- Joined
- Apr 4, 2020
- Messages
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Hello all,
I have been reefing for ten year now and have worked at a LFS for almost as long. Three years ago, I had a wonderful system that was successfully growing Tridacna clams, acros, LPS, and softies faster than I could get rid of them. I have since moved and everything has been more difficult since.
As any reefer would, I upgraded when I moved to the new house. The one system (Frag) is almost two years old and has settled in nicely, much like my old system. There are of course some standard issues like hair algae and some less common ones (hyperplasia and tulip shaped polyps on some acros), but in general I'm happy with it. This was supposed to be the frag system and has lots of room for coral to go as it outgrows the displays.
System two (SPS) was started a bit over a year ago. It was supposed to be an SPS-dominant system that used my other system as a quarantine to prevent pests. It started as a 75 gallon tank with a 75g sump. This was to get the system cycled and ready to go for when I had time to setup the 150g display on the second floor. Once parameters were stable, I added acros and they all seemed to be happy. Reasonable polyp extension, some growth, slightly pale (low NO3), but overall doing well. Even the hyperplasia and polyp shape returned to normal after they were moved to the SPS system from the frag system. Note that the SPS system was only seeded from dry rock, but the usual diatoms were not causing any issues.
Fast forward to six months ago and everything is still stable and corals are still happy in the SPS system. I ran the plumbing for the 150g display, built an aquascape out of Marco rock, and added an inch of crushed coral, then opened the valve and began filling the new tank. Initially, everything stayed the same. The corals in the 150g and 75g were happy, including a bunch of acros and some favites. I moved a 16" gigas clam and a 12" maxima clam over to the 150g as well with no issues. Since then, I have been forced to move almost all coral out of the system since it began dying. The clams are still happy as clams with a large white growth rim on the shells, but no coral will grow and all eventually begin to die.
Some details about both systems:
Frag
Total volume: ~200g
Alk: ~8 dKh
Calc: ~400 ppm
Mag: ~1300 ppm
NO3: 2 ppm
PO4: 0.03 ppm
pH: 8.33-8.8 (a bit high for my taste but no issues so far)
Lighting: Variety of radions ranging from gen 3 to gen 5
Alk and calk maintained with ~4000 ml of saturated kalk daily
Mag maintained with 40 ml/day of BRS mag
45 ml/day of homemade neonitro (NaNO3) to prevent nutrients from bottoming out
Clarisea filter roller
NAC7 bubble magus skimmer
SPS
Total volume: ~300g
Alk: ~8 dKh
Calc: ~400 ppm
Mag: ~1200 ppm
NO3: 2 ppm
PO4: 0.03 ppm
pH: 8.1-8.4
Lighting: 4x gen 5 radions on the 150g display
Alk and calk maintained with ~1900 ml of saturated kalk daily
Mag maintained with 35 ml/day of BRS mag
35 ml/day of homemade neonitro (NaNO3) to prevent nutrients from bottoming out
Parameters are monitored with a Trident on each tank plus weekly testing of Alk, NO3, and PO4. Everything is stable and matches the parameters of my old system almost exactly. I have done ICP tests on both systems with the only flagged results being low iodine, low manganese, high barium, and high aluminum. Nothing extremely out of whack. I tried running carbon for two months with no improvements. I tried adding live sand, biomedia, and rocks covered in coralline from the frag system with no change. The coralline algae was growing when the 150g was first setup but now seems like it may be stunted. I tried adding microbacters. I keep my hands out of the tank and there are no air fresheners or anything like that contaminating the tank.
I have tried everything I can think of and more without any success. I am waiting on another ICP test to see if anything has change. I am sure most of you will probably tell me I just need to wait for the rock to cure, but I see no reason a favites should be slowly melting after growing and being happy for months. I see no reason acros shouldn't be able to grow when my clams are happy, have adequate flow, and stable parameters. Is there any advice other than just waiting? Happy to answer any and all questions
I have been reefing for ten year now and have worked at a LFS for almost as long. Three years ago, I had a wonderful system that was successfully growing Tridacna clams, acros, LPS, and softies faster than I could get rid of them. I have since moved and everything has been more difficult since.
As any reefer would, I upgraded when I moved to the new house. The one system (Frag) is almost two years old and has settled in nicely, much like my old system. There are of course some standard issues like hair algae and some less common ones (hyperplasia and tulip shaped polyps on some acros), but in general I'm happy with it. This was supposed to be the frag system and has lots of room for coral to go as it outgrows the displays.
System two (SPS) was started a bit over a year ago. It was supposed to be an SPS-dominant system that used my other system as a quarantine to prevent pests. It started as a 75 gallon tank with a 75g sump. This was to get the system cycled and ready to go for when I had time to setup the 150g display on the second floor. Once parameters were stable, I added acros and they all seemed to be happy. Reasonable polyp extension, some growth, slightly pale (low NO3), but overall doing well. Even the hyperplasia and polyp shape returned to normal after they were moved to the SPS system from the frag system. Note that the SPS system was only seeded from dry rock, but the usual diatoms were not causing any issues.
Fast forward to six months ago and everything is still stable and corals are still happy in the SPS system. I ran the plumbing for the 150g display, built an aquascape out of Marco rock, and added an inch of crushed coral, then opened the valve and began filling the new tank. Initially, everything stayed the same. The corals in the 150g and 75g were happy, including a bunch of acros and some favites. I moved a 16" gigas clam and a 12" maxima clam over to the 150g as well with no issues. Since then, I have been forced to move almost all coral out of the system since it began dying. The clams are still happy as clams with a large white growth rim on the shells, but no coral will grow and all eventually begin to die.
Some details about both systems:
Frag
Total volume: ~200g
Alk: ~8 dKh
Calc: ~400 ppm
Mag: ~1300 ppm
NO3: 2 ppm
PO4: 0.03 ppm
pH: 8.33-8.8 (a bit high for my taste but no issues so far)
Lighting: Variety of radions ranging from gen 3 to gen 5
Alk and calk maintained with ~4000 ml of saturated kalk daily
Mag maintained with 40 ml/day of BRS mag
45 ml/day of homemade neonitro (NaNO3) to prevent nutrients from bottoming out
Clarisea filter roller
NAC7 bubble magus skimmer
SPS
Total volume: ~300g
Alk: ~8 dKh
Calc: ~400 ppm
Mag: ~1200 ppm
NO3: 2 ppm
PO4: 0.03 ppm
pH: 8.1-8.4
Lighting: 4x gen 5 radions on the 150g display
Alk and calk maintained with ~1900 ml of saturated kalk daily
Mag maintained with 35 ml/day of BRS mag
35 ml/day of homemade neonitro (NaNO3) to prevent nutrients from bottoming out
Parameters are monitored with a Trident on each tank plus weekly testing of Alk, NO3, and PO4. Everything is stable and matches the parameters of my old system almost exactly. I have done ICP tests on both systems with the only flagged results being low iodine, low manganese, high barium, and high aluminum. Nothing extremely out of whack. I tried running carbon for two months with no improvements. I tried adding live sand, biomedia, and rocks covered in coralline from the frag system with no change. The coralline algae was growing when the 150g was first setup but now seems like it may be stunted. I tried adding microbacters. I keep my hands out of the tank and there are no air fresheners or anything like that contaminating the tank.
I have tried everything I can think of and more without any success. I am waiting on another ICP test to see if anything has change. I am sure most of you will probably tell me I just need to wait for the rock to cure, but I see no reason a favites should be slowly melting after growing and being happy for months. I see no reason acros shouldn't be able to grow when my clams are happy, have adequate flow, and stable parameters. Is there any advice other than just waiting? Happy to answer any and all questions