SCreeferGuy
New member
Hi and thanks in advance for any help.
My problem in a nutshell is that I had multiple SPS frags (birds nest, various acros, etc) that were doing well last fall - but now have lost most everything and a new frag that is alive with decent color but NO polyp extension.
The background:
Tank is a dsa 135, running for last 7 months.
Ocean Revive T2080 (ramp up to blue 55 % white 30 %)
Reef Octopus DCS 170 skimmer
Tunze 6055 X 2
Tunze 6095 X 2
Tuzne wavemaker 6208
BRS Carbon reactor - running 1 cup
Parameters:
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77 - 78
Ca 430 - using BRS doser
ALK 8 - 9
Nitrate 5
Phos 0 (have a hard time reading the lower levels on Red Sea test kit)
Mag - 1350
Livestock:
Mag Foxface
Onespot Foxface
Melanurus wrasse
Pair clowns
Pair purple firefish
Trio B. cardinals
Tailspot blenny
Algae blenny
Yellow-head jawfish
So I was doing great in Oct-Nov. Had slowly added fish/corals and everything seemed happy. Was getting growth on a no-name acro that had fully encrusted plug in a couple months. Saw largle polyps on my dragon eye chalice at night (some over a cm tall), polyps out on brain coral. I used to feed them pieces of mysis even.
The only problem I was having then was a growing cyano issue. Tried suctioning it and it just kept spreading. Eventually (early Dec) did the lights out treatment with GREAT success. Only had lights out for 2 days, followed by 1 day lower light, then back to previous settings.
I had also added carbon and GFO before that to help lower nutrients, but I believe I over did it with the GFO. I increased the amount gradually, but ended up having 1 1/2 cups instead of the recommended 1 cup.
I tested Alk every 2 - 3 days, but near Christmas I had a spike from 7.8 to 10 in 2 days. I believe this was due to the fact the Phos went too low, corals stopped growing, stopped using Alk, and therefore I was over-dosing (even though using same amount as always).
I stopped GFO completely at the beginning of the year, but the stress of low PHos and Alk spike was too much. Saw every SPS I had bleach and die. Some quickly, others more slowly. Painful.
During this time I realized that my LPS polyps had stopped coming out as well. I figured things would recover after I stopped the GFO, but not so far. However, no LPS death or even regression - they just seem "there".
Last week I added a new birds nest to "test the waters" and it had good PE for a couple days. Then no PE at all. Colors still look good, no STN.
Also confusing to me - I have literally NO algae growing on the rocks..? I had a decent amount of various algae in the beginning and snails/foxface took care of it quickly - BUT I still could see it growing everywhere. I was cleaning the front glass nearly every 2 days, and now only have to clean it from a small growth of algae every week. I do see a light growth on the overflow wall. I have a refugium, but have never had much luck keeping any Chaeto growing there. I have some light growth of hair algae on one of the fuge walls, but nothing else. Have a few snails as CUC.
I do have coraline algae on a couple pieces of rock that has gotten very purple and spread some. I see a few spots of coraline on my tank, but not much. Last fall I had seen spots of it all over the rocks - and that was when I started adding SPS. Those spots have all gone.
I have tried to get everything back to what I was doing in the fall - same light settings, same equipment, same livestock, same feeding (2 X per day with mysis and Rod's) - as I thought that would "fix" things...
Should I:
1. Wait longer - tank still in process of recovery?
2. Try turning skimmer off at night to help nutrients build up?
3. Feed the corals? Oyster feast, Reef chili?
4. Do a much larger water change (like 50 %?) Doing 10 % weekly up until last week. Now continuous daily with DOS and same 15 g/week.
5. Something else?
Thanks again - I believe I understand what I did wrong to make this happen. BUT, am confused bc I am doing everything the same (as when corals were happy) and the corals are still struggling so much...?
My problem in a nutshell is that I had multiple SPS frags (birds nest, various acros, etc) that were doing well last fall - but now have lost most everything and a new frag that is alive with decent color but NO polyp extension.
The background:
Tank is a dsa 135, running for last 7 months.
Ocean Revive T2080 (ramp up to blue 55 % white 30 %)
Reef Octopus DCS 170 skimmer
Tunze 6055 X 2
Tunze 6095 X 2
Tuzne wavemaker 6208
BRS Carbon reactor - running 1 cup
Parameters:
Salinity 1.025
Temp 77 - 78
Ca 430 - using BRS doser
ALK 8 - 9
Nitrate 5
Phos 0 (have a hard time reading the lower levels on Red Sea test kit)
Mag - 1350
Livestock:
Mag Foxface
Onespot Foxface
Melanurus wrasse
Pair clowns
Pair purple firefish
Trio B. cardinals
Tailspot blenny
Algae blenny
Yellow-head jawfish
So I was doing great in Oct-Nov. Had slowly added fish/corals and everything seemed happy. Was getting growth on a no-name acro that had fully encrusted plug in a couple months. Saw largle polyps on my dragon eye chalice at night (some over a cm tall), polyps out on brain coral. I used to feed them pieces of mysis even.
The only problem I was having then was a growing cyano issue. Tried suctioning it and it just kept spreading. Eventually (early Dec) did the lights out treatment with GREAT success. Only had lights out for 2 days, followed by 1 day lower light, then back to previous settings.
I had also added carbon and GFO before that to help lower nutrients, but I believe I over did it with the GFO. I increased the amount gradually, but ended up having 1 1/2 cups instead of the recommended 1 cup.
I tested Alk every 2 - 3 days, but near Christmas I had a spike from 7.8 to 10 in 2 days. I believe this was due to the fact the Phos went too low, corals stopped growing, stopped using Alk, and therefore I was over-dosing (even though using same amount as always).
I stopped GFO completely at the beginning of the year, but the stress of low PHos and Alk spike was too much. Saw every SPS I had bleach and die. Some quickly, others more slowly. Painful.
During this time I realized that my LPS polyps had stopped coming out as well. I figured things would recover after I stopped the GFO, but not so far. However, no LPS death or even regression - they just seem "there".
Last week I added a new birds nest to "test the waters" and it had good PE for a couple days. Then no PE at all. Colors still look good, no STN.
Also confusing to me - I have literally NO algae growing on the rocks..? I had a decent amount of various algae in the beginning and snails/foxface took care of it quickly - BUT I still could see it growing everywhere. I was cleaning the front glass nearly every 2 days, and now only have to clean it from a small growth of algae every week. I do see a light growth on the overflow wall. I have a refugium, but have never had much luck keeping any Chaeto growing there. I have some light growth of hair algae on one of the fuge walls, but nothing else. Have a few snails as CUC.
I do have coraline algae on a couple pieces of rock that has gotten very purple and spread some. I see a few spots of coraline on my tank, but not much. Last fall I had seen spots of it all over the rocks - and that was when I started adding SPS. Those spots have all gone.
I have tried to get everything back to what I was doing in the fall - same light settings, same equipment, same livestock, same feeding (2 X per day with mysis and Rod's) - as I thought that would "fix" things...
Should I:
1. Wait longer - tank still in process of recovery?
2. Try turning skimmer off at night to help nutrients build up?
3. Feed the corals? Oyster feast, Reef chili?
4. Do a much larger water change (like 50 %?) Doing 10 % weekly up until last week. Now continuous daily with DOS and same 15 g/week.
5. Something else?
Thanks again - I believe I understand what I did wrong to make this happen. BUT, am confused bc I am doing everything the same (as when corals were happy) and the corals are still struggling so much...?