Active Carbon and SPS isues

S

StarF

New member
Hi

I ben having some isues with my sps, and i cant locate the problem. I think i got an idea but i am unsure if this is the cause.

My sps acropora mostly, slowly stn from the base and up. Also they lose their color, and look pale. I ben running with around 500 gram of active carbon, in a filter (deltec 509f) usaing a feeding pump that gives around 800L/h. This is exchanged every month. Can this be the isue ? i am unsure if this is a overdose? i got around 650L of water.

I heard that if you use active carbon passive then you need 100gram per 100l, and if you run it active you need half that.

So is this my isue or do i need to look else where?

no3 = 1-2ppm
kh 8
ca 440
mg 1300-1400
po4 0.0 (rowa kit)
 
I've never heard of a carbon overload. Its generally pretty bullet proof safe. What type of flow do you have in the tank? lighting? I would look elsewhere for the problem here. Have you looked for red bugs?
 
no redbugs as far i can tell, no flatworms either.

flow 4x tunze 6025 (modifyed for more flow)
2x vortex mh40

lightning ati powermodule 8x54w
 
Last edited:
Buy a Salifert Iodine test !

For sure your Iodine will show ZERO ... you are going to be surprised.

After testing start Iodine dosing, water changes will not be enough to replace Iodine removed by cabon.

Keep us posted.
 
Never thought about Iodine myself, do that the isues i am curently having? sadley none of the online places i got access to sell the testset. Just ordered a bottle though.
 
I have had issues similiar to this. I checked for bugs and saw nothing, but a friend urged me to dip them and see what came off. So I did, and to my suprise, bugs. The damn things are hard to see, especially if you are not sure what you are looking for. No idea where they came from, but have not had issues since and everything is doing good.
 
I agree the suggestion that you should do a simple Lugol's dip and see what falls out. You can't always see these buggers and they work at the base and up on the corals. Carbon is not the source of the problem, nor is flow. You have a nutrient or disease problem based on reading your description of the conundrum.

I went through a similar deal and lo and behold, red bugs. Nice thing though, red bugs are fairly easy to be rid of.

Take a dip and see!
 
jtdesotel said:
I have had issues similiar to this. I checked for bugs and saw nothing, but a friend urged me to dip them and see what came off. So I did, and to my suprise, bugs. The damn things are hard to see, especially if you are not sure what you are looking for. No idea where they came from, but have not had issues since and everything is doing good.
Click to expand...

What did you dip them in?
 
I used a dilute tank water and Lugol's solution. Not good for eradication, but good enough for diagnosis.

Dipped in a glass bowl for like ten minutes, shook the colony around in the water and then inspected. The bad news was in the bottom of the bowl.
 
I think you might be nutrient poor, maybe some photos to help show what your corals look like. Are there any healthy corals in the aquarium or are they all effected?
 
I will try and dip one of the affected ones in CoralCure later today. How ever i am pretty sure i did that twise to check, but can always try again.

Well some of them are growing ok, i just got a few new ones, and they still look ok. But usaly they last a month, and then start to show the signs i wrote before.

started to dose some iodine, had some of it laying around i never used, to might aswell try that.
 
Iodine overdose is toxic ! test it.

activated carbon can not cause such Issues. it just removes organics and some trace elements.

how stable are the KH, salinity, calcium and ... ?

The comment about using half the carbon is cause it will make your water very clear, and the corals might be shocked by the more intensive lighting.
 
i know it is, i aint overdoing it. KH is stable more or less i am still trying to get my reactor to be just right, but i am getting there. salinity is stable, everything is hooked up to a ghl computer.

i have always used carbon, i know people on the zeovit forum will say a overdose of carbon would be bad.

dipping the coral now, taking a picture of the one affected the worst. 15 min and i will update.
 
It could simply be lack of light or flow to the coral. If you feel that's not the case and all corals are losing color then it would lead me to think it's a water quality issue. Is the tank mature?
 
Define mature? all the corals (acropora) are showing signs.. I am running Zeovit, and the tank was restarted in dec. I am atm giving another of my acroporas a bath, just to see if there is anything on it.
 
Hmm what zeovit additives are you using and how much right now? Restarted from dry? Do your rocks have and algea on them coraline or other forms?

Mature is 12+ months IMO
 
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