So as the title reads, I go on vacation, gone for 4.5 days. I come back and see my SPS is dead. I can't blame the guy who was watching my house as I'm sure he had no idea what SPS is, he was simply told to feed my fish once a day.
I have a few theories on what caused it, but not exactly sure. I'm trying to figure it out because right now I want to give up on SPS. I hate seeing things die, especially knowing that it was at my hand.
First, the last time I recorded parameters was over 3 months ago, back on December 27th, 2013. At this time I had an Acropora frag, it had been living in my tank since July, 2013. To be honest, I wasn't sure it was alive, it wasn't showing any growth, but after seeing how white SPS get when they die, I knew it was living up until yesterday. My last recorded parameters are as follows:
Sal: 1.024
Cal: 360
DHK 13
PH: 8.13
Phos\Nitrite\Nitrate\Amon: 0\0\0\0
MG: 1350
Temp: 76F
also, the tank has been up and running since Feb, 2013 without issue.
All softies were seemingly thriving under these conditions and supporting SPS life. A bit over a month ago, I got an awesome birdsnest frag that I was so proud of. I also started using carbon in a reactor with some GFO sprinkled in. There was some talk about how my tank could do better if I started this. Over the next couple weeks I watched the tank get clearer than ever and the birdsnest seemed to be doing quite well. I was happy thinking my mixed reef was going to work.
2/16/14 - I added two anemones that I picked up from petsmart on a sale. Apparently I'm a big sucker for them and they had gigantea and haddoni for $20 each. I knew my tank already had a lot of bubble tips, and a mini maxi that came in on a rock but I figured everything would be ok.
3 weeks ago I changed the temp of the tank to 77F, wanting to see how the corals react. Didn't really notice a change.
2 weeks ago. I lost a fish, trying to find it I make a rash decision to tear apart the rocks to locate it. I began moving each rock slowly and placing it on a isolated spot, being careful not to damage any corals. Finally, I found it, he had got himself stuck in a rock and my guess is starved out. I broke the rock and removed the body and placed the pieces of rock back in the tank. not wanting to cause any more damage for the night, I left everything spread out across the tank so the fish would calm down.
The next day, I noticed everything in the tank looked fine, maybe even better than normal. I was worried about stirring up too much detritus and causing any parameter spikes. However everything, including the birdsnest seemed to be unaffected. I assembled the rocks in a new formation, one that I liked better and that I felt offered flow/light better suited to each.
I watched the tank carefully for the next week before I left and everything seemed to be doing better than ever.
The morning before I left, I did a slightly large water change, probably about 25% but this is more than I usually do (around 10% every month.) I was using this water to seed another aquarium I was starting up on the side, so I could have all the anemonies separate, and possibly start propagating.
So I leave for vacation, worrying about the tank, because apparently that's what I do now and when I get back I see this white skeleton. I'm sad and try to figure out whats wrong.
I test my parameters and notice a few things, but not sure if it's enough to kill off my corals so quickly.
Sal: 1.026
Cal: 360
DHK 8
PH: 8.2
Phos\Nitrite\Nitrate\Amon: 0\0\0\0
MG: 1350
Temp: 77F
first thing is salinity is high, I guess the new water I used was higher than I thought. I take some water out and put some RO/DI in. Bring it to 1.025 relatively quickly. Next is the DKH.. this seems quite low to me. not sure how it changed so much It's always been around 10-13 since I setup the tank. I watch the PH (probe on reefkeeper) every day looking for fluctuations since I dose cal\alk. over the past 3 months it's been on a steady climb to 8.2 from 8.13, which is where I want it.
I'm just mad because I feel like if I was there I could have seen the change and fixed it quicker. I know parameter changes are never good for SPS but could the salinity be enough to kill them off? or the decline of the DKH? or something else I missed?
2/23/14 (mid day lighting)
3/5/14 (sorry for cellphone camera, also this is during the morning lighting)
I have a few theories on what caused it, but not exactly sure. I'm trying to figure it out because right now I want to give up on SPS. I hate seeing things die, especially knowing that it was at my hand.
First, the last time I recorded parameters was over 3 months ago, back on December 27th, 2013. At this time I had an Acropora frag, it had been living in my tank since July, 2013. To be honest, I wasn't sure it was alive, it wasn't showing any growth, but after seeing how white SPS get when they die, I knew it was living up until yesterday. My last recorded parameters are as follows:
Sal: 1.024
Cal: 360
DHK 13
PH: 8.13
Phos\Nitrite\Nitrate\Amon: 0\0\0\0
MG: 1350
Temp: 76F
also, the tank has been up and running since Feb, 2013 without issue.
All softies were seemingly thriving under these conditions and supporting SPS life. A bit over a month ago, I got an awesome birdsnest frag that I was so proud of. I also started using carbon in a reactor with some GFO sprinkled in. There was some talk about how my tank could do better if I started this. Over the next couple weeks I watched the tank get clearer than ever and the birdsnest seemed to be doing quite well. I was happy thinking my mixed reef was going to work.
2/16/14 - I added two anemones that I picked up from petsmart on a sale. Apparently I'm a big sucker for them and they had gigantea and haddoni for $20 each. I knew my tank already had a lot of bubble tips, and a mini maxi that came in on a rock but I figured everything would be ok.
3 weeks ago I changed the temp of the tank to 77F, wanting to see how the corals react. Didn't really notice a change.
2 weeks ago. I lost a fish, trying to find it I make a rash decision to tear apart the rocks to locate it. I began moving each rock slowly and placing it on a isolated spot, being careful not to damage any corals. Finally, I found it, he had got himself stuck in a rock and my guess is starved out. I broke the rock and removed the body and placed the pieces of rock back in the tank. not wanting to cause any more damage for the night, I left everything spread out across the tank so the fish would calm down.
The next day, I noticed everything in the tank looked fine, maybe even better than normal. I was worried about stirring up too much detritus and causing any parameter spikes. However everything, including the birdsnest seemed to be unaffected. I assembled the rocks in a new formation, one that I liked better and that I felt offered flow/light better suited to each.
I watched the tank carefully for the next week before I left and everything seemed to be doing better than ever.
The morning before I left, I did a slightly large water change, probably about 25% but this is more than I usually do (around 10% every month.) I was using this water to seed another aquarium I was starting up on the side, so I could have all the anemonies separate, and possibly start propagating.
So I leave for vacation, worrying about the tank, because apparently that's what I do now and when I get back I see this white skeleton. I'm sad and try to figure out whats wrong.
I test my parameters and notice a few things, but not sure if it's enough to kill off my corals so quickly.
Sal: 1.026
Cal: 360
DHK 8
PH: 8.2
Phos\Nitrite\Nitrate\Amon: 0\0\0\0
MG: 1350
Temp: 77F
first thing is salinity is high, I guess the new water I used was higher than I thought. I take some water out and put some RO/DI in. Bring it to 1.025 relatively quickly. Next is the DKH.. this seems quite low to me. not sure how it changed so much It's always been around 10-13 since I setup the tank. I watch the PH (probe on reefkeeper) every day looking for fluctuations since I dose cal\alk. over the past 3 months it's been on a steady climb to 8.2 from 8.13, which is where I want it.
I'm just mad because I feel like if I was there I could have seen the change and fixed it quicker. I know parameter changes are never good for SPS but could the salinity be enough to kill them off? or the decline of the DKH? or something else I missed?
2/23/14 (mid day lighting)
3/5/14 (sorry for cellphone camera, also this is during the morning lighting)
I'm going to cry now, oh well.. live and learn.
