Green Star Polyps Slowly Dying

[ddolinoy]

I'm brand new to this forum. I hope you can help me.
I've had my reef tank for over 5 years. Here's what I have:
65 gallon tank
AquaClear 110 filter containing a bag of carbon and a foam filter
Hang on the back skimmer with a Poly-Filter (for the tap water)
AquaClear 50 power head
Coralife 34 inch light fixture containing a 96 watt actinic and a 96 watt 10,000K bulb.
A lot of live rock.
I do a 10 gallon water change every month using tap water and a 2 tsp AmQuel and 1/4 tsp Kent Marine ph buffer
I add 2 tsp Kent Marine Tech CD and Iodide every 3 days

For the first three years my mushroom anemones and my green star polyps thrived. I actually started cutting off pieces of the green star polyps and selling them to the local pet store. I thought, "This is easy!"
Then, one problem after another...
First, while I went on vacation during 7/2010 my tank temperature reached about 87F. The mushroom anemones shrank to 10% of thier original size and the green star polyps disintegrated. I cleaned up the mess and asked the local pet store for two of my polyp frags back. I also took the opportunity to split some of my live rock up into smaller pieces.
The mushroom anemones recovered fine and I expected the polyps to do the same, but they never did grow; they just slowly died. I still have one frag left, but it's looking bad. The mushroom anemones are still doing great.
Something obviously changed, but I don't know what.
I've also have trouble with greeen hair algea and red slime algea.
I used Chemiclean red slime remover which seems to do the trick.
I tried Algaefix, but that didn't seem to do much.
I even bought a Foxface tang to eat my algea, but it died after a week, which poisoned my tank and took two more fish with it.
I only have one small fish left.
Lately, I've been doing my water changes every week.
I had my water tested at the pet store in case my test kit was old, but he said everything was fine.
I don't expect my tank to be great since I'm using tap water and minimal equipment. I'd just like it to be the way it used to be when the green star polyp had covered over one third of my tank.
Here are some areas I suspect:
1. Could old bulbs be causing this?
2. Could my breaking of my live rock into smaller pieces have released something harmful?
3. I haven't had a chance to read up on cutting frags on this forum yet. My frags were never attached to a rock. They ended up like tubes before I cut them off. I tried tying them to a rock, but they never attached. Algea seems to have grown inside the frag tubes.
I wrote enough!
I'd appreciate any help you can provide.
Dave

 

[agruetz]

First thing everyone is going to want to know is what are the water parameters. Second tap water could have changed more chlorine or who knows. I only use Distilled or RO/DI water. I know T5 bulb's need to be changed yearly to maintain the correct out put. First things first the tank water parameters are going to be needed, second pictures might help.

 

[jeff@zina.com]

Also, way too many possible variables here. You have an algae problem, you have fish die, your GSP is doing badly...

Start with a basic look at what you have. If lights haven't been changed in a year, it's time. Do a water change. Several of them. Start using RO/DI water. Check and post all parameters.

Jeff

 

[ddolinoy]

I agree; way too many variables.
I was just trying to give the whole picture.
As far as the fish dying, I don't think the tank conditions killed it since I already had three fish in the tank for several years and they were healthy.
More parameters:
Phosphate < .2 ppm
Nitrate < 5 ppm
ph = 8.3
specific gravity 1.025 (see below)
When I had my water tested recently by the pet store the guy said everything looked good except that the specific gravity=1.030 using an interferometer(?). My cheap plastic meter was saying 1.024. I made a 10% water change with no salt and brought it down .005. I've been making weekly water changes for over a month now.
I've been told twice in two replies to replace my bulbs. The actinic is fairly new, but the 10,000K is ancient. I was waiting for it to burn out like my house lights! :worried: I guess I just learned something. Could the old 10,000K light be responsible for the algea (red and green) and my green star polyps dying? Regardless, I will take your advice and replace it ASAP.
Thank you for you help!
Dave

 

[logan 12]

I know T5 bulb's need to be changed yearly to maintain the correct out put.

Disagree, I have ran T5's for 3 years without changing bulbs. Of course it is best to change them yearly but don't jump to conclusions on that you must change them out yearly it is just not true.

I would consider replacing the bulbs with a better T5, from my experience ATI's have worked best for me. And no you can not wait for your bulbs to burn out like house bulbs then replace them. LOL

 

[pdmckinn78]

I had a similar problem with star polyps. My tank was healthy, great growth on my corals, but the star polyps took nearly 6 months to begin attaching to thte rock I had them on, and then after a brief spurt of growth, they slowly disintegrated. I'll never keep them again. I've had better luck with Xenia than with star polyps.

 

[ddolinoy]

I'm embarrassed to admit that I think the old bulbs are a big part of the problem. I was warned about them, but I didn't want to consider it since they cost so much. The bulbs loose their intensity so gradually that I forgot how bright they should be. I checked my records and my 10,000K bulb is over 4 years old. I took a photo of the old and new bulbs next to each other while on. The old one is on the left! What a difference!

Now that I think about it, that is how my tank used to look years ago.
I guess I'm going to have to find a better place to purchase these bulbs if I'm going to be replacing them every year. Any suggestions? Could the old bulb have caused my algea and green star polyp problem? What threw me off was that my mushroom anemones are doing great.
I currently have my actinic on from 8AM-7PM and my 10,000K on from 9AM-6PM. Is that enough?
Thanks again for your help.
Dave