Myka
Reefing since '93
Totally and absolutely nothing "at you" buddy.How could i?:love2::love2::beer:
Sorry if my post gave you that impression....it's directed 100% to a certain direction
PM'ed
Ok, good to know.
Mhucasey's SPS obsession
- Thread starter mhucasey
- Start date
Ok, good to know.
nemodan
New member
Hi all
During a couple of weeks I lost track of Matt thread. Now I started to read it again and looks like Matt has not been posting for some days.
I hope all is OK !!!!
BTW I am also battling again high nitrates 50 ppm and I have a lot of Matrix and will add another media Reactor with siporax.
Nitrates were low with the Matrix, but the general unbalance on my tank pushed them up again.
It's time I post a big update on my thread.
Best
Daniel
During a couple of weeks I lost track of Matt thread. Now I started to read it again and looks like Matt has not been posting for some days.
I hope all is OK !!!!
BTW I am also battling again high nitrates 50 ppm and I have a lot of Matrix and will add another media Reactor with siporax.
Nitrates were low with the Matrix, but the general unbalance on my tank pushed them up again.
It's time I post a big update on my thread.
Best
Daniel
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Update:
I've been pretty scarce lately - its been a busy time at my work with several of my pet projects finally at implementation phase, plus our company's 40th anniversary picnic. That leaves me very little time to look at threads between tasks at work and full weekends. So the unread threads pile up, and get put off when I'm at home.
Anyway, the good: For the most part the tank is growing like crazy and looking very good. I've been holding off on new coral purchases for a little while as I haven't seen any that made me "have to have" them.
Slightly freaky Panoramic view:
The not as good:
Nitrates: With the denitrator in-line with the calcium reactor, I've been producing about 16 gallons of nitrate-free water per day for about 3+ weeks. I still am showing between 25 and 50ppm Nitrate on the test kit.
May 21:
A couple of days ago:
Thats a reduction, but not all that much considering how much water the denitrator processes and the fact that I'm carbon dosing and skimming heavy.
Sorry Mike, Sahin's Magic Beans(AKA Matrix and Siporax) aren't doing squat for Nitrates the way I have them in my system(in the first chamber where the overflow empties into the sump). I am starting to believe that they are acting like a wet-dry filter and just converting Ammonia to Nitrate.
Remember the SPS tank is filled with Plastic rock, so there is very little biiofiltration in there. Ammonia-laden water flows to the sump and hits the Magic Beans as highly aerated water. The surfaces perform breakdown to Nitrate but don't proceed further. Ill know for sure soon, since I will be pulling the Magic Beans out.
The Bad:
I've had a few tissue loss incidents spontaneously occurring, mostly to the green staghorn at the dim end of the reef. That coral is a PITA like that - it has done it from time to time over the almost 4 years I have had it with no rhyme or reason as to why. Then I had a couple of other acros do the same thing here and there. Some looked burned - damage appearing as drying and thinning at the affected site - while a few others experienced STN or RTN. Most of this was minor - until this week when the Tierra Del Fuego, which has been my favorite and totally bullet-proof STNd away.
RIP TDF:
Fudge doodles. Luckily I have a large piece of the same coral from the original colony in a different locale doing well, so it will be replaced with an identical, though smaller coral.
I chock the burns up to the corals being hit with higher concentrations of some trace elements due to dosing in one spot. Basically the water where I drop the stuff in gets blown right into the exact location of the burns. I slowed down and reduced the trace dosing and spread it around the tank now and the burns have stopped.
The STN tissue loss is due to high iron levels IMO. I had been a little too aggressive with the flow in the Zeomix-Carbon-Phosphate Minus reactor and I cut the flow down to a very gentle tumble and the tissue loss appears to have halted in the remainder of the tank.
The Generation one Gyre XF-150 failed due to a cracked cable where it meets the housing. Apparently this was a known and fixed issue. Hopefully I can get it replaced for free. In the meantime, I picked up an Gyre XF-130 and that pump kicks butt! If I get the 150 back up Ill install it on the SPS tank where the Tunze currently resides for counter-flow.
The Ugly:
Three colonies looked really ugly- the Flame Tip, Bali Shortcake, and a Yellow acro. I was examining them up close and whoa! Acro eating flatworm bites everywhere.
I pulled them, dipped them and several other suspect corals, and removed any eggs and then superglued over the base to be sure. Only those few had any AEFW. All were looking 100% better within a few days. I have more dip and glue coming shortly, Ill re-dip them and any others that look even a little bad until I can't find even one FW.
Secondary protocol - I will start a course of KZ flatworm stop(This worked well for me years ago) and I have three tiny yellow Coris wrasses on order at the LFS.
Ill get some pictures tonight if I get a chance - the tank looks very good overall, its not doom and gloom or anything.
I've been pretty scarce lately - its been a busy time at my work with several of my pet projects finally at implementation phase, plus our company's 40th anniversary picnic. That leaves me very little time to look at threads between tasks at work and full weekends. So the unread threads pile up, and get put off when I'm at home.
Anyway, the good: For the most part the tank is growing like crazy and looking very good. I've been holding off on new coral purchases for a little while as I haven't seen any that made me "have to have" them.
Slightly freaky Panoramic view:
The not as good:
Nitrates: With the denitrator in-line with the calcium reactor, I've been producing about 16 gallons of nitrate-free water per day for about 3+ weeks. I still am showing between 25 and 50ppm Nitrate on the test kit.
May 21:
A couple of days ago:
Thats a reduction, but not all that much considering how much water the denitrator processes and the fact that I'm carbon dosing and skimming heavy.
Sorry Mike, Sahin's Magic Beans(AKA Matrix and Siporax) aren't doing squat for Nitrates the way I have them in my system(in the first chamber where the overflow empties into the sump). I am starting to believe that they are acting like a wet-dry filter and just converting Ammonia to Nitrate.
Remember the SPS tank is filled with Plastic rock, so there is very little biiofiltration in there. Ammonia-laden water flows to the sump and hits the Magic Beans as highly aerated water. The surfaces perform breakdown to Nitrate but don't proceed further. Ill know for sure soon, since I will be pulling the Magic Beans out.
The Bad:
I've had a few tissue loss incidents spontaneously occurring, mostly to the green staghorn at the dim end of the reef. That coral is a PITA like that - it has done it from time to time over the almost 4 years I have had it with no rhyme or reason as to why. Then I had a couple of other acros do the same thing here and there. Some looked burned - damage appearing as drying and thinning at the affected site - while a few others experienced STN or RTN. Most of this was minor - until this week when the Tierra Del Fuego, which has been my favorite and totally bullet-proof STNd away.
RIP TDF:
Fudge doodles. Luckily I have a large piece of the same coral from the original colony in a different locale doing well, so it will be replaced with an identical, though smaller coral.
I chock the burns up to the corals being hit with higher concentrations of some trace elements due to dosing in one spot. Basically the water where I drop the stuff in gets blown right into the exact location of the burns. I slowed down and reduced the trace dosing and spread it around the tank now and the burns have stopped.
The STN tissue loss is due to high iron levels IMO. I had been a little too aggressive with the flow in the Zeomix-Carbon-Phosphate Minus reactor and I cut the flow down to a very gentle tumble and the tissue loss appears to have halted in the remainder of the tank.
The Generation one Gyre XF-150 failed due to a cracked cable where it meets the housing. Apparently this was a known and fixed issue. Hopefully I can get it replaced for free. In the meantime, I picked up an Gyre XF-130 and that pump kicks butt! If I get the 150 back up Ill install it on the SPS tank where the Tunze currently resides for counter-flow.
The Ugly:
Three colonies looked really ugly- the Flame Tip, Bali Shortcake, and a Yellow acro. I was examining them up close and whoa! Acro eating flatworm bites everywhere.
I pulled them, dipped them and several other suspect corals, and removed any eggs and then superglued over the base to be sure. Only those few had any AEFW. All were looking 100% better within a few days. I have more dip and glue coming shortly, Ill re-dip them and any others that look even a little bad until I can't find even one FW.
Secondary protocol - I will start a course of KZ flatworm stop(This worked well for me years ago) and I have three tiny yellow Coris wrasses on order at the LFS.
Ill get some pictures tonight if I get a chance - the tank looks very good overall, its not doom and gloom or anything.
JB NY
Active member
open a ticket at coralvue, they will send you out a new unit ASAP.
glaukos
New member
Glad to see you back matt buddy:beer:
So sorry about the aefw
Had them my self two times in the past and i can really feel you.
Wish you were lucky enough to save them with dipping and removing eggs but i'm afraid that won't be enough
At least in my case it wasn't!
Do try flatworm stop:thumbsup:
It's avery good product.It won't kill those @#@#$s but it will surely help corals renew/fix their tissue faster, so if it's not an outbrake,they will learn and manage to live with them and not kill them or stn them bad.
I didn't have luck with siporax and no3 reduction too.Why did you add them(matirx & sipo)?
I'm with so little rock like you and i just used it for extra surface for bacteria.It did help me with the cyano issue though,which was caused by the lack of it(available surface).
Maybe they would help with no3 too but i'm so bored to adjust flows or sump sections etc.
So i'll rest my hopes to AF routines.
I really really really hope you will have the best results and luck(totally needed) with these aefw @!#$@$@s
Glad you have an extra piece of that awesome tdf!Such a beautiful coral
Happy i saw you again and tank still looks really cool!!!
So sorry about the aefw
Had them my self two times in the past and i can really feel you.
Wish you were lucky enough to save them with dipping and removing eggs but i'm afraid that won't be enough
At least in my case it wasn't!
Do try flatworm stop:thumbsup:
It's avery good product.It won't kill those @#@#$s but it will surely help corals renew/fix their tissue faster, so if it's not an outbrake,they will learn and manage to live with them and not kill them or stn them bad.
I didn't have luck with siporax and no3 reduction too.Why did you add them(matirx & sipo)?
I'm with so little rock like you and i just used it for extra surface for bacteria.It did help me with the cyano issue though,which was caused by the lack of it(available surface).
Maybe they would help with no3 too but i'm so bored to adjust flows or sump sections etc.
So i'll rest my hopes to AF routines.
I really really really hope you will have the best results and luck(totally needed) with these aefw @!#$@$@s
Glad you have an extra piece of that awesome tdf!Such a beautiful coral
Happy i saw you again and tank still looks really cool!!!
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Wazzel
New member
Good luck with the fight. Do you have a tank you can set up to frag and QT? It may be worth your while to make frags and save them in a separate system. If you can not get on top of the AEFW in your main system you will have replacements. You are going to have to dip every acro in the tank, not just the ones showing signs.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
I was planning to give it a shot, good to know they will replace. ive have always received superior customer service from Coralvue, they are one of the companies I prefer to buy from because of that.
Thanks for the tip, ill look at those as well. My LFS uses the yellow coris and green wrasses with good success, I've had good experiences with yellow Coris myself for other SPS pests.
No room for a frag or QT tank, Ill dip other acros as well but so far I've been able to spot the acros with flatworms. The three corals that had them are doing great after just a few days, all healed up. My relationship with dips has not been so great so I'm more nervous about dipping than the Flatworms themselves.
Glad to see you back matt buddy:beer:
So sorry about the aefw
Had them my self two times in the past and i can really feel you.
Wish you were lucky enough to save them with dipping and removing eggs but i'm afraid that won't be enough
At least in my case it wasn't!
Do try flatworm stop:thumbsup:
It's avery good product.It won't kill those @#@#$s but it will surely help corals renew/fix their tissue faster, so if it's not an outbrake,they will learn and manage to live with them and not kill them or stn them bad.
Eh, im not too worried about it, my biggest problem was a let-up in my normal careful examination of the corals that I do daily. I had a millie that was absolutely infested with flatworms 3 years ago, and after dipping it and ultimately losing it, i used the Flatworm Stop for about 8 months, added wrasses, and never saw another flatworm until now.
If I had a bigger sump to have the proper placement, they might work for me, but the nitrate increase seemed to accelerate when I moved them to the first chamber. Before that I had them in a canister filter but it was a pain to maintain. I guess Ill save them for if I upgrade the sump someday.
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Usernam Invalid
New member
Bummer about the AEFWs
reefmutt
Active member
You could throw a handful of carribean peppermint shrimp in the tank as well..
They are the most effective aefw egg hunters I have ever seen..
Way better than any wrasse..
I have heard that the flatworm stop is useless.. maybe against a major infestation..
I might give it a try.. I haven't seen a flatworm in my tank in a couple of months but one can never be 100% sure...
Good luck, Matt!
They are the most effective aefw egg hunters I have ever seen..
Way better than any wrasse..
I have heard that the flatworm stop is useless.. maybe against a major infestation..
I might give it a try.. I haven't seen a flatworm in my tank in a couple of months but one can never be 100% sure...
Good luck, Matt!
markalot
...
Sorry to hear about aefw, but seems like if you don't panic they are manageable. The way I stare at corals they won't get very far before I notice.
I don't have aefw, that I know of anyway, but I felt like the Flatworm Stop did help some of my corals recover from the incident. I used half a bottle then stopped when I noticed a weird brown slime in the skimmer neck. That's just me not liking extra slime, and all the corals seemed to be healed well anyway.
No clue if it did anything besides remove money from my wallet.
I don't have aefw, that I know of anyway, but I felt like the Flatworm Stop did help some of my corals recover from the incident. I used half a bottle then stopped when I noticed a weird brown slime in the skimmer neck. That's just me not liking extra slime, and all the corals seemed to be healed well anyway.
No clue if it did anything besides remove money from my wallet.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
I don't see those around here very often, but ill keep my eye out. FW Stop noticeably improved the health of Acro tissue and significantly increased the slime production for acros. My green stag was like the Alien with all the slime it made. That is the supposed key to how it works - making the acro difficult to get to for the flatworms and unpalatable.
The coral I had with all the flatworms 3 years ago was shedding them like dandruff when i first picked it up in the tank, so they should have spread throughout the tank. They never did - not one flatworm sighted in the intervening years in any dip I did.
I have a leopard wrasses and typically keep a Yellow Coris wrasse for this sort of thing, back then I also added a Tamarind, Exquisite and Green wrasse to the tank as well and they were always picking at stuff.
aggie13reef
New member
Matt,
Sorry to hear about the recent troubles. I am sure you will get on top of things in no time! Bummer about the TDF. Interesting though about the wrasses, I didn't realize they could be a bio control against the flatworms.
Sorry to hear about the recent troubles. I am sure you will get on top of things in no time! Bummer about the TDF. Interesting though about the wrasses, I didn't realize they could be a bio control against the flatworms.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Worrying doesn't really help anything, so I try not too do it when it comes to understood issues in the tank. As far as AF goes, ~40mL NPpro for the doser, 8 drops ProBioS, and 5 drops MicroE per day. 6 drops Coral E every other day, opposite days 6 drops each Coral A and Vitality(ahem, coral V).And you were saying that it was me who you admired about not worrying much about problems that occur
The tables have turned buddy:beer:
Really glad you have everything under control and without stress!
Your AF routines are the same?
That's a bummer- hopefully I'll have a happier story to tell.
Well it smells like it would go perfect with an Italian salad, and it's pricey, but in the grand scheme of things I'll bring all weapons to bear that I can. I normally am very obsessive about watching the corals, with a magnifying glass, every day. So I feel like you that I'll be able to spot issues early if I keep up the surveillance.Sorry to hear about aefw, but seems like if you don't panic they are manageable. The way I stare at corals they won't get very far before I notice.
I don't have aefw, that I know of anyway, but I felt like the Flatworm Stop did help some of my corals recover from the incident. I used half a bottle then stopped when I noticed a weird brown slime in the skimmer neck. That's just me not liking extra slime, and all the corals seemed to be healed well anyway.
No clue if it did anything besides remove money from my wallet.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
In the overall reef things are going well, but thanks for the support:thumbsup:
Wrasses are really good for many pests, especially Montipora Eating Nudibranches. I had no Monti additions for a year plus, not one trace of MEN, then my yellow coris wrasse jumps out and two weeks later I find a big bald patch that quickly progressed to a full on invasion. They also eat those little snails that glue themselves to the glass and look like little white flecks all over it.
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