My new 100g set-up
- Thread starter dazed
- Start date
dazed
New member
I'm sorry but i don't understand what you are talking about?
If you are referring to the overflow on my reeftank it is "external" and does not create any shade issues inside the tank. You can not even see the overflow box when viewing the tank and i lose zero real estate inside the tank. It does however skim the surface of the water very well and is quite productive.
dazed
New member
Well it appears that i am still having some issues with this tank; Sandbed is still having clumping issues & the hair algae has started to get out of hand now as well.
To make matters even worse yesterday at lunchtime when the lights kicked on i noticed that my green birdnest had completely RTN overnight; to add to that the rest of the monti's in the tank still do not look very good at all they just seem to be wasting away from what they were; i have dipped & inspected and still have not found any predators; i am at a bit of a loss as to what the problem could be; I did run a bunch of tests to see if anything was completely out of normal and did not really find anything to alarming; i know that the phosphate is to high right now but other than that here is what i got from the tests:
ph=8.2 (probe on rk2)
temp=80 deg. (probe on rk2)
alk=10 dkh (elos)
cal=400ppm (elos)
mag=1300ppm (elos)
sg=1.027 (refrac. caliberated)
Ammonia=0 (api)
trate=10/15ppm (sailfert)
phosphate=0.12 (Hanna meter)
I am not sure how the phosphate crept up that bad but the tank is having a hair algae issue so the number is probably even higher then what the test kit shows; i do have chaeto & calupera in the refugium (on a reverse light schedule) from the main tank, I use only RO/DI water, I have (2) tlf reactors one for carbon, 1 for GFO. Lighting & flow are in my sig.
I have not been able to nail down what the problem appears to be with the monti caps & digi's, I have not found any predators so what should i be trying to do?? I have even contacted some of the people that i have traded/sold corals to and they have not found anything when dipping stuff coming to them?
I know the phosphate needs to come down but could that be what is causing all of this??
To make matters even worse yesterday at lunchtime when the lights kicked on i noticed that my green birdnest had completely RTN overnight; to add to that the rest of the monti's in the tank still do not look very good at all they just seem to be wasting away from what they were; i have dipped & inspected and still have not found any predators; i am at a bit of a loss as to what the problem could be; I did run a bunch of tests to see if anything was completely out of normal and did not really find anything to alarming; i know that the phosphate is to high right now but other than that here is what i got from the tests:
ph=8.2 (probe on rk2)
temp=80 deg. (probe on rk2)
alk=10 dkh (elos)
cal=400ppm (elos)
mag=1300ppm (elos)
sg=1.027 (refrac. caliberated)
Ammonia=0 (api)
trate=10/15ppm (sailfert)
phosphate=0.12 (Hanna meter)
I am not sure how the phosphate crept up that bad but the tank is having a hair algae issue so the number is probably even higher then what the test kit shows; i do have chaeto & calupera in the refugium (on a reverse light schedule) from the main tank, I use only RO/DI water, I have (2) tlf reactors one for carbon, 1 for GFO. Lighting & flow are in my sig.
I have not been able to nail down what the problem appears to be with the monti caps & digi's, I have not found any predators so what should i be trying to do?? I have even contacted some of the people that i have traded/sold corals to and they have not found anything when dipping stuff coming to them?
I know the phosphate needs to come down but could that be what is causing all of this??
dazed
New member
Thanks Marc; I will bump the mag to 1400 tonight then; you probably don't remember (it's not like your a busy guy or anything)
but back at the end of July when i first posted about seeing the issues with the monti's you walked me through how to check for the stray voltage and i found only 1.5v which you mentioned was not enough to be concerned about.
I know that the phosphate # has to be higher then what i got for a reading due to the fact that the tank is growing hair algae all over the place?
I did not add any conchs to the tank; but i did add 25 large nass. snails and watched them bury into the sand and have not seen them since?
It's just frustrating to take 10 minutes last night and cut out 3 corals that have grown well in my system over the last year.
It just seems to me that they are being eaten but i can't find anything?
but back at the end of July when i first posted about seeing the issues with the monti's you walked me through how to check for the stray voltage and i found only 1.5v which you mentioned was not enough to be concerned about.I know that the phosphate # has to be higher then what i got for a reading due to the fact that the tank is growing hair algae all over the place?
I did not add any conchs to the tank; but i did add 25 large nass. snails and watched them bury into the sand and have not seen them since?
It's just frustrating to take 10 minutes last night and cut out 3 corals that have grown well in my system over the last year.
It just seems to me that they are being eaten but i can't find anything?
melev
Well-known member
Coral can RTN for no reason at all, but that hasn't happened in my tank in a long time. At this point in my hobby experience, it seems like every coral I ever lose (or even a branch), I'm finally able to discern the exact reason why. <i>Of course, that could change within a week, right?</i> :lol:
If you've dipped any corals that seem iffy, and not seen any pests (AEFW, Monti-eating nudibranchs, etc), then I'm out of guesses.
You should see those nassarius coming up every time you drop food in the water. It takes my tank less than 30 seconds to react to food.
Your PO4 level is quite low, not enough to explain coral loss as far as I'm concerned. Remember, I've had PO4 as high as 3.0 in 2005 with a tank full of SPS. For the past year, the tank has ranged from 0 to .5 as the highest.
Prune that GHA now before it gets worse, and put hungry (new ones form the LFS) snails on those areas to mow off what you leave behind.
If you've dipped any corals that seem iffy, and not seen any pests (AEFW, Monti-eating nudibranchs, etc), then I'm out of guesses.
You should see those nassarius coming up every time you drop food in the water. It takes my tank less than 30 seconds to react to food.
Your PO4 level is quite low, not enough to explain coral loss as far as I'm concerned. Remember, I've had PO4 as high as 3.0 in 2005 with a tank full of SPS. For the past year, the tank has ranged from 0 to .5 as the highest.
Prune that GHA now before it gets worse, and put hungry (new ones form the LFS) snails on those areas to mow off what you leave behind.
dazed
New member
This was the first time i have experienced the RTN issue and yes it went fast nice size piece to; i noticed the day before that one maybe two of the branches were bare but they were at the bottom of the coral so i though maybe a lack of light or flow and then the next day pooof, gone.
I have dipped & used a turkey baster to blow off the corals as well and have not found anything in the bottom of the bowl except pods,starfish, either i am not seeing what i need to see. I also have a 6 line in the tank as a natural type of predator.
I do some of the snails come out of the sand at feeding time but not very many. The ones i do see are the smaller ones that i have had for a while.
But with the hair algae consuming the phosphate as well doesn't that mean that the # could be higher than the 0.12 that i got?
I have been removing the hair algae from the sandbed and trying to from the rocks as well but it just grows back as fast as ever. I have been thinking of trying the 3 days of no lights on the tank, what do you think of that method?
I even have a yellow eye kole tang in the tank (holding it for a friend) along with my naso and neither of them are interested in the stuff.
I have dipped & used a turkey baster to blow off the corals as well and have not found anything in the bottom of the bowl except pods,starfish, either i am not seeing what i need to see. I also have a 6 line in the tank as a natural type of predator.
I do some of the snails come out of the sand at feeding time but not very many. The ones i do see are the smaller ones that i have had for a while.
But with the hair algae consuming the phosphate as well doesn't that mean that the # could be higher than the 0.12 that i got?
I have been removing the hair algae from the sandbed and trying to from the rocks as well but it just grows back as fast as ever. I have been thinking of trying the 3 days of no lights on the tank, what do you think of that method?
I even have a yellow eye kole tang in the tank (holding it for a friend) along with my naso and neither of them are interested in the stuff.
melev
Well-known member
Three Days of Darkness was intended to get rid of Cyano bacteria. It will weaken the GHA so that you can pluck it out, but SPS really don't like that long without light. I did it once. I won't do it past 48 hours again, as it is too close to the point of losses.
Any urchin may act as a bulldozer, and if you have acrylic (overflows or tank), you'll see urchin bite marks. Tuxedos are pretty, but Diademas (long spined) are the ones that eat GHA.
Any urchin may act as a bulldozer, and if you have acrylic (overflows or tank), you'll see urchin bite marks. Tuxedos are pretty, but Diademas (long spined) are the ones that eat GHA.
dazed
New member
Ok well whatever is going on is getting worse by the day it seems I just snapped these pictures at lunch when the T5's kicked on; my large plate looks even worse toady
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It now also appears that i can add my pink birdnest to the list as well there is a significant amount of tissue loss this is getting horrible;
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It now also appears that i can add my pink birdnest to the list as well there is a significant amount of tissue loss this is getting horrible;
dazed
New member
well there is some cyano starting to show up now in the tank now as well as the gha something is not right with the tank and if i can't figure it out i might not have any sps left to worry about.
I do have acrylic so that may not be the best option for me then, i was interested in the tuxedo due to the smaller size; as i have read that the long spined get pretty large pretty quickly; thanks for the information but i think i will have to scratch that of the list for now.
dazed
New member
After doing some more reading on aefw & monti nudi's it seems that the damage they do is a somewhat slower process then what i am watching happen to my corals. The birdnest was overnight damage again though i have already lost a green one of the same size; what should i do??
I think the plate is a goner, i have dipped some pieces and not found anything. I have used lugols, revive, fluke tabs and tmpc anyone have any ideas?
Should i do a large water change??
I think the plate is a goner, i have dipped some pieces and not found anything. I have used lugols, revive, fluke tabs and tmpc anyone have any ideas?
Should i do a large water change??
dazed
New member
Well last night was no fun at all; when i got home from work i found that the plate coral & birdnest looked even worse so i removed the plate and again dipped it in a 5g bucket (the circumference of the coral barely fit into the bucket) and still found nothing in the bucket except dead pods & starfish; the coral just looked so bad that i started to break off pieces that were completely white and before i knew it the whole thing was in pieces and in the trash....
I also dipped the birdnest and found there was something on there but they did not look like the pictures of aefw that i have seen; what i found appeared to be translucent with a black stripe running the length of it; of course to small to get a picture of, I also fragged off the bad sections for now and ended up with 2 pieces left over.
I also had to throw out a pocillopora that went south, and noticed today that my other one is missing polyps now as well.
I have a tri-color in the tank that does not seem effected at all, I thought i read that this was one of the favorite's for the aefw.
Anyways i also removed more sandbed clumps as well as the gha.
This is starting to really get me; at this rate i guess i will have a bare-bottom fish only tank soon.
I also dipped the birdnest and found there was something on there but they did not look like the pictures of aefw that i have seen; what i found appeared to be translucent with a black stripe running the length of it; of course to small to get a picture of, I also fragged off the bad sections for now and ended up with 2 pieces left over.
I also had to throw out a pocillopora that went south, and noticed today that my other one is missing polyps now as well.
I have a tri-color in the tank that does not seem effected at all, I thought i read that this was one of the favorite's for the aefw.
Anyways i also removed more sandbed clumps as well as the gha.
This is starting to really get me; at this rate i guess i will have a bare-bottom fish only tank soon.
dazed
New member
Melev; I took your advice and have already bumped the mag. to 1400ppm, I even re-tested the # this afternoon and it was still the same, 1400.
The test kit is around 2 months old and is the Elos brand.
If you remember i had posted a mag. reading of 1300; so i used the online calculator with my estimate of 100g (total water volume) and the site said to use 500ml of the product that i had on hand which is the Kent tech-M. It sure seemed like allot to dump in the sump but i did and when i tested the next morning the # had moved from 1300 to 1400ppm.
I just don't understand why after all this time the corals have been growing very well and now not so much.
The test kit is around 2 months old and is the Elos brand.
If you remember i had posted a mag. reading of 1300; so i used the online calculator with my estimate of 100g (total water volume) and the site said to use 500ml of the product that i had on hand which is the Kent tech-M. It sure seemed like allot to dump in the sump but i did and when i tested the next morning the # had moved from 1300 to 1400ppm.
I just don't understand why after all this time the corals have been growing very well and now not so much.
