Back in August of 2011 I started having issues with almost every single sps I put in to of had in my tank. It started with a millipora that died, then monti caps, birdsnest, then eventually all other sps in my tank. Since the die off i had added a lot more sps. Â All have died except three, a green milli, purple stylo and a tortuosa i believe. Â All the LSP and soft are healthy as can be and growing. I have done every water test i know to do, Nitrate, Nitrite, Phosphate, Ammonia, Copper, Calcium, Alk, PH, Mag. Â I have even taken water sample to NSA in maumelle and Fish bowl in searcy. Â Tried also a TDS meter on RO water. Â Water checks out perfect. Changed all lights (2x250 MH, 1x400w MH, 2x110w T12 actinics. I have taken out dying coral and put into small container to see what crawls/swims off and didint see anything but copepods. I have a 225gal in-wall tank with sump and a refugium. Â I am using SeaChem Salinity and doing 35-40gal water change every week. Im running a reef dynamics protein skimmer 180. Â I have a chiller on it. Temp is always between 79-81. Â A couple very weird things to me is that I didnt have any problems until august and I do not remember changing anything at all at that time. Â Also my 55gal i had before, the sps grew like crazy. I'm going to put up some pics of whats going on. If anyone would be willing to come over sometime and check it out first hand and think they could help that would be awesome. Â I live in Searcy and usually off work about 6pm and off sundays and mondays. Â Just pm me if interested please.
Just curious, how long are you running your lights, and also what size/brand power heads are you running? How often do you feed your tank? How often do you feed your corals? Any fish die before/after August? I've heard of several people having issues with Salinity and also had issues with it myself. After several months of using it we developed a serious algae issue, as well as a "brown out" of several corals, and a red cyano outbreak. We did/do frequent water changes. I talked to seachem, and they offered no reasonable explanation so we switched salts and things seemed to get much better. Others have had great luck with salinity, it just wasn't for us I suppose.
Actinics are 10am-10pm, the mh come on at 12pm, 1pm and 2pm and go off at 6pm, 7pm and 8pm. The 250w on left, then 400w in middle, then 250w on right. So, 6hrs a each. Using 7 Hydor Koralia powerheads (a 1050gph, 850gph, 2x750gph the other 3 not sure but i think a 400 and two 600gph) Â And yes on the fish. Â One male bartletts was in overflow a weak by the time i fished him out and when put back into the tank swam right into the BTA. Mystery wrasse, longnose hawkfish, blue spot jawfish, and barred gobes have all jumped. Â I do have acrylic covers on tank now. All the other 20 or so are doing great thought, growning fast. Clownfish are laying eggs. I have a Blue Linkia thats doing great. Â I feed cyclo-eeze, the gel by instant ocean or the frozen stuff from Northside they call fish crack and small pinch of flake once a day and life spectum small fish pellets in auto feeder on smallest setting four times a day. one or two sheets of nori. phytofeast from reef nutrition spot fed to the big teardrop clam about once a month. I give the BTA a piece of krill about once a month. BTA is getting ridiculously huge by the way.
how often are you doing water changes and at what volume sometimes a a lightly populated system can read 0 and still have the magnesium strontium or trace pulled out of the water
how often are you doing water changes and at what volume sometimes a a lightly populated system can read 0 and still have the magnesium strontium or trace pulled out of the water
doing 35-40gal water change every week and mag tested good. Â Also i didnt mention, I use two part calcium and Alk from seachem, the reef fuzion stuff to maintain cal, alk and trace elements.[p align="inherit":bwqdvft0]<span> </span>[/p:bwqdvft0]
as soon as i run out of Seachem salinity I plan on switching to Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. Â I have read really great things about it.
Did you add anything new to the tank at the time? Possibly a cleanup crew or a new coral? The pattern of tissue loss suggests some type of pest, or too much directed flow. Have you tried dipping them or are you just seperating in tank water? Grab a Coral RX one shot and follow the instructions on their site. That will let you know if you have some type of pest. Also, make sure you have a magnifying glass when you do this. Some of the most evil critters are the tiniest lol
Just my two cents. Change salt, do water change every two weeks or once a month, stop feeding flakes and pellets, and you are feeding to much. You should try cuting down the time on your MH an hour or two. Again just my two cents.
I would be almost certian it has nothing to do with the salt.. I have been using it for a LONG time now and never had any problems... I place my bet on alk swings and the tank not being stable... LPS can take it.... Other things cant... What are your numbers like throughout a given week... I mean.. check at 5 in the evening for 5 days strait. Mag, Alk, and Cal.  Something is off and 90% of the time its b/c your alk is swinging way too much during a cycle.... Could also be the amount of water changes you are doing... Too many would nver let the tank settle into a stable situation therefor making the matter worse.
The pic of the birdnest is of a piece I broke off and put into a small container. I went into a dark room and set a flashlight by it and about 8 or so critters started crawling out toward the light. They are so small i can barely see them with the naked eye. they crawl around like ants, dark in color, sort of torpedo shaped but almost to small to tell shape. I might can make out that the tail end is slightly forked. I am thinking of trying to treat for red bugs and see if it will kill anything else it might be, using that heartworm med from vet. Also i was considering using Flatworm exit in the hopes that it would kill any bad tiny worms. I assume i might as well since these treatment should not hurt anything else.
if you look at the 5th pic down on my 2nd post you can see a little of what i am talking about. little small dots in the background.
I don't think it is too much, but I think I would let it sit for a week or two without a change. Sometimes the best thing you can do for a tank having problems, is leave it alone for a week or two. Maybe skip feeding for a few days, just see how it reacts.
Re: Re: Need SPS Help Badly If they are the super small flatworms they usually don't bother anything. They may be eating what's dying on your coral though. If you are worried try flatworm exit or buy you a group of yellow tailed blue damsels. They cleaned them out when I had some. Have you ever seen red bugs? They are the size of the little copepods on your glass. They are mostly yellow in color with red dots on they're backs. Usually the red bug infestation doesn't do the type of damage I'm seeing. Take your coral and leave it out to get as much moisture off it then inspect it for aefw eggs and the flatworm itself. Any spots still wet after the whole coral has kinda dried will be flatworms. Raffle grabber
I have checked for red bugs and haven't found any. Â From what i hear they kind of start at the base of the coral and work their way up. I am also considering lowering the temp in the tank. now it is 79-81 and looking at trying to maintain 77.
That's a good start. One thing I read in your post above was how much you feed your tank. I think It's a bit much for what livestock you have. Have you tested your phosphates. Some corals can't handle medium to high phosphates. They will start rtn'n on you. Also try running your mh 2 hours less. Raffle grabber
Yes I have tested phosphates and they are undetecable. As far as the feeding, when i feed the frozen cyclop-eeze it is a very small amount just i few drops and the flake is a very small pinch probably like a 16th of a teaspoon and the fish eat it all up. same for the auto feeder. I try feeding very small amounts several times a day and give the fish variety, but i do agree I should cut back some. Ive been trying to study these things i have found crawling off the coral. Im going to try to find a microscope and check them out. Â I did use a magnifying glass and tried to draw what i had seen and this is the best i can come up with.
