DulcyDoll Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 About a week ago my heater broke inside my tank, the glass busted. It happened sometime in the middle of the night, I found it in the morning. I unplugged the heater, pulled it and all of the glass, and mixed up some fresh SW. When I pulled the heater a bunch of rusty liquid spilled into the tank. I put my corals ( zoas gap shrooms) in a bucket of new water, and did about a 90% WC. My fish, snails, and shrolms are doing fine, but my zoas refuse to open and my gsp isn't opening like it used to. Water quality is fine, except for some nitrates, which have always been detectable in this tank. Only other major change is a switch from PC's to LED's. The corals were fine with the light change for 2 weeks prior to the heater issue. How long should I wait before I begin to worry about them not opening? Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted October 18, 2014 Share Posted October 18, 2014 It can be a while before they open. My gsp stay closed for almost a week after I recharged purigen wrong one time. As long as the skeleton doesn't deteriorate they should open up soon enough. Link to comment
DulcyDoll Posted October 19, 2014 Author Share Posted October 19, 2014 Its been a week with little to no improvement I'm holding out hope, one frag looks worse than the others, stalks are getting super thin. Link to comment
joy13 Posted October 19, 2014 Share Posted October 19, 2014 Are you running charcoal? If you are change it out every couple of days. The corals that are having problems were they close to the heater? Link to comment
PiscesFish Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 I would run carbon if you're not already and i would get the parameters to how it used to be and keep it stable. Then do small water changes after you keep things stable for a week to get the rest of the heater fluids out. Link to comment
DulcyDoll Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 Ran extra carbon for 5 days after. Params are almost exactly what they were before. My pretty radioactive dragon eyes have started melting away as of this morning. The polyps in the center are brown and disapearing. I did a furan2 dip on them to hopefully keep the whole thing from going. I'm pretty bummed. I just started buying corals again ( after a costly larger tank crash a year ago) had these guys a little over 2 months and now I'm loosing them. Meh. All corals were near the front center and heater was rear left corner, nothing was within 6 inches of the heater. Link to comment
opaquelace Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Did you lose anything else, or is that all that's in your tank? The zoas and the mushrooms. No LPS or SPS? Link to comment
clownfitch Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 You need to run a poly filter. It will remove metals that the carbon may not which can be causing issues. Link to comment
DulcyDoll Posted October 20, 2014 Author Share Posted October 20, 2014 Just Zoas shrooms and gsp, snails and a clown. Snails clown and sh rooms are fine, as are all of my sand bed worms. Im running carbon, chemipure elite, and purigen, all new added after the initial huge water change. What do you suggest? Link to comment
1fishmonger Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 PC --> LED could have fried your corals. It's not instantaneous and your coral list includes corals that don't demand much light. As for the heater - Carbon in a reactor, 30% water changes every other day until the metallic smell is gone. A large 90% water change could have done more harm than good as you probably restarted some sort of cycle (Can't imagine doing a water change that big without mixing up the sand bed etc.), not to mention shock your corals by way of drastic shift in nutrient levels. Link to comment
basser1 Posted October 20, 2014 Share Posted October 20, 2014 Man wishing the best for you. But a couple of years ago, I also had a heater explode on me and I lost everything. The water turned a milky white. My SPS all turned white and my clam died as well. Massive water changes and running carbon and changing frequently eventually turned things around. Good Luck! Link to comment
DulcyDoll Posted October 21, 2014 Author Share Posted October 21, 2014 The light is about 16 inches from any of the coral and both channels are set at 1%. My params are back to normal, except for some nitrate, which have always been detectable for me. My punk rockers are starting to perk up a little more, as is my Blondie frag. RDE's have 2 polyps starting, but I'm concerned about the "bacteria" spreading to the healthy looking polyps. More dips maybe? I don't have a reactor, carbon is in my media basket. Water change an carbon replacement due for tomorrow. I appreciate the help! Link to comment
Tamberav Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 I have had great luck with iodine dips when zoa's start to melt. Seems to bring most back. I would also continue to do waterchanges. Something you can't test for may still be in the water. Good luck. Link to comment
opaquelace Posted October 21, 2014 Share Posted October 21, 2014 Just Zoas shrooms and gsp, snails and a clown. Snails clown and sh rooms are fine, as are all of my sand bed worms.Im running carbon, chemipure elite, and purigen, all new added after the initial huge water change. What do you suggest? You're running too much chemical filtration imo. Too much can make the water sterile. Try running just carbon and some kind of sponge or filter floss. Also if you did just switch from PC lighting to LEDs your corals could be experiencing some kind of light shock. That will melt corals as well. Are your LEDs dimmable? Link to comment
DulcyDoll Posted October 22, 2014 Author Share Posted October 22, 2014 I'll try that, thanks. My LEDs are reef breeders superlux. I have it set at the lowest setting for each channel 1/100. Link to comment
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