Recently I upgraded my sump. It used to have small fuge and I increased it to be much larger. I put acrylic baffles into a 29 gallon tank and made a simple system like 100 others that are on the internet. This fuge had chaeto growing in a dense tangle perfectly filling the square fuge area.
Now, I have a much larger space with a somewhat higher flow rate, but probably the same turnover rate at before because the fuge is four or five times bigger. In any case, since the day of the switchover, I have not seen a single 'pod. Not one. They used to be teeming in the chaeto.
Another weird issue, might be unrelated, some of my zoas shriveled up too. Just two orange varieties, all of the green ones are still kicking, and so are the shrooms, lps, and sps. No other inverts kicked the bucket, I have shrimp crabs and a lobster.
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And before people start to spin theories I have one of my own. I actually made the sump twice. One time, I used the mildew resistant silicone to adhere the acrylic to the walls. Got it all done, looked great, then I just happened to look at the tube and realized I grabbed from the GE Silicone I tub but got one that was the wrong color. Ooops.
I tore it down, trashed the acrylic and cut new. I bought a scraper and painstakingly scraped off the silicone. Then I used goo-gone to get rid of residue. I even cut out the silicone that was holding the tank together (slightly) in case it absorbed some of the mildew resistant stuff. I rinsed it out before applying the new stuff and once the final sump was done, I soaked it twice just in case.
Any mildew resistant silicone remaining would be SO minute as to be dust size or barely visible because I spent hours cleaning it. Could that be the cause.
Sorry, its a long post but Im lost for ideas.
Now, I have a much larger space with a somewhat higher flow rate, but probably the same turnover rate at before because the fuge is four or five times bigger. In any case, since the day of the switchover, I have not seen a single 'pod. Not one. They used to be teeming in the chaeto.
Another weird issue, might be unrelated, some of my zoas shriveled up too. Just two orange varieties, all of the green ones are still kicking, and so are the shrooms, lps, and sps. No other inverts kicked the bucket, I have shrimp crabs and a lobster.
-----
And before people start to spin theories I have one of my own. I actually made the sump twice. One time, I used the mildew resistant silicone to adhere the acrylic to the walls. Got it all done, looked great, then I just happened to look at the tube and realized I grabbed from the GE Silicone I tub but got one that was the wrong color. Ooops.
I tore it down, trashed the acrylic and cut new. I bought a scraper and painstakingly scraped off the silicone. Then I used goo-gone to get rid of residue. I even cut out the silicone that was holding the tank together (slightly) in case it absorbed some of the mildew resistant stuff. I rinsed it out before applying the new stuff and once the final sump was done, I soaked it twice just in case.
Any mildew resistant silicone remaining would be SO minute as to be dust size or barely visible because I spent hours cleaning it. Could that be the cause.
Sorry, its a long post but Im lost for ideas.
