slowngreen Posted August 30, 2013 Share Posted August 30, 2013 Something else that's weird. About a week ago, right when my tank started going through this, our DT at work went through a mini crash. All the xenia, anthelia, kenya and shrooms in it just melted away within the space of two days. Nobody seems to know what happened, I tested the water and it tested good, another employee had tested the day before and after I had and it was good. A customer of ours had the same thing happen at the same time it was happening to me and the tank at work. All in separate locations, all using separate water, nothing related other than we all had the same stuff dying at the same time. thats exactly what happened to my 40b a month or more ago when I added a new sump but used the wrong silicone. Now all is well again but my GHA battle is back in full force even though I have a big CUC, fuge, chaeto, phosguard and skimmer PLUS doing peroxide spot treatments. Its so aggravating but atleast its not just me I see. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted August 30, 2013 Author Share Posted August 30, 2013 I just added my sump as well. I went by all the advice given all across the net and used 100% silicone with no additives. Let it cure for over 48 hours before setting it all up. Weird that on the home depot site the GE 1 is blue and the GE II is red, but this is 1 and it's red. This is GE brand. Link to comment
slowngreen Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Ok good, ge1 is the one that hasnt changed, GE2 had a mold killer added to it and thats what screwed me. Link to comment
slowngreen Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Oh shit dude, the red label ge1 also says its mold resistant! Thats what the ge2 that I used said in little bitty words on the back. Lost almost all of my coral because of it. I think thats your problem maybe, you needed the gray label. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 I just read this entire tube multiple times. Nowhere does it say anything about mold resistant additives. The only mentioning of mold at all is where it says "For a long-lasting seal, choose 100% silicone, not acrylic caulk, which can shrink and crack, leaving gaps for water to seep through. Those leaks can lead to water damage and mold growth." That's it. Re-read it twice more to be sure. All it says is 100% silicone. Nothing about any sort of additives at all. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 So let's bring on the pain. Link to comment
Chadf Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Why aren't you pulling it out? Link to comment
slowngreen Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 I just read this entire tube multiple times. Nowhere does it say anything about mold resistant additives. The only mentioning of mold at all is where it says "For a long-lasting seal, choose 100% silicone, not acrylic caulk, which can shrink and crack, leaving gaps for water to seep through. Those leaks can lead to water damage and mold growth." That's it. Re-read it twice more to be sure. All it says is 100% silicone. Nothing about any sort of additives at all. Ok well I hope so for your sake, the website says mildew and mold resistant though is why I was worried, your tanks behavior is EXACTLY how mine was with the wrong silicone. Glad you doubled checked though. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 Yeah I spent a loooong time in the store looking at all the different ones. This was the only 100% one HD here carries. I knew what to look for and what not to get from the get go. I'll do some more looking into it tomorrow. Why aren't you pulling it out? I have been. :/ Link to comment
Chadf Posted August 31, 2013 Share Posted August 31, 2013 Yeah I spent a loooong time in the store looking at all the different ones. This was the only 100% one HD here carries. I knew what to look for and what not to get from the get go. I'll do some more looking into it tomorrow. I have been. :/ Oh... You need a tang then Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 Oh... You need a tang then Lol no. I don't like 'em. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 So let's assume that the silicone is the culprit. Would running heavy carbon pull the stuff out? I have a bag of chemipure elite in the sump right now, I could add a large bag of carbon as well. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted August 31, 2013 Author Share Posted August 31, 2013 I've been doing some reading and apparently GE I and II both have mildew inhibitors in them now, even if it says 100% silicone and mentions absolutely nothing about it on the tube. Great. So how do I fix it? The stuff has circulated in the tank enough that everything is probably effected to the point that it wouldn't matter if I pulled the sump. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 For reference, my silicone mishap thread: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/332559-silicone-is-killing-everything/ Some good info in there if you ever have a question about what silicone is correct for aquarium usage. So..... Some interesting things going on. My girlfriend and I were just sitting here flashlighting the tank, I've had the lights off for a couple days now trying to get this GHA knocked out, and we started seeing things that I though had long ago disappeared. Maybe four months ago and then about two months ago I put a couple emerald crabs in the tank. After the second day of putting them in I never saw them again. So we're sitting there looking at the tank and I'm like "wtf there's an emerald!" We get all excited and I'm blabbing on about how I never saw it after putting it in the tank. We look around for a couple more minutes, we're actually trying to find the pom pom crab (she bought one for me for my bday back in May), we're about mid way across the tank where my rock work ends (re-scaped, more on that later) and I see an emerald crab. I'm like "wtf it couldn't have moved this far that fast." Sure enough, we peek around to the side of the tank and the other one is still sitting over there munching away. So I still have two emeralds in the tank, and with this silicone problem they're still alive. The pom pom is still fine as well, still has both of it's poms. As for an actual update for the tank, some things aren't doing well and some things are actually doing pretty damn good. This silicone problem has made a mess of some things but on the large scale the tank is holding up pretty well. I've lose a few coral, birds nest, at least one rock flower, the stylopora is finished, and the other unidentified sps has some pretty bad RTN going on right now. I did lose my skunk cleaner shrimp but I'm not 100% certain it was from the silicone issue. It had just molted a few days ago and when I came home yesterday I found his tail, still full of meat, on the sand bed. It could very easily be the peroxide treatment I did which was the day previous to it dying. I did several spot treatments on the GHA with no water movement in the tank and did a WC directly after. The idiot shrimp decided it was a good idea to play in the bubbles the entire time, so that could very well be why it died, I know they're pretty susceptible to peroxide. But as I said, some things are holding up remarkably well. All my lps are doing great. My lobo, blastos, acans, trumpets and favia are basically giving the silicone a big middle finger and doing their thing. The BTA is having issues I think from my lighting and not the other problems going on. Since the day I got it it opens more at lights out than it does when the lights are on. Lights have been out for two days now and it's looking pretty good right now. A little long in the tentacle, but good extension. My sebae acts the same way, it tends to close up more when the lights are on and opens more when they go out. All the leathers and anthelia are still there, they don't look pretty but they're not dying. All the shrooms are fine, even the little baby red ones that started banging around the tank a few weeks ago. The fish are all perfectly fine, none are showing any signs of stress. Other than the shrimp I haven't lost any inverts either, it seems I've actually gained a couple lol. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted September 2, 2013 Author Share Posted September 2, 2013 Well color me impressed. I did a two day black out, well not technically a black out, just a lights out, to control some of this GHA. worked fairly well, there is definitely an improvement in the overall tank appearance now. So the lights came back on and I decided to grab the phone and snap some quick pics. It kinda looks like a wasteland right now but it's getting there. I also got another pleasant surprise. New scape. I kinda like it but I want a little more rock now. I actually have a couple choice pieces cycling at work. Not dead, just kinda... there. This guy has some RTN. I'm hoping it will pull through. Photobomb. Bubbley. This thing is seriously a trooper. Lights on or off it's always saying "Hi!" to the world. Another trooper, one of the first coral I bought. This thing has been through a lot. Mr. Bubblez. No, I don't really call it that. Side boob shot. He's either here or behind the overflow. I've caught him on the rock work once. Has a pod in front of his eye lol. And what's this? TWO rock flowers?!? That means I didn't lose one. So I have no idea what the meaty dead looking nem stuff was I pulled off my powerhead a couple days ago. It certainly looked like dead nem goop. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 Uploading a video while I go to bed. It'll be up in the morning. The peroxide and black-out really did a number on the GHA. The lights came on today and there was still some left but a day with the lawnmower blenny munching on it just about wiped it out. He never touched the stuff previously, today it was like he couldn't get enough of it. I looked at the tank this morning and there was still some sizable chunks left, I looked this afternoon and I could barely find any. Video in the morning. I'm off to b...... *snore* Link to comment
llama roadkill Posted September 3, 2013 Share Posted September 3, 2013 Awesome tank! When I get mine set up, I almost want GHA, it'll give me an excuse for a Lawnmower Blenny! Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted September 3, 2013 Author Share Posted September 3, 2013 Hahaha, yeah I initially didn't want one, I picked him up solely for that reason. But I like the bugger now, my girlfriend really likes him as well. What I actually wanted was a black sailfin blenny, but I'd have to order that and I just can't do the shipping. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 Hurray for your rock flowers!! glad to hear they're alive and well. Everything looks like its doing well. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 Everything is. Other than some of my softies looking droopy the tank actually looks better than it did before the mishap. I'm flat out amazed at how effective the peroxide was in conjunction with a two day no light period on the GHA. I've been doing some reading and apparently people have had this same sort of thing happen when initially using products like Chemipure. That's also something that was new with the tank, I had never used it before this happened. I think it was a combined effect of everything at once. Adding the sump, the silicone and the media all at once probably shocked everything and caused the problems. Lessons learned. A lot of the other poopy looking coral, mainly zoas, are starting to open now. Hopefully in the next day or two they'll be back to normal. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 Thanks! I hope one day to be on the same level as some of our other members. Link to comment
Chew_Magna Posted September 4, 2013 Author Share Posted September 4, 2013 I just realized I've been on NR for a year now! Link to comment
Roshan8768 Posted September 4, 2013 Share Posted September 4, 2013 I just realized I've been on NR for a year now! Awesome tank man, looks good. Nice fix with the peroxide, I'll have to remember that if I ever have another GHA breakout! Congrats on 1 year on NR Link to comment
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