Dying Stonies

[Philwd]

Oh man that looks so eeriliy familar. I am having nearly the exact problem. I also have AEFW but I know they are not the problem because montis are affected too. None of your corals exhibit classic FW bite marks. My green milli looks almost exactly like yours. My green slimer lost every tip down 2" every branch. When I took them out and put them in the frag tank they've all started recovering.

I really don't know what the problem is. I've checked for rusted metal, all params etc. My best guess is it's a combination. First I had really low Mg; 950 ish. Although I've read of experts being down in the 900's with no issues. I had a relatively small alk swing. My skimmer needed a really good cleaning and my Phosban had caked up. But my water stayed clear, little diatom growth on the glass and no growth on the tuffs of xenia. So I wasn't inclined to think nutrients even with the skimmer and Phosban. I also had no new additions.

I'm left with either a combination of all the above or something like a big sponge has died off and is slowly polluting the tank.

I think it has stabilized somewhat after placing a big sack of Chemi pure in the sump. I have some encrusted bases left from where I took out the acros and the bases are not showing the issues the corals did. My plan is to leave the tank without acros(for the AEFW) for a few months and do lots of big WC to hopefully flush/dilute whatever is causing the problem.

 

[cutegecko3]

they sent a water sample to a lab and found a high concentration of copper oxide.and yes once the problem was resolved the corals started growing again.the artice itsself was in an issue of coral magazine but i cant remember which issue.

 

[SENSIREEF]

Maybe that you have minimal biological, are you running any type of bacterial filtration, ZEo, Prodibio? Im fond of bare bottom tanks, but I know there success comes from these types of bacterial filtration methods. Could be your problem, like I said I am not an expert, I just read alot

 

[SENSIREEF]

I read that same article, or I have heard of magnets rusting and corroding out causing a tank decline..

 

[King-Kong]

No, I am not running any additional "bacterial filtration".

What would they offer that I appear to be lacking?

 

[cutegecko3]

since your system has been running good for years without any changes we can eliminate biological filtration and normal water parameters.that leaves a mechanical problem like contamination,stray voltage,or a recently introducd predator.

 

[twon8]

are you running any carbon? i would throw some carbon on and start doing daily water changes of 10-20%

 

[SENSIREEF]

Balance and stability, What does your feeding regiment entail. By not having sufficient bacteria in your tank could cause your levels to dip dramatically, couldn’t hurt to add some more cured live rock, or a RMDSB to provide some new bacteria, and surface area, your rocks are two years old. As long as your feeding is not out of control, im lost on as to why your having issues, you seem like you know what you are doing, especially running bear bottom. Just seems like your tank is lacking necessary beneficial bacteria, to create stability.

 

[SENSIREEF]

Since your system has been running good for years without any changes we can eliminate biological filtration and normal water parameters. that leaves a mechanical problem like contamination, stray voltage, or a recently introduced predator.

This comment is false, I have seen tanks take a decline, out of no where, due to biological or "lack of biological" failure. You could be fine for two-five years, and then something changes. Don’t know exactly what, each system varies, it just declines. Not saying directly this is the cause, but it has happened many times in the past. Daniel Knops system went down from a faulty contaminating pump; this could also be the cause. Your best bet is elimination of plausible causes.

#1 check all pumps and hardware, make sure there is no rust or any type of leakage, that may be contaminating the tank

#2 Electrical, good call on that one, check to make sure there are not low voltage currents in the tank.

#3 Predators.........

#4 Balance, and biological, add some new cured rocks, or RMDSB

 

[Canarygirl]

Kong, in the water testing that you had done, did the service provide to you a listing of safe/"normal" levels for salt water? Like how much copper is safe, how much molybdenum (sp), etc. To help identify if any of your minor elements are elevated?

 

[cutegecko3]

im reffering to the fact he is claiming 0 ammo. 0 nitrite and only 7 nitrate.if it were biological those would change.or so i thought.

 

[SENSIREEF]

Your right, in a perfect world..... What could be happening is he could be experiencing huge fluctuations, and at the time of his measurement, he may be getting these readings. I would like to see measurements setup at least twice a day, to measure his parameters, for a month period of time. To see really what is going on, there is not enough information or visuals to adequately support our conclusions, like I said, eliminate the cause one by one, to find out what the cause is. Try asking Anthony Calfo on Reek Frontiers, see if you can get some advice from him…

 

[cutegecko3]

something i just noticed from his original post is.its the corals in the highest amount of flow.could that eliminate electrical current?it does strengthen the possibility of contamination from a faulty powerhead or pump.

 

[King-Kong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10944363#post10944363 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by twon8
are you running any carbon? i would throw some carbon on and start doing daily water changes of 10-20%

I already tried running fresh carbon (black diamond) and fresh GFO about 5-6 weeks back. Nothing improved

Also at that time, I did a 3 25g water changes a few days apart. Nothing changed from that, either. Recession continued.

I'll keep the GFO running now since I do have elevated phosphates (.130)

 

[King-Kong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10944582#post10944582 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SENSIREEF
Since your system has been running good for years without any changes we can eliminate biological filtration and normal water parameters. that leaves a mechanical problem like contamination, stray voltage, or a recently introduced predator.

This comment is false, I have seen tanks take a decline, out of no where, due to biological or "lack of biological" failure. You could be fine for two-five years, and then something changes. Don’t know exactly what, each system varies, it just declines. Not saying directly this is the cause, but it has happened many times in the past. Daniel Knops system went down from a faulty contaminating pump; this could also be the cause. Your best bet is elimination of plausible causes.

#1 check all pumps and hardware, make sure there is no rust or any type of leakage, that may be contaminating the tank

#2 Electrical, good call on that one, check to make sure there are not low voltage currents in the tank.

#3 Predators.........

#4 Balance, and biological, add some new cured rocks, or RMDSB

I will go through my pumps. Right now I have 3 vortechs, 1 eheim 1262, and the two sicci pumps on my ATI BM250.

I will also re-add my grounding probe, but, I have no pumps in the display tank. No pumps which could leak electricity. I only use 3 vortechs for circulation (plus whatever my return pump does).

Where does the "adding new cured rocks" thinking come from? I heard Leonardo's Reef reference this and I wanted to dig up more about it.

 

[cutegecko3]

i had the exact same problem a while back.a coral slowly lost its tissue directly under the return flow from my refugium.i figured out it was hydrogen sulfide coming from the fuge.but that wouldnt be the case since you run a bb and im assuming no fuge with a dbs.but vortechs are the magnetic clamping powerheads arent they?i would look at them closely for rust etc.it even kind of scares me because i have a hydor koralia on order which is also magnetic.

 

[SENSIREEF]

Well, I don’t have any scientific or great explanation behind it, so if your looking for a calming answer and a scientific one, sorry to say that mine will be lacking. However, from my experience, I have seen when fresh "cured" live rock is added, you will introduce, new strands of "bacteria" and other organisms, which can aid, in your nutrient consumption break down and help balance out your tank. I recently added, 30lbs of fresh fiji, and I noticed a slight cycle, then huge boost in vitality and heath of my system. This is an experience don’t know if there is any actual experimentation or factual information on this, but it has helped me and tanks that I have serviced in the past.

 

[SENSIREEF]

Sorry to leave topic at hand but, how did you know it was Hydrogen Sulfide can you support your explanation. How did you measure that?

 

[cutegecko3]

with a handful of sand that smelled like rotten eggs.

 

[SENSIREEF]

Sounds like my mechanic; he smelt my transmission and told me that my transmission was bad; it smelt like tuna, he said that was the gaskets. It cost me 3000.00 for nothing, went to another shop and they said it wasn’t my gaskets but it was my bearings. "Can you come smell my tank"? I don’t know if that is the best means of diagnosis. Here is the definition of Hydrogen sulfide (hydrogen sulphide in British English) is the chemical compound with the formula H2S. This colorless, toxic and flammable gas is responsible for the foul odor of rotten eggs and flatulence. It often results from the bacterial break down of organic matter in the absence of oxygen, such as in swamps and sewers (anaerobic digestion). It also occurs in volcanic gases, natural gas and some well waters. The odor of H2S is commonly misattributed to elemental sulfur, which is in fact odorless.
That smells you smelled was a good smell, a smell of your DSB working, and working well. If you have “sulfur pockets” which is usually from a lack of disruption, from sand dwellers, it may have caused you a problem, however I don’t think it was your DSB that was causing your problems, hobbyist like to believe that a DSB is a quick fix, and if it goes wrong they automatically blame the DSB. I hate to break it to you but you are wrong, I’m just trying to help you out. It was not Hydrogen Sulfide or Sulfur, which was hurting your Acro’s, must have been something else. Maybe my mechanic?