lukinrats
Premium Member
Hi, I Wanted to see if I can get some help on a problem ID. This is a long post, but it is just so that I can explain everything that I have done. I have taken a lot of steps already
This problem started a little while back and I started a thread here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1827296
Since these problems I fragged a piece from the LITS and it is doing ok. I also fragged the other acros bad tips and it may make a recovery. It has some dead spots on it but they are not growing algae. The other porites coral is pretty much dead except for the center. I am keeping an eye on it.
I have also had some problems with a couple of montis losing PE in spots. Not on the whole coral but spots. The spots do not show signs of being dead, but just keeping polyps retracted. They are starting to get better now though. Here is what I was seeing
Also I have a green slimer that has always been very healthy and all of the sudden it had some bad ends on it. It was looking very healthy otherwise and even had its polyps out on the dead ends.
Last night though I notice that it has started to show signs of having a problem all over the coral. All other acros look fine. Here is a picture from when it first started with the slimer.
Ok so now that I have explained all of the issues, and what they look like. Let me explain all of the steps I have taken
When I first started having the problems it was after a drop in alkalinity. It got down to about 6 or maybe a bit lower before I caught it. This was at least a month and a half ago. However, I raised the alkalinity back to around 8 and it has not dropped below 7 since then.
I did what Gcarroll told me and raised the KH to around 9.5 but I did not get time to see if it resolved the issue because I had a huge precipitation in the tank because of it. That is why it is now around 8
I decided that my RoDi was a little bit overdue for new filters so I changed the filters, and then made 55new gallons.
Over the next couple of weeks I did a 20 gallon + 3 x 35 gallon water changes.
I put a fresh reactor of carbon up, and changed weekly for 2 weeks and then I have had it running 24/7 since, and have gone back to changing it every 2 weeks again
All of this did not seem to be helping, so I decided that it could be lighting. The spots on the montis that were looking odd are sort of in the shade, so I figured that any amount of drop in PAR could have been too much. Also the slimer is in a lower part of the tank, although it has always done well there
So I ordered all new bulbs, and changed them out. Then I started my photoperiod at 2 hours for the first 2 days of new bulbs, ramped it up an hour each day for the next 3 days. Over the next 3 days, I slowly added a couple of hours each day
So now I have had the new lighting up for about 1.5 weeks
The slimer now looks worse after the lighting change than it did before
I am pretty much out of ideas here. Here are the things that I plan to do.
#1. stop my GFO
#2. Stop my Kalk top off ( my CA is around 490 or 500, but has always been there. Figured I would let it come down some, just to be sure)
#3. keep changing massive amounts of water
#4. Check for some sort of excessive stray voltage (even though I run a grounding probe)
Those are all I can think of, and here are my params
Ca = 500
KH = 7.5-8.5
Mag = was around 1350 a couple of weeks ago
NO3 = not measureable with Elos
PO4 = .01 on hanna photometer (it measures .01 even coming straight from the GFO canister, so I assume that .01 is actually .00 seeing as how the hanna has a +/- .04 accuracy)( I have also ordered a brand new set of reagents to be sure)
K+ = I lost the color card from my potassium kit, but when I do the test, the solution is so cloudy that I cant even see bright red thru it. Also can hardly see an LED light shining thru it
PH = It is always around 8.3 because of the limewater
I cant think of anything else, other than the fact that I have a pretty good collection of Aptaisia that I am trying to get rid of. I added some peppermint shrimp, a copperbanded butterfly.
The only other things that I can think of from around the time this all started are these.
#1. I added about 50 astrea snails to the tank from Reefs2go.com
#2. I changed the only 3000k bulb in my T5 assortment, over to a 12,000k bulb. This was a day or 2 before all the problems started. Since then, I put another bulb back in there that is around 7500k or so.
I have had such a good run with my tank, and cant imagine what is happening here. HELP! LOL!
Nathan
This problem started a little while back and I started a thread here:
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1827296
Since these problems I fragged a piece from the LITS and it is doing ok. I also fragged the other acros bad tips and it may make a recovery. It has some dead spots on it but they are not growing algae. The other porites coral is pretty much dead except for the center. I am keeping an eye on it.
I have also had some problems with a couple of montis losing PE in spots. Not on the whole coral but spots. The spots do not show signs of being dead, but just keeping polyps retracted. They are starting to get better now though. Here is what I was seeing
Also I have a green slimer that has always been very healthy and all of the sudden it had some bad ends on it. It was looking very healthy otherwise and even had its polyps out on the dead ends.
Last night though I notice that it has started to show signs of having a problem all over the coral. All other acros look fine. Here is a picture from when it first started with the slimer.
Ok so now that I have explained all of the issues, and what they look like. Let me explain all of the steps I have taken
When I first started having the problems it was after a drop in alkalinity. It got down to about 6 or maybe a bit lower before I caught it. This was at least a month and a half ago. However, I raised the alkalinity back to around 8 and it has not dropped below 7 since then.
I did what Gcarroll told me and raised the KH to around 9.5 but I did not get time to see if it resolved the issue because I had a huge precipitation in the tank because of it. That is why it is now around 8
I decided that my RoDi was a little bit overdue for new filters so I changed the filters, and then made 55new gallons.
Over the next couple of weeks I did a 20 gallon + 3 x 35 gallon water changes.
I put a fresh reactor of carbon up, and changed weekly for 2 weeks and then I have had it running 24/7 since, and have gone back to changing it every 2 weeks again
All of this did not seem to be helping, so I decided that it could be lighting. The spots on the montis that were looking odd are sort of in the shade, so I figured that any amount of drop in PAR could have been too much. Also the slimer is in a lower part of the tank, although it has always done well there
So I ordered all new bulbs, and changed them out. Then I started my photoperiod at 2 hours for the first 2 days of new bulbs, ramped it up an hour each day for the next 3 days. Over the next 3 days, I slowly added a couple of hours each day
So now I have had the new lighting up for about 1.5 weeks
The slimer now looks worse after the lighting change than it did before
I am pretty much out of ideas here. Here are the things that I plan to do.
#1. stop my GFO
#2. Stop my Kalk top off ( my CA is around 490 or 500, but has always been there. Figured I would let it come down some, just to be sure)
#3. keep changing massive amounts of water
#4. Check for some sort of excessive stray voltage (even though I run a grounding probe)
Those are all I can think of, and here are my params
Ca = 500
KH = 7.5-8.5
Mag = was around 1350 a couple of weeks ago
NO3 = not measureable with Elos
PO4 = .01 on hanna photometer (it measures .01 even coming straight from the GFO canister, so I assume that .01 is actually .00 seeing as how the hanna has a +/- .04 accuracy)( I have also ordered a brand new set of reagents to be sure)
K+ = I lost the color card from my potassium kit, but when I do the test, the solution is so cloudy that I cant even see bright red thru it. Also can hardly see an LED light shining thru it
PH = It is always around 8.3 because of the limewater
I cant think of anything else, other than the fact that I have a pretty good collection of Aptaisia that I am trying to get rid of. I added some peppermint shrimp, a copperbanded butterfly.
The only other things that I can think of from around the time this all started are these.
#1. I added about 50 astrea snails to the tank from Reefs2go.com
#2. I changed the only 3000k bulb in my T5 assortment, over to a 12,000k bulb. This was a day or 2 before all the problems started. Since then, I put another bulb back in there that is around 7500k or so.
I have had such a good run with my tank, and cant imagine what is happening here. HELP! LOL!
Nathan
