Scott.h
Valuable Member
My oldest running tank has been experiencing issues with certain corals over the last 2 years, getting worse. It's not a parameters issue, lighting, detritus/husbantry, or flow. Live rock is probably at least 10 years matured. I've been around saltwater for about 15 years, freshwater before that. Having multiple tanks I've just pulled corals which quickly thrive once relocated.
Changes made over the last few years: DI added to eliminate a TDS of 5 and under. Fuge/macro, Carbon/gfo reactor, More light, different spectrum, more flow, carbon dosing, lower nitrates/phosphate, vacuuming sand bed, bigger/better skimmer, blowing off rocks weekly, premium salt, bigger water changes (17% weekly), removal of my toadstool, (thought it was that producing toxins) despite all these positive things some things went from perfectly stable and fine, to unhappy. Parimeters are perfect and stable. Same levels as my other tanks. Some past issues got better, (nitrates and algae mainly) but some corals have not liked the road they've been on.
Corals that do well in there I have to regularly cut down/remove. Growth has been unpleasantly well. That includes Star polyps, mushrooms, palyzoas, Kenya trees, and neon spagetti leather. I have a rock flower nem that's tripled in size, but a previous bubble tip and condy that showed the same visual retraction as the corals. I also have a sponge that's fine. I've removed all Sps and LPS with one exception. Back when all my LPS were doing great my nitrates were 40ish. I did what we are "supposed to do" and dropped them down to about 5 or less before letting in them climb to a current 15 ish over the last few months, trying to figure this out. No algae issues, visible pests or diseases, or other visible problems. All fine once relocated. Fish are great, no deaths adding garbage to the water, and I don't let the corals get too bad before moving them.
Last straw, now I have my Xenia stalks that have shrunk, spread flat, and being negitivly effected, and a newly added war coral with regression. At one point I was concerned the Xenia were going to get out of control. The corals that have been effected show the same symptoms. Similar to what you might see if you weren't using rodi. Slow regression, retraction, just overall deterioration. No bleaching or getting picked on by fish. With this tank being in the living room I'm tired of having to cater to whatever is going on chemically, and being able to add outside of what's in there.
My thoughts are the amount of palys throwing toxins, and considered the amount of macroalgae in my fuge might be releasing something. Not sure if anyone has experienced issues with macroalgae in this sense? The problem is the palys would be impossible to eliminate without ripping the tank apart and starting over. Base rock are covered. And I don't know that that's the culprit. At the cost of salt, bigger weekly changes and carbon haven't made a lick of difference. The tank visually looks pretty good, but I just can't seem to add much other then Zoas and leathers. I'm also changing out the carbon regularly with no visual difference. I'm stumped.
Changes made over the last few years: DI added to eliminate a TDS of 5 and under. Fuge/macro, Carbon/gfo reactor, More light, different spectrum, more flow, carbon dosing, lower nitrates/phosphate, vacuuming sand bed, bigger/better skimmer, blowing off rocks weekly, premium salt, bigger water changes (17% weekly), removal of my toadstool, (thought it was that producing toxins) despite all these positive things some things went from perfectly stable and fine, to unhappy. Parimeters are perfect and stable. Same levels as my other tanks. Some past issues got better, (nitrates and algae mainly) but some corals have not liked the road they've been on.
Corals that do well in there I have to regularly cut down/remove. Growth has been unpleasantly well. That includes Star polyps, mushrooms, palyzoas, Kenya trees, and neon spagetti leather. I have a rock flower nem that's tripled in size, but a previous bubble tip and condy that showed the same visual retraction as the corals. I also have a sponge that's fine. I've removed all Sps and LPS with one exception. Back when all my LPS were doing great my nitrates were 40ish. I did what we are "supposed to do" and dropped them down to about 5 or less before letting in them climb to a current 15 ish over the last few months, trying to figure this out. No algae issues, visible pests or diseases, or other visible problems. All fine once relocated. Fish are great, no deaths adding garbage to the water, and I don't let the corals get too bad before moving them.
Last straw, now I have my Xenia stalks that have shrunk, spread flat, and being negitivly effected, and a newly added war coral with regression. At one point I was concerned the Xenia were going to get out of control. The corals that have been effected show the same symptoms. Similar to what you might see if you weren't using rodi. Slow regression, retraction, just overall deterioration. No bleaching or getting picked on by fish. With this tank being in the living room I'm tired of having to cater to whatever is going on chemically, and being able to add outside of what's in there.
My thoughts are the amount of palys throwing toxins, and considered the amount of macroalgae in my fuge might be releasing something. Not sure if anyone has experienced issues with macroalgae in this sense? The problem is the palys would be impossible to eliminate without ripping the tank apart and starting over. Base rock are covered. And I don't know that that's the culprit. At the cost of salt, bigger weekly changes and carbon haven't made a lick of difference. The tank visually looks pretty good, but I just can't seem to add much other then Zoas and leathers. I'm also changing out the carbon regularly with no visual difference. I'm stumped.
