Moai of the Sea!

[Sk8n Reefer]

Never considered this may have been a problem with my situation. Sponges are fairly toxic to sps. It's got me thinking that eliminating micro bubbles in the system is a bad idea. Sponges hate air.. SPS, not so much.

Sponges not good for sps?? Dang, I've had a lot on both my tanks.....wonder if they release toxins

sorry to hear, i wondered why you were not responding to my thread posts ABOUT MY almost CRASH... now i see you had bigger fish to fry. i am just as guilty, going through the "omg, omg, omg" stage doesnt lend itself to reading about other members thriving tanks. hence, i missed your mess.

 

 

i disagree this is a thing. personally, my Ca was super low (150ish) and Alk was super high (19) and i had no rtn. granted this happened slowly.

 

 

this was my main issue and took a couple of days to figure that part out. i bet this happened: corals stressed for some reason, then doser kept dosing then swings happened then things died and different acid/base reactions lead to close to "correction" of levels?

 

 

i agree, granted making sure you dont swing is critical as well.

 

 

i agree, i dosed seachem seed and revive? and fuel daily during my crisis along with reef chili (controlled nutrients by also doing w/c just prior to remove some of the previous days waste). this are phyto and bacteria blends. i am a strong fan of feeding through a crisis and just increasing w/c, i was up to 30% or more a day w/c but i was loading back nutrients as dosed bacteria/phyto/food as well.

 

 

this sucks when the plan doesnt work. all you can do is regroup and reanalyze the situation. call the power company about surges? call the water board about contaminants? i too thought stray current and replaced my pump and heater for my tank. they are sitting as backups dry for now...

 

 

in=out. you know this. if you inc out more than in you deplete whatever it is cyano is using to grow. so, just vacuum the top layer of cyano out, dont stir it into the water column. eventually it will abide with patience, but i also believe once it is in the tank it can always come back.

 

 

+1

anything i have you can have some of, just holla when you're ready.

 

 

 

like you told me once, patience and nothing drastic. too bad it didnt work out for you. i for one feel it is all the automation that makes our tanks crash, because one thing changes for better or worse and throws off the balance but all the others keep churning away raising/lowering/swinging the flow/light/levels/temp.

 

good luck, keep your head up, cant wait to see how you change the tank for the better!

It's been a rough one for sure, just changing water a vacuuming out cyano or what ever it is. Trying to stabilize everything. I'll have to check your thread- sorry to hear about that man.

So sorry to hear about your losses!

 

I'm a relative noob to reef tanks(1 year up and running only), so please take this with a grain of salt. When I was reading through your description of the events leading up to this, one thing stuck out to me and that was the part about your skimmer suddenly going crazy. Is there a chance that some foreign substance could have wound up in the tank? Stray cleaning solution of any sort? Likely not, but that made my eyebrow raise a little.

 

Ya, that can always be a chance and skimmers are good indications but I think mine is still from remaining chemiclean in the system - that makes skimmers go crazy. I am running carbon to remove it all then I'll fire the skimmer back up ?

Update? Things stabilising yet?

I wouldn't stay that yet......crazy- even the coral I transferred back to the Nuvo are not doing well. Just doing w/c's and funning carbon so I can remove the chemiclean and Fire the skimmer back up.

 

Pouring some Crete today so not much time for the tank on my usual tank maintenance Sunday ?

[markalot]

Most sponges are good for SPS, there are just a few toxic ones to watch out for.

 

I made this quote a few months back. Quotes are from Coral Magazine:

 

I've been reading digital back issues of Coral magazine and came across an article on feeding corals back in 2010. Very interesting stuff. They discovered that sponges took in a large amount of DOC yet growth did not match how much they ate. In further testing it was discovered that sponges regularly discard old cells in favor of new cells as a way to protect against pathogens.

 

 

 

But after a bit of head-scratching, the research
team investigated the aquarium
water and found that it contained masses
of discarded dead sponge “collar cells “ or
choanocytes marked with BrdU. These cells are devoted
to moving and filtering water within the sponge and to
digestion of captured matter.
Further analysis showed that these cells in the sponge
divided again after only four or five hours, a speed that
eclipses even the rapid reproduction of some species of
bacteria. This led to the supposition that this species of
sponge—and probably also many others—replace their
filter apparatus at very short time intervals.

 

snip

 

 

 

It thus appears that in a newly set-up coral-reef aquarium,
zooxanthellate corals require intensive additional
feeding with suspended particles in order to satisfy their
carbon requirement until this can be supplied naturally
by regular cell release from the numerous sponges that
grow concealed among the rocks of the aquarium decor.
Of course, this two-part sequence in the aquarium remains
hypothetical, but it would help explain the abovementioned
observation that stony corals in “young” reef
aquaria sometimes exhibit practically no growth at all.

 

 

This article is way over my third grade reading level but also discusses the life of a sponge.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4188633/

 

Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen.

 

Steven Wright

[Gary.F]

This thread has been quiet for a worryingly long time.

[dropped]

This thread has been quiet for a worryingly long time.

 

Was thinking the same thing! Let's hope things are on the mend

[4x5]

Sorry to hear about the losses man. It's never fun to see old corals go. But glad to hear you're not throwing in the towel, onwards to something even better.

[Sk8n Reefer]

are you sure your cyano isnt dinoflagellates?

And the winner is dropped! You are correct, we have now ID the cyano to dinoflagellates. I am treating with 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10gal. Of water and running the skimmer. Changing out about 5 gal. A week but missed the last week due to being sick myself- sinusitis - knocked me down for a week and still lingering around. We syphon out the Dino's every few days and blast the rock but they are crazy strong and have not shown any signs of weakness yet.

[Sk8n Reefer]

This thread has been quiet for a worryingly long time.

 

Was thinking the same thing! Let's hope things are on the mend

So relief of the Dino's has been slow at best and not really showing any major gains. Luckily some remaining corals are stabilizing and actually showing some white growth on their tips- season's greeting, reverse sunset , Idaho grape frag, purple stylo,new acro frag( in the upper middle - what a trooper), bird of paradise all seem to be holding on thru this. The clowns and blenny are doing fine. Here's a quick iPhone pic- the Dino on the sand were all vacuumed up the previous day and this is how they start back my mid morning and get increasingly worse throughout the day?

 

Sorry to hear about the losses man. It's never fun to see old corals go. But glad to hear you're not throwing in the towel, onwards to something even better.

Thanks Man, it's been a new adventure for sure- never had to deal with dino's before and never want to again. Slow and steady treatment as I do not want to react to quickly with anything- gonna be a long road

[jack1978]

So relief of the Dino's has been slow at best and not really showing any major gains. Luckily some remaining corals are stabilizing and actually showing some white growth on their tips- season's greeting, reverse sunset , Idaho grape frag, purple stylo,new acro frag( in the upper middle - what a trooper), bird of paradise all seem to be holding on thru this. The clowns and blenny are doing fine. Here's a quick iPhone pic- the Dino on the sand were all vacuumed up the previous day and this is how they start back my mid morning and get increasingly worse throughout the day

......but, you have new coral growth ....so that's a plus!

[Sunstar]

Oh dear gods..... hope it gets better soon been wondering about you.

[Sk8n Reefer]

......but, you have new coral growth ....so that's a plus!

True- that's is a positive. Pretty amazed by that one little acro frag who has browned put but still holding on they this who mess ?

Oh dear gods..... hope it gets better soon been wondering about you.

Thanks Sunstar! Appreaciate that !

Skimmers been cranking now with a nice deep coffee skimmate- I guess it's easier when the water is filthy ?

 

[markalot]

Wow, hope this turns around quickly. Maybe some day we can have a sure fire reason and cure for dinos.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Wow, hope this turns around quickly. Maybe some day we can have a sure fire reason and cure for dinos.

Thanks Mark- that was going to be my question to the community- any cure? My lfs guy who is pretty amazing with everything, told me to try the hydrogen peroxide at 1ml. Per 10gal. and keep the skimmer cranking. So far not much success on the Dino's - atleasr some corals are growing a little during this time. He said it took 2-3 months to get ride of it on one of his clients tanks.........great

[Sancho]

Are you using 35% h202 or the stuff you get at the drug store?

[Gary.F]

Your dino' problem looks pretty much the same as mine. I'll copy and paste from another thread what I ended up doing.

 

 

I took about six weeks to get rid of dinos but they went in the end and haven't come back. I was cleaning rocks and sand every day with a reduced light regime. Eventually I was able to just baste the rocks while they kept themselves to the sand. The sand took longer but, in the end, it was their odd behaviour that worked for me.

I would siphon the top layer of sand, dinos and all, into a bowl. They would almost immediately clump into little balls which allowed me to pour mostly clean water back into the tank after a few minutes. A quick stir to disperse them again and I could pour the brown-again remaining water down the toilet. I kept the bowl's remaining sand in a bucket in the dark for a few days before returning it to the tank.

I know these buggers take many forms but this procedure worked for the ones I had.

 

 

These buggers are no fun so I really hope you can get on top of them. Best of luck.

[Nano sapiens]

Nasty dinos. These things can take all the joy out of reefing, but good to see that you're up to the battle.

 

I had what looked like the same think all over my sand bed, on the lower glass area and sometimes up in the rocks, too, for nearly a year. Under a magnifier, I could see that the coca-cola colored organisms were tiny individual round specks that would disappear at night and then come back each day. I finally noticed improvement after some serious detritus removal (vacuumed under all the rocks over just a few months time, blew out the rocks daily) and added more 'non-additive' type reef salt to my salt mix. Today, the tank's substrate is free and clear.

 

Good luck and keep fighting!

[dropped]

And the winner is dropped! You are correct, we have now ID the cyano to dinoflagellates. I am treating with 1ml of hydrogen peroxide per 10gal. Of water and running the skimmer. Changing out about 5 gal. A week but missed the last week due to being sick myself- sinusitis - knocked me down for a week and still lingering around. We syphon out the Dino's every few days and blast the rock but they are crazy strong and have not shown any signs of weakness yet.

 

that i got it right, not so happy for the diagnosis.

 

The only thing ive seen work to get rid of it is a black out for a few days. Ive linked Inappropriate reefers YouTube channel and his battle below. it might help you.

 

Inappropriate Reefer

 

The Great Algae Battle of 2016 - Part 1 of ?

 

The Great Algae Battle of 2016 - Part 2 of ?

Look who showed up for the 3 day light-out reveal!

[Sunstar]

I have air bubbles on my 10's return nozzle, is that dino or just algae? I am so paranoid now.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Are you using 35% h202 or the stuff you get at the drug store?

Lfs guy said just the basic stuff from the drugstore

that i got it right, not so happy for the diagnosis.

 

The only thing ive seen work to get rid of it is a black out for a few days. Ive linked Inappropriate reefers YouTube channel and his battle below. it might help you.

 

Inappropriate Reefer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thank you I'll be checking the links out, I did black out early on for 3 days- didn't touch it?

I have air bubbles on my 10's return nozzle, is that dino or just algae? I am so paranoid now.

What color is it?

[Sancho]

If you don't have any crustaceans I would order the 35% h202 I saw much better results using that opposed to the stuff from the drug store. The stuff sold at the drug store some say it has additives that might not be so good for your tank. There is a thread on R2R about it. I would post a link but I am on my phone. JMB might be the guy to reach out to regarding this

[Sunstar]

What color is it?

Green.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Green.

The only cyano I've seen that is green is a real light green and gathers air bubbles. I would just manually remove it and see how quickly it comes back. If it's only in that area don't freak out- it'll be fine

[dropped]

Have you watched those videos yet

[Sunstar]

it actually didn't come back. Thanks <3

[vlangel]

Wow Scott, I was kind of worrying about you. I am sorry that you were dealing with sinusitis on top of tank issues. I used to get that every late spring and early summer when the trees were pollinating. Hopefully you are on the mend and I am glad to see that the tank is beginning to rebound. Dinos strike fear in the heart of every reefer, I think. I have never dealt with them but they still scare me. It seems like you have a good plan in place. Good luck!

[Sk8n Reefer]

Have you watched those videos yet

Not yet, been crazy buy at work and still battle the sinusitis, feeling a little better today. I'll look through all of that this weekend.