NeverlosT's 140g Cube in Paradise

[ethridge78]

Sorry to hear about all the bad luck.

 

[NeverlosT]

Sorry to hear about all the bad luck.

thanks ethridge, I have a few more things to try. But even for the optimist in me, a full year of downward progress is tough.

 

[revhtree]

Sorry to hear!

 

[Keepswiming]

It sucks to see such a nice tank have persistent issues. I too had a tlf magnet fail and take out 60 percent of my sps. I recently put the magnet in a cup of water and tested it for copper. I found out the magnet was leaching copper into my tank, which was the cause to my problems. Have you tested your copper recently?

 

[NeverlosT]

I have not tested copper recently, just ordered a new test kit. Will test this week.

I ran cuprisorb in the tank for a while, though I cant rule out some heavy metal contamination. That has always been my reefkeeping nightmare, to eventually take the whole system down just to find some rusting piece of metal in there somewhere...

I have eliminated TLF magnets from the tank (I think that is a good move for anyone) and I think that I will start keeping no magnets in the tank at all just to be safe. I'll plop my hammerhead magnet in when it is time to clean.

I will share the copper test results when I get them. Heavy metals are literally the last thing that I can think of that could cause such prolonged issues. If anyone else has other suggestions, please let me know.

Thanks KeepSwiming!

 

[Keepswiming]

I hope the cause isn't heavy metals. I am not in the clear myself, still recovering from last months bleaching. My sps look so bad I almost want to give up. Are your corals just not thriving or still dying?

 

[NeverlosT]

Both. Some days they seem to be just not thriving, and then other days i'll see recession/death.

I did finally get a response back from CaribSea about their CARX media that showed both unidentified organics and significant iron present in their Calcium Reactor media. So that could be a source of initial contamination but I don't think it would last this long after the media was changed several months back. Maybe.

I wonder if my reeflo pump shaft/seal is rusting in there...
ugh I hate to take the heart out of the system just to find out. Makes you want to go Iwaki, but then you see the electrical bill...

 

[reefologist55]

Superb thread...keeps me on the edge of my seat

 

[NeverlosT]

Superb thread...keeps me on the edge of my seat

haha thanks Reefologist, I hope that this thread takes a turn toward "success story" and doesn't keep going along the "heartbreaking drama" route!

 

[ethridge78]

If you got the extra cash I would send a test sample to Triton and see what the results say.

 

[NeverlosT]

Ill do that. A few bucks to triton is way less than all new rock/sand/headaches!

 

[NeverlosT]

The results from Triton:
As you can see, I have elevated Lithium levels. According to Triton, 90% of all reefs in America have elevated Lithium levels and it appears to be coming from the salt used. It is unclear what a toxic Li level is for reef critters.

I will say this, though all of the parameters here look pretty good, my tank continues to see moderate success (at best). So though a lot of success is the water, that isn't the whole story.

 

[NeverlosT]

Quick update, the triton tests showed nothing but an iodine deficiency, so I corrected that.
Nitrate is still high, roughly 20ppm. I can't seem to bring it down with water changes, I cleaned the sump, vacuumed the sand, blew off the rocks, feed less, cleaned the skimmer and have been skimming wet, swap filter socks every 3-4 days, and am running biopellets for half a year now. Basically my phosphate is 0.02ppm but my nitrates are stuck high.

The good news is that most corals are doing ok, the SPS is not growing to speak of, but the zoas are going bonkers and most LPS is very happy. Also, the Heteractis Magnifica split, so now I have two beautiful purple mags.

Here are some pics:

Almost completely split! It split into two equal parts, and then the clone made a B-line into a WP40, so it is healing up in anemone prison for a bit until it is eating and ready to rock.

Here are some fun coral pics:

 

[NeverlosT]

hmm the pics seem to load on my computer browser, but not on tapatalk on my phone, but then if I select "web view" in tapatalk it works.

odd. Please let me know if they work or dont work for you and I'll try to fix it.

 

[ethridge78]

Looks good I wouldn't worry to much about your nitrates if all is doing good .

 

[NeverlosT]

Thanks Ethridge, the only reason that I want to get the nitrates lower is that my SPS growth is basically zero. My theory is that if I can get the nitrates down to 5 or 10 then growth may speed back up.

Cheers,
Ben

 

[s2nhle]

wow, that is lovely. Thank you for sharing.

 

[NeverlosT]

Long time since I updated, and there is some good news.

- I took GFO offline, skim wet, and have been using Red Sea NO3PO4-X and my nitrates are stable at 1ppm and phosphates stable at about 0.02ppm. Corals are happy, growth has returned, and life is good.
- The Magnifica clone went to a good home in a buddies tank, I need to check up on it see how it is doing.
- We move to a new house in a month, so this tank will be disassembled, and reassembled at the new location. WISH ME LUCK!

During the move, I will be swapping the Reeflo Snapper/Dart with a EcoTech Vectra L1, and will be converting our drains to a Herbie to try to quiet the system down some.

We will run the tank in the new house for as long as it takes for me to save up enough to build the 300G dream system which the house was designed to accommodate! but that will be a new build thread...

Some growth tips FINALLY:

The frag farm:

Some Purdy zoas:

 

[Big B]

Ive been reading from a few pages back, way to stick with it! Looks like your on the right path again and good luck with the move, I hate moving.

 

[s2nhle]

Congrats on your new house. You will be busy with all the move.