Little Help

[oohnoo]

Could use a little help here. I had gotten some Xenia about a month ago and now it seems as if it's wilting. And I"m also noticing my hammer doesn't open as much as it used to and my Organ Pipe coral doesn't open as much but it seems to be fading in color, same with the SPS coral (name??). Went to my local reef shop and he said I should start dozing Iodide in 1/2 dosages daily for week and then normal dosage once per week.

 

All parameters are within normal specs with Nitrates below .5 with 2 gal water changes bi-monthly. Ordered new Salfret KH, Ca and Mg test kits as the ones I had were 5+ years old if not more.

 

Was also thinking of swapping out the lights from some LED lights, specifically the Aqua Illumination Hydra TwentySix or the FiftyTwo.

 

Tank Specs and some before/after pics

 

15 Gal - All Glass Aquarium

Lighting

Custom Made Hood

(2) 55W 10,000K / 03 Actinic Compact Florescent Lamps

Refugium

22 1/4" x 12 1/2" x 6" = 7.2gal

Jalli Light w/ 13W 03 Actinic Compact Fluorescent Lamp

Protein Skimmer

Hydro SlimSkim Nano 135.35

(2) Hydro Koralia Nano 240gph w/Wave

OLD PIC OF TANK

 

 

 

Recent pic of tank. See the Zenia's how shriveled they look. Hammer not as extended. At least my Mushroom divided recently

 

Recent pic. .......Pipe Organ looking faded. SPS loosing color, no longer has Blue tips

 

 

Xenia when I first got them. Anyone know the name of the other stuf that got piggy-backed on it? Those are floreshing if you look at recent pics

 

 

Pic of SPS when I first got it. Now it's loosing coler on the tips if you look at recent pic, no longer bluish

[WickedBear]

quite a bit of snail shells in that first pic!

 

How long have you had each coral? What was their health when you got them, how have they done in your tank, was there any recent changes?

[lecroj]

I think the tank looks pretty good, but I would suggest larger water changes. 2gal every other week seems too low. I would do 5 gal every other week.

Upgrading the light could help too.

About the pipe organ, they are tough for a lot of people to keep alive. I had one in my old tank that died even though I kept SPS with no problems.

[oohnoo]

No changes to tank. Ya got a boat load of snails on a order that was for a 15gal tank, Edited first post with comments on pics with old and recent

[Mariaface]

Do you not run carbon? Because chemical warfare is a thing, and your corals could be irritating each other faster than your water changes can keep up.

[oohnoo]

No carbon. Should I use it? How often? Brand? How would they be irritating each other?

I can put it in the refugium I built as I designed it for it just in case

 

http://s301.photobucket.com/user/oohnoo_VR4/media/Mini%20Reef/Refugiumfrontview2_zpsffae8fd0.jpg.html'>

 

http://s301.photobucket.com/user/oohnoo_VR4/media/Mini%20Reef/RefugiumDrawing_zps29039a53.jpg.html'>

[WickedBear]

No changes to tank. Ya got a boat load of snails on a order that was for a 15gal tank, Edited first post with comments on pics with old and recent

 

Pics are good, but didn't answer the question.

 

• How long has each coral been in your tank?
• How did they look when you placed them in the tank?
• How did they adapt to your tank? Were they ever healthy, thriving, growing, or stable for a long period of time in your current tank, or is this a downward trend that has occured recently?

 

Based on the size of the xenia, i'm guessing these are fairly new additions that were healthy when they were added?

[Mariaface]

No carbon. Should I use it? How often? Brand? How would they be irritating each other?

I can put it in the refugium I built as I designed it for it just in case

 

Corals release toxins meant to irritate others to ward them away, and plants can actually do the same thing. Over time, that builds up. Carbon's one way of getting it out of the water.

 

You can use whatever brand you like, but you'll need to keep particle size in mind. You don't want it getting through your media bag; that'd be upsetting. Try MatrixCarbon, it's spherical and will fit in most bags. Use small amounts that are changed out more often, because you don't want to strip the water column of nutrients too quickly (it'll also go after dissolved organics), and you don't want a metric ton of media getting covered by bacteria before it gets used up.

 

Still, look into other things that could be causing the issues!

[oohnoo]

Bought the Xenia and SPS at the same time and everything looked very healthy when I got I'd say about 2 months ago. Also did some rearranging as the Torch coral stung one those brown things...LOL. It all looked good for awhile and then it was a slow decline.

[reefone]

2g water change bi-monthly? is that correct?

[oohnoo]

Yes..I uysed to do 4.5 gal every month but switched it to 2.2 gal every 2 weeks. RO water for evaporation

 

 

2g water change bi-monthly? is that correct?

OH and I use Nutri Seawater Natural Live Ocean SeaWater - 4.4 gal. for convenience.

[reefone]

I would up the water change to 5g every other week and run some carbon. see if that helps.

 

you have compact florescent and a sps so you can expect it to turn brown in color. they require high amounts of light to keep color and good water chemistry.

[oohnoo]

All the more reason to get some LED's. Any particualar one yo ucan recommend? I was looking at the AquaIllumination Hydra 26 or the 52

[Tamberav]

All the more reason to get some LED's. Any particualar one yo ucan recommend? I was looking at the AquaIllumination Hydra 26 or the 52

 

Nano-box for LED's. Make sure to slowly ramp up/acclimate the coral to leds... or you may nuke them. Right now they are living in a dark cave and LED's will be like suddenly blinding them with the power of a burning sun

 

I would say the SPS is browning out due to lighting. Carbon and bigger water changes are all good recommendations. I use bulk reef supply Rox carbon.

[Icanhazcheeseburger]

+1 on lighting. Keeping all things equal, an upgrade in lighting over the 10,000K range (which you have now), will revive the color of your coral. Hope this helps

[WickedBear]

Bought the Xenia and SPS at the same time and everything looked very healthy when I got I'd say about 2 months ago. Also did some rearranging as the Torch coral stung one those brown things...LOL. It all looked good for awhile and then it was a slow decline.

 

So they've never really flourished in your tank then? I would re-iterate what others have said as far as lighting and the SPS goes.

 

Xenia is an interesting coral, sometimes it doesn't flourish in some tanks that everything else does. I've noticed it actually seems to prefer dirtier tanks. I knew somone whos tank had basially become overrun with xenia when he stopped maintaining it.

[cju84]

Yes..I uysed to do 4.5 gal every month but switched it to 2.2 gal every 2 weeks. RO water for evaporation

 

I'm a bit new but have read a million threads over the past year, but what about doing WEEKLY water changes and using at least Distilled Water? Water used should be RO/DI >> Distilled >> RO >> Tap.

 

Good luck!

[joy13]

I would suggest chemi pure elite instead of just running carbon. It is less of a hassle. While attending a talk on reef tanks I found out that I was running way to much carbon and not changing it often enough. I just started running chemi pure blue in one of my tanks, I haven't seen much of a change but it has only been 5 days.

 

Keeping an sps in that size tank you will want to do larger water changes.

 

If you can afford a nanobox light I would suggest getting it. If not get and led that is dimmable. I know someone that has a nanobox mini for sale on here. I want it but that means setting up another tank http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/351024-fs-nanobox-mini-tide-wstorm-controller-still-available/ I am thinking it would be enough coverage for your tank but you might need to ask others that have the light.

 

I don't know what hitchhiked on your xenia. I don't think they are apitasia because I don't see a mouth, they don't look like they have a mat so I don't think the are green star polyps to me they look like anthelia,

[Mariaface]

I would suggest chemi pure elite instead of just running carbon. It is less of a hassle. While attending a talk on reef tanks I found out that I was running way to much carbon and not changing it often enough. I just started running chemi pure blue in one of my tanks, I haven't seen much of a change but it has only been 5 days.

 

Even Chemi-Pure Mini bags are too much carbon for my purposes, which is why I suggested running carbon (and, if necessary, GFO and whatnot) in a way that allows you to control the amounts. If Chemi-Pure would be better and the higher expense is worth the lack of hassle, then it's good stuff! :]

[oohnoo]

Going to do a 4,5 gal water change and run ChemiPure Elite. Tought part is I'm out of hte office all next week in training. Guess I'll have to setup my web cam

 

Here's a couple pics of the hitch hikers I can't identify.

 

http://s301.photobucket.com/user/oohnoo_VR4/media/Mini%20Reef/PhotoSep25112155AM_zps1d1510ce.jpg.html'>

 

http://s301.photobucket.com/user/oohnoo_VR4/media/Mini%20Reef/PhotoSep25112225AM_zps4021b13d.jpg.html'>

[Tamberav]

elite is more for feshwater mostly.... use the blue.

 

I'm on the other side.... I hate chemi pure I used to use it and you have to wash and wash and wash and wash it for ever.... vs the cheap stuff I don't have to wash at all. I don't see how chemi pure is less of a hassle More so... imo. I figured washing it with tap would use up of some of my expensive chemi pure carbon so I had to use RODI which meant more work.

[oohnoo]

I do have a couple jars of Marineland Premium Activated Carbon I got when I bought the Magnum350 which I use sometimes for cleaning house. But I heard cheap carbon is worse than not using it at all.

 

Should I just put it int he Magnum350 or put it in my Refugium? But that canister that comes with it takes a boat load to fill up.

[Tamberav]

I do have a couple jars of Marineland Premium Activated Carbon I got when I bought the Magnum350 which I use sometimes for cleaning house. But I heard cheap carbon is worse than not using it at all.

 

Should I just put it int he Magnum350 or put it in my Refugium? But that canister that comes with it takes a boat load to fill up.

 

That's not even cheap carbon. That's expensive stuff! You can put it in a bag in a high flow area if you want.

 

This is what I use:

http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk-premium-rox-0-8-aquarium-carbon.html

[Mariaface]

I do have a couple jars of Marineland Premium Activated Carbon I got when I bought the Magnum350 which I use sometimes for cleaning house. But I heard cheap carbon is worse than not using it at all.

 

Should I just put it int he Magnum350 or put it in my Refugium? But that canister that comes with it takes a boat load to fill up.

Where'd you hear that? It should be just fine!

 

Like Tamberav said, put it in a media bag wherever there's high flow.

[oohnoo]

Oh hot shit, will do. Have to stop on way home and pick up a few of those bags.

 

FYI....Just feed my tank.....think everyone was starving!