Lockhartia
New member
I am getting really frustrated and was hoping some folks could help/give advice. I upgraded from a 60 cube to an 80 shallow back in October. I reused everything except sand, which was new with a few cupfulls of the old sand thrown in to seed it. The cube was 24x24x24 with 10x24 watt T5HOs over it. The 80 is 48x24x18 with 7x54 watt T5HOs.
For the first few months, everything was doing fantastic in the new tank, great color, great PE, great everything. The tank is about a 50/50 SPS/LPS mix. The last two months all my acros have begun to fade and then STN from the base up. I've tried fragging, but it's not been that successful. Tests are as follows:
Calcium: 410
Alk: 7 dkh
pH: 8
salinity: 1.025
Ammonia/Nitrate/Nitrites: All 0
Phosphate: 0
Magnesium: 1400
I know the alk is on the "œlow" side, but it is stable, and stubbornly so! I cannot get it to move, and it has always been at this level for years with no ill effects. Many of the acro colonies I'm losing I have had for 2+ years, and almost all are ORA. I have tested the Alk with FOUR separate test kits to be sure the readings are accurate!
The other thing is that I am now getting this weird algae, so I know the phosphate reading of 0 is misleading because it's most likely bound up in the algae. It's similar to hair algae, but it's more brown than green, and a little sludgy feeling between my fingers. It's most heavily concentrated in the heaviest flow part of my tank, which is directly in front of an MP40. It's not spreading, which is bizarre.
I have never run carbon/gfo until very recently, well AFTER my troubles began, in an effort to try different things to locate the cause of the STN, which seems to be the opposite of everyone else. The carbon is only 3 weeks old. I also have tested for stray voltage and found none.
All saltwater and top off water is made with an RODI, and all filters were just replaced back in October before the tank swap, long before these current issues arose.
The lighting is an Aquactinics 7 bulb Constellation and bulbs were new in October. I acclimated the shallower tank over the course of about 5-6 weeks by slowly increasing photoperiod over that time. Nothing ever showed any signs of stress, bleaching, etc.
The odd thing about this is it's ONLY acropora species. I have a lot of montipora/pocillopora/stylophora and birdnests that are not affected at all. None of my LPS of any species are affected, and neither are any of my clams! I have 8 Maxima, 2 Crocea (both of which are over 5 years old) one squammy and one Derasa, and not one has shown any sort of stress, fading, gaping, etc.
The tank is primarily a goby tank. Inhabitants include: Green Clown Goby (have had for 5+ years, has never bothered anything), watchman goby, yasha goby, green banded goby pair, sharknose/yellow line/blue line/hybrid gobies from ORA, tiger gobies, diagonal banded prawn goby, aurora goby, wheeler's watchman goby, antenna goby/pistol shrimp pair, catalina goby and a red cap goby. Non gobies include a Christmas wrasse, generic red flasher wrasse, PJ Cardinal, blue eyed cardinal pair, black cardinal trio, yellow assessor, algae blenny and a small scopas tang. I have never seen any of these fish bother the corals in any way, and many I've had for years.
I have tried shutting the protein skimmer off for about a week after reading about the corals "œstarving" but that didn't affect the acros in any way (granted the LPS never looked better!). I would think if it were a glaring water quality issue, all things would show some sort of stress (especially the clams) but I have seen nothing other than in the acros. All corals are dipped prior to going in the tank, and I have sat there at night with a high powered flashlight looking for pests, of which I have found nothing. I don't add fish/coral often, and had not added anything that I can recall that corresponded with the start of these issues.
I'm just sick over losing these colonies, the most recent that has started to go being my Hawkins which I've grown from nothing to a small colony. The other kicker is all the corals have had fantastic PE during all of this.
Thanks in advance for any help/tips/tricks/advice you may have. I'm willing to try anything at this point! Excuse the novel!
For the first few months, everything was doing fantastic in the new tank, great color, great PE, great everything. The tank is about a 50/50 SPS/LPS mix. The last two months all my acros have begun to fade and then STN from the base up. I've tried fragging, but it's not been that successful. Tests are as follows:
Calcium: 410
Alk: 7 dkh
pH: 8
salinity: 1.025
Ammonia/Nitrate/Nitrites: All 0
Phosphate: 0
Magnesium: 1400
I know the alk is on the "œlow" side, but it is stable, and stubbornly so! I cannot get it to move, and it has always been at this level for years with no ill effects. Many of the acro colonies I'm losing I have had for 2+ years, and almost all are ORA. I have tested the Alk with FOUR separate test kits to be sure the readings are accurate!
The other thing is that I am now getting this weird algae, so I know the phosphate reading of 0 is misleading because it's most likely bound up in the algae. It's similar to hair algae, but it's more brown than green, and a little sludgy feeling between my fingers. It's most heavily concentrated in the heaviest flow part of my tank, which is directly in front of an MP40. It's not spreading, which is bizarre.
I have never run carbon/gfo until very recently, well AFTER my troubles began, in an effort to try different things to locate the cause of the STN, which seems to be the opposite of everyone else. The carbon is only 3 weeks old. I also have tested for stray voltage and found none.
All saltwater and top off water is made with an RODI, and all filters were just replaced back in October before the tank swap, long before these current issues arose.
The lighting is an Aquactinics 7 bulb Constellation and bulbs were new in October. I acclimated the shallower tank over the course of about 5-6 weeks by slowly increasing photoperiod over that time. Nothing ever showed any signs of stress, bleaching, etc.
The odd thing about this is it's ONLY acropora species. I have a lot of montipora/pocillopora/stylophora and birdnests that are not affected at all. None of my LPS of any species are affected, and neither are any of my clams! I have 8 Maxima, 2 Crocea (both of which are over 5 years old) one squammy and one Derasa, and not one has shown any sort of stress, fading, gaping, etc.
The tank is primarily a goby tank. Inhabitants include: Green Clown Goby (have had for 5+ years, has never bothered anything), watchman goby, yasha goby, green banded goby pair, sharknose/yellow line/blue line/hybrid gobies from ORA, tiger gobies, diagonal banded prawn goby, aurora goby, wheeler's watchman goby, antenna goby/pistol shrimp pair, catalina goby and a red cap goby. Non gobies include a Christmas wrasse, generic red flasher wrasse, PJ Cardinal, blue eyed cardinal pair, black cardinal trio, yellow assessor, algae blenny and a small scopas tang. I have never seen any of these fish bother the corals in any way, and many I've had for years.
I have tried shutting the protein skimmer off for about a week after reading about the corals "œstarving" but that didn't affect the acros in any way (granted the LPS never looked better!). I would think if it were a glaring water quality issue, all things would show some sort of stress (especially the clams) but I have seen nothing other than in the acros. All corals are dipped prior to going in the tank, and I have sat there at night with a high powered flashlight looking for pests, of which I have found nothing. I don't add fish/coral often, and had not added anything that I can recall that corresponded with the start of these issues.
I'm just sick over losing these colonies, the most recent that has started to go being my Hawkins which I've grown from nothing to a small colony. The other kicker is all the corals have had fantastic PE during all of this.
Thanks in advance for any help/tips/tricks/advice you may have. I'm willing to try anything at this point! Excuse the novel!
