OLD liverock
- Thread starter tropills
- Start date
Paul B
Premium Member
I am still pushing for metals, either copper or zinc and I have no idea how it would have gotten in your tank unless someone dropped something in there. Your test kit will not test for copper in low enough doses to affect corals. I know you changed the water a few times and you run a RO so I would assume it is either in the rock or like I said, someone dropped something, or a heater leaked, or something fell off a light.
I am running out of theories.
Let me know if you find a few pennies in there somewhere. :worried:
I am running out of theories.
Let me know if you find a few pennies in there somewhere. :worried:
tropills
Member
I'm running 2 carbon filters on the incoming water to the house, and through another carbon after the pressure tank. I replace my RO membrane every year also.
tropills
Member
No copper that I'm aware of has ever gotten into the tank, I have all cpvc water lines in the house, never dosed meds. zinc I'm not sure where or how I could get it ? Now just for conversations sake, if I had copper or zinc absorbed into the rock and I "cooked it" (re-cured) would it release it from the rock so I could reuse it ?
superkat
Premium Member
i'm sure you've already done this...but in any situation in reefing or even LIFE for that matter...i try to go back and retrace my steps. starting with when everything was fine to the point where it went wrong. and then try to think of scenarios or circumstances that could have triggered this. What changed? What was added? what was subtracted....just from seeing your set up personally..i can't imagine what could have gone wrong given the way you have it set up....but if I could wave a magic wand, Greg? You'd be the first.
tropills
Member
All pumps seem normal, no visual leakage. No stray voltage. I've changed all of them out over the past year along with my lighting and heaters.. So equipment wise I think I'm safe. This whole scenario started when I had ALL my Kenya trees just melt to mush, my toadstool leathers rotted from the center of the cap to the base of the stalk. all my paly's and mushrooms also melted to mush. The only fish at that time I lost was a large porcupine puffer.
sense then I've lost a yellow tang, mimic tang, Vlamingi tang, regal tang, misc clowns, imperator angel, another porcupine puffer, All my SPS corals. and several others I'm sure. Every thing a year ago tested fine and nothing was over dosed and sense then I just can't keep new Items alive except for a few lucky ones that just happen to survive.
sense then I've lost a yellow tang, mimic tang, Vlamingi tang, regal tang, misc clowns, imperator angel, another porcupine puffer, All my SPS corals. and several others I'm sure. Every thing a year ago tested fine and nothing was over dosed and sense then I just can't keep new Items alive except for a few lucky ones that just happen to survive.
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
my thinking is along the lines of Paul's but with everything dying I can't help but think something is seriously wrong.
Personally, I'd rule out Fe, Zn, or Cu as being the culprit.
Fish are dying. Something is goofy. (Palytoxins?)
Triple check salinity using different instruments and have a fellow reefkeeper check it as well.
Do a 100% water change. Better yet- cook the rocks AND do a 100% water change.
Personally, I'd rule out Fe, Zn, or Cu as being the culprit.
Fish are dying. Something is goofy. (Palytoxins?)
Triple check salinity using different instruments and have a fellow reefkeeper check it as well.
Do a 100% water change. Better yet- cook the rocks AND do a 100% water change.
johnd651
Member
have been reading through this, and I am still a total newbie at this. I am hoping it all works out in the end, and am tagging along to learn more.
I did have a problem with my FW sharks dying off at one point. It ended up being small levels of copper in the water. I started filtering the water and they where fine. After moving (and changing from city water to well water) i have had no problems with my sharks either.
Have you tried calling the water company and asking if they have done anything different to the supply recently???
I did have a problem with my FW sharks dying off at one point. It ended up being small levels of copper in the water. I started filtering the water and they where fine. After moving (and changing from city water to well water) i have had no problems with my sharks either.
Have you tried calling the water company and asking if they have done anything different to the supply recently???
tropills
Member
I'm on Well water :wavehand:
tropills
Member
Gary thanks again. I've had my water tested by a couple other people and they are all within a point or two. I'm going to pull what corals I have and a little rock and setup a temp reef tank and trash all the water and cook the rock from the main system.
tropills
Member
The first puffer that died was a existing resident in the tank. He died about 2 weeks after the corals first started dieing.
Paul B
Premium Member
Your killing me. I ran out of ideas. Still sounds like metal but I guess it may be something else. I am sure your salinity and temp was checked by other means? No forget that, the corals still would not "melt" that fast. I have seen them do that, but only with metals like zinc or copper. I can't think of anything else right now. Sorry
Gary Majchrzak
Team RC
how much is the well water filtered before reaching the aquarium?
has your basement flooded recently?
has your basement flooded recently?
tropills
Member
3 carbon filters and a 3 micron cartridge coming into the house, then I also filter 2 carbon a 1 micron then the RO membrane then thru the DI resin beds. all filters are changed every 6 months and the Membrane is replaced once a year. No basement, just a crawl space.
tropills
Member
No worries Paul, I appreciate everything you have suggested.
Yes my salinity was checked by several refractometers, scientific grade glass hydrometers and old school swing arms. they all read within a few points of each other. nothing out of the safe zones. say between 1.024 and 1.026.
Wow, interesting to say the least.
What is odd is the coraline growing on the rocks and not on the plastics in the tank.I have seen a couple tanks that were plagued with high levels of PO4,the only places I seen corraline growth were on the "plastics" with very little spotting on the glass and rock.Mostly ,a dark red type of corraline on the rock if any.
There are some very talented reefers that have responded in this thread already but you may want to seek some advice from the chemistry forum.
I would personally cook the rock. You can substitute muractic acid with a 5% solution of white vinegar. Live rock is mostly made up of Caco3 it would easily disolve off the outer layer taking any bound heavy metals with it including P04.
I did briefly check the link Gary posted but will admit not reading into it much ,to much "noise". so if I missed something,my appoligies.
-Graves
What is odd is the coraline growing on the rocks and not on the plastics in the tank.I have seen a couple tanks that were plagued with high levels of PO4,the only places I seen corraline growth were on the "plastics" with very little spotting on the glass and rock.Mostly ,a dark red type of corraline on the rock if any.
There are some very talented reefers that have responded in this thread already but you may want to seek some advice from the chemistry forum.
I would personally cook the rock. You can substitute muractic acid with a 5% solution of white vinegar. Live rock is mostly made up of Caco3 it would easily disolve off the outer layer taking any bound heavy metals with it including P04.
I did briefly check the link Gary posted but will admit not reading into it much ,to much "noise". so if I missed something,my appoligies.
-Graves
