Help wanted

[KonaCoral]

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

 

[RichReef]

Did you take the 75 down and replace it with the 150 or is it still running? Are they running together on the same system?

 

[KonaCoral]

Did you take the 75 down and replace it with the 150 or is it still running? Are they running together on the same system?

The sump and 75g are in the basement and the 150g was added to the first floor. So the 75g is still running and they are on the same system. I was hoping this would help the 150g setup transition smoothly

 

[thatmanMIKEson]

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

as you know nothing stands out so maybe its something minor thats to obvious to see. can you make a list in your head of what you know its not?

I didn't see salinity listed is that accurate and stable?

what about temperature what's that running, and the range it maintained?

I didn't see any fish mentioned, is this a lightly stocked tank?

are you running a skimmer? you did mention high PH, could that be fluctuating too much at night or day( not exactly thinking this is the issue)

you make r.o water and are confident in its quality?

salt mix? is it good ? did the water get contaminated how it's stored, barrels leeching or rusted transfer pumps?

do you have have any controllers doing any actions, especially when your not around?(apex,ghl, hydros)

these are probably not the issues and are easy to manage with your experience but maybe it's something your overlooking. I've had some tank issue staring me in the face before, I passed up.

maybe think backwards on the things it's not?

its not ____ because this= _____

anyway good luck, getting a few minds together like this is good, we'll come up with something!

 

[KonaCoral]

as you know nothing stands out so maybe its something minor thats to obvious to see. can you make a list in your head of what you know its not?

I didn't see salinity listed is that accurate and stable?

what about temperature what's that running, and the range it maintained?

I didn't see any fish mentioned, is this a lightly stocked tank?

are you running a skimmer? you did mention high PH, could that be fluctuating too much at night or day( not exactly thinking this is the issue)

you make r.o water and are confident in its quality?

salt mix? is it good ? did the water get contaminated how it's stored, barrels leeching or rusted transfer pumps?

do you have have any controllers doing any actions, especially when your not around?(apex,ghl, hydros)

these are probably not the issues and are easy to manage with your experience but maybe it's something your overlooking. I've had some tank issue staring me in the face before, I passed up.

maybe think backwards on the things it's not?

its not ____ because this= _____

anyway good luck, getting a few minds together like this is good, we'll come up with something!

That was my thinking as well! Here is what I have tried:

Salinity is stable although it was slightly lower than NSW for a while: was 1.023/32-33ppt but I raised it back up to 1.026/35 ppt over the course of a couple months via water changes.

Temperature runs between 78-80. I did notice this winter that it dropped closer to 76-78 so I bumped the heaters up to compensate just in case that was the problem. This matches the apex, the inkbird, and a thermometer I bought specifically to double check.

My tap water is a little hard so I go through DI cartridges regularly, but I replace it as soon as it reaches 2ppm of TDS (normally I'd wait until 4ppm but I was trying to trouble shoot).

Salt mix is Red Sea black bucket. I use the same salt on both systems. For a while I was doing 50g water changes every 2 weeks, but when then didn't help I dropped it to 30g every other week since I cannot afford to buy that much salt all the time. Water is stored in 55g aquariums that I use as reservoirs with tight fitting lids. Water is transferred via gravity and the mixing pump is not rusty.

The apex does very little for me. It turns on the kalk reactor, and then turns off the Inkbird and Clarisea AFR for 5 min every day to reset any alarms.

I've checked and cleaned every powerhead and pump twice to confirm there was no rust (especially since I've had problems with MP40s rusting in the past).

The system is lightly stocked and has two large clams that suck out nitrate hence the dosing. The other system is also lightly stocked and so was my old tank (lightly stocked, large clams, lots of dosed nitrate). I may try moving over a big Quoy parrot just to increase the bioload and see if that helps.

The 150g has a baby orange shoulder and a baby lieutenant tang, a yellow candy hogfish, and a melanarus wrasse. 75g has a scopas, one damsel, and another baby orange shoulder. I thought maybe the tangs were nibbling on things but I haven't seen any signs of that.

The one other thing I thought of was that I was trying too many things, so I left everything consistent once I added the carbon and things only got worse.

I'm sure there is something I haven't thought of. I am hoping the collective hive mind has an idea I don't