Bpb Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 I am both saddened are relieved to have finally found a definitive source for my acropora troubles. I've observed this tank so closely over the last couple years both day and night, and I finally found my answers at 4:00 this morning with a flashlight. I'll just leave this here.... I've got some reading to do. And dipping. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 Wasn't I just asking you if you dipped lately? Sorry for the AEFW troubles but I don't think it's the scourge of acros it once was now that we have Bayer, KCl, and melafix on our side. I'm sure you'll knock them out very quickly. Here's what I've been doing for my triple dip of death. I'm going to test combining all 3 on a couple of test frags to see how it goes... perhaps it can save me some time and water. http://www.austinreefclub.com/index.php?/topic/35422-Paranoid-dipping? Can you document if you use KCl? I've only heard reports of AEFW jumping off the acros but haven't seen it for myself like I did with Bayer when my 125 had AEFW. I'm interested in some first-hand experience with that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 2, 2015 Author Share Posted December 2, 2015 Life has taken over to a point that major stuff like total acro removal, dipping, and remounting hasn't happened yet unfortunately. When I'm at home it seems the honey do list never ends and I barely have time for water changes or basic maintenance. I'll start with Bayer dipping today hopefully. Are there any accounts of aefw taking on other types of corals like montipora, pocillopora, stylo, ect? Just curious if I have to go extreme and go totally acro fallow, will that even do the trick? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted December 2, 2015 Share Posted December 2, 2015 You're safe with just acros. I haven't heard anything about AEFW attacking montis, pocis, stylos, etc. If you do have a colony close to an acro though, I'd at least check for eggs as I've heard about them laying eggs mistakenly by montis. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 20, 2015 Author Share Posted December 20, 2015 Well. I wasn't able to save anything. So I'm officially acro fallow. Kind of tired of deliberately leaving my rock work on the empty side just to save room for acro colonies eventually so I'm moving on at this point. I've moved all the Lps up off of the sand and onto the main rock work, and I'll be doing the same with some of the slower growing Zoa species and letting it all fill out. Keeping my eyes peeled for some sweet Lps species I've always wanted like a colorful bubble coral, and perhaps some nicer looking hammers and Lobos. I did get a couple new things to try. Nothing fancy. Some photosynthetic gorgs (I think). I like the color of the chunkier one. The big multi branch Colony is fairly brown but I like its shape and movement. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LarryD Posted December 20, 2015 Share Posted December 20, 2015 I have always wanted to run some gorgs, once I get ready to set up a new tank I am going to try and get some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Didn't last long with a big gorg in the spot it was in. I kept a small frag and removed the large colony. Reason being...I finally scored two specimens of an Lps species I've been coveting for a couple years now but never seem to come across. This would be the bubble coral. Not sure what specific species mine are, as bubble corals cover two genus with several species in each, and I cannot tell what is what, even when reading up skeletal structure but they all have similar care. The pink one is in the back and hard to focus on so the pic is lousy, and it is taking a little longer to come around. Flow may be a bit high where it's at. I removed the big gorgonian and put the larger bubble specimen in its place. The green one is up front and is super happy already Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 27, 2015 Author Share Posted December 27, 2015 Oh...and a very merry Christmas to me....I do love scotch. My family knows me well Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted December 28, 2015 Author Share Posted December 28, 2015 New kid on the block. Super actinic pic. Added the fish at night to reduce aggression. The other new kid immediately buried herself under the sand. I'll let you all guess as to what she is. If she stays there a day or two it'll give me time to better reinforce the open back of the canopy so we don't go faux wood vinyl laminate surfing Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christian Posted December 28, 2015 Share Posted December 28, 2015 Your montipora cap is amazing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted January 9, 2016 Author Share Posted January 9, 2016 Big purple Montipora is showing some large spots of necrosis, I imagine from too much flow possibly. I have had to disable most of the "flush" type programs on my Tunzes as even at the lowest possible running intensity, they're blasting sand all over the place which I'm having to smooth out daily, and really making some corals mad. I've got them running at 40% max now, just alternating left and right every 2 minutes and thats it, which still causes bald spots in the sand at the front corners of the tank. I should have gone with smaller powerheads. Didnt expect these to move so much water. I'm also seeing some large spots of tissue sloughing off of my montipora setosa and even on the spongodes. The Large purple stylo colony is losing alot of color and hasnt had fluffy polyp extension in weeks. Even some ultra easy montipora digitata I've tried adding over the past couple months will suck in poyps and be dead within days. The big 10" green stellata colony is totally gone, as well as the undata and mind trick colonies. No more acros, totally fallow there. Still cant seem to keep acans alive, but otherwise my LPS seem "ok", and zoas seem decent as well. I imagine before long I will possibly be free of all SPS in the tank. Kind of past head scratching at this point, as to how I can grow a coral from the size of my pinky nail, to large colony size, and then dead without any explanation is really beyond me now. I'm past being upset about it and have genuinely lost interest. Unfortunately my schedule is far too hectic at this point (hence my relative silence and absence from this forum and others lately) to even quit and sell everything off, let alone strip it all, nuke the rock, and do a re-start. I've had a couple friends get out of the hobby in the past couple weeks and I've been increasing my fish load lately, and am probably at this point heavily overstocked by most reefer's standards (fish count up to 15 this sunday when I pick up more). At least they're all healthy adult specimens that are eating confidently and getting along. My family likes the fish though so it's honestly taken on more of a "fish tank" role now, which I always dreaded before. One incredibly strange phenomenon I'm seeing now though is the skyrocketing nitrate and phosphate, without the expected algae bloom. I can only rationalize it by saying I have enough herbivores in the tank to have cleaned out the algae growth entirely and stayed well ahead enough that no algae can even absorb the inorganic waste so it's just building up. Just this week I tested at 0.09 ppm phosphate and 32 ppm nitrate. I've never even sniffed levels 1/10 this high before. Yet...the rocks remain pristine with just a dash of coraline color. All other algae is essentially gone, including red turf, bubble, cyano, green hair, you name it. I dont even need to run my algae magnet but once every couple weeks. Even the powerheads are staying clean, only growing coraline and nothing clogging the grates. Seems strange. Oh well. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Well. Big things planned for this tank. It's been a while since I've updated. It hasn't quite turned out the way I had originally envisioned. Perhaps it was due to too drastic of changes too frequently, or pest related issues. Or maybe all of the above. Or just a perfect storm because I've followed plenty of tanks with similar changes and pests who managed to still grow some fantastic sps. I'm wanting to get back to the way it used to be before this build. T5HO lighting Big chaeto ball in the fuge. Maybe some biopellets if I find the tank needs it. One thing I need to do to get things rolling is fix my scape. Now being on somewhat of a budget, I don't want to buy all new rocks when I have a surplus currently in the tank. But...I hate my scape I settled on. Way too tall and sharp of a vertical angle. I'd like flatter rock work, that stays a lot lower down in the tank. Reaching MAYBE 1/3-1/2 the tanks height at most. I have the goal of several key placed stags on the back areas to fill in heigh. Tall corals look a lot better than tall rocks. I would also like to somehow ensure the rocks are maybe 1/2" to 1" off the glass, with no sand under the rocks...BUT I would like a decorative sand strip along the front and sides. Giving the illusion of a full sand bed. Not sure how I can make that happen. Open to suggestions. I guess what I really need to do is start removing my rocks bit by bit, bleach and acid treating them, and perhaps go at them with a masonry chisel to try and shape them a little more to my liking. Less round and oval shaped and more flat. A heavy hammer and some good chisels need to be added to my tool chest. I think the biggest challenge is redoing the rocks scape while the tank is running. I don't have anywhere I can temporarily store my fish and the handful of corals I want to actually keep unfortunately. This may prove to be a tad unrealistic and I may end up having to buy new rocks and cycle them and just to a full swap out. I'm trying to avoid that. Any ideas? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Forever since a pic and people ignore builds without them. Just the bml actinic strip running. I'm currently saving up for an ati 8 bulb sunpower. Probably overkill for this tank, but I really appreciate the coverage it will provide and the extra slots to fine tune the color. Being that my rock work will be low, and I intend to pretty much only stock sps corals, it should be fine. If it's not, I'll run two bulbs for dawn dusk, and 6 bulbs only for daylight. Rather than all 8. I know these OR LEDs have worked for lots of people. But I just cannot get the hang of them. Since changing over to them, it may be user error but everything has gradually declined in color and health including easy zoas and stuff. I just cannot decide on a color I like and it's a source of stress now. T5HO just worked so well for me before. Better than MH even. Bulb cost is something I can deal with. The electricity and lack of bulb change savings have not been worth the difficulty of using these lights. Every tank is different. They're just not working for me. I'd also like to upgrade my skimmer as well to something a bit larger. Lately I'm dealing with pretty high inorganic nutrients. Skimmer turned up almost all the way. Skimmate cup fills in 3 days and it's dark. But nitrates still won't drop below 16 ppm and phosphate hangs out between 0.07-0.1 ppm. Perhaps a larger skimmer will help there before I need to look into gfo and biopellets again. For these changes I intend to purge most my coral stock. Glancing at the tank now I'll likely keep Green bubble coral Pink lobo Purple stylo Orange leptastrea Miami hurricane chalice A couple favias Maxima clam. The rest will all be sold off. No more zoas or Lps of any kind will go in the newly rebooted tank, and NO plating or encrusting montipora. They just need too much real estate. I'd break that rule if a beach bum monti fell on my lap. Ideally to restock it I'll wait some months and start with a couple tester acros. Easy ones like green slimer and tricolor valida. If those do well. I'll try to buy a bulk stock somehow. Try and pick up a dozen or more in one sitting. Bigger the better. And if I don't have the ability to do a quarantine I will be removing them for Bayer dips weekly for a while as well as an interceptor dip upon acquisition. Thoughts? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brooks Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Glad to see another person is switching back to T5s. I just got my sunpower fixture and I adore it. The bulb combinations and color combinations are endless since you have the ability to dim the two channels, and the bulbs are super easy to change in and out as you see fit!! Following along your journey! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Thanks for following along. I'll be getting the non dimmable version. Simply because after a year of using LEDs that ramp, I can officially say it's a feature I have zero interest in and place no value on. I plan to mitigate the stress of bulb changes by simply changing half out every 6 months rather than all at once. The lighting is one thing I'm not stressing about simply because I know it is plug n play, and that you can have great results with virtually any ATI bulb combo from all blue+ to all Aquablue special if someone felt so Inclined. I've used t5ho before and am very familiar with what the ati bulb lineup looks like in person so I already have my bulb combo worked out and will likely not do too much experimenting. My biggest concern like I mentioned before is getting the tank cleaned out and the rock work fixed. I'm racking my brain over how I will pull that off. Nowhere in my house do I have space to store these fish even in the short term (days/weeks) in some form of temporary housing while I take the tank down and clean it out. Nor do I know anyone within 2 hours of me that would be willing and able to hold them for me for a couple months while it all re-cycles. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Sounds like a big undertaking, especially keeping everything in the tank while you do it. Why are you wanting to bleach and acid treat your rocks? Are you still relatively algae free? If you didn't need to do that, could you move the corals and fish out to a tub just for the day? Then you could pull out rock, shape it how you want, and redo the aquascape in just that one day. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Well my reason for the bleach and acid dip is I've had tremendous issues with coral health across the board. Acropora were once easy for me to keep, and I would cull certain frags simply for space issues. But the past couple of years I've seen every single acro I've put in the tank die, and even struggling with easier Lps and zoas as well as of late. Staggeringly high nitrates as well up in the 20-30 ppm range despite wet skimming and frequent water changes. Seems like a good way to reset things but I could be wrong. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 To answer your question zero algae issues of any kind. Urchins, foxface, and tang pretty much keep the rocks and glass picked spotless. Coraline doesn't even get a chance to get going on my rock because the urchins clear it out. Sandbed stays perfectly white too. Like brand new sand Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Bpb, Wouldn't that be as simple as your nutrients have no place to go because your clean-up crew and fishes remove any sign of algae before it can uptake nutrients? The skimmer will remove as much DOCs before they break down into nitrates and phosphates but once they are broken down, it does nothing. If you are still getting nitrates at really high levels without any algal growth, you've either limited one of the things it needs to grow, carbon, nitrates, or phosphates or your crew/fish mow it down so fast that it can't be used up. To me, that indicates to either allow some algae to grow to uptake some nutrients, do more water changes, run a fuge/ATS, or employ a nutrient removal strategy specific for the nutrient, such as carbon dosing/sulfur denitritator for the nitrates or aluminum oxide/GFO for the phosphates. I will say my nitrates were in the 20 ppm range for 3-4 months with no ill effect to the acros other than they were a little browner than I prefer. I still think all your recent deaths were due mainly to AEFW... not anything to do with your system. But, that's just off of what I remember of your system. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+KimP Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 To answer your question zero algae issues of any kind. Urchins, foxface, and tang pretty much keep the rocks and glass picked spotless. Coraline doesn't even get a chance to get going on my rock because the urchins clear it out. Sandbed stays perfectly white too. Like brand new sand Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk That's so frustrating about the coral. I've kept up some with your build. It sounds like you have a good thing going with the rocks though as far as algae. It takes quite a while to go through all the algae phases with new rock, that's all I was thinking, plus the extra time of having the tank torn up to do the bleaching and acid. But if you can't grow coral, what's the point of having algae free rock, right Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 I'm with you on that Ty. I had clear bite marks and aefw damage on several species. What is perplexing me is the steady Zoa decline and pitiful Lps growth and expansion. That could be a result of poorly tuned/too frequently adjusted leds Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 I agree also Kim that there's something to be said of 2+ years maturity of this rock and I would hate to start ALL over again. I was just worried if it was maybe something in the rocks causing problems. Something else coincided with my tank struggles....might be nothing. Might be something. I never used a brute can before to store my water. With this tank I've been storing water in a brute can....come to think of it. I started getting a lot of stn on my 55 gallon right before I shut it down. And it was when I went from No water changes to doing frequent water changes with water I had stored in this brute can. Y'all think it may somehow be connected? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 I agree also Kim that there's something to be said of 2+ years maturity of this rock and I would hate to start ALL over again. I was just worried if it was maybe something in the rocks causing problems. Something else coincided with my tank struggles....might be nothing. Might be something. I never used a brute can before to store my water. With this tank I've been storing water in a brute can....come to think of it. I started getting a lot of stn on my 55 gallon right before I shut it down. And it was when I went from No water changes to doing frequent water changes with water I had stored in this brute can. Y'all think it may somehow be connected? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Maybe make some water and put it in a happy tank and see what it does? [emoji6] 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+OU12004 Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 I spent 4 hours last night fraging what was left of my SPS colonies and I put half of the frags in my 29 with t-5's and half back in my 100 and I have to admit the color from the t-5's, even on browned out SPS, is better than my led's. Good luck with the reboot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Dang man sorry to hear about all the issues. That's crazy that you have not been able to get those nitrates down. Definitely sounds like a lot of work pulling all the rocks and soakin them. Just out of curiosity what salt mix are you using? Could it have been the alk was too high in the new salt water? I have been using RSCP and tested the alk on a fresh batch last week and it was 13 dkh, which is way to high for my liking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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