250 Gallon Starphire SPS tank

As with any sps, sometimes it bleaches if you look at it the wrong way. :lol:

Seriously, as Brad mentioned, it could be numerous things. I have even found a small increase in alkalinity from 8 dkh to 12 dkh or changes in salinity can cause them to bleach.
 
littlesilvermax said:
I did bring my alk up from 9.5 to 11.:(

Thats pretty small but could be enough. Mine did it overnight because of a screw up, so the change was fairly rapid. Once, about a hundred years ago, I added to much reef buffer by accident and it wiped out the majority of my soft corals.
 
My calcium reactor brought up my alkilinity so it was fairly slow.

I am thinking that it could be temperature. My reef runs at 83 to 84, but sometimes it hits 85. It is very stable though.
 
The 85F degree thing could be it. Listen Max (it would really help if I could remember your first name longer than 24 hours!), SPS can be tolerant of our errors, but at one point they've simply had enough. I've boosted my pH from 8.0 to 8.75 in about 3 minutes flat being an idiot, and all my SPS slimed horrifically, but within an hour the numbers lowered again and the corals were fine. I sat in front of the tank that day for two hours not having a clue what I could do to fix the problem (um... adding some white vinegar was an option).

I've had my tank go up to 85.5F but cooled the tank down again.

Once I set the a/c unit to dehumidfy and forgot, the tank went from 83F to 76.7F and my slimer sloughed off its tissue. I snatched it from the tank, fragged the heck out of it, mounted it on a new rock, and put it in my son's 81F tank and it survived. Later than day when the main tank was back up to 81 like normal, I moved it back.

Corals touching other corals can cause losses, either in part or 100%.

The key is stability. That's it. If you can do that, you'll keep lots of healthy livestock. Extremes are the problem. Your tank runs a little hotter than the typical real reefs.

Since I switched pumps and replaced my skimmer, my tank is now at 79 to 80.5F around the clock. I would prefer to keep the tank around 81F, but that isn't an option unless I have the heaters on all the time. And that seems dumb. I'm not running any fans at all, only keeping the fish room at 78F, and that is actually not cool enough to avoid condensation (particularly at night). I'm going to have to research dehumidifiers again, it seems.
 
My name is Ben, but I enjoy all the permutations: silver, max, littlesilver.;)

My tank just runs at that temp. In the winter 1 degree cooler. I will likely set up another fan over the sump and see if that helps.
 
Update on the temp issues:

It has been hot here lately 31C or 89F!

This is actually a good thing for my tank. As long as it is hot outside my A/C runs which keeps the basement very cool. My tank is rock solid at 82. It is when the temp is around 18C (64F) outside that I have problems. At that temp the A/C is not generally running, the main floor of the house is fairly cool, but the basement is not cold. Then the tank's temp will rise to about 84. Interestingly the lighting doesn't seem to factor in to the heat issues at all. Basically the problem in the summer is that when the a/c is not running the tank does not evaporate enough to keep the temp down because of the increase in humidity (55%). In the winter it will be the same temp in the house but with the lower humidity (35%) the tank evaporates enough to keep cool.

BTW I have a dehumidifier running 24/7 in the basement.
 
littlesilvermax said:
Update on the temp issues:

It has been hot here lately 31C or 89F!

This is actually a good thing for my tank. As long as it is hot outside my A/C runs which keeps the basement very cool. My tank is rock solid at 82. It is when the temp is around 18C (64F) outside that I have problems. At that temp the A/C is not generally running, the main floor of the house is fairly cool, but the basement is not cold. Then the tank's temp will rise to about 84. Interestingly the lighting doesn't seem to factor in to the heat issues at all. Basically the problem in the summer is that when the a/c is not running the tank does not evaporate enough to keep the temp down because of the increase in humidity (55%). In the winter it will be the same temp in the house but with the lower humidity (35%) the tank evaporates enough to keep cool.

BTW I have a dehumidifier running 24/7 in the basement.

Hey Ben,

Glad to hear the heat has been helping keep the tank stable (seems almost wrong to say that, but whatever works :) ).

Since I haven't gotten my fish room running yet and you're in the same climate to be able to comment, do you think it would be a good idea for me to put a couple vents in my fish room to outside? I was thinking one to bring in fresh air from outside, and another to exhaust air from the fish room.

On days when it's hot outside, I imagine I'd have to shut the fresh air intake.. :)

Tyler
 
tgunn said:
Since I haven't gotten my fish room running yet and you're in the same climate to be able to comment, do you think it would be a good idea for me to put a couple vents in my fish room to outside? I was thinking one to bring in fresh air from outside, and another to exhaust air from the fish room.

On days when it's hot outside, I imagine I'd have to shut the fresh air intake.. :)

Tyler

I would put in a vent that you can seal off in the winter time to evacuate air and bring in fresh air. I think that that is a great idea. It will likely take a fair bit of work though to have it sealed properly w/o condensation issues in the winter.

I would love to have a vent system for use in the spring and fall when it is nice outside but thet tank is heating the house too much. Obviously in the heat of summer you would want it sealed off as well.
 
littlesilvermax said:
I would put in a vent that you can seal off in the winter time to evacuate air and bring in fresh air. I think that that is a great idea. It will likely take a fair bit of work though to have it sealed properly w/o condensation issues in the winter.

I would love to have a vent system for use in the spring and fall when it is nice outside but thet tank is heating the house too much. Obviously in the heat of summer you would want it sealed off as well.

I'm just lucky that there's a gap between my foundation and the floor above so I can pass things through to the outside easily (no drilling through concrete required)..

I'd use PVC for the vent pipes and throw a ball valve in but the 3" and 4" ball valves are quite pricey.

Hmm, yes, providing a decent seal on something like this could prove to be challenging to say the least. I'll have to put some thought into the best way to do that.

Later,
Tyler
 
tgunn while I think you are working on a good idea, keep in mind that your tank will put off a lot less heat then mine. Although you know as well as I do that the upgrade will bite before this tank is completely done.;)
 
littlesilvermax said:
tgunn while I think you are working on a good idea, keep in mind that your tank will put off a lot less heat then mine. Although you know as well as I do that the upgrade will bite before this tank is completely done.;)

True enough, I realize I'll be running fewer pumps and my lighting won't be quite so demanding. However, I figure I might as well install the vents now because once the fish room is setup it'll be a major pain. Pulling the insulation out of the spaces where I'd have kicks up some major dust and what not. Probably not something I want in the sump. :) Besides, I have a feeling one day down the road I may end up giving halides a try (I have to admit, the glitter lines add that extra something to the tank)...

And you're right, I'll probably want to upgrade one of these days. :lol:

Tyler
 
Next problem. My green slimer has a very fast growing acro crab in it. The coral was doing well, now it is slowly being eaten by somebody. I have never seen a fish pick at it, but I kinda suspect the crab. The crab just stays in the same spot all day long. Is it possible that the crab eats the polyps at night? About 10% of the corals tissue is missing.
 
If your tank is cool when the AC runs, but not when the rest of the house is cool, try just running the AC fan only. This will cycle the air through the house so that your room temps will equalize.
Just a thought...
 
H20ENG said:
If your tank is cool when the AC runs, but not when the rest of the house is cool, try just running the AC fan only. This will cycle the air through the house so that your room temps will equalize.
Just a thought...

That is a good idea, it works a little, but not much.

I am going to get another fan for my sump this weekend and see what happens then.
 
I am attacking my heat problem from 3 different ways:

1. I bought 100 feet of 1/4 OD RO tubing. I got it for around $7 US. Real cheap. I am using this as a poor man's chiller. I ran about 80 feet of it in my sump to help cool off the water. It seemed to work right away, the temp dropped to 80! Also, as a side benefit my RO is now being fed with warm water, therefore it is much more efficient. I also do not get any condensation forming on the outside of my RO unit or the tubing, only on the tube leading to my sump.
When I feel the lines there is a marked temp difference between the input line to the sump and the output line from the sump.
Thanks goes to Jayson at Salt Water Connection for the idea.:)
 
2. I bought another computer fan. My other computer fans are 4 inch fans that push about 100cfm. This new one is a 6 inch that pushes about 230!:D It cost about $40 US. It is a 110 - 120 Volt unit that uses about 45 watts. I have no idea who would use this in their computer!:confused:
I have yet to hook it up.
 
3. I bought a 5 inch duct fan. It installs in a 5 inch tin duct. I am going to use this in the HRV duct that is in my fish room to boost its flow. The fan is rated at 230 cfm! Now I should be able to evacuate more moisture rich air from the fish room.

This duct is designed to go in normal house ductwork to help the furnace or a/c unit supply air to rooms that are farther away from the fan.
 
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