malx
Active member
Hi, Everyone.
Grab a coffee, you'll need it.
Let me start out by saying that no matter how frustrated I am with my tank right now—as I am in fact frustrated--I love this hobby. For my first tank, I built the most amazing system I could think of. I’m a huge gear head so I love equipment, all of it, and only the best of it! Everything runs outstanding—maintenance, water changes, cleaning, feeding, gear checks, everything is super easy and I never worry about my gear not working properly. In terms of fish, they look outstanding. They’ve all been properly quarantined as babies, they eat like pigs, they grow fast, they great me when I wake up, and they eat everything I feed them. My Midas Blenney was so happy when I adopted him that he jumped out of his container while being drip acclimated (don’t worry I caught the idiot and he’s fine). I am truly their dad. In the six months this tank has been up I’ve fought and won battles against Diatoms Twice, Cyano Twice, Bubble Algae, been constantly bit by clownfish, and just learned a lot in general. I’m super grateful for my tank and everyone who has helped me along the way.
One thing I can’t seem to overcome is my STN problem. No matter what type of SPS I put in the tank, it slowly dies. When I acclimate a new coral after being Bayer dipped, It will show PE for a few weeks, then start to slowly develop tissue loss, algae will take over and then BAM, it just loses the battle. There seems to be no rhyme or reason where the tissue loss is. Sometimes at the tips, sometimes at the base, and sometimes in the middle for plating corals. Over the past few weeks I have determined to figure out what is wrong. First my tank was too clean, so I overdosed on some ZEOvit elements and had several algae blooms, then, the Calcium level was off because my Hanna checker was crap and didn’t have the right calibration solution, then it was not enough light and enough flow. A few weeks ago things were starting to look great as I have been slowing making changes, and then, back to their old self again.
I’m determined to fix this. Please, all of you, give me ideas of what to check because I am completely stumped. Here’s everything that you need to know.
Tank Parameters:
Life Support:
Media Used:
In the Calcium Reactor:
Lighting:
PAR Readings:
Photo Period:
APEX Readings:
Nutrients Matrix:
Flow:
Feedings:
Dosing:
Photos: I’ll get some, but it’s defiantly STN.
Things I’ve tried that have not made any significant positive changes:
What I’m trying now
What I’m thinking now:
Please sirs, may I haz some help?
Thanks for listening!
Joey
Grab a coffee, you'll need it.
Let me start out by saying that no matter how frustrated I am with my tank right now—as I am in fact frustrated--I love this hobby. For my first tank, I built the most amazing system I could think of. I’m a huge gear head so I love equipment, all of it, and only the best of it! Everything runs outstanding—maintenance, water changes, cleaning, feeding, gear checks, everything is super easy and I never worry about my gear not working properly. In terms of fish, they look outstanding. They’ve all been properly quarantined as babies, they eat like pigs, they grow fast, they great me when I wake up, and they eat everything I feed them. My Midas Blenney was so happy when I adopted him that he jumped out of his container while being drip acclimated (don’t worry I caught the idiot and he’s fine). I am truly their dad. In the six months this tank has been up I’ve fought and won battles against Diatoms Twice, Cyano Twice, Bubble Algae, been constantly bit by clownfish, and just learned a lot in general. I’m super grateful for my tank and everyone who has helped me along the way.
One thing I can’t seem to overcome is my STN problem. No matter what type of SPS I put in the tank, it slowly dies. When I acclimate a new coral after being Bayer dipped, It will show PE for a few weeks, then start to slowly develop tissue loss, algae will take over and then BAM, it just loses the battle. There seems to be no rhyme or reason where the tissue loss is. Sometimes at the tips, sometimes at the base, and sometimes in the middle for plating corals. Over the past few weeks I have determined to figure out what is wrong. First my tank was too clean, so I overdosed on some ZEOvit elements and had several algae blooms, then, the Calcium level was off because my Hanna checker was crap and didn’t have the right calibration solution, then it was not enough light and enough flow. A few weeks ago things were starting to look great as I have been slowing making changes, and then, back to their old self again.
I’m determined to fix this. Please, all of you, give me ideas of what to check because I am completely stumped. Here’s everything that you need to know.
Tank Parameters:
- Tank Size: 56 Gallons 36x20x20
- Total Water Volume: Conservative Estimate of 75 Gallons
Life Support:
- Sump: Ruby 36 by Trigger Systems
- Calcium Reactor: Vertex RX-C 6D
- Protein Skimmer: Vertex Omega 150
- ZEOvit Reactor: Vertex RX-Z 1.5L
- Other Equipment: Theiling Rollermat
- RO/DI: 7 Stage RO/DI Unit from BRS that has One Membrane, One Sediment Filter, 3 Carbon Stages, and Two DI Stages.
Media Used:
- In a Mesh Bag in the Sump: Zorallen-Zucht Activated Carbon 300ml
- In the ZEOvit Reactor: Zorallen-Zucht ZEOlite Media 700ml
- Salt: Red Sea Coral Pro
In the Calcium Reactor:
- One Bag of Reborn Calcium Reactor Media
- One Container of CaribSEA Arm Reactor Media
- One Bag of 1000ml Zorallen-Zucht ZEOmag
Lighting:
- Two Kessil A360W Tuna Blue
- Two 39w T5 Coral Light II Bulbs by Zorallen-Zucht
- One 39w T5 Fiji Purple Bulb by Zorallen-Zucht
- One 39w T5 Coral Light Super Blue Bulb by Zorallen-Zucht
- All lights mounted approximately 7” from Water Level
PAR Readings:
- 100-150 on the sand
- 160-360 on the different rock levels
- Measured with a Seneye Monitor
- Most SPS are mounted above 180par. I am slowing increasing the Kessil lights 5% intensity each seven-day period. So far they max out at 50% intensity.
Photo Period:
- LED Power Intensity Schedule: https://www.screencast.com/t/eXyrFcAQ
- LED Color Intensity Schedule: https://www.screencast.com/t/7U7k7Rl0fj
- One Coral Light II and One Super Blue on from 12pm – 6pm.
- One Coral Light II and One Fiji Purple on from 1pm – 7pm.
APEX Readings:
- Tank PH Readings over 24hrs: 8.19 – 8.31
- Tank ORP Readings over 24hrs: 369 – 397
- Tank Temperature Readings over 24hrs: 79.5 – 79.6
- Apex Screenshot: https://www.screencast.com/t/cxp98lq6Q
- Note, all probes are calibrated quarterly. Last calibration was 30 days ago.
Nutrients Matrix:
- SG: 34/1.026 with Milwakee Digital Refractometer
- SG Crosschecked with with standard Refractometer: 1.027
- Alk Readings Across Two Weeks: 8.0 – 8.9dkh tested every other day over a two-week period.
- CA Readings Across Two Weeks: 370 – 380ppm with Hannah Checker (known to be inaccurate so using this to test for consistency)
- CA Crosschecked with ATI Ca Test Kit: 440ppm
- Potassium: 380ppm with Red Sea Coral Colors
- Ammonia: 0ppm with Salifert
- Nitrite: 0ppm with Hanna Checker
- Nitrate: 5ppm with Salifert (Consistent)
- Phosphate Over One Month Period: 0 – 0.05ppm with Hanna Checker
Flow:
- Two Echotech Marine MP40 on Tidal Mode at 70% intensity. They are mounted on the same side of the tank so one is on each hour and they rotate. They go on pulse mode for 0.5 seconds synced 3x a day for an hour each. I’ve had my flow double checked by a fellow reefer who is very successful at keeping SPS.
- First Pump Matrix: https://www.screencast.com/t/WawnNXpVO0N
- First Pump On/Off Schedule: https://www.screencast.com/t/L2bK9xbAT2
- Second Pump Matrix: https://www.screencast.com/t/qGzuk3k9
- Second Pump On/Off Schedule: https://www.screencast.com/t/o6psdVUYbR
Feedings:
- 2x Per Day Mix of:
- PE Mysis
- PE Calanus
- Hikari Mega Marine Angel
- Cyclops,
- Nori
- Sustainable Aquatics Hatchery Pellets
- Ocean Nutrition Prime Flakes
- Fresh Clams from Whole Foods
- Fresh oysters from Whole Foods
- Fresh scallops from Whole Foods
- 2x Per Week I do a third feeding of BRS Reef Chili and 0.5ml Selcon
Dosing:
- You can see a screenshot of my complete dosing schedule here: https://www.screencast.com/t/xJT1ITnHVCa
- Also in the sump are two Zorallen-Zucht Amino Acid Automatic Element Tabs
Photos: I’ll get some, but it’s defiantly STN.
Things I’ve tried that have not made any significant positive changes:
- Slowing adjusting dosing
- Consistent back-to-back water changes
- Increased flow
- Increased lighting in both Intensity and photo-period
- Checked equipment for rusty magnets.
What I’m trying now
- Triton Test (Will be 10 days for the results)
- Patience
What I’m thinking now:
- Many curse words
- Like a bad fish daddy
- Maybe there is something in the tank, like a screw or a metal shaving putting copper and tin in the water that I can’t detect without a Triton test.
- Why does my Maxima Clam look so amazing and have pure white new growth under his mantel--that I only see at night because during the day he’s out soaking up the sun—if there is some element in the water that is toxic to SPS?
- Could stray voltage be an issue? I can never get my salinity probe calibrated possibly. If that’s the case, would that even affect the corals? I don’t get electrocuted when I touch the equipment.
- Should I have just gotten a betta fish?
Please sirs, may I haz some help?
Thanks for listening!
Joey
