Lost or losing all my SPS - still not sure why.

[LobsterOfJustice]

Instead of the original plan, I just moved everything to the frag tank. This way I'm only testing one variable at a time... so if the recession stops, I will know its the angel/tang/rabbit, but if it continues I will know its something in the water. If it continues, I will do a 100% watercange on the frag tank and take it offline of the main system.

 

[cutegecko3]

brilliant!!!!!!!!!

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Dieoff continues. LPS in the display are also affected, all the tissue between the polyps of my galaxea is gone. I tore apart the sump today to see if there was a rusty nail or other contaminant... nothing. I took the return pump out of the plumbing and took it apart, but it wont restart now. So I basically have ripped every aspect of the system apart. I did a 100% (as close as possible) water change on the frag tank which now holds almost every coral.

Tomorrow I am going to home depot to get some rubbermaid brutes, and I am mixing up enough water to do a 100% water change on the main tank. And I guess I'm in the market for a new return pump.

 

[naka]

Do you feed your corals? Are you still on Zeovit method? You could be starving your corals.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I was never doing zeo, I tried ultralith over a year ago for a few weeks. I dont usually feed the corals, but after the move I put some kent chromaplex and zoaplex in every once in a while... I didnt see a difference so I stopped.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Well that was a disaster. Woke up this morning to a terrible smell in the apartment. The frag tank is cloudy and stinks. So now its back to the main tank for the few pieces that survived that.

 

[twon8]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10980110#post10980110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
Well that was a disaster. Woke up this morning to a terrible smell in the apartment. The frag tank is cloudy and stinks. So now its back to the main tank for the few pieces that survived that.

that sucks, i feel for you, nothing worse than the cloudy tank.

 

[mrme]

Sounds like a bad couple of weeks.
I wish i had an answer for you.

I myself am just getting into SPS corals.
I hope you figure this out.

Do you run carbon ?
Could it be chemical warfare ?

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Yeah, I run carbon in a media reactor. Dont really have any softies to war with either.

Today I am going to start mixing up enough water for a large change on the main tank, and I ordered a new return pump. It will take a few days to make the water (making RODI and mixing the salt...).

 

[bureau13]

What happened in the frag tank?! That sounds weird...

jds

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10980110#post10980110 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
Well that was a disaster. Woke up this morning to a terrible smell in the apartment. The frag tank is cloudy and stinks. So now its back to the main tank for the few pieces that survived that.

 

[Serioussnaps]

TOO MANY CHANGES,,,,,HASTE MAKES WASTE

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

You gotta understand, I am not going to continue to wait this out and watch all my corals die without acting. Did that for a few weeks, but I need to try and stop it at this point.

No idea what happened in the frag tank. Maybe the amount of dieoff could not be handled without a skimmer. I had a heater, LR, and powerheads in it. I didnt expect to see such a deterioration of water quality in 14 hours though.

 

[wentreefgirl]

Well if you need anything to help rebuild later, pm me. I have caps going wild here that i can give to you.

 

[linx]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10971831#post10971831 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LobsterOfJustice
Dieoff continues. LPS in the display are also affected, all the tissue between the polyps of my galaxea is gone. I tore apart the sump today to see if there was a rusty nail or other contaminant... nothing. I took the return pump out of the plumbing and took it apart, but it wont restart now. So I basically have ripped every aspect of the system apart. I did a 100% (as close as possible) water change on the frag tank which now holds almost every coral.

Tomorrow I am going to home depot to get some rubbermaid brutes, and I am mixing up enough water to do a 100% water change on the main tank. And I guess I'm in the market for a new return pump.

Are you shure your corals will tolerate so much water change
in this condition?
I think that 50% would be a better choise!
To me it sounds like to much changes in water could wery well have killed everything in the frag tank...
I'm sorry to hear about your tank, and I wish I could offer some
better advise.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

Mainly at this point I am thinking some toxin got into the tank, and a large water change would remove all of it. I look at it this way: a large water change is no different than when you bring a new coral home... either one is a 100% water change from the coral's point of view. I made sure alk, SG, Ca, and temp were relatively close as well. That said, maybe I wont do a 100% change on the main tank after my experience with the frag tank. A few 50% changes over a few weeks should get me close enough.

Today I took the rest of the system apart. Rinsed the sump out and put it back, inspected all pumps, reactors, skimmer, etc. As of now the main tank is running with two tunzes for circulation and LR for filtration. All fish, crabs, snails, urchins, cuke, clam, zoas etc are doing fine.

Wentreefgirl, thanks for the offer and I will definantly hit you up on it. I'm looking to go a little hardier and simpler this time around, and caps would be perfect.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

The recession seems to have slowed or stopped. Here is what I have left, I lost everything else (all in the main tank - frag tank and sump are empty and dry):

Green slimer - 50% bare skeleton (tips, patches on branches)
Poccilopora - dead base
Acro - a few bare patches of skeleton on misc branches
2 small Acro frags - unaffected
Large frogspawn - some heads not fully extended, otherwise unaffected
Galaxea - polyps out but no tissue between them - crossing my fingers
GSP, zoas, closed brain, tubastrea - unaffected

I got a small order from premium aquatics in today. Started running chemipure and purigen on the main tank. I have about 70g of water almost ready. 30 of that will be used when the new return pump arrives and I get the sump back online. The other 40 (ish) will be used for a 50% water change. I am going to wait at least 4 days between the water change and hooking the sump up.

 

[kysard1]

its the time of year where your house inside temperature swings a lot. If you wake up and your temperature is less than 65F odds are good your heater isn't keeping up.

Do you have digital thermometer with a high/low reading?

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I have a ranco dual stage temperature controller. Fans on at 81, heater on at 79. I have never seen it at 79, always 80-81. It doesnt record temperature, but I have never seen it outside 80-81. I've got a 2 bedroom apartment so the inside temp isnt that hard to keep on top of. If anything it would be a concern of getting too warm not too cold, but the ac is pretty constant (we dont turn it off when we leave specifically b/c of the tank).

 

[five.five-six]

I agree with the big water change, drastic times require drastic mesures... how is your ro/di? have you tested for copper?


do your best to match temp and ph of your new water, you can sprinkle a bit of calcium hydroxice (calkwasser mix)in the new water to bring the ph up and viniger is an acceptable way to bring it down

best of luck!!!

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

RODI is 0 TDS (that was one of the first things I checked). Filters were replaced in july. I havent tested specifically for copper.