Need some opinions

[Satchmo]

Dunno what the hell is going on with my nano, but something aint right. I'll lay it all out for y'all and hopefully someone can pick up what I can't seem to. Thanks to those who will actually read what is certain to be a long post. For the record, the tank is roughly a year old. It's a 10g AGA, 2x36w PC 10K & 03 (hellolights), ~20lbs LR, 2" LS. I dose daily with B-I and do weekly 10% changes. The tank houses an ocellaris clown and a royal gramma and a motherload of corals and inverts. It's been very stable and spectacular up until this.

 

Over the past few weeks, my corals have started to go downhill. The worst of it was my green/purple tipped frogspawn which had started to turn almost clear. My zoos started to loose their coloring, and a few polyps have actually turned white. There's been increasing cyano building up on the glass (nowhere else), which I had been scraping and siphoning out. Water params are all kosher (0/0/0 1.025, 82F, pH=8.2, alk=4.0 meq/L, Ca=~400).

 

I attributed all this to my lights, which were becoming geriatric. So a week ago, I picked up 2 new bulbs (JBL 50/50's). I expected to see a steady improvement, but except for the cyano build-up (which has stopped), it's been quite the opposite. The frog has gotton more clear, zoos have not improved, yellow poylps are now brown, and my orange Monti dig has turned pink (this was the most profound change and only occured after the bulb swap).

 

I then started thinking maybe this was just shock from the new lighting (I also cleaned off the reflector so it's quite a bit brighter than it had been). Only hole in this theory is that this general decline started before the switch for the most part, which led me to believe it's another problem (am I wrong? Is this typical lighting shock, and if so, how long do they usually take to adapt?).

 

My mind then started thinking poisoning. There's enough crap squirted around the house by my GF to put a Texas-sized hole in the ozone layer. The tank is covered and it never seemed to be a problem before, but with all testable water issues ruled out, I started getting nervous. And so the massive series of water changes ensued. Still no improvement. I ran carbon. Nothing.

 

So I'm at a loss. Granted it's only been a week since the bulb swap. I was going to give it more time until I posted a mayday, but once I saw the digitata go from Ernie-orange to pastel pink, I figured I better send out an SOS before this got any worse. Any ideas? Thanks for reading.

[Korbin]

Maybe there is metal in the tank from somwhere. You might try a polyfilter ($12) which you can find at some LFSs. It turns color according to what metal is in the water. Is the temperature stable? Did you break a thermometer in the water? Have there been any changes to your water change routine? Did your GF spray anything in the room where you keep your water change buckets? Has anything toxic died in your tank recently?

 

Thats all I can think of. Good luck!

[Satchmo]

No deaths, no broken thermometers, and I haven't changed a thing as far as routine. Mixing buckets are always kept covered.

 

Like I said, metals or other toxins were a thought, but after changing out probably close to 90% of the tank volume, I'm sure there would have been an improvement if that were the case.

[tinyreef]

i'd still suspect the bulbs as the start of the problem. a year is reeeaally pushing it ime (by about 3~4 months). the light shock didn't help things afterwards either probably. (fwiw, next time stagger by alternate weeks)

 

are you skimming? i forgot if you had one or not.

 

the poly-filters (btw $4.65 @ petsolutions) are a very good idea. continue the carbon and check into your water source too. ro membrane age or resin bed color, if ro/di.

 

another issue to watch are your temperature extremes, especially with our kooky weather lately. watch it at peak and low, if possible.

 

if you want to try and let the livestock adjust to the new bulbs you may be looking at a couple of weeks (or no recovery for some ). you could try raising it a couple of inches and lowering it over the next few weeks to acclimate (watch your evaporation if you opt this way).

[junglejim83]

As to the problem at hand, i think it could definitly be attributed to the original lights wearing old. I had the same setup as you before i broke mine down and right around the 8-9 month mark when the pc's need to be replaced was when i started to ahve some algea problems and my corals suddenly werent doing as well. i would say just dont run your new lights as long and then build up the time until your corals are on a regular schedule and are acclimated to the new lights.

 

I know this isnt a fix to your problem but how far along is your bow front or whatever it is you put all that rock in??? maybe put some of the hardier corals that are getting beatup in your 10 (like your polyps, or some zoo's and put them in you bigger tanks and see if they recover at all and if they do put some of your other corals in there until you've got the problem figured out.

Jim

[tufty711]

i rekon u have a current in your tank, try earthing it and also check all equipment cables for spliting.

[technoshaman]

Satchmo, I'd still lean towards lighting. Sounds like some corals were producing extra zooxanthellae (the polyps) and then the sudden shift to brighter lights just forced them to readjust again. I'd shade off part of the light or get some mesh or screen to diffuse some of it. Other than that I can say that my frogspawn had 2 heads that were almost clear and the guy I got it from had them out of light almost totally so the clear part may be a reaction to lack of light?

 

 

I seem to remember you having a refugium ? If not then maybe adding one might help with the dissolved organics (i.e. cyano outbreak) a little.

 

Be interested to see what happends, keep us posted.

 

-Mike

[Satchmo]

Thanks all for the replies. I definitely went too long on the bulb replacement, no doubt. I was waiting for Hello to restock their new 36w 50/50's (heard very good things), but couldn't wait any longer. They dicked me around on the phone and via email for a month. No excuse, it still should have been done months ago.

 

I'll pick up a poly-pad, it can't hurt. But after the water change marathon, I'm seriously doubting it's a water issue. RO/DI is bottle-bought from the same source I've always used without incident. And I've never seen my temperature waver from 82F. No skimmer.

 

At this point, is there any value in raising the lights or is the damage already done? Nothing appears to be outright dying, per se. No tissue recession and everything opens normally. Even the white zoos are opening everyday and putting in an effort. Should I let them ride it out or bring the lights up?

 

Jim- the 46 is cookin', thanks for asking. I may end up moving some stuff over there to see how they do. I've been leary about that up until now because the lighting schemes are so different. But if the effected corals don't show any improvement soon, I may have to chance it.

 

Odd thing is that many corals in the 10g don't seem to have noticed anything is different. Actually, a few Acros and other "sensative" SPS look as good as they ever have. The frog, Monti, and zoos (notice, all the hardy stuff) seem to be taking the biggest hit. Wierd.

[Satchmo]

Tufty- Electrical current is something I hadn't thought of. Thanks. Is there a way to check for that besides the tounge in the water technique?

 

Techno- Thanks for the input. I really don't have a nutrient problem. The cyano, IMO, was a result of the shifted spectrum from the older lights. It could hardly be called an outbreak... it just replaced the green "mist" algae that coats the glass and showed up nowhere else. Once the bulbs were switched, the cyano went away. I'm happy to once again see the green snail tracks on the glass every several days.

 

So is the consensus that there would be benefit at this point in deminishing the light, or would it be too little too late?

[tinyreef]

a few Acros and other "sensative" SPS look as good as they ever have. The frog, Monti, and zoos (notice, all the hardy stuff) seem to be taking the biggest hit

 

that could be pointing to the light issue. the acros and sps are craving the hi-light whereas the moderate and low-light corals are adjusting poorly. the monti's pink color could just be its adaptation to the higher light (i.e. kinda fluorescing, i guess).

 

i would raise or shade the lights. i'd rec raising. adjusting the photoperiod is insufficient imo as the peak intensity still overwhelms the symbiont algae at those times. lowering the intensity (i.e. increasing the distance) allows sufficient algae to exist without letting them over photosynthesize.

[Satchmo]

Right-o. Lights are going up today. I'll keep ya posted. Thanks for all the help.

[SAILFIN]

well i hope it all works out for you, not to take over this thread but i also have a pink tip torch that is turning a almost clear color, yet still fully extends and is sprouting new heads on a regular basis, he sits up higher in the tank than the other one of the same colony and it hasnt changed any color but does keep growing. what i was wondering do any of you think it could be due to the higher lights? it has been in the same spot for almost 2 1/2 years and just over the last week has been getting lighter in color. No lighting has changed and all water param are spot on..... a

 

any advice would be appreciated

[chvynva916]

Satch, I have to completely disagree with the light issue as well as the current issue. As for the current, such shorts are very localized and would not effect the whole tank. You'd notice your fish staying away from it and swimming with the lateral line parallel (or is it perpendicular) to the current and you might notice some hlle. In addition as far as I am aware (and please someone correct me if I am wrong) the jury is still out on the effects of current on corals. Some theorize they might even grow faster. I certainly don't think bleaching would be the result.

 

As for the lighting, your light spectrum deteriorates very gradually, but your tank symptoms arrived in a matter of weeks. I'm leaning toward a chemical assault.

 

I'm experiencing something similar: after a major brief temp and sal imbalance, now fixed, things still look bad. I don't know why. My softies look the worst. Wonder what that means?

[Acoustic]

Check your salinity for sure. Mine just did the same thing. It ended up being off by .05 yikes. Within a week everything was back to normal.

[Satchmo]

Salinity is checked at every water change with a refractometer and I'm diligent with top offs. It's a solid 1.025. Same story with the temp. Middle of the day or middle of the night -anytime I've looked it's been 82F.

 

chvynva- Thanks for your input. The corals didn't poop out in a matter of weeks, I should clarify that. They've been in a slow decline over the past few months. Nothing like I have now, and they didn't look bad, but the brilliance they once had had been somewhat fading. Of course, this is when I should have swapped out the bulbs, but I didn't. It was the hard core color loss that occured over the past few weeks, presumably when the ancient bulbs had given about everything they could possibly give.

 

After talking to you guys, and taking steps to correct all other possibilities, I'm really thinking it's the lights. I propped them up about six inches last night. Think that's enough? I'm afraid to go higher without rigging something up so they don't topple off. Thanks again.

[tinyreef]

6" is good, just make sure you can adjust it once or twice to slowly lower it.

 

the timing of the events is what lends me to think the lights. i always check my log book if there's any changes, usually that's my first go to and i would say it defines the problem most of the time.

 

change of seasons (i.e. temp change) is my next usual suspect as my house changes rather suddenly, AC or heater.