HowardCath
New member
Where to begin? I have been able to attend only a couple of meetings and meet few of you. I have a 120 gal which was fish only for 3 years and reef for the past 2 ½ years; 155 pounds of live rock; VHO lighting (bulbs changed yearly) I have eight fish (a sailfin tang, 2 clowns, a blue damsel, a royal gramma, a bar goby, 2 pajama cardinals), a cleaner shrimp and a banded shrimp. I have a large 10†rock of green zooanthid polyps which have spread to another rock; a leather coral which has grown from 3†to 6†now; a few green mushrooms. The rock is generously covered with purple coralline algae.
Many corals have not survived, however, and I’m uncertain why. Most recently, I tried robust corals such as yellow polyps (12/05) and green star polyps (2/06). The yellow polyps initially seemed to thrive and grow, but then atrophied. My green star polyps seemed okay for a while and now are almost totally atrophied.
I have my water tested at the Aquatic Critter and I’m always told that it is fine. I have faithfully exchanged 20 gal. every month. I do not have a skimmer. Weekly, I add 4 teaspoons of Kent Superbuffer-dkH, 40 cc of Seachem Reef Complete (calcium, magnesium, strontium), and 3 drops of iodine as Lugol’s solution.
I realized that in summer, my temperature was spiking up to ~ 84 degrees. I thought this might be why some corals were okay for a while, but were perhaps dying with the seasonal temperature changes. At the first of May, I vented the top of my glass canopy and placed a fan which dropped my temp. to a constant 79 degrees. So far, the star polyps seem to still be wasting away.
I have always bought my water at the Critter. Using evaporation to control temp., however, I am having to buy and transport 20 gal. of salt water plus 30 gal. of fresh each month. This is more of a chore than I want. I assume that most of you make your own water.
Dilemma â€"œ what is the likelihood that temperature was a big part of my problem to begin with? If yes, then should I look into a reverse osmosis/deionization unit? I would likely need it to be set up to automatically top off my tank. I have a sink under the tank, but no other good place to collect and store large volumes of water. Will it be worth the cost and effort? I had little need for fresh water top off before I opened the canopy for temp. control, but chillers look expensive and my space is limited under the tank.
There is a limit as to what I want to invest, especially if I’m uncertain as to what will work. I might rather just know what my problem is and I would be satisfied to limit my goals. If you have any advice, please respond as if talking to a newbie! Thanks!!
- Howard
Many corals have not survived, however, and I’m uncertain why. Most recently, I tried robust corals such as yellow polyps (12/05) and green star polyps (2/06). The yellow polyps initially seemed to thrive and grow, but then atrophied. My green star polyps seemed okay for a while and now are almost totally atrophied.
I have my water tested at the Aquatic Critter and I’m always told that it is fine. I have faithfully exchanged 20 gal. every month. I do not have a skimmer. Weekly, I add 4 teaspoons of Kent Superbuffer-dkH, 40 cc of Seachem Reef Complete (calcium, magnesium, strontium), and 3 drops of iodine as Lugol’s solution.
I realized that in summer, my temperature was spiking up to ~ 84 degrees. I thought this might be why some corals were okay for a while, but were perhaps dying with the seasonal temperature changes. At the first of May, I vented the top of my glass canopy and placed a fan which dropped my temp. to a constant 79 degrees. So far, the star polyps seem to still be wasting away.
I have always bought my water at the Critter. Using evaporation to control temp., however, I am having to buy and transport 20 gal. of salt water plus 30 gal. of fresh each month. This is more of a chore than I want. I assume that most of you make your own water.
Dilemma â€"œ what is the likelihood that temperature was a big part of my problem to begin with? If yes, then should I look into a reverse osmosis/deionization unit? I would likely need it to be set up to automatically top off my tank. I have a sink under the tank, but no other good place to collect and store large volumes of water. Will it be worth the cost and effort? I had little need for fresh water top off before I opened the canopy for temp. control, but chillers look expensive and my space is limited under the tank.
There is a limit as to what I want to invest, especially if I’m uncertain as to what will work. I might rather just know what my problem is and I would be satisfied to limit my goals. If you have any advice, please respond as if talking to a newbie! Thanks!!
- Howard
