Curt2199
New member
Tank: 105 Gallon Acrylic Cube (36 x 30 x 22) with 29 Gallon Sump.
So about 3 weeks ago I added a new LED (Reefbreeders Photon 32) and mounted it my canopy probably 6" over the water after having removed the lenses to get more spread. (I set it on a daily routine with nightime moons at 3% blues and daily light from 5% ramping up to 30% for all channels at peak hours and back down. I ran it like that for a week and all my corals looked great and better than they had with T5s after only a week. Then I pulled all my fish out due to an ich problem I'd been having and moved them to a QT tank. In the process I pulled my 29 sump to fix a broke baffle and replaced it with a 10 gallon temporarily. Things were still doing fine at this point (2 weeks into new LED) with my LPS expanding larger than I'd ever seen and I added some SPS frags I picked up while working on the 29. I also pulled my Jebao WP40 pump at this time and the only circulation was from the returns as I had a WP25 on the way.
I fixed the 29G sump by adding and moving around the baffles and sealing them in place with the 3 hour rain ready 100% GE Silicone without the mold protection. I waited a couple days while it dried and then switched out the sumps. When I switched them out I also added the WP25 in (traded the wp40 for the wp25 with another reefer). This was about 4 days after having pulled the WP40. I made up about 20 gallons of new saltwater with regular Instant Ocean as I'd ran out of my Kent I normally used for the sump swap. I swapped everything out and dumped some more Kent Tech M in as I've been dealing with some bryopsis and trying to bring mag up. I didn't measure how much I dumped because the online cal told me I needed 96 oz to get to 1800ppm and I still have some left of my 64oz. I'm guessing I dumped in 8-12oz of tech m after shaking it up. I dumped it in one end of the sumped and it was enough to cloud the sump water a little where it went in.
The next morning after the changes I noticed my open brain not looking good and my blue carpet anemone closed up but didn't think much of it and went to work. I came home to find everything looking awful (frogspawn, torch, brain, candy canes, anemones (a GBTA split and both moved behind the rock), devils hand and keyna were deflated and lifeless and everything was sliming badly. All of my shrimp still in the tank appear fine 2 x peppermints, CBS, and Cleaner. Snails appear to have had some effect with some appearing dead and others "hibernating" or laying upside down and moving around a bit disoriented. A majority of the Zoas were closed up. Pod population is and has been off the charts the entire time with seeing them crawling on everything including my bleached monti plates. I've noticed a bubbly film developing in the return pump area of my sump as well.
I did an immediate 30 gallon water change with water I had ready and started making more water. I also removed my GFO which was somewhat old and pretty full of detritus and started carbon in the TLF 150 reactor. I also pulled my Sea Apple out (had been doing fine) but read that even their toxin was only harmful to vertebrates so ruled that out.
I checked all parameters at this point and here's what I got:
Temp has been 76-78 with Apex
PH has been 7.9-8.2 with Apex
Amm: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20ppm
Phosphates: 0.15ppm
Copper: 0 (tested just in case)
Mag: 1800ppm
Alk: 7.5dkh
Calcium: 420ppm
Things weren't improving although most of the Zoas had opened back up. The next day I did another 30+ gallon water change and tested some more.
Amm: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10ppm
Mag: 1200ppm
Alk: 7.5dkh
Calcium: 420ppm
After running carbon for 4-5 days I swapped it back for fresh GFO this past weekend to help bring down the phosphates however I've seen little positive progress in a week. At this point it appears I've lost all SPS (all are bleached). My Devils hand and kenyas are no longer laying completely over and are rising a little but still no polyp extension. My frogspawn still appear deflated and stringy. My GBTAs are still hidden and barely open, carpet is inflating but not nearly where it was and mouth is open a little. Brain is still sliming a little and deflated, bubble is not inflating many bubbles, some of the candy canes have melted away and others are deflated with tentacles partially exposed. Torch is barely inflated with a grayish look.
I don't know if it's a waiting game at this point or if there is still something that may be off. I can't find anything with parameters that would cause this. I haven't noticed stray voltage touching the tank but could stray voltage effect the corals like this? I know I added the WP25 at the same time so maybe I'll try using a multimeter tonight to test for stray voltage in the water. I know LEDs can do some damage if too strong but my corals seemed to improve in the 2 weeks I had the new LED on before this crash. I also dropped the max intensity to 20% after the crash to see if that helped. I'm really at a loss as to what to do now.
Pictures below of the damage:
Zoas appear mostly ok after initial water change (these are also fairly high in the tank in direct light)
Torch... little extension... deflated and grayed.
So about 3 weeks ago I added a new LED (Reefbreeders Photon 32) and mounted it my canopy probably 6" over the water after having removed the lenses to get more spread. (I set it on a daily routine with nightime moons at 3% blues and daily light from 5% ramping up to 30% for all channels at peak hours and back down. I ran it like that for a week and all my corals looked great and better than they had with T5s after only a week. Then I pulled all my fish out due to an ich problem I'd been having and moved them to a QT tank. In the process I pulled my 29 sump to fix a broke baffle and replaced it with a 10 gallon temporarily. Things were still doing fine at this point (2 weeks into new LED) with my LPS expanding larger than I'd ever seen and I added some SPS frags I picked up while working on the 29. I also pulled my Jebao WP40 pump at this time and the only circulation was from the returns as I had a WP25 on the way.
I fixed the 29G sump by adding and moving around the baffles and sealing them in place with the 3 hour rain ready 100% GE Silicone without the mold protection. I waited a couple days while it dried and then switched out the sumps. When I switched them out I also added the WP25 in (traded the wp40 for the wp25 with another reefer). This was about 4 days after having pulled the WP40. I made up about 20 gallons of new saltwater with regular Instant Ocean as I'd ran out of my Kent I normally used for the sump swap. I swapped everything out and dumped some more Kent Tech M in as I've been dealing with some bryopsis and trying to bring mag up. I didn't measure how much I dumped because the online cal told me I needed 96 oz to get to 1800ppm and I still have some left of my 64oz. I'm guessing I dumped in 8-12oz of tech m after shaking it up. I dumped it in one end of the sumped and it was enough to cloud the sump water a little where it went in.
The next morning after the changes I noticed my open brain not looking good and my blue carpet anemone closed up but didn't think much of it and went to work. I came home to find everything looking awful (frogspawn, torch, brain, candy canes, anemones (a GBTA split and both moved behind the rock), devils hand and keyna were deflated and lifeless and everything was sliming badly. All of my shrimp still in the tank appear fine 2 x peppermints, CBS, and Cleaner. Snails appear to have had some effect with some appearing dead and others "hibernating" or laying upside down and moving around a bit disoriented. A majority of the Zoas were closed up. Pod population is and has been off the charts the entire time with seeing them crawling on everything including my bleached monti plates. I've noticed a bubbly film developing in the return pump area of my sump as well.
I did an immediate 30 gallon water change with water I had ready and started making more water. I also removed my GFO which was somewhat old and pretty full of detritus and started carbon in the TLF 150 reactor. I also pulled my Sea Apple out (had been doing fine) but read that even their toxin was only harmful to vertebrates so ruled that out.
I checked all parameters at this point and here's what I got:
Temp has been 76-78 with Apex
PH has been 7.9-8.2 with Apex
Amm: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 20ppm
Phosphates: 0.15ppm
Copper: 0 (tested just in case)
Mag: 1800ppm
Alk: 7.5dkh
Calcium: 420ppm
Things weren't improving although most of the Zoas had opened back up. The next day I did another 30+ gallon water change and tested some more.
Amm: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 10ppm
Mag: 1200ppm
Alk: 7.5dkh
Calcium: 420ppm
After running carbon for 4-5 days I swapped it back for fresh GFO this past weekend to help bring down the phosphates however I've seen little positive progress in a week. At this point it appears I've lost all SPS (all are bleached). My Devils hand and kenyas are no longer laying completely over and are rising a little but still no polyp extension. My frogspawn still appear deflated and stringy. My GBTAs are still hidden and barely open, carpet is inflating but not nearly where it was and mouth is open a little. Brain is still sliming a little and deflated, bubble is not inflating many bubbles, some of the candy canes have melted away and others are deflated with tentacles partially exposed. Torch is barely inflated with a grayish look.
I don't know if it's a waiting game at this point or if there is still something that may be off. I can't find anything with parameters that would cause this. I haven't noticed stray voltage touching the tank but could stray voltage effect the corals like this? I know I added the WP25 at the same time so maybe I'll try using a multimeter tonight to test for stray voltage in the water. I know LEDs can do some damage if too strong but my corals seemed to improve in the 2 weeks I had the new LED on before this crash. I also dropped the max intensity to 20% after the crash to see if that helped. I'm really at a loss as to what to do now.
Pictures below of the damage:
Zoas appear mostly ok after initial water change (these are also fairly high in the tank in direct light)
Torch... little extension... deflated and grayed.
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