Kong's Restored BB (90g)

[King-Kong]

Welp we are back from vacation..

Nothing seems to have changed in respect to the recession... it has frozen on most of the corals, still slightly going on a few, but no real re-growth yet.

The dispar's are out a lot more, and are eating larger and larger pieces.. theyve been awesome so far..

Here are a few pics from the diving we did in the Keys;

 

[mwoneal]

Awesome pics, I was in Key Largoe last week for a conference. Didn't get to do any diving, but the sea breeze sure is refreshing!

 

[King-Kong]

Well, no real update except to say I just sent out my water to be tested by Aquarium Water Testing .com

SPS are still dying..

Dispars are eating and are very active!

My Deresa spawned last night, which is the first time ive caught it do that EXCEPT when my clown stressed it so much it thought it was going to die!

 

[DrBegalke]

nice pics!

 

[King-Kong]

Thanks Dr.!
-------------------

Well, the slow SPS death continues. I am about to lose my 5-6" wide green millepora colony.. not much tissue left.

I made a video to show you what it's doing -- the healthy tissue is literally peeling / falling off the coral. The polyps are still extended while this is happening, and eventually it will detatch and float around the aquarium. That's right -- SPS polyps, attached to tissue, free floating.. STILL EXTENDED.

video (warning, it is 7.5 megs and crappy format, but look at the center for the peeling tissue): http://www.d3f.org/misc/fish/90g/stn/detatched_tissue_healthy_color_pe.mov

Aquariumwatertest.com should be giving me my results any day soon, but I would be lying if I thought they'd show anything. Me doing 3x 25g water changes didnt stop anything.

I am honestly at a loss as of what to do.. obviously I havent been replacing the corals..

Clams still doing well, zoanthids, shrooms.. everything else with a skeleton receeding. My favia, my closed brain, and all of the SPS.

 

[King-Kong]

Results are in:

Ammonia(NH3-4)
Tested: 0.070 mg

Nitrite(NO2)
Tested:0.022 mg

Nitrate(NO3)
Tested: 7.50 mg/l

Phosphate(PO4)
Tested: 0.130 mg/l

Silica(Sio2-3)
Tested: 3.30 mg/l

Potassium(K)
Tested: 502 mg/l

Calcium (Ca)
Tested: 375 mg/l

Boron(B)
Tested: 2.30 mg/l

Molybdenum (Mo)
Tested: 0.20 mg/l

Strontium (Sr)
Tested: 8.760 mg/l

Magnesium(Mg)
Tested: 1155 mg/l

Iodine(I¯)
Tested: 0.050 mg/l

Copper (Cu++)
Tested: 0.030 mg/l

Alkalinity (meq/l)
Tested: 3.430 meq/l

-----------------
So my phosphates and nitrates are higher than expected; pretty interesting.. and pretty shocking.. I mean, I am running a BM250.. you would think that it would be hard for things to break down with that puppy cranking away.

Silicates is also very very surprising. Especially considering I just installed new RO/DI filters... that means I still have a large source somewhere, and it WAS NOT my Faux-Sand bare bottom as I had once thought..

None the less, are these levels enough to cause SPS and LPS to shed and die off?

Discuss!

 

[boxfishpooalot]

Good to see this update.

Its hard to tell immediately what the problem is. I suspect phosphate is too high at one time, as it is slow tissue loss. .13Po4 is nearly 5x higher than the recomended .03ppm Po4. And reefs are lower than this.

Potassium. I have no idea, but seems really high? Whats natural number on that?

Copper seems a little high. Should be lower imo. Use some absorbent.

Did you by any chance compare your test kit to the alkalinity results they got?

 

[King-Kong]

My Ca and Alk were in line with their tests.

I'm already running GFO for the phosphates.

Potassium should be like 375ppm and have NO clue why its so high.

Copper was inline with NSFW levels.

..thanks for checking back

 

[magrath]

Kong,
You might want to post the results and a quick tank synopsis in the Reef Chemistry Forum.

 

[spleify]

Awesome pics!!!!

 

[moo0o]

i like those pictures.

sorry to hear about your tank! i think your skimmer is wayy to powerful . something about not having enough bioload or something would also make that skimmer useless. i forget how it works but thats just what i hear about the BM250

 

[SDguy]

Interesting results. I'll be sending my water in to them too. We'll see what I get back. Hopefully the printout will include:

monti killing element (MKE)
Tested: shy high

 

[King-Kong]

haha... mine lacked the all important "what the hell is killing my corals" element.... i want a refund!

 

[King-Kong]

Update:

I installed my RDSB today.

60lbs of Seachem Meridian Tidal Marine Substrate (oolitic pure aragonite) sitting in a Instant Ocean bucket, plumbed with a Maxi-Jet 1200.

This should help keep my nitrates lower, and perhaps introduce some kind of joojoo magic to fight my issues.

No improvements yet in my SPS, but I think one of my LPS is improving. A favia who has been getting "meatier", like it used to be.

 

[magrath]

Kong,
Do you have a picture of your RDSB you could post? I am thinking about setting one up and wanted to see one.

 

[King-Kong]

no magrath but I will take some for you and include some details..

 

[King-Kong]

well, I think it's safe to say, I have begun to see NEW growth on my ORA blue millepora!

I also think my monti digita (which has turned into just an encruster for the past year+) might also be growing again.

I can see a leading edge of growth, which looks different from the recession.

So, let's see if it things can start to pickup, now.

Only real difference in husbandry, however, was me NOT feeding that home-made food. I guess there was something in it. If i do feed it, it will instead have to be a treat, and smaller amounts, as oposed to the staple it once was. So far I havent fed it since I began doing all of those water changes again and scrubbing the tank.

Also, I have lost 4 anthias so far (possibly 5, but may be dead in the tank). The dispar's are not doing well. Despite 6 coming in eating from almost day 1 (purchased 7, 1 never ever ate), some weird affliction has taken over all but one. After being in the tank for almost 2 months, 4 of them, who were out and swimming, eating, etc. dissapeared, and ran for the rocks. And they never came back out. Just sitting on the rocks, not eating; this just randomly happened one day.

A couple die a few days afterwards, and a couple are still hiding. Only 1 remains 'out'. Swims strong, eats well, etc.

I guess some kind of disease...

I am probably going to try some Lori's, next.

If that doesnt pan out, then I may try a small group of chalk bass and masked gobies.


mag: sorry I havent taken pictures of my RDSB yet. I promise to do so tonight!

 

[magrath]

Well it sounds like a bitter sweet story. Glad to hear about the SPS turnaround!

I was also thinking about putting a layer of 1 to 3 inch sized crushed coral in my sump for some bio filtration. It would probably also serve as a good area for pod production, since I am not running a fuge due to lack of space. I also think this might help with nitrate reduction. I also have an unlimited supply of crushed coral here in Okinawa. Any ideas or suggestions are welcome.

 

[Crazy4salth2o]

Great pics! One of these days I will finish my diving cert.

 

[King-Kong]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11117166#post11117166 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by magrath
Kong,
Do you have a picture of your RDSB you could post? I am thinking about setting one up and wanted to see one.

Here are the parts I used:
-1 Instant Ocean Bucket
-1/2" Vinyl Tubing (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10090+8002&pcatid=8002)
-1" Viny Tubing (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10090+8005&pcatid=8005)
-1/2" and 1" double threaded bulkheads (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10090+4009&pcatid=4009)
-1/2" and 1" MPT Hose Barbs (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10090+8025&pcatid=8025) *** I would now suggest using the 90 degree bent ones instead of the straight out ones that I used. They can be found here: http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+10090+8022&pcatid=8022
-Some hose clamps

Then I made the spray bar on the inside because the bulkhead by itself was too turbulant... I bought those pieces at Lowes, however. I used 1/2 threaded adapter (into bulkhead) that lead to 1/2"->3/4" T, that then fed into 3/4" pipe with end caps, drilled with little holes to slow down the flow and spread it out.

Here are those pics, Mag;