SEPDXReef
Community Member
Hello Everyone,
I wanted to share my experience with a mixed reef and acropora bleaching / STN.
I have been running my Waterbox Reef 70.2 (65 gallon system) for about 9 months at the time of writing this post and I have lost my fair share of acropora in that time.
At first I chalked it up to the new tank not being properly established but I am not at a point where 95% of my scape is covered in Coraline and i have a thriving mircofauna population along with a few other notable attributes of a fairly established system.
I began my SPS journey with a few different varieties of Montipora and a birds nest and Green slimer. The Montiporas were growing and coloring Nicely but the sticks were slowly bleaching from the base. I tried a few more stick frags and same outcome, always bleaching upwards starting at the base. Even a few of the acropora frags would begin to slowly encrust their plugs over the course of a few weeks and In the end they would eventually begin to bleach from the base. All while these issues were going on I didn’t change any parameters, additives, levels, etc. in the water or the equipment. Stability is maintained with once weekly water changes of about 10-15% and a Neptune Apex, Trident, & DOS testing/dosing system. A few other pieces of the equipment: (2) Radion XR15 Gen5 Pros, (2) Nero 5’s, Fleece Roll, Skimmer, Refugium, and BRS Pro Media reactor. I was able to rule out any issues with lighting with a Par meter and I am confident that my flow is sufficient without going overboard and all my home testing of water chemistry was right on. I finally decided to have an ICP Test performed to rule out any other issues with my chemistry and as I suspected, all parameters came back in the acceptable ranges except for Iodine. I added the recommended amount of iodine to the tank and have been monitoring it since. With all of this work testing, checking, and re-checking, I still wasn’t able to keep acropora from bleaching in my system. My final decision was to hit the tank hard with Carbon. I filled up a large canister with BRS ROX and ran it at full flow volume. Within 2 days I began to see significant changes in most of the corals in the tank. Of the few acropora frags I had left, all of them that were slowly bleaching from the base have stopped and they all began to show signs of improved health (full polyp extension) that they never had before.
This long story is to provide information to those Who may be struggling keeping more sensitive species in their mixed reef systems. During my struggles with the tank I was not able to find any definitive information on the affects of Coral Warefare and sensitive species of coral in a mixed reef. It is important to remember that not all coral warfare is visible and easy to detect. A lot of the chemicals produced by the inhabitants of the mixed reef cannot be seen or even tested for. I would recommend to anyone that is running a mixed reef and having difficulties (or would like to prevent possible issues In the future) to start running Carbon to remove the undesirable coral chemicals that may be present and building up in your tank.
Please feel free to chime in with your own experience or correct anything I may have missed. Thanks all and I hope you find success with your mixed reef tanks!!
I wanted to share my experience with a mixed reef and acropora bleaching / STN.
I have been running my Waterbox Reef 70.2 (65 gallon system) for about 9 months at the time of writing this post and I have lost my fair share of acropora in that time.
At first I chalked it up to the new tank not being properly established but I am not at a point where 95% of my scape is covered in Coraline and i have a thriving mircofauna population along with a few other notable attributes of a fairly established system.
I began my SPS journey with a few different varieties of Montipora and a birds nest and Green slimer. The Montiporas were growing and coloring Nicely but the sticks were slowly bleaching from the base. I tried a few more stick frags and same outcome, always bleaching upwards starting at the base. Even a few of the acropora frags would begin to slowly encrust their plugs over the course of a few weeks and In the end they would eventually begin to bleach from the base. All while these issues were going on I didn’t change any parameters, additives, levels, etc. in the water or the equipment. Stability is maintained with once weekly water changes of about 10-15% and a Neptune Apex, Trident, & DOS testing/dosing system. A few other pieces of the equipment: (2) Radion XR15 Gen5 Pros, (2) Nero 5’s, Fleece Roll, Skimmer, Refugium, and BRS Pro Media reactor. I was able to rule out any issues with lighting with a Par meter and I am confident that my flow is sufficient without going overboard and all my home testing of water chemistry was right on. I finally decided to have an ICP Test performed to rule out any other issues with my chemistry and as I suspected, all parameters came back in the acceptable ranges except for Iodine. I added the recommended amount of iodine to the tank and have been monitoring it since. With all of this work testing, checking, and re-checking, I still wasn’t able to keep acropora from bleaching in my system. My final decision was to hit the tank hard with Carbon. I filled up a large canister with BRS ROX and ran it at full flow volume. Within 2 days I began to see significant changes in most of the corals in the tank. Of the few acropora frags I had left, all of them that were slowly bleaching from the base have stopped and they all began to show signs of improved health (full polyp extension) that they never had before.
This long story is to provide information to those Who may be struggling keeping more sensitive species in their mixed reef systems. During my struggles with the tank I was not able to find any definitive information on the affects of Coral Warefare and sensitive species of coral in a mixed reef. It is important to remember that not all coral warfare is visible and easy to detect. A lot of the chemicals produced by the inhabitants of the mixed reef cannot be seen or even tested for. I would recommend to anyone that is running a mixed reef and having difficulties (or would like to prevent possible issues In the future) to start running Carbon to remove the undesirable coral chemicals that may be present and building up in your tank.
Please feel free to chime in with your own experience or correct anything I may have missed. Thanks all and I hope you find success with your mixed reef tanks!!
