely, but a possibility?
 

efishnsea

Active Member
Hey Jeff sorry to hear about your troubles
. I have a big mixture of just about every type of coral living in the same tank. About two months ago for some unknown reason "w/perfect parameters" I experienced a similar die off. It was weird various acros through out the tank got rtn overnight. One of which was that big pink milli... I immediatly removed it and cut it into 30 different pieces and managed to save three frags and they are doing great now. As for what caused it IDK. I have since then started running carbon and hope that helps keep the toxins of the various different coral species at an acceptable level. Do you think it might have something to do with the DYI 2 part???? I know that the new dow flake contains something not good for reef tanks, what it is I coudnt tell you
.
 

isistius

Active Member
no xenia. no new equipment since mid jan (new skimmer)
i didn't buy the dowflake. i am using the food grade calcium chloride instead. good looking out tho james. i'm really sorry to hear of your troubles as well. i love your tank. it's one of the nicest i have ever seen.
 

isistius

Active Member
i guess it's possible, but none of the corals are touching each other. unless toxins/chemicals are being released into the water column, i don't see how that could be the problem. also, there are loads of people that successfully keep a well mixed reef.
 

mie

Active Member
Do you polish your water with carbon? If not and there is some Alellopathy going on this will help clean up some of the toxins.
 
D

dennis210

Guest
I can say with a mixed tank with lots of differant species I would bet that chemical warfare has been going on. Do you run carbon, change it often?
Do you work with bare skin in the system? I only ask as two tanks I know of had all sps coral bleach overnight after a cleaning day. Culprit was aluminum chlorhydrate in the roll on deoderant. Guessing with your husbandry practices that wouldn't be an issue so possibly chemical. Do you test for magnesium? Do you ever add kalkwasser? Has any of the 2 part diy buffer gone directly into tank or sump system? Do you drip or just add in whole?
I ask mostly because your sps seem to be the indicator species of a problem and they are sensitive to any number of unintended chemical additions. Try running carbon 24/7 for awhile. The next time any sps shows signs of rtn immediately pull it and frag as many tips as possible with no signs of white and place in frag tank. I have saved a few colonies this way. Good luck and keep us all posted.
Dennis
 

spanko

Active Member
yeah they don't have to touch. Coral release toxins into the water as a chemical warfare kind of thing. If you have the book Aquarium Corals by Eric Borneman start reading on about page 72 for a good idea of what goes on.
 

isistius

Active Member
i am running carbon in my phosban reactor. i have been doing so for months. i change it every month. i do my best to make sure my hands are clean before they go in the tank. the water only goes halfway up my bicep at most. i usually do test for mg, but saltn00b has my test kit, and hasn't returned it to me yet. grr.......
dennis - i don't add kalk. i don't need to. the 2part takes care of calcium, alkalinity, and magnesium. i used to put it directly into the tank, but have switched to putting it into the overflow.
unfortuneately, since condensing, i don't have a frag tank anymore.
 
D

dennis210

Guest
Isistius - quick question then - was rereading origional post yet again and thought of something. You mentioned age of old system not new 54 corner.
Also nitrates showing 10 instead of zero. While this is a small amount your sps are intolerant of it. If the system is new and cycling still this may be the problem. People say all the time how short there cycle was, but in realty a tank doesn't stabilize for around the first 100 days both with nitrogen and all chemical balancing acts occurring. Just a thought!
 

isistius

Active Member
dennis- i did have a quick cycle when i moved things over from my 135 to my 54. at that time, there was only rock and sand in the 54 during the cycle. all of the corals were in my frag tank "awaiting transplant". everything that i moved over, was in my 135 for 18 months before the move
 

isistius

Active Member
something that i was thinking about was the stability issue as well. all the more reason i haven't added anything other than zoas since december.
 
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