My 120....a total loss

[Froggy]

My 120 reef that was un upgrade from a 6 year old 75 looks like it will soon be a total wipeout. The 120 has been up for about a year. I have not been able to get a handle on what is going on and stop the demise that is overtaking the tank.

The start of the troubles happened in July when I had an auto topoff malfunction when away out of town. About 4 1/2 days of evaporation. Ever since, no matter what I do SPS are STNing and some RTN'd. The necrosis begins at the tips of some and throughout on others. Monti caps, Digi's, milli's staghorn acro's are pretty much gone and skeletons now. All testing results are as they normally were for alk/Calc/mag/Salinity. Even the LPS are now showing signs of decline.

I am sooooooo depressed and cannot even look at the tank anymore. I will post some pictures before and after as soon as I can stomach it. This is the first time back on Reef Central since the decline and I used to be a site addict.

I am having a hard time even thinking of a rebuild. Hopefully I will see the light at the end of the tunnel and begin again. Right now I am to depressed to plan that move.

The one possitive is the fish are still all fine. I will try to get those pics up soon. I just felt making this post may be the 1st needed step to begin again. Thanks for reading.

Joe

 

[dublo8]

Sorry to hear that buddy. So lets run down the list of things that can be wrong. Post your params first off. Have you tested for copper?

 

[unclejed2]

At first blush this may be the key; "The start of the troubles happened in July when I had an auto top off malfunction when away out of town. About 4 1/2 days of evaporation. Ever since, no matter what I do SPS are STNing and some RTN'd". What is your SG right now and the PH and Temp? With all that evaporation the SG was probably through the roof. Did you add only fresh water to top it off after the 4 1/2 days? Answering these may give us a clue.

 

[Froggy]

Just a follow up. Every last SPS is now gone.

I have removed 2 overflowing 5 gallon buckets of SPS skeletons.

Just some softies, a few damaged LPS, and xenia remain. All of the fish are unaffected and healthy.

No pic's of the end of tank damage but we all know what dead SPS look like:thumbdown.

Here is the last pic of the tank before the decline started. Kinda old ( May of this year ).

I am not sure how I am going to approach the restock. SPS or LPS and Softy mixed reef. For now I am leaving things as is with rock and the remaining softies and LPS. I have finally accepted what happened and am excited for the rebuild.

 

[James404]

really sorry to hear about your loss but it's good that you have found a second wind, I would just take it slow and see how things progress, maybe do a large water change before you start adding more? Did you ever check for stray voltage? Just a thought...

 

[Froggy]

really sorry to hear about your loss but it's good that you have found a second wind, I would just take it slow and see how things progress, maybe do a large water change before you start adding more? Did you ever check for stray voltage? Just a thought...

No, I have not checked for stray voltage. I do have a grounding probe in the sump if that matters.

I plan on taking things really slow. I am just going to let the tank run as is for a while and keep up on the water changes ( doing another this morning ). Once the tank shows it is stable and the corals currently in the tank return to looking good, I will begin slowly adding corals.

Thanks for the thoughts,

Joe

 

[Alysiak00]

i know you dont want to, but post a pic of what it looks like now. it could be sectioned and help us determine where the problem is

 

[iwanaclown]

sorry for the loss bud hope the rebuild motivates you again.

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Sorry to hear about your losses. I know how tough that can be. Just a thought...did you at any time, put your hands into the tank without washing them first? I ask because last year I lost about 8 sps frags and had some very unhappy lps. I finally figured out what the culprit was. The prior night I had stuck my hands into the tank to move some things around, without washing my hands first. I had put lotion on my hands and arms a couple of hours prior to messing with the tank. :thumbdown

 

[mcoomer]

You really should post up a full list of your water parameters and products that you're dosing. I would also take a sample to your LFS and get it checked to confirm your testing. You should also check for stray voltages in the tank but I don't think that's going to be the issue. Are you running a RODI? If so, when was your last filter change? What about your lighting? Did you make any changes to it and have you been keeping up with bulb replacements? Have you looked through the tank and sump for anything that may have fallen in the water? Did you start using different air fresheners or cleaning products in the house?

Something has to be wrong here to cause all your corals to react but not your fish. Dig hard, find the answer, and resurrect your tank. You know you won't be happy until you do.

Good luck,
Mike

 

[iwishtofish]

I'm so sorry, but also glad you are excited and ready to rebound!

I may have missed it above, but did the clam survive?

 

[Alysiak00]

+1 ^

i actually think it might be one or the other on the air fresheners/cleaners and washing your hands. same thing happened to a friends tank.

 

[Froggy]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will take a round of water tests and post them.

I use R.O. water from home and have since the beginning. I do not use R.O./D.I. I know it is better although he tank "had" always done fine with R.O. only. It has been several years since the filter replacement.....hmm. Lights are changed yearly and not due until Dec.

No new air fresheners. I am doubting it is from anything on my hands as the 1st decline started when the family was out of town and I had the freshwater topoff fail and not topoff for several days. No touching of the tank during that period. I just could not stop the STN and RTN of the SPS after the decline began.

I will take a picture of the tank in its current state tomorrow, although the dead SPS has already been removed.

I'm so sorry, but also glad you are excited and ready to rebound!

I may have missed it above, but did the clam survive?

THANKFULLY yes the clam is fine. It is healthy and fully extended. The clam and Sarcophyton toadstool leather are the best looking residents in the tank now.

 

[Alex T.]

Hey...#$%@ happens. I went through the same thing last year. Not an auto topoff system, but I overreacted and caused more problems trying to correct.

I think you're taking the best approach. Keep up with maintenance and wait for the tank to stabilize. I'd also be religious about running and changing carbon often with sps and softies (like xenia) around. Also, when there is necrotic coral tissue in the tank...get it out. Don't wait. I feel (and experience has shown me) that you can trigger an RTN/STN event by waiting it out to see if it will miraculously get better. Frag the healthy part and cut your losses.

Change things slowly, stay on top of water changes and general maintenance and keep a log (I do it weekly) with a list of your parameters in columns. I rate things like polyp extension and overall health of the system from what my eye can see on a scale of 1-3. 1 is bad, 2 looks like something is off but still ok, and 3 is the bomb! When I notice that 2 is creeping in, usually my chart tells the tale.

I keep logs of:

NO3: my sps system does best with detectable nitrates under 5, but greater than 1 ppm

PO4: Never liked zero...prefer .03

Calcium: I always aim for 450 and adjust reactor if it's off
Alkalinity: 9 (keep this rock solid)
PH: I have a high calcium and alkalinity demand so CO2 brings it from 8.0 - 8.15

Specific Gravity: My fish and corals seem their best at 1.026

I drip a very weak kalk solution to keep ph stable. I evaporate 5 gallons per day and only add one teaspoon to my topoff reservoir. I'm just not comforatable if something happens and I supersaturate my tank with kalk, so I supplement it only and let the reactor take care of the rest.

I also experiment on feeding as much as I can to my fish without straying outside of the above parameters. I don't believe in a set feeding regimen.

 

[shifty51008]

several years sence filter replacement? that is way to long, ro and rodi filters need to be changed out every 6 months except for the membrane and DI. do you know what your TDS is?

also I ask again like what others what to know. please post your water parameters, numbers please.

 

[greggnyce]

IF the filters are shot, that could be it. But I am suprised there is no algea bloom

 

[Uncle Salty 05]

Have you had a pest control treatment done on your home since the new set up?
My wife decided to spray our dogs (we have four) with Frontline Plus spray inside the house just a few feet from my tank. I lost all of my hard corals.

 

[lordofthereef]

With such a huge loss, I would want to get my water professionally tested. Right now I can't think of the company, but you send out a water sample and they test it professionally with a chromatograph for all sorts of pollutants. I want to say it is $40, or around there. This won't necessarily help you save things (sounds like that ship has sailed), but it would potentially stop you from going crazy about what the heck went wrong.

 

[Agu]

First, Condolences on your losses.

Second, I'm going to make a wild guess that the problem is the result of 6+ years of using RO water. RO removes 95 to 98 percent of contaminants. That leaves the 2 to 5 percent going into your tank for years. Add that in to the very real possibility that your source water (municipal or a well) could have changed based on environmental or treatment factors. Water that you used years ago may have been perfectly acceptable being treated with only RO, but possibly now it's not. New pollutants can get into source water and municipal systems can change the way they treat their water (ie:new and/or different chemicals).

Just as an example, chloramine is now used more often than chlorine in municipal water supplies.

Good Luck ......

 

[BuckeyeTodd]

this hobby can be a real kick in the pants...the thought of filling a bucket full of those acro colonies hurts....you learn enough and put in enough work that you are able to grow those great corals, and now we are all here guessing at killed them...unbelievable