bit off more than I can chew

[chrispmcgill]

Well I just picked up a JBJ nanocube28G 3W LED set up from a guy that was taking it down. Although I have wanted a saltwater tank since I was a kid, this is my first setup and I am green to the hobby.

Here is what is in the fixture:
700mA 25W x 3W/14k daylight
700mA 4 x 3WATT/466nm
2X1W moonlights
89 WATTS

The good news is I got it for a steal of a price.

The bad news it the tank is a mess and been neglected for some time now. The rock and even some of the SPS is covered in a brown hair type algae. (The rocks were covered in detritus and he only had one cleaner shrimp for a CUC.) The water was very cloudy and had a lot of debris floating in the water. The guy didn't follow any type of regime for testing or dossing. The only thing he did constantly was feed the fish and he did that every day (From what I know, not necessarily a good thing). I was fully expecting the chemistry to have high nitrates/phosphates.

Now I am tasked with keep everything alive and attempting to identify exactly what I have.


I broke down the tank last Monday and setup a few hours later. The SPS in the tank looked OK before I moved everything. I have nosited of the past few days, the SPS has lost ALL of their color. From what I have read, it's probably being bleached. Some of the SPS I have been able to ID my self and some I have not.

This is where I am hoping to get some help.

No clue what this is.

unfortunately, this one does not appear to be doing too well. It has lost a lot of its purple spots.

I am not sure what this is either. This one appears to have been bleached out too.

I think this is some type of cap. It has been bleached out with too.

dont know what this is either. The tips are bright green

I think this is some type of Acro.

Not sure what this is. birds nest?

Not sure. This is looks great on one side and there is that brown hair algae on one side.

No clue, but my guess it is some type of LPS...just wanted to make sure its not SPS.

All of these pics were taken on Tuesday roughly 24 hours after the move.

This is what I have done to help the coals. (with my limited knowledge)

Added 3 turbos, 15 snails; 5 red/blue hermits. They have been getting to work too.

Been running a canister filter to help with a lot of the debris in the water. I do not plan on running once the water clears up.

Using a siphon hose to suck up as much debris and detritus off the rock as possible. Removing 5G a day doing this. So 5G fresh saltwater change a day.

He had a carbon bag and a sponge in the media basket that looked like it has not been changed in a long time. I removed the items and added some microalgae and poly floss. Ply floss gets replaced about 4-5 times a day.

The first day, I had all the loose corals setting on the sand bed. I have since made a temporary coral rack and moved them there.

Started with his lighting schedule (8 hours of the daylight) but it appeared to be bleaching everything. So i have reduced the daylight leds to 4 hours a day.


Is there anything else I need to do? Any help would be appreciated. I feel like I took on too much too soon.

as far as my levels, everything has been good. I have not been adding anything to the salt mixture. Not even sure what I would add at this point.

Today was:
PH 8.1
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
carbon 460
KH 10
temp 78
salinity 1.025

 

[TX..r33f]

Hi if your not running a skimmer get one ,and also run filter. You can blow some of the stuff of with the power head. You should also get a clean up crew. I also would cut back on the lights for a bit. You can dose the tank and also test for good perimeters. Dont feel bad you didnt make the corals like that, the seller did. Just try and if nothing works out you can chunk them when dead n start fresh

 

[JDT Reef]

Looks like the corals are really stressed from the move. If it's the same lights as before the move, I guess it could get bleached from the new clarity of the water with the all the water changes and running carbon. And the fact that the corals were moved to a different location in the tank with them getting more or less light, could also cause bleaching. Looks like some of your bleached SPS corals still have the polyps intact, so there's hope.

I would just keep any debris or slime from settling on the corals and just give it a couple of weeks without disturbing them any more. You may lose some. Watch your parameters as the tank may go through a mini-cycle.

Good luck and keep us posted.

 

[chrispmcgill]

Thanks for the notes. So basically I am doing all I can right now. I guess i just need to take a deep breath and keep on my regimen.

Is 430-460 carbon and 10 KH a good range? Or do I need to dose? I have the following:
Kent purple tech
Caribsea purple up
Kent PhytoPlex
Kent tech 1
Coral Vital "the reef life energizer"

does anyone have any ID's on any of them?

 

[tinkerman]

1 procilliapora
2 no idea
3 montipore cap
4 green Nepthea
5 not sure but looks nice
6 not sure
7 not sure
8 dendro LPS
If the leds are dimmable I would dim them if not may want to look into getting dimmable ballasts.

 

[jimrawr]

Those white SPS dont look bleached to me, they look dead. Can you see flesh on them or bone white?

 

[robs.mark]

They are not all dead, you can clearly see a couple sliming. I wouldn't dose anything, your alk and cal are good so I would guess you mag is somewhere near. I would try to raise the lighting fixture up by 6 inches and increase to photo period to 6 hours. Get a skimmer and run carbon. I would also do a series of water changes over the next couple of weeks, smaller ones about 5 percent every other day. You need to be keeping things stable. Once things start to improve then you can start dropping your lighting future down by an inch a week until you have it at required height.

Good luck, go slow!

 

[rogersb]

The last one is a duncan, not a dendro.

 

[Piper27]

Looks more like a pagota cup (spelling?)

 

[chrispmcgill]

look below

 

[chrispmcgill]

Looks like the corals are really stressed from the move. If it's the same lights as before the move, I guess it could get bleached from the new clarity of the water with the all the water changes and running carbon. And the fact that the corals were moved to a different location in the tank with them getting more or less light, could also cause bleaching. Looks like some of your bleached SPS corals still have the polyps intact, so there's hope.

I would just keep any debris or slime from settling on the corals and just give it a couple of weeks without disturbing them any more. You may lose some. Watch your parameters as the tank may go through a mini-cycle.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Yes it is the same light. Thanks for the note. Here are my parameters for today:
temp 77.9
Salinity 1.024
pH 7.9
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 5
KH 8
Ca 420

Those white SPS dont look bleached to me, they look dead. Can you see flesh on them or bone white?

With my limited knowledge, there appears to be flesh. I will try to take new pics this afternoon.

They are not all dead, you can clearly see a couple sliming. I wouldn't dose anything, your alk and cal are good so I would guess you mag is somewhere near. I would try to raise the lighting fixture up by 6 inches and increase to photo period to 6 hours. Get a skimmer and run carbon. I would also do a series of water changes over the next couple of weeks, smaller ones about 5 percent every other day. You need to be keeping things stable. Once things start to improve then you can start dropping your lighting future down by an inch a week until you have it at required height.

Good luck, go slow!

OK I will raise the fixture 6 in and increase the photo period to 6 hours. I have been doing 5G water changes daily...probably too much. I will move to 3G water changes every other day. Thanks for the note.

 

[chrispmcgill]

One week update

One week update

Here is the progress I have made so for. The tank went from being ultra cloudy and just dirty looking to something a little closer to what I hope to accomplish. Since doing the water changes, adding the polyfloss and carbon the tank looks quite a bit more clear. Not there yet, but a step in the right direction. I have removed the rack and put everything on the sand bed. This way they will not have as much PAR. Once they start looking better, I will begin to move things around to find them a home. Per some advise from the SPS board, I have raised by LED fixture to 6in off the water surface.

As far as the fish, the look GREAT!

today chemistry:
temp 77.9
Salinity 1.024
pH 7.9
NH3 0
NO2 0
NO3 5
KH 8
Ca 420


FTS. I can see the back wall now. Everything looks a little crowded right now but I plan on slowly moving things around once the SPS starts to get color/growth back. Far from finished product but getting there.

For some reason, my frogspawn didn't open up today. Lets hope it does.

This is the best pic I could get of my blue tip acro(not sure what it is). It looks a lot better in person and has regained its blue tips.

The two duncans look quite a bit better since last week.

This SPS is still hanging in there. Lets hope it continues to improve.

This green SPS is starting to look better too.

The Cap is still hanging in there

The birdsnest is starting to show more spots now.

This one still looks bad.

 

[chrispmcgill]

Looking a little better

the plate is looking better too

 

[chrispmcgill]

I guy from the nano forum told me this are all dead. He seems to know quite a bit about reefs but wanted to make sure before I start tossing things out. All the SPS in the pics.

 

[Met3112]

Yes all of the SPS in the pictures in the last post above (at least) are very dead. The spots that you see is just algae growing on the skeletons.

When the flesh loses all coloration its referred to as "bleaching". Bleaching usually happens from too much light too fast. In this case there is no flesh. RTN (Rapid Tissue Necrosis) is what happened here.

I would suggest that you keep soft corals, zoanthids and mushrooms only until you have more experience with keeping the water parameters more stable. SPS can be very difficult to keep even with lots of experience. Don't be discouraged though, we all have a box of dead corals!

 

[fishguy597]

I didnt see it and forgive me if I overlooked it but you are going to want to do the waterchanges with rodi water.

 

[franklypre]

I've seen tiny little polyps spawn new colonies from coral like this. Might not throw it out until you have to, if it gets covered in algae toss it.

 

[parkavenuereef]

I would look closely to that birdsnest... I looks like flat worms possibly on it.. either way, its done. The cap is done... i bet if you pull it out and smell it, its foul... I would chuck anything that looks white and has any algae on it.. I hade the same tank once... A good skimmer is very important! Those leathers on that small of a water volume along with sps could pose a big chemical warefar issue. Also, that maroon clown and angel shouldnt be in a nano... They need alot more space to live. just my .02 cents.

 

[chrispmcgill]

Yes all of the SPS in the pictures in the last post above (at least) are very dead. The spots that you see is just algae growing on the skeletons.



When the flesh loses all coloration its referred to as "bleaching". Bleaching usually happens from too much light too fast. In this case there is no flesh. RTN (Rapid Tissue Necrosis) is what happened here.

thanks for the info


I would suggest that you keep soft corals, zoanthids and mushrooms only until you have more experience with keeping the water parameters more stable. SPS can be very difficult to keep even with lots of experience. Don't be discouraged though, we all have a box of dead corals!

Ya I know.....Obviously I would have not went out a purchased a bunch of SPS. The only reason I have it is because it came with the tank. When I bought the tank, I new I didn't have enough experience quite yet. I can chock this one up as a learning experience and just keep moving forward. Thanks for the note.

I didnt see it and forgive me if I overlooked it but you are going to want to do the waterchanges with rodi water.

Yes I have been doing water changes with a new rodi system from BRS. TDS =0

I've seen tiny little polyps spawn new colonies from coral like this. Might not throw it out until you have to, if it gets covered in algae toss it.

If i choose to keep them in there and they are 100% dead, will it hurt anything else?

I would look closely to that birdsnest... I looks like flat worms possibly on it.. either way, its done. The cap is done... i bet if you pull it out and smell it, its foul... I would chuck anything that looks white and has any algae on it.. I hade the same tank once... A good skimmer is very important! Those leathers on that small of a water volume along with sps could pose a big chemical warefar issue. Also, that maroon clown and angel shouldnt be in a nano... They need alot more space to live. just my .02 cents.

OK I have a few questions here.

A lot of the dead SPS is attached to large pieces of rock and it will be a challenge to remove. Is it pivotal to remove all dead SPS? Will it hurt everything else some (only the parts I cant remove) is left in there?

With regards to the 3 SPS that still have color, should I move them completely away from the lps? I have all three pieces on the sandbed as I am scared of bleaching them too. Will this cause a chemical warfare? I can take pictures of the 3 tomorrow and post them here.

The maroon clown and was apart of the livestock that came with the tank. You are the first to tell me this so I did some reading and it looks like the minimum for these guys is a 30G. I am setting at 28G. The guy told me he has had them in there for 2 years. Looks like I have a decision to make.

 

[dohc97]

you should not remove the dead sps yet, I had one colony that rtn'ed on me come back. The skeleton lost all flesh, looked like garbage covered in black algae and it still came back. My Friend convinced me to keep the dead looking skeleton and he was right, it is still not up to what it used to be but the come back is amazing. Give them at least a couple months to see if anything comes back, even if it gets covered in algae.

Jose