JMLewis
Member
I apologize ahead of time for the long read
Ok so ive been doing hours and hours of research trying to find out what the heck is wrong with my tank and to no avail.
I have a predominately SPS tank. I recently (in November) upgraded from a 55g to a 100g RR tank. I used all my same live rock after thoroughly rinsing in freshly made SW. Purchased new coral rubble for "sand bed" which is roughly 1.5-2 inches deep. I dose roughly 85ml a day of BRS 2 part via dosing pumps. Ive ran GFO and GAC since day one via TLF reactors. Its powered by 2 250w Radium MHs.
PH - 8.05 - 8.3
CA - 410
Alk - 9.3
MG - 1380
Po4 - 0.0 according to Hanna Checker
Nitrate - Dont have a test kit.
So theres a lil info on the tank.
The tank was doing AMAZING, awesome color. Corals were growing at astonishing rates i was happy as could be.
Heres where the problem starts...
Around 2 months ago i decided since everything was so great id make a couple hour trip out to Vivid Aquariums in LA and get some great (expensive) frags that ive been wanting to get for a while now.
I purchased 6 or so frags, and a 2lb piece of live rock from there bin. It was pretty flat and sorta looked like concrete but had small shell impressions in various places so i though nothing of it. I brought it all home and i cut the LR into 3 pieces to make into "shelves" that i glued to each side of my overflow.
Later that night i noticed one of the frags i had just purchased that day that was perfectly healthy and encrusted onto the plug was suddenly half dead from the bottom up. I thought maybe i hand handled it wrong or something but the next morning 3 of the frags were all bare skeleton. So i immediately tested all my parameters and everything checked out.
Long story shorter...
Since then i have lost all of the corals that i purchased since the move in November. The ones that were older had gone through such bad water parameters from previous tank that they dont even look phased...
I took the rock out that i had bought from Vivid after about a week figuring that was the problem.
Since then my Montis are VERY slowly dying and now an old Tri Color Valida that ive had since the old tank as of a couple weeks ago has very slow tissue necrosis.
Pests are NOT the problem, at one point i did have red bug but since treating for that in December there has been zero sign of them. Ive turkey basted em all for AEFW but have seen none and no bite marks or eggs.
After talking to some people i had come to the conclusion that the LR i purchased had possibly been from a tank that was treated with copper. So a week ago i purchased a poly pad (which hasnt changed colors) and as of 2 days ago i started running Cuprisorb in a TLF reactor. Since i started running Cuprisorb my red Monti cap seems the most affected and is getting very pale. So i might stop running the stuff. I dont have a copper test kit ATM.
I did notice some white fuzz on a couple crevices of my power heads and on the shell of one of my snails a few days after problem started. It was definitely not a typical sponge, i have tons of sponges and seen tons of em and this wasnt it. They were mabey 1/4" in diameter and very bright white and dense. Nothing ive seen before.
Things ive done since problem started:
- Removed LR purchased from Vivid
- Replaced all RO/DI cartridges/resin
- 20g Water changes at least once a week with DD H2Ocean Salt mix
- 40g Water change last week
- Added Poly pad
- Running Cuprisorb in reactor
Things to note:
- Lighting is ran 9 hours a day
- Bulbs were purchased new in November
- The LR i purchased has been out of the tank for around 6 weeks.
- At first things died fast now there dying slowly.
- GFO and GAC ran since beginning.
Im gonna stop running the cuprisorb tonight because of the affect its had on my red monti cap.
I really just can not nail down the problem and at this point i believe its possibly some sort of chemical or bacterial infection. I thought i had it with thinking it was copper but since the poly pad has been in there for a week with no change in color im thinking thats not it.
Whatever help or insight you guys have would be greatly appreciated, again im sorry for the long read but im trying to be as descriptive as possible to help you help me.
Ok so ive been doing hours and hours of research trying to find out what the heck is wrong with my tank and to no avail.
I have a predominately SPS tank. I recently (in November) upgraded from a 55g to a 100g RR tank. I used all my same live rock after thoroughly rinsing in freshly made SW. Purchased new coral rubble for "sand bed" which is roughly 1.5-2 inches deep. I dose roughly 85ml a day of BRS 2 part via dosing pumps. Ive ran GFO and GAC since day one via TLF reactors. Its powered by 2 250w Radium MHs.
PH - 8.05 - 8.3
CA - 410
Alk - 9.3
MG - 1380
Po4 - 0.0 according to Hanna Checker
Nitrate - Dont have a test kit.
So theres a lil info on the tank.
The tank was doing AMAZING, awesome color. Corals were growing at astonishing rates i was happy as could be.
Heres where the problem starts...
Around 2 months ago i decided since everything was so great id make a couple hour trip out to Vivid Aquariums in LA and get some great (expensive) frags that ive been wanting to get for a while now.
I purchased 6 or so frags, and a 2lb piece of live rock from there bin. It was pretty flat and sorta looked like concrete but had small shell impressions in various places so i though nothing of it. I brought it all home and i cut the LR into 3 pieces to make into "shelves" that i glued to each side of my overflow.
Later that night i noticed one of the frags i had just purchased that day that was perfectly healthy and encrusted onto the plug was suddenly half dead from the bottom up. I thought maybe i hand handled it wrong or something but the next morning 3 of the frags were all bare skeleton. So i immediately tested all my parameters and everything checked out.
Long story shorter...
Since then i have lost all of the corals that i purchased since the move in November. The ones that were older had gone through such bad water parameters from previous tank that they dont even look phased...
I took the rock out that i had bought from Vivid after about a week figuring that was the problem.
Since then my Montis are VERY slowly dying and now an old Tri Color Valida that ive had since the old tank as of a couple weeks ago has very slow tissue necrosis.
Pests are NOT the problem, at one point i did have red bug but since treating for that in December there has been zero sign of them. Ive turkey basted em all for AEFW but have seen none and no bite marks or eggs.
After talking to some people i had come to the conclusion that the LR i purchased had possibly been from a tank that was treated with copper. So a week ago i purchased a poly pad (which hasnt changed colors) and as of 2 days ago i started running Cuprisorb in a TLF reactor. Since i started running Cuprisorb my red Monti cap seems the most affected and is getting very pale. So i might stop running the stuff. I dont have a copper test kit ATM.
I did notice some white fuzz on a couple crevices of my power heads and on the shell of one of my snails a few days after problem started. It was definitely not a typical sponge, i have tons of sponges and seen tons of em and this wasnt it. They were mabey 1/4" in diameter and very bright white and dense. Nothing ive seen before.
Things ive done since problem started:
- Removed LR purchased from Vivid
- Replaced all RO/DI cartridges/resin
- 20g Water changes at least once a week with DD H2Ocean Salt mix
- 40g Water change last week
- Added Poly pad
- Running Cuprisorb in reactor
Things to note:
- Lighting is ran 9 hours a day
- Bulbs were purchased new in November
- The LR i purchased has been out of the tank for around 6 weeks.
- At first things died fast now there dying slowly.
- GFO and GAC ran since beginning.
Im gonna stop running the cuprisorb tonight because of the affect its had on my red monti cap.
I really just can not nail down the problem and at this point i believe its possibly some sort of chemical or bacterial infection. I thought i had it with thinking it was copper but since the poly pad has been in there for a week with no change in color im thinking thats not it.
Whatever help or insight you guys have would be greatly appreciated, again im sorry for the long read but im trying to be as descriptive as possible to help you help me.
