Sump help

[BeanAnimal]

I am not sure what your goals are - but for now I suggest not putting anything in that is pervasive and spreads quickly (Xenia, GSP, etc).

Toadstools - sinularia, kenya tree or other leather soft corals are very easy and will not become invasive quickly (they can if left unchecked) but will be a decent barometer for basic water quality.

I would start with one or two dirt cheap softies and see how they do over a month or two. Don't plant them right on the base rock. Put them on the sandbed on their own small anchor rock.

 

[Joypaws83]

Are you using ro/di water @Joypaws83

Yes sir

 

[JohnL]

I am not sure what your goals are - but for now I suggest not putting anything in that is pervasive and spreads quickly (Xenia, GSP, etc).

Toadstools - sinularia, kenya tree or other leather soft corals are very easy and will not become invasive quickly (they can if left unchecked) but will be a decent barometer for basic water quality.

I would start with one or two dirt cheap softies and see how they do over a month or two. Don't plant them right on the base rock. Put them on the sandbed on their own small anchor rock.

Great advice from Bean as usual.

 

[Joypaws83]

I am not sure what your goals are - but for now I suggest not putting anything in that is pervasive and spreads quickly (Xenia, GSP, etc).

Toadstools - sinularia, kenya tree or other leather soft corals are very easy and will not become invasive quickly (they can if left unchecked) but will be a decent barometer for basic water quality.

I would start with one or two dirt cheap softies and see how they do over a month or two. Don't plant them right on the base rock. Put them on the sandbed on their own small anchor rock.

That’s what I’m planning to do, I want something around $10 to try it out and if that doesn’t work then I dont know what’s going on. I had a bubble, hammer, and mushrooms that were doing great, added the sump and everything died a few days later, including all of my hitchhiking CUC

 

[BeanAnimal]

Hard to do a post-mortem but some ideas.

-The water volume added to incorporate the sump was way off of the water chemistry in the tank.

-The sump had some cleaning residue, chemical, medication (copper) or other non-reef-safe substance in it.

-Addition of the sump (for whatever reason) kicked off a huge bacterial bloom that wiped out oxygen for a period of hours or longer.

-The stuff was going to die anyway to some other issue and the sump was a convenient coincidence.

At this point all you can do is try a small hardy coral and see what happens or maybe 2-3 snails and see what happens.

ICP testing would be useful, but they are ~$50 and are not a fix, just a clue to as what parameters may be off.

 

[Joypaws83]

Hard to do a post-mortem but some ideas.

-The water volume added to incorporate the sump was way off of the water chemistry in the tank.

-The sump had some cleaning residue, chemical, medication (copper) or other non-reef-safe substance in it.

-Addition of the sump (for whatever reason) kicked off a huge bacterial bloom that wiped out oxygen for a period of hours or longer.

-The stuff was going to die anyway to some other issue and the sump was a convenient coincidence.

At this point all you can do is try a small hardy coral and see what happens or maybe 2-3 snails and see what happens.

ICP testing would be useful, but they are ~$50 and are not a fix, just a clue to as what parameters may be off.

Appreciate your input. I’ll give a cheap coral a go and see what happens. I can keep hermits alive but my snails bit the dust like 2 days later

 

[BeanAnimal]

Let us know - I don't want you to keep throwing money at trial and error - we will figure out what is wrong somehow.

 

[Joypaws83]

Let us know - I don't want you to keep throwing money at trial and error - we will figure out what is wrong somehow.

Will do, thank you!

 

[griss]

Keep us updated Joy. We’re here to help.

 

[kharmaguru]

40 breeder with two hydra 32's and all that blue at 100% I would suspect you might be torching things. FYI if you like your current colour scheme, you can lower or raise them equally with the two finger slide in the scheduler. Having too little light is much less harmful than having too much light.

 

[Joypaws83]

40 breeder with two hydra 32's and all that blue at 100% I would suspect you might be torching things. FYI if you like your current colour scheme, you can lower or raise them equally with the two finger slide in the scheduler. Having too little light is much less harmful than having too much light.

View attachment 32384071

Do you have suggestions on what the percentages should be? I’m not fully understanding this light and can’t seem to find anything about it, just other peoples schedules

 

[kharmaguru]

Do you have suggestions on what the percentages should be? I’m not fully understanding this light and can’t seem to find anything about it, just other peoples schedules

Considering I've seen people running two AI primes at 60% on a 40 breeder and growing easier SPS, and you have twice as many pucks. I would say not higher than 50% peak on the blues.

 

[kharmaguru]

This might be helpful. This is from one of the local stores here. It's a 70 gallon mixed reef with two hydra 32's and it is hitting near 350 par in the top of the tank, so If you were putting new corals on top of your rocks them may indeed have been getting nuked. Perhaps at your 100% settings putting new things on the very bottom would have been ok.

 

[OldReefGuy]

40 breeder with two hydra 32's and all that blue at 100% I would suspect you might be torching things. FYI if you like your current colour scheme, you can lower or raise them equally with the two finger slide in the scheduler. Having too little light is much less harmful than having too much light.

View attachment 32384071

Thats whats I think also.....its alot of light.

 

[BeanAnimal]

I agree likely a lot of par - but she was at 17" off of the water and even 450-500 par is not going to kill softies/lps corals overnight. They would photo inhibit quickly and not expand, but they wouldn't melt away for weeks.

I used to run two DE 150s 6" off the water and had softies growing out of the water (pulsing sinularia, xenia and palys).

That said, I have no experience with any of the AI products.

Lot of mystery in this tank!

 

[Wetfooted]

What is the easiest way to remove excess softies without wiping out the whole tank?

 

[OldReefGuy]

what type softies?

 

[OldReefGuy]

Yup....lots of mystery indeed.

 

[Joypaws83]

So the HOB overflow box is coming off today. The way it hangs on the back prevents necessary water flow from going into the sump. I think it has something to do with the rim on the tank. I think my only solution is nixing the sump and placing everything in the DT. I now have cyano and dinos and on the verge of giving up

Needs some recommendations here: Skimmer or put the tidal filter back on?

I ran my 29 gallon with a seaclone skimmer and it never had any of these issues. Next tank will be drilled into because this has been a nightmare

 

[griss]

So the HOB overflow box is coming off today. The way it hangs on the back prevents necessary water flow from going into the sump. I think it has something to do with the rim on the tank. I think my only solution is nixing the sump and placing everything in the DT. I now have cyano and dinos and on the verge of giving up

Needs some recommendations here: Skimmer or put the tidal filter back on?

I ran my 29 gallon with a seaclone skimmer and it never had any of these issues. Next tank will be drilled into because this has been a nightmare

I would like to see how the overflow is set up and why it is preventing the necessary water from from going into the sump.

Don't give up, keep plugging away. We're here to help.