Beau's 28g SPS Reborn (pg12)

[beau13]

We are moving! We bought a house across town and will be moving in a couple of weeks. I am thinking about taking this opportunity to start over with some of my rock and get rid of the aiptasia. The more I kill off with Aiptasia X the more little ones seem to pop up everywhere. That and I designed my tank to get corals up high nearer the light and I realized with the Radion I don't need to do that, so I am thinking about a similar design but with less over hangs and shadows and more open space with more growth room for corals.

 

Here are a couple samples of what I was thinking. These are just stacked without glue so I could probably get them a little better stuck together, but they are only a little smaller than the ones I have now.

 

 

[Rehype]

A lot of people have said they caught them in the evening or at night. How hard was it to find and catch them after you got rid of the aiptasia?

 

It was actually easy after the aiptasia ran out because they were constantly on the move especially after the lights went out. I found them about a week after

 

The new scape looks great BTW...congrats on the move

[beau13]

Thanks Rehype! I am planning on using that smooth bigger rock on the front of the right tower for my zoa garden. It will really show them off I think.

[Spirofucci]

Hey, man, really like the scape! Whenever I design a scape I also look at it directly from above to see how the light will hit the corals, and make a few changes from there.

[beau13]

Hey, man, really like the scape! Whenever I design a scape I also look at it directly from above to see how the light will hit the corals, and make a few changes from there.

 

 

See, that was one of the things I didn't do with my current scape. It looked great from the front and sides but had a lot of overhangs that shadowed things and cut down on areas I could grow stuff in.

[beau13]

Ok so I am in coral survival mode here. I decided to get things ready for the move and new rock so I got my 10 gallon quarantine tank ready and detached all my corals from their rocks and some from their plugs and moved everything over to the 10 gallon after dipping them all for about five minutes in Revive coral cleaner. Sounds good?

 

I didn't count on a whole bunch of really unhappy corals going to war. I woke up this morning to find most of my birdsnests pure white and everything else looking bleached. I did a 90% water change and am waiting to see what makes it. Really a down day for me to loose some of this stuff. My Oregon Tort, ORA Pearlberry and Ice Fire Enchinata are still alive as of this PM.

 

First look this morning:

 

The rest of the tank

[Rehype]

Really sorry to see that beau hope everything else survives. Its important to have alot of flow as well as run activated carbon in these temporary holding tanks as the coral are usually stressed by the move.

[beau13]

I think the flow may have hurt things a bit. They were in the path of the flow, which normally wouldn't have bothered them but in this case they did. I started running carbon at about 6am this morning, and they were put in the tank about 11 last night. Hopefully things survive. Thanks for the good wishes! On a high note, my new rock is getting ready and I am going to test Dr. Tim's nitrifying bacteria and see how it works. I've read some of his scientific papers and he has a good handle on things.

[beau13]

Well I think I am looking at about 80% losses. I got home from work today and almost everything had RTN completely. My Oregon tort, ice fire, pearlberry, red planet...everything. My clams aren't happy either! I did 100% water change and got the holding tank cleaned. It doesn't smell like death anymore, so we'll see if anything survives. Some of the montipora and a few other things still have polyps so I am hoping... This is the worst disaster I've ever had. I am just floored at how rapidly things deteriorated! I've never even heard of corals going toxic like this and it being such a downward spiral. I am still in shock. It'll take me a long time to regain everything, especially since financially we are kind of strapped right now.

 

Everything in a dish while I do the water change

 

Clams in the old tank for a few minutes while the water change is going on

 

Everything back in the holding tank for the move.

[Rehype]

Man im really sorry to see that beau.....those pictures just make my stomach hurt. :( I hope some of those pieces make it through

[beau13]

Man im really sorry to see that beau.....those pictures just make my stomach hurt. :( I hope some of those pieces make it through

 

Thanks dude! It makes me sick too. Everything was going so well. I know now not to frag off dead areas and move stuff at the same time in a small tank. I wish I'd known earlier. I'm praying some of them make it! The Oregon Tort and Pearlberry were a hit.

[beau13]

Emptying the old tank for the move. The water was filthy when I stirred it all up. Has anyone else had water like this when they've moved or is it just me? I think it is time to start saving for a skimmer, which sucks because I was hoping to buy coral. I'm looking at a 100% loss of my SPS corals I think, unless some montipora survive.

 

Getting ready for the move

 

Anyone else with water like that when they moved?

 

[JR!]

so sorry to see this beau. have a feeling that youll find more coral that is just as nice as the ones before. maybe even better keep your head up and youll have it fixed in no time.

[beau13]

so sorry to see this beau. have a feeling that youll find more coral that is just as nice as the ones before. maybe even better keep your head up and youll have it fixed in no time.

 

Thanks man! I hope so. Budget is going to be the problem right now. My LFS has some good stuff and some original colonies of Oregon Tort, but is there a good place online to find $10-25 frags of some good looking SPS where I could save up and order a bunch and get free shipping?

[JR!]

ebay has always been a good place to look. ive seen some awesome sps deals on there.

[beau13]

The pre-move is done and I have my fish in my coral holding tank and a separate container with some softy frags and my cleanup crew. I don't want too much waste in my holding tank because I have six fish in ten gallons already. I'll be doing a lot of water changes between now and when we move.

 

 

ebay has always been a good place to look. ive seen some awesome sps deals on there.

 

I'll check it out!

[Nepenthe]

Yikes! I'm sorry for your losses, but you'll come out better I'm sure... On a more selfish note it freaks me out because I'll probably be moving in a year and a half or so. Do you think that you could have done anything differently to prevent this? Let us know how Dr. Tim's works, I'm curious about it myself.

[beau13]

Yikes! I'm sorry for your losses, but you'll come out better I'm sure... On a more selfish note it freaks me out because I'll probably be moving in a year and a half or so. Do you think that you could have done anything differently to prevent this? Let us know how Dr. Tim's works, I'm curious about it myself.

 

I think there is a lot I could have done. I had left my tank for a week with some friends watching it and hair algae had overtaken a lot of stuff, so the day I moved all this stuff I trimmed all the SPS with hair algae on them to get rid of the dead areas. That is what set them off. I've moved SPS with no problem before and I think it was the trimming that did it this time. I've had no problems previously with just putting the rocks with them on it in a bucket and heater. It also depends on how far you are moving. Just don't try and trim them at the same time! I'll be updating people on Dr. Tim's stuff! I am using all new dead rock.

[akma]

Oh wow,

Sorry beau. I like seeing your growth shots from your radion. Seemed like everything was growing well.

[beau13]

Oh wow,

Sorry beau. I like seeing your growth shots from your radion. Seemed like everything was growing well.

 

Everything was doing fantastic! I couldn't be happier with it. I did find that some of the blue and purple SPS, like the Oregon Tort, and Ice Fire did better about half way down the tank. They had a deeper color. I think that the lighting may have been a bit high. Greens did very well nearer the top, and reds and blues down about half way.

[Nepenthe]

I think there is a lot I could have done. I had left my tank for a week with some friends watching it and hair algae had overtaken a lot of stuff, so the day I moved all this stuff I trimmed all the SPS with hair algae on them to get rid of the dead areas. That is what set them off. I've moved SPS with no problem before and I think it was the trimming that did it this time. I've had no problems previously with just putting the rocks with them on it in a bucket and heater. It also depends on how far you are moving. Just don't try and trim them at the same time! I'll be updating people on Dr. Tim's stuff! I am using all new dead rock.

 

Noted.

[uglyfish]

Very sad. Tank was looking awesome.

[beau13]

Very sad. Tank was looking awesome.

 

Thanks! I just looked at yours and I love your aquascape! Your tank looks fantastic!

[beau13]

The clams are looking better and it looks like they will survive! My LPS and zoas are going to make it but I don't really have any hope for any of my SPS. It looks like I will be starting over with those.

[Sahin]

Hey man, hang in there. Sorry for the loss. Loads of people end up losing corals during and right after a move. You did lose some prized corals there. But I hope things turn around from this point on. Good luck.