wood stoves and reef tanks

[sbreefer]

I have a 120 G mixed tank that I have invested tens of thousands into and something is amiss. I am not getting normal delicate looking SPS growth. Something is inhibiting growth. I get thickening of various frags but not branching. and some corals thrive! For example: my Duncans, Acans, german blue, and palys, and green slimer all grow fast. But others are stugglugling horribly and are deformed. My params are noramal and stable.
NO3-0
NO2-0
PO4-0
NH3-0
PH-8.1-8.35
Alk 8-11
Ca 450
Mag >1300
dont test for stront
dont test for Iodine
dont use trace supps
I alt BT Oceanic and SeaChem reef with automated W/C
light is appropriate. I have a 7 stage RODI filter and anything that goes in is TDS=0. I get a puff of smoke in the house from time to time from the wood stove. does anyone have any thoughts? horribly frustrated......Tim

 

[bertoni]

Can you post a picture of the corals that are having problems?

Those parameters all seem fine to me. I don't think the wood stove should be a problem. You might be seeing some allelopathy, I suppose. What corals are in the tank? The Palythoa are capable of putting out toxins. Any others not listed? Carbon might help with toxins.

 

[sbreefer]

photos attached

photos attached

I use carbon and GFO changed each 2 weeks
I change about 10%/wk using a spectrapure excng module
inventory of corals:
SPS
A. speciosa
millipora WILL NOT GROW (have attempted 3 frags)
blue stag
green slimer
baby blue stag
gemifera not growing no color
valida thickening and deformed
reef ready grape juice? So the guy called it (also deformed)
digitate acro
ORA enchinata
red cap
orange cap
purple cap
ORA brett's cap
CAPS WILL NOT GROW!!!!! beleive it or not......
peach orange and german blue M. digitata
hydnophora flouresecent green
psamocora emerald green
cyphastrea green
cyphastrea red

LPS/soft
various zoanthids
one colony yellow standard protopalythoa
one colony of 5 polyps of large green prtoplays
several happy acans
struggling blasto
turbinaria renifromis and peltata
favia
a few chalices
calaustria
duncans (extreamaly happy)
2 trachiphylias
ricordias of various colors happy
green rodactis happy
red discosoma happy and prolific

red goniopora frag happy
2 fungias
14" gigas clam
6" derassa clam
dendro happy
thomas bubble
elegance struggling


i could only post 5 shots

 

[JamesJR]

What is your temperature reading at and does it vary much? Also, what is your salinity reading at?

Is it just me or does every 2 weeks seem like a very aggressive use of GFO? It has been my observation that it can drop the alkalinity and has this caused any problems for you?

 

[sbreefer]

temp is sable at 81.
salinity is stable at 1.025-7
phosphate stays nice and low. i let it go for a month sometimes,
I really wnt to grow SPS

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Do inverts like snails, shrimp and crabs seem to do Ok?

 

[sbreefer]

i dont keep shrimp but snails and hermits are fine

 

[sbreefer]

do I need to remove certain species of coral maybe?

 

[larry joe]

How many fish do you have?

 

[sbreefer]

lg purple tang (has had HLLE for over a year)
2 lg bangai
6 lg blue green chromis
six line wrasse
lawnmower blenny small
med rabbit fish
3 pajamas
lg clakii clown
just lost a med naso recently

 

[wmilas]

Wow... thats truly odd. It almost seems like its some form of toxin but I can't imagine what it could be... first thought was copper but your hermits are fine...

Wait a sec.. your tang has HLLE? Do you feed nori on a regular basis and it still has HLLE?

 

[JamesJR]

Sorry I didn't catch this earlier but from the picture with the Acanthastrea it appears like you have a dinoflagellate problem. I would probably suspect that this has something to do with your issues. They can definitely cause serious problems as they can produce toxins, can out-compete corals for nutrients and can literally over-grow them if left un-checked. Please post some pictures of these bubbly patches and your tank in general to make certain of it.

Randy's article on it.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-11/rhf/index.php

Good luck

 

[sbreefer]

You are correct I do have a filamentous bloom at present, but it has been forever since I have added any janitors. which Idid today. I was away for a while as well and had some nutrient build up all of which have been addressed. I do not think the the Cap and Acro growth or lack there of is correleated though. Thoughts everyone? I thought it might be the low grade oyster sheel gravel i was using in my Ca reactor which I replaced with ARM-- seems to be much more soluble. Got the Alk a it high for a few days.
I am so stumped.

 

[sbreefer]

the abnormal growth existed prior to the algae problem as well....

 

[dcforester1]

Funny to see this post. I had asked this awhile back on another forum. I also heat with wood, and have similiar experience. I have alot of things that thrive, branching coral, not so much.

I was noticing an almost dust on top of the water at one point. I thought it was ash, but I am not sure. My stove burns very clean, but I do get some soot. My DT is about 6' awy from the tank, and I often wonder the cause/effect.

This is my first real summer with it, so I will see how it does.

Thanks Derek

 

[HighlandReefer]

Although many hobbyists consider 81 degrees ok for a reef tank, at these higher temperatures, many algae problems do increase. Also there is research that indicates that diseases seem to kick in at higher temperatures. I would slowly decrease your temp. if possible to around 76 degrees and see if this helps. The disease I am refering to in coral at higher temperatures is due to swings in bacterial and symbiotic algae populations. The new populations that take over at higher temperatures can cause problems and even death for coral. The so called global warming effect.

 

[HighlandReefer]

FWIW, this is a search result showing many research projects that have been completed on the subject of higher temperatures and its effects on coral:

http://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=increased+temperature+coral&hl=en&as_sdt=20000001&as_sdtp=on

 

[JamesJR]

When you say you were away for a while did you mean that you let your water quality slide a little bit? Did you get a spike in your phosphates or something? Did you start using gfo recently?

Also how are you testing your phosphates and nitrates?

 

[sbreefer]

James- yes and yes.
I have used GFO forever
nnitrate is never above 1
ans po4 is always undectable
I will back the temp off a little.
Somethinf else is wrong though

 

[sbreefer]

Randy, I had hoped you might have some revelation that I had not even considered.
Some thoughts I had:
the media in the Ca reactor not pure ( I adressed this)
water not warm enough for optimal growth so I have had it at 82 for a while (backing off to 79)
corals having some kind of chemical warefare (dont know know what to get rid of) palythoas? But have read that all kinds of things realease toxins.
leaching epoxy?????
wood smoke in the house?
any other thoughts?