700 gallon tank, or how i spent my daughters inheritance

[Arthurjc]

i am more worried about the giant bristleworms in the display tank.

the crab is back in the first bin of the sumps. there is little likelyhood of it making its's way into the next bin and impossible to get to the display tank.

i wonder how big they can get. i will have to ask Ron Shimek.

Carl

Holy crap that's huge! lol

 

[matt & pam]

What material are you using for the ATS screen? Source?

 

[frontosa14]

if only these were as easy to kill as corals. they are still proliferating all over the tank. i think Ron Shimek says they are a type of colonial stage of a jellyfish.

They are stinging hydroids of the genus Myrionema. Wherever possible, use snips or bone cutters to cut away as much of the colony as possible and then treat the area with kalk paste or carbonate buffer.

Good luck and I hope you're feeling better.

 

[Reefski's]

what are you going to do then just clean it up and keep an eye on it?
how bad did it eat into the plastic base?

i just put the NaOH in a bucket so it can't leak on the floor any more. then just keep an eye on it. if it did break and spill water it would be a catastrophe.

all the part you see eaten is part of the containerm but only the feet. that is all that got damaged. the actual bottom of the water holding part is a few inches off the ground and seems intact.

the ATS screen is rather flimsy plastic with holes in in. hard to see and i don't have any better pictures right now.

i did a big clean of the screen last weekend. PO4 yesterday was 0.19 so i used 20 ml of LaCl in the system to bring it down some.

 

[Reefski's]

They are stinging hydroids of the genus Myrionema. Wherever possible, use snips or bone cutters to cut away as much of the colony as possible and then treat the area with kalk paste or carbonate buffer.

Good luck and I hope you're feeling better.

i think i may take out a couple of the rocks. and cover the rest over time with kalk paste in epoxy.

i am not sure about using snips in the tank. i don't think i could get a clean removal.

 

[ourmanflint]

Wow.. what a read. Well done on getting everything sorted out. Butterflyfish like C. falcula will definitely eat your hydroids/nausithoe but may take a few nips elsewhere too.

 

[Reefski's]

sounds interesting but i think i have too many other things in the tank that they may like to eat that i wouldn't want them to eat.

not sure everything is sorted out but i think/hope i am on the right track. i got a couple of acro frags from a friend that didn't make it over the last few weeks. they were in the refugium in the garage and maybe they were affected by all the chemicals put off by the 15 anemones in the tank and the flow isn't very strong in that tank. the new LPS corals in the DT are doing fine.

Carl

 

[fishcatdog66]

So.you are probably having a well deserved vacation over Christmas and New Years?Still really diggin your set up.Just checkin in.

 

[Reefski's]

update- continuing problems

update- continuing problems

thanks all for your input.

the frags from my friend did not make it.

check out this thread for some more info from Eric et al.
http://forum.marinedepot.com/Topic105362-9-2.aspx?Update=1


Eric Borneman's sysnopsis below.

"There doesn't have to be one smoking gun here. Concrete blocks, mold, paint, rubber dust, some old chrome-plating, some residual effects from NSW, dominance and growth of hydroids and brittle stars outcompeting new species, earlier input water issues now corrected. But, it does need to be pretty significant since there is also so much right about the tank that far exceeds the poor designs of many systems that lack these chronic problems."

Eric thank you for the great synopsis.

i have been thinking a lot about all this of course. i was at a friends house recently who was breaking his tank down after a few years. really nice sps tank. he has a small maintenance business and is devoting all his time to his customers tanks and won't have a display tank of his own anymore. just some holding tanks for clients stuff.

he told me his tank has been neglected for months now. didn't know the calcium levels or pH or other parameters, no water change in months, yet his tank was thriving. kind of depressing for me. he gave me a few pieces a couple months back that have since died in my system.

i have been thinking a lot also about the contamination/toxin idea since Jaki was here and noticed a smell in the surge closet. when i connected the surges back in April, and changed out a portion of the sand bed the problems got worse. Monti caps and many LPS corals went downhill and died.

in the closet i used a roofing deck coating product that is rolled on with a brush. the closet has been kept closed. this coating was applied about a year before the surges were installed. however there is still a smell. so outgassing?

you can see a bit in the vertical surface below the bottom tank. there is 25-30 square feet of this material in the closet.

perhaps this is why there are no pods or other crustaceans in the system anymore, esp the surge tanks in the closet. i did see just yesterday a couple of the 1/4" or less little swimming pods in the garage refugium tank swimming in amongst the algae.

this tank is the farthest from the surge closet and only has a small input of new water flowing through it.

i have a couple friends coming by today to help with some tank work. i think i will turn off the surge and remove the rock from the one surge tank and put it in the sump.

there really aren't any corals in the tank that would really benefit from the surge right now anyway.

i have asked my supplier for the msds sheet on the product and i will also call the manufacturer next week.

ok, so that is one possible area to address.

however i have lost some more polyps on several corals recently. this latest loss has coincided with MgCl addition to the tank. i added 250 gm twice two days apart. within a day or two there was new tissue loss. the Acan lost the last 5 polyps from a once thriving colony that i had had for almost two years.
we suspected the MgCl in the past too. previously there were other things that needed correcting to as Eric said above.

with this recent loss i had not done a water change with ASW in about 6 weeks.

perhaps there is a high concentration of what ever is coming from the MgCl that is near the toxic level and pushed over the top with the two additions.

Mg levels are about 1420ppm.

here is the product i was using and have used for ever in this tank.

the label says 98%pure. i can't find info on the manufactures web site about the other ingredients. the MSDS is being revised. http://www.nasalt.com/msds.htm#

it just looks dirty.

so i guess i should undertake some more massive water changes.

what is a good source of MgCl in bulk?

 

[Elliott]

there has been some recent evidence that outgassing from the grey rubermaid trash cans, the type that most reefers use to do water changes, is toxic to our livestock, so it would not surprise me that outgassing may be occurring in your closet, bulk reef supply is a good source for MgCl and MgS04, however I don't think Mg is your issue, many reefers have posted that they have overdosed Mg, some above 2000 ppm without any noticeable side effects on livestock, my guess is you have a toxic chemical that is the culprit of your problem and I would simplify your system as much as possible, eliminating one thing at a time.

 

[Reefski's]

i don't think it is the magnesium chloride but rather a contaminant of the manufacturing process.

i have been eliminating things for months now. and making some progress i think. the tank looked much better a year ago.

i have a couple friends coming by to help for a bit with taking out some hydroid rocks.

Carl

 

[matt & pam]

I have experienced some negative effects when I used mag flakes to supplement my tank. I've since switched to BRS mag and haven't had any difficulties. When I first started using the MgCl2 flakes, I would raise my tank levels 200-250 over the course of a couple days. Then I would notice my monti's looking crappy. Have you tested for ammonia in the magnesium? It is one of the possible contaminants I've read about (the product I used tested negative for it). I wasn't using dow flakes though.

 

[kinlayan]

are any of the negative effects on the corals affecting any soft corals, or is it only the hard coral types that were affected?

 

[Reefski's]

the only soft corals i have are a few mushrooms, Zoanthids, Gorgonian, and Anthelia, i think. the mushrooms are rather contracted but never died. they have never grown much in any of my tanks.

the Anemones and clams are doing fine too.



Carl

 

[s2k]

Hi Carl - found your thread! Thanks for letting us stop by your place this past Saturday to check out your solar system and reef tank. It's such an awesome setup and hopefully it will recover quickly. I also really like your smaller Koi pond. It's unfortunate that you had to take down your 20k gallon setup.

 

[Reefski's]

thank you. the big pond was fun. it still makes me sad, and it is so quiet in the yard after years of running water.

Carl

the good old days last year.

 

[kinlayan]

I find it interesting that most of the corals suffering are those that build a skeleton, you say anemones and clams are fine, I would suspect the problem is
either a toxin in the skeleton building substance Calcium , magnesium etc or incorrect parameters - too high Phosphate etc

Could it be that the system is suffering due to a natural chemical warfare toxin produced by Caulerpa/algae or some other soft coral which is doing really well in your aquarium?Algae scrubber aquariums often seem to have trouble with Stony corals for some reason.

Just theories as i had similar issues that you had and only certain organisms besides my fish are thriving in my aquarium while others just dont seem to do well

 

[Reefski's]

the male Crosshatch Trigger is dead. i am very sad.

first off let me say i have had my pair of Crosshatch Triggers for about 18 months. they are my favorite fish. they are about 8-9". they were the last fish added to the tank.

lately, esp at the full moon time they had been courting i think. about dusk swimming around each other in circles for a couple of minutes. no spawning that i can see. that has happened at least the last 2-3 months.

last friday the male was digging/clearing a bigger hole near his usual resting spot but more out in the open. then he went missing until my daughter spotted him a little while ago farther into the rock work near his usual spot. only his tail could barely be seen.

i have not changed anything in my feeding regime or anything else. all the other fish including the female Cross Hatch are acting normally.

he had not left the cave for almost a week. wednesday night when we went to bed he was still in the cave. thursday morning i left early while still dark to go out of town. my daughter went to feed the fish and found him laying on the floor all dried up and stiff.

he was my favorite fish.

why? prior to the last week of hiding he was not acting any differently.

how long do Crosshatch Triggers normally live?

will the female now become a male?

the death of my favorite fish is sad but nothing compared to some news i got October 15th. my good friend John who has been invaluable in building my system was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. then it was already about the size of a loaf of bread. a death sentence for sure. he is trying chemo to slow the tumor growth. we don't know if it is working or not yet. they will reassess it in another month or so. he continues to lose weight and is getting weaker every day. i am surprised he is still doing as well as he is.

he was the main one to put all the plumbing together for the system. if something goes wrong i don't know what i will do. i designed it and he built it.

John also was instrumental in building the house. putting in all the doors and windows. installing the kitchen cabinets, and so much more.

happier days.

 

[Elliott]

sorry to read this, my condolences

 

[salty joe]

I'm also sorry to hear such sad news about your friend.