Ebn Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Sorry to hear about your wrasse. Maybe time to take a look at a grate of some sort for the overflow. The reason why I asked about light acclimation earlier was due to the fact that you stated that your SPS were bleaching. Link to comment
JDigital Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 So you can't keep any coral? Well, here's your problem, then. I hardly believe the lack of light acclimation has much to do with my coral losses. A lot of the SPS I have lost in this tank came from tanks being lit by LED (radions) in the first place. I have had plenty of tanks in my reefing adventure. Not once had I acclimated for light and I very rarely lost corals. The stuff I did loose in the past was due to pests or stress from nipping fish. As mentioned earlier, I believe my lack of bio-diversity having started with Dry Rock is a key part of the issues I'm having as the rest of my parameters are certainly within their acceptable range. I'm experiencing a lot of difficulties that I have never had with tanks that I used Live Rock in. Sorry to hear about your wrasse. Maybe time to take a look at a grate of some sort for the overflow. The reason why I asked about light acclimation earlier was due to the fact that you stated that your SPS were bleaching. I don't recall saying that they bleached on me. They were STN'ing and going white from tissue loss. They didn't loose much color while STN'ing to be honest. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 I hardly believe the lack of light acclimation has much to do with my coral losses. A lot of the SPS I have lost in this tank came from tanks being lit by LED (radions) in the first place. Your lighting and their lighting is not the same. You'd more than likely find that your total light output is much higher than theirs, unless theirs are on 100% and the are in a spot with similar PAR. Link to comment
JDigital Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 Your lighting and their lighting is not the same. You'd more than likely find that your total light output is much higher than theirs, unless theirs are on 100% and the are in a spot with similar PAR. Knowing the owners quite well, I would guess they are running somewhere between 50-70% from lights on to lights off over tanks that are much shallower than mine and with the lights closer to the water surface. My light schedule starts from 10% @ 10am and slowly rises to 60% at 1pm sits there or 3 hours and gradually drops back down @ 10% per hour till lights off 10pm. I was planning to pick up some frags tomorrow night from a buddy of mine, but after last nights 'mini-disaster' I will hold off till I get my water parameters back in line and get a few WC's done to pull out the skimmate that flooded back in last night. I will try acclimating for light with those pieces and let you know how it goes. Link to comment
Ebn Posted July 24, 2013 Share Posted July 24, 2013 Unfortunately it has gone COMPLETELY white on me, along with every other piece of SPS in my system. I am struggling MASSIVELY with this tank. I don't recall saying that they bleached on me. They were STN'ing and going white from tissue loss. They didn't loose much color while STN'ing to be honest. I interpreted that as bleaching. Colors lightening or going completely white is usually a sign of too much lighting (expelled zooanthellae, low nutrients, or if you're running zeo). While they might be from tanks with similar lighting, I usually drop light intensity when introducing anything to the tank, especially SPS, regardless of PAR values. Link to comment
JDigital Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 Ah. Sorry. By white I meant STN, not color fade. Poor communication on my part. Link to comment
JDigital Posted July 24, 2013 Author Share Posted July 24, 2013 From what I remember it was a combination of tips down and just anywhere on the coral usually starting around the coralites and spreading evenly. Link to comment
pschom Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 I've had issues with my reef octopus as well. I installed the same egg crate lifter in the beginning. Then shortened it some. I've tuned that thing so many times, but I can't make it skim dry into the cup. It all collects in the neck. If I tune it any higher it fills with water. The stuff that collects in the neck is thick and nasty so it's doing its job, but if any of that falls off the neck I'm sure it negatively affects the water quality...which is maybe why I have random algae outbreaks as it attempts to keep up with the bioload. Dam thing. Link to comment
JDigital Posted July 26, 2013 Author Share Posted July 26, 2013 I've had issues with my reef octopus as well. I installed the same egg crate lifter in the beginning. Then shortened it some. I've tuned that thing so many times, but I can't make it skim dry into the cup. It all collects in the neck. If I tune it any higher it fills with water. The stuff that collects in the neck is thick and nasty so it's doing its job, but if any of that falls off the neck I'm sure it negatively affects the water quality...which is maybe why I have random algae outbreaks as it attempts to keep up with the bioload. Dam thing. Yea, I really don't know what to do about it.. It seems to be skimming better, but I've got the same thing. Trying to find the sweet spot where it will dry skim INTO the cup is hard.. I was soo close before the wrasse incident then I messed with it after and lost my spot.. I'm keeping my eyes open for a BK Mini 160/180 on the used market. Really not sure what other brands I would want to try. Link to comment
pschom Posted July 26, 2013 Share Posted July 26, 2013 It kinda sucks because I was really looking forward to a large skimmer. Link to comment
JDigital Posted August 21, 2013 Author Share Posted August 21, 2013 Took some crappy iPhone pics tonight (gawd, I miss my old DLSR these days. ) Finally brought home my Acan's from the Office tank (again, a favorite of food of the Butterfly I risked): Some crazy Mushrooms I picked up last weekend: My Butterfly that perished picked this coral to almost nothing... the nubs that remained are starting to come back! I can't even remember what this LPS coral was.. I've never been one for trying out Chalice corals. I don't recall ever having much luck with them, but I picked this one up last weekend too. And finally 1 of 3 SPS frags I am testing out now that I THINK my tank is ready for them. The photos of the other 2 aren't much to look at unfortunately so I didn't upload them: Link to comment
pschom Posted August 21, 2013 Share Posted August 21, 2013 That sps is fuzzy. I like. The 'chalice'. Is that a leptastria? Or something like that. If so, that grew slow for me and proved to be very touchy with placement and lighting. Good luck. Looks cool. Link to comment
JDigital Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 That sps is fuzzy. I like. The 'chalice'. Is that a leptastria? Or something like that. If so, that grew slow for me and proved to be very touchy with placement and lighting. Good luck. Looks cool. Ya the 3 SPS frags I am trying out all look fuzzy so far. I don't believe that's the right name for that coral. At least not based on what came up on google. I'll get the name from the LFS. I remember he told me but I don't remember what he told me. Link to comment
heifinator Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Two changes I would recommend. This comes from someone with a very similar setup and I have had pretty much identical problems! 1) po4 check it 10 times, do a 20% water change weekly for a few weeks, that will confirm if you have a nutrient issue. 2) You really should seed with at least 1 piece of live rock. The only tank I didn't do that in, I had problems with. For a long time. Link to comment
JDigital Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 Two changes I would recommend. This comes from someone with a very similar setup and I have had pretty much identical problems! 1) po4 check it 10 times, do a 20% water change weekly for a few weeks, that will confirm if you have a nutrient issue. 2) You really should seed with at least 1 piece of live rock. The only tank I didn't do that in, I had problems with. For a long time. 1) I have PO4 checked many times and it's low.. On top of that I am running HC GFO these days and performing a 5G water change weekly. I did bi-weekly 10G's changes for a few weeks before switching to something a bit lighter. 2) I have added a few pieces of live rock to the system probably close to 5-6weeks ago now. Just to add some bio-diversity to the tank. Things have improved drastically in the last little while from what I can tell. The few pieces of SPS I have in there now are looking good too, along with everything pictured above. Only issue I still seem to have is the bloody skimmer! I'm really considering trying something else now. Link to comment
heifinator Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 NWB110 Reef Octopus. Amazing for the money. Thick, dark, juicy skimmate. Its out performing much more expensive skimmers. Was super surprised. 1) I have PO4 checked many times and it's low.. On top of that I am running HC GFO these days and performing a 5G water change weekly. I did bi-weekly 10G's changes for a few weeks before switching to something a bit lighter. 2) I have added a few pieces of live rock to the system probably close to 5-6weeks ago now. Just to add some bio-diversity to the tank. Things have improved drastically in the last little while from what I can tell. The few pieces of SPS I have in there now are looking good too, along with everything pictured above. Only issue I still seem to have is the bloody skimmer! I'm really considering trying something else now. Link to comment
JDigital Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 NWB110 Reef Octopus. Amazing for the money. Thick, dark, juicy skimmate. Its out performing much more expensive skimmers. Was super surprised. I'm running a Reef Octopus already and I do not like it.. I'm not sure if it's the skimmer that's not performing or if my system is holding it back some how.. The only other RO skimmer I would try is the RO POV DC1. Otherwise I'll be looking at other makes. Vertex Omega or just go all out and get a BK Mini. Link to comment
heifinator Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 What is it doing? I'm running a Reef Octopus already and I do not like it.. I'm not sure if it's the skimmer that's not performing or if my system is holding it back some how.. The only other RO skimmer I would try is the RO POV DC1. Otherwise I'll be looking at other makes. Vertex Omega or just go all out and get a BK Mini. Link to comment
Ebn Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Have you tried soaking and cleaning the RO in a vinegar solution? Link to comment
JDigital Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 What is it doing? It's more a case of what it's NOT doing. Which would be Skimming.. I can get maybe 1/4" of Skimmate over the course of a week. Have you tried soaking and cleaning the RO in a vinegar solution? Yup. No difference in performance. I thought I had fixed the issue but I still hardly get anything. On top of that trying to dial this thing in is a nightmare. Even if I do find a spot that seems to perform (and by perform I mean pulls our the 1/4" of skim over the course of a week) It can very easily overflow the collection cup with the SLIGHTEST change in sump water level. Which just sets me back as everything it took a week to skim is back in the water. Link to comment
Ebn Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Not sure if you've stated it already, but what's the water level at that on the skimmer? Link to comment
JDigital Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 I have the skimmer raised up 3.25"... putting the effective water depth at 5.75" per some recommendations I've seen. Link to comment
fretfreak13 Posted August 22, 2013 Share Posted August 22, 2013 Look up leptoseris (not leptastrea). Pretty sure thats what your "chalice" is. =P Link to comment
JDigital Posted August 22, 2013 Author Share Posted August 22, 2013 Look up leptoseris (not leptastrea). Pretty sure thats what your "chalice" is. =P Thank you!! That's what it looks like. Link to comment
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