ninjamyst Posted December 7, 2013 Author Share Posted December 7, 2013 Sorry to hear about this. Any abnormally high/low parameter readings? parameters are great. just tested everything last night. ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 0 calcum - 480 alk - 7.6 phosphate - 0 the thing that puzzles me the most is phosphate. I got the ELOS kit today. Tested it twice and it was 0. My new SPS been browning out and I was advised it was a phosphate issue. So I added alot of macroalgae to the tank a few days ago. I expected phosphate to be higher though. Can the kit be bad? It was delivered during a cold font sweeping through the midwest. It comes with two bottles of reagent, A + B. The B bottle is very gel like...not liquid like I expected. This is my first ELOS kit so I am not sure if that's normal. Can it be possible that my water is TOO clean? I run Chemipure Elite and Purigen. I do weekly water changes. I only feed my corals once a week. I have no fish. I have a few strands of bryopsis in 2 low flow spots. How strong are you running that nano box? LEDs are quite strong, especially if it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay better than your old lighting system. I am running blues at 180 and whites at 150. I believe the max value is 255. But I do worry that it's my light...maybe I need to move all the rics down to the sandbed instead of being on the tree.... Link to comment
gena Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 I think if they were starving it would be a gradual shrinking. I'm guessing too strong of lighting. I hate to hear this is happening for you...so sorry . Link to comment
Red_Blenny Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 If you feed your corals once a week, then starvation/too clean water shouldn't be a problem. Sounds like the fixture is dimmable...so if the blues are at 180... then 180/255 = 71%. Can you dim your lighting somewhere below 50% (like 120/255)? Link to comment
Nano sapiens Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 I am running blues at 180 and whites at 150. I believe the max value is 255. But I do worry that it's my light...maybe I need to move all the rics down to the sandbed instead of being on the tree.... Certainly a possibility that they have too much light. Rics can take quite a bit of light and generally you can tell when they are over illuminated as they will lighten considerably. However, they really don't like sudden drastic light intensity and/or spectrum changes (especially Yumas). Definitely try the sand bed if you can't dim the lighting. If it helps, mine receive up to 150 PAR 'full spectrum' LED, but I ramped up slowly over many months from the previous lighting's 80 PAR. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted December 7, 2013 Share Posted December 7, 2013 Oh man, I wish I knew more to help you out w/ this. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 7, 2013 Author Share Posted December 7, 2013 I think if they were starving it would be a gradual shrinking. I'm guessing too strong of lighting. I hate to hear this is happening for you...so sorry . If you feed your corals once a week, then starvation/too clean water shouldn't be a problem. Sounds like the fixture is dimmable...so if the blues are at 180... then 180/255 = 71%. Can you dim your lighting somewhere below 50% (like 120/255)? Definitely try the sand bed if you can't dim the lighting. If it helps, mine receive up to 150 PAR 'full spectrum' LED, but I ramped up slowly over many months from the previous lighting's 80 PAR. I had the intensity lower before but since getting some SPS that's browning out, I increased it. I am going to try and move a LPS up to the tree to give the rics some shade. Most of them are attached pretty tight to the tree and I dont want to stress them out more. The one I can move, I will put on the sandbed. Thanks for the suggestions! I hate seeing things die in my tank because I know it's ultimately my fault...but live and learn! Link to comment
EL CHUPACABRA Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 I was unsure what a ricordia tree was so I read back through your thread. It is all those rics jutting out on that piece of live rock, right? Cool... You also have the screen over your tank I noticed, probably to keep those fish wet. Why don't you just go to home depot and get a small piece of shade cloth, they sell it by the foot in the garden center or better yet a stack of screens or some translucent plastic and put it on that screen over your tank so that it shades just the ricordia "tree". Then you can have the best of both worlds and still have high lighting that your sps will love. I like the idea of a stack of the screens that are used to replace window screens, you can buy a roll cheap, I believe it is fiberglass. The stack will let some light through and can easily be cut with scissors. Each week you could you could remove one of the screens to SLOWLY acclimate your rics to the higher light of your captive tank. Not saying ricordias can't stand high light, just saying you have to move very slowly in that direction. Live and learn. If you just kill and don't learn, that sucks. As long as you learn. I once let my surging frag rubbermaid tub evaporate to death so I could learn. It was interesting to watch thousands of dollars of frags crash and ultimately get covered in salt crystals when the water completely evaporated. People hated me and wanted all the frags. I grew every single one so I figured I could kill them if I wanted. I carefully observed the crash, and noted how each species reacted. This "learning" was invaluable to my current knowledge base and will serve me well when my farm begins running again. Take what you learn and grow... Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted December 8, 2013 Share Posted December 8, 2013 Even cheaper I use the white plastic canvas from walmart. cheapo! You can cut to whatever size you want. Helps with the brightness for sure. I have to have it on my Evolve 8- I cut 2 inches shorter from the back so the sps on the wall get what they need but the mushrooms and rics are fine. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 8, 2013 Author Share Posted December 8, 2013 I received my bottle of AcroPower yesterday too, and will dose 1ml every day. I am hoping this will correct my SPS browning issue since it doesn't seem to a light or nutrient issue. Coincidentally, there's an article on ReefBuilders a few days ago giving it rave reviews: http://reefbuilders.com/2013/12/05/acropower-review/ I know some people view amino acid supplements as "snake oils" so this will be a good test. I believe it was Zia's thread that recommended this too. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 9, 2013 Author Share Posted December 9, 2013 This just gets more interesting. The ric that split recently and had a little bit of brown jelly split again . So 4 mouths --> 2 x 2 mouths --> 1 x 2 mouths, 2 x 1 mouths. Is ric splitting considered a good thing or bad thing? Maybe too much light causes them to split? Within the same week 3 rics split, and 3 rics melt. Interesting creatures... Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 I think it's trying to survive so splits to increase its chances. I read that about some kind of coral anyway. that hapd to a little mushroom I had, I moved it from it's happy location in the Evolve 8 to the 34 w/ Kessil, and after a few days it split and then neither piece existed. Try the plastic canvas on top. Put one and see if they do better. Link to comment
Red_Blenny Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 I received my bottle of AcroPower yesterday too, and will dose 1ml every day. I am hoping this will correct my SPS browning issue since it doesn't seem to a light or nutrient issue. Coincidentally, there's an article on ReefBuilders a few days ago giving it rave reviews: http://reefbuilders.com/2013/12/05/acropower-review/ I know some people view amino acid supplements as "snake oils" so this will be a good test. I believe it was Zia's thread that recommended this too. Acropower sounds interesting. I was eying the Elos Coral Intergrators Pack or Sicce HyperKoral for AA dosing... I might add Acropower into my choices now... This just gets more interesting. The ric that split recently and had a little bit of brown jelly split again . So 4 mouths --> 2 x 2 mouths --> 1 x 2 mouths, 2 x 1 mouths. Is ric splitting considered a good thing or bad thing? Maybe too much light causes them to split? Within the same week 3 rics split, and 3 rics melt. Interesting creatures... Interesting indeed. Out of all my R. Florida I had for the past 1.5 years, only two of them split. The rest stayed into a giant multi-mouthed polyps. Link to comment
Passaggper Posted December 9, 2013 Share Posted December 9, 2013 When you say "brown jelly", is it coming out of the ric mouth? One of mine did this after I tried to attach it to some rock rubble and it got really stressed out. Started pooping all over the place. It has since shrunk a little bit and has become a tad translucent but has survived. It attached itself to my feather duster tube in the shade. This was in August of this year and it is still around. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 21, 2013 Author Share Posted December 21, 2013 Got a small Buckshot Clownfish and a small Springer's Damsel today . I been battling red flatworms and the $5.00 Springer's Damsel suppose to eat them all up. It's already pecking at rocks. WOOOOHOO. I dosed Flatworm Exit twice already and they come back after a few days. I am hoping this biological approach will be more permanent. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 21, 2013 Author Share Posted December 21, 2013 Oh, forgot to add that I lowered my light intensity and my rics stopped melting. I also moved my frogspawns up there to provide shade. My SPS are still not coloring up but definitely see some growth except for my pink birdnest that still suffers from STN. I plan to frag her over the holidays. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 pics of your new fishmates? Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 pics of your new fishmates? gonna try to get some pictures tomorrow =). The clownfish is on speed or something. It is just swimming back and forth after light is out (moonlight only) 2 hours ago... Link to comment
Maniu Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Clowns will do that in new environment till they get used to new home. They will also try to jump. Especially when lights go out. As to rics, well rics are pretty hardy but what I noticed is that strong light and high flow is not their favorite. Lower placement or partial shade over them should help. Experiment with something that will provide some shade. Something between your light and rics. Just a temporary fix to see how they react before moving them to sand bed. It is worth a try. I really think it is the light. Nevermind, I see that you moved them. Missed that post Link to comment
gena Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Every new clownfish I've ever had has done the swimming back and forth frantically thing . Looking forward to pictures =). Link to comment
spazizz Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Oh good, I love that ricordia tree. I thought all this stuff can handle high light. Oh, forgot to add that I lowered my light intensity and my rics stopped melting. I also moved my frogspawns up there to provide shade. My SPS are still not coloring up but definitely see some growth except for my pink birdnest that still suffers from STN. I plan to frag her over the holidays. When you increased the intensity for your SPS how fast did you do it? Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 Oh good, I love that ricordia tree. I thought all this stuff can handle high light. When increased the intensity for your SPS how fast did you do it? I did it over a week or so. I increased blue by 5 and white by 5 every day. Link to comment
spazizz Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Maybe you can try it again when it rebounds but instead of every day do it once a week. Just a thought. I did it over a week or so. I increased blue by 5 and white by 5 every day. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted December 23, 2013 Author Share Posted December 23, 2013 A quick update with pics. Buckshot clownfish - named him Naruto. Probably B / C grade since he has buckshot on one side only and the white stripe on his tail is gray. But I dont really care about designer grades. This was my wife's Christmas present to me, and I think he looks pretty cool =). Blue Springer's Damsel - named him Sasuke. He's not actively eating flatworms yet.... This SPS is doing pretty good. Pink Pocillopora Single head acan that's bigger than some of my multihead acans... Cloud effect kicked in while taking pics. Got this actinic blue shot New FTS. Once I get my Fluval Spec V up and running, I will be moving everything that's still on frag plugs over. It is taking FOREVER for aqua-tec to get some pico vidarocks in. Link to comment
Illuiix Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 Oh snap!! That new snowflake looks sick!! Have any more pictures of that snowflake? Lolol you watch naruto? It's a great anime show, they just found out tobi was actually obito ahah, not madara. Link to comment
gena Posted December 23, 2013 Share Posted December 23, 2013 You take amazing photos!!!!!! I that clown!!!!!! Link to comment
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