Hello!
This is sort of an introduction post as I have only just joined reef2reef (I know where have I been!) I thought I'd make this post after overlooking a really silly mistake I'd made for over 3 months, possibly even as long as I've owned the tank! (July 2022). And wanted to see if anyone else has done anything similar?
So about 4 months ago when the tank was 3 months old I added my first corrals, two small zoa frags, a month later I added a GSP, and a Pulsing Xenia. 2 weeks later I added a Hammer. A couple of days later I woke up to all the zoas being shut and were starting to stretch. This continued and The GSP was also suffering and eventually closed up and died! The Hammer and the Xenia were doing perfectly fine.
I googled so many things to try and resolve the issues over the last few months. My first attempt at a fix was adding an iodine supplement as there was a really obscure post I found that stated that a shrimp can zap the iodine levels from a tank and effect corals, funnily enough I'd added a cleaner shrimp a few days prior to when the issues started. To combat this I started to add an all in one that was supposed to aid coral growth. Although both of these supplements helped and I am continuing to use to this day, the corals still wernt great.
My next attempt at a solution was to increase my lighting, I had upgraded to the Fluval Marine 3.0. I had initally copied someones lighting schedule but decided because of the issues to revert back to the defualt light setting on the Marine 3.0. this was when things started to pick up and the zoas started opening again, however not all the way. I'd lost a few polyps at this point.
In the last week I've considered getting a AI Prime HD. I though surely if light is an issue this would solve it! I was a bit apprehensive as I didnt want to go no lid, or have a mesh lid due to evaporation, I also was annoyed that I was having to upgrade the marine 3.0 that was supposed to be a suitable light for beginner corals. I started to consider a glass lid and delved deep into a forum post about the effect of glass on PAR readings. When I found an interesting comment. This comment mentioned an oily film on the waters surface having more of an effect on par levels then glass. Thats when it hit me!
As long as i can remember I have had an oil like surface on top of my water, When looking up at the light from the bottom of the tank I could see a clear ring where my wavemaker was agitating the surface and in the ring the light was really bright, everywhere else though the layer of scum was dulling the light! It always decreased slightly after a water change but was always there. I started to run a paper towell across the surface and eventually after about 20 sheets the scum was gone. That was a week ago, since then the corals have started to open up to there full glory (with a few less polyps that we lost) my hammer has started to split, my fish seems more active which means it was probably affecting oxygen exchange. And I was able to turn the white light back down so my tank looked good again!
I couldnt believe it took me that long to figure it out. I'm slightly ashamed i never noticed it sooner. I had never even owned a goldfish before I took the dive straight into reefkeeping in July. I did tons of research but I'd never read "make sure if there is an oil/protean build up on your waters surface to get rid of it" I have adequet filtration and im not sure what caused the film, I think its always been there I thought it was "normal" I do not have a skimmer which may have helped. I always siphoned water for a waterchange too, which did not help in removing the film, going forward I will scoop water from the top.
So the point of this thread was to see if anyone else had some similar stories to share. And in the process help others that may be making the same silly mistakes that are less commonly spoken about.
Ive also added a picture of my tank:
2 x Clownfish
1 x Royal Gramma
1 x Cleaner Shrimp
5 x Dwarf Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
1 x Bali Red Legged Hermit Crabs
2 x Nassarius Snails
2 x Spiny Astrea Snails
1 x Hammer Coral
1 x Pulsing Xenia
2 x Small Colonies of Zoa
1 x Zoa that was hitch hiking on the Pulsing Xenia
Anyway thats my introduction and I'm looking forward to getting to know you all!
This is sort of an introduction post as I have only just joined reef2reef (I know where have I been!) I thought I'd make this post after overlooking a really silly mistake I'd made for over 3 months, possibly even as long as I've owned the tank! (July 2022). And wanted to see if anyone else has done anything similar?
So about 4 months ago when the tank was 3 months old I added my first corrals, two small zoa frags, a month later I added a GSP, and a Pulsing Xenia. 2 weeks later I added a Hammer. A couple of days later I woke up to all the zoas being shut and were starting to stretch. This continued and The GSP was also suffering and eventually closed up and died! The Hammer and the Xenia were doing perfectly fine.
I googled so many things to try and resolve the issues over the last few months. My first attempt at a fix was adding an iodine supplement as there was a really obscure post I found that stated that a shrimp can zap the iodine levels from a tank and effect corals, funnily enough I'd added a cleaner shrimp a few days prior to when the issues started. To combat this I started to add an all in one that was supposed to aid coral growth. Although both of these supplements helped and I am continuing to use to this day, the corals still wernt great.
My next attempt at a solution was to increase my lighting, I had upgraded to the Fluval Marine 3.0. I had initally copied someones lighting schedule but decided because of the issues to revert back to the defualt light setting on the Marine 3.0. this was when things started to pick up and the zoas started opening again, however not all the way. I'd lost a few polyps at this point.
In the last week I've considered getting a AI Prime HD. I though surely if light is an issue this would solve it! I was a bit apprehensive as I didnt want to go no lid, or have a mesh lid due to evaporation, I also was annoyed that I was having to upgrade the marine 3.0 that was supposed to be a suitable light for beginner corals. I started to consider a glass lid and delved deep into a forum post about the effect of glass on PAR readings. When I found an interesting comment. This comment mentioned an oily film on the waters surface having more of an effect on par levels then glass. Thats when it hit me!
As long as i can remember I have had an oil like surface on top of my water, When looking up at the light from the bottom of the tank I could see a clear ring where my wavemaker was agitating the surface and in the ring the light was really bright, everywhere else though the layer of scum was dulling the light! It always decreased slightly after a water change but was always there. I started to run a paper towell across the surface and eventually after about 20 sheets the scum was gone. That was a week ago, since then the corals have started to open up to there full glory (with a few less polyps that we lost) my hammer has started to split, my fish seems more active which means it was probably affecting oxygen exchange. And I was able to turn the white light back down so my tank looked good again!
I couldnt believe it took me that long to figure it out. I'm slightly ashamed i never noticed it sooner. I had never even owned a goldfish before I took the dive straight into reefkeeping in July. I did tons of research but I'd never read "make sure if there is an oil/protean build up on your waters surface to get rid of it" I have adequet filtration and im not sure what caused the film, I think its always been there I thought it was "normal" I do not have a skimmer which may have helped. I always siphoned water for a waterchange too, which did not help in removing the film, going forward I will scoop water from the top.
So the point of this thread was to see if anyone else had some similar stories to share. And in the process help others that may be making the same silly mistakes that are less commonly spoken about.
Ive also added a picture of my tank:
2 x Clownfish
1 x Royal Gramma
1 x Cleaner Shrimp
5 x Dwarf Blue Legged Hermit Crabs
1 x Bali Red Legged Hermit Crabs
2 x Nassarius Snails
2 x Spiny Astrea Snails
1 x Hammer Coral
1 x Pulsing Xenia
2 x Small Colonies of Zoa
1 x Zoa that was hitch hiking on the Pulsing Xenia
Anyway thats my introduction and I'm looking forward to getting to know you all!
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