Steensj's Deep Blue 34 Shallow. Shutting Down Tank Due To Work...

[hypostatic]

well, it definitely doesn't look happy (neither does the torch IMO). It looks like a "taco" because the polyps are pissed and are retreating into the skeleton. From what I've read, most of the elegances collected nowadays come from deeper waters, so they are much more light sensitive. Oh and here is an article on the common elegance disease that troubles reefers
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/eb/index.php

[Steensj2004]

well, it definitely doesn't look happy (neither does the torch IMO). It looks like a "taco" because the polyps are pissed and are retreating into the skeleton. From what I've read, most of the elegances collected nowadays come from deeper waters, so they are much more light sensitive. Oh and here is an article on the common elegance disease that troubles reefers

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-01/eb/index.php

Hmmm, not sure. I moved some stuff around earlier, the torch is still a bit pissed..... I'll try and cut down the light to it...

[Steensj2004]

Welp made some changes...

 

1. Ordered a Coral Compulsion Par30 Refugium Bulb and a Gooseneck to start up the macro in the Fuge.

2. Moving to corals around seemed to help. Elegance is opening up, and the LPS is really extending. Also realized the shrouds around the blades for the Gyre can be rotated to direct flow. Things are looking better

3. Removed some rock from Fuge, to make room for macro.

4. Sent request for custom cleanup crew from Reefcleaners.com.

 

 

I have been having issues with Detritus, small piles building up in dead zones, and there seems to be a LOT of it. Been sucking it out and blowing the rocks off. I haven't seen a rise in nutrient levels or nitrates, but still needs to be addressed. Asked John to hook up a crew with stuff to combat the issue... dwarf Cerith snails etc. Should get both next week, hopefully Wednesday.

 

Hawkfish and wrasse jumped out .....no idea why. Pretty upset . Have to figure out a way to get a damn lid on this thing......

[Steensj2004]

I would really like to see more extension out of my corals. My Acans, Zoas, and gorgonians seem to be doing great. My torches and frogspawn, however, are extended, but they are nearly as extended as I would like to see. I'm not sure if they need more or less light....never had an issue like this before. I would just like to see more extension, suggestions?

[Steensj2004]

The view from my couch.....man I love this hobby!

 

FTS:

 

From the couch:

[Steensj2004]

Crap day. Decided to try and clean the sump out, broke the baffle between the refugium and center return section. Cracked, but holding up.....

 

Also, my Torches and frogspawn just aren't extending like I want. The come out, and seem healthy but just won't extend as far as I would like to see..... Dunno why. Water parameters are right, dunno if I'm giving to much light or not enough.

 

And my water is always slightly milky, I might have to consider a finer filter sock to polish the water a little bit.....sigh...

At least the Overflow/ skimmer and return compartments are clean. Also go the skimmer cleaned up. There was a LOT of garbage in the compartments, crazy.

[jedimasterben]

What happens if you turn the gyre down some? Do they begin extending more? Worth trying for a few hours to see.

[Steensj2004]

What happens if you turn the gyre down some? Do they begin extending more? Worth trying for a few hours to see.

I've tried a lot of combinations, I have it at a crawl right now as we speak. One torch has very thin,smaller polyps, it seems to do best. The Frogspawn and Yellow/ purple torch just don't seem to want to extend much. They look healthy, the length just isn't there....?

 

Ill turn it down another click and see what happens....

[jedimasterben]

I know that when I used to have a lot of different Euphyllia, some would like getting whipped with flow, others wanted it much more gentle.

[Steensj2004]

I know that when I used to have a lot of different Euphyllia, some would like getting whipped with flow, others wanted it much more gentle.

Gotcha,I'll try that out by lowering the gyre off

[Steensj2004]

Dunno wtf is going with tank, discouraged. Everything looks worse and worse( except one gorg, the acans, plate, and the zoas, they look great. They are popping new heads like crazy). The torchs and frogspawn look like shit, other corals like garbage. Tank temp is high as shit @ 83 degrees even though the house is at 70.... Mag was a bit low at 1200, and somehow my salt got out of wack.... Sigh...

Temp:83.0
Salinity: 1.023
PH: 8.1
Nitrate: 0ppm
Phosphate:0ppm
Alkalinity: 7.5-8.0
Magnesium: 1200



Dunno wtf to do. I can make out for the life of me why some shit looks good and others look like shit. Tired or screwing with this thing, just real tired. I've never had this much trouble with a tank. LPS never has given me issue....

I have some pretty large PH swings but my probe might need calibration, got the stuff to do that too..... Hopefully th refugium will help keep the PH up.

[Arce]

Take a step back, getting worked up wont solve the problem. Its probably someting small. If all params check out try flow, if not that try lighting, then work your way to water quality, try a bag of carbon, and so on. Have to attack the problem with a level head.

[Steensj2004]

Take a step back, getting worked up wont solve the problem. Its probably someting small. If all params check out try flow, if not that try lighting, then work your way to water quality, try a bag of carbon, and so on. Have to attack the problem with a level head.

Ok, ok, you're right. I've:

 

Changed carbon in reactor, plus added a bag of carbon to supplement. Started dosing to bring mag up( very slowly). Temp I'm not sure about, at least as far as why it's raising. Started dripping a slightly concentrated salt mix, very slow, a few drops a minute at most.

[Steensj2004]

Everything looks worse today, one head on the yellow torch looks like it's gonna die. Frogspawn is so shriveled it's looks like it's dying, the Tank is cloudy as heck. Temp is down to 80 degrees. Did a 10 gallon water change, and moved some corals. I wonder if it could be light..... Light is about 12 inches above tank have blues pretty high at 70 but whites at about 55 percent at mid- day .I slowly ramped them over time when I installed the light though,so I don't think that matters. I dunno, discouraged. Zoa and neon green torch look ok, so I dunno.

[Spiderguardnano]

Take a break from the torchs and acans sell what you can

 

Keep the zoas ramp down the light

Do a big water change maybe like 50-60%

 

And just the let the tank idel for a couple of months

[Arce]

You shouldnt change all of it at once. Do one thing at a time to see if its making a change.

[Steensj2004]

You shouldnt change all of it at once. Do one thing at a time to see if its making a change.

I didn't change lighting, temp came down on its own. Water change was my normal water change......

Take a break from the torchs and acans sell what you can

Keep the zoas ramp down the light

Do a big water change maybe like 50-60%

And just the let the tank idel for a couple of months

I'm curious if this is a long term effect of te tap water incident. I dunno. Hopefully I can get the refugium up and get the new CUC rolling to combat a few issues.

Not sure what the deal is this time around, I've never had these kind of issues with a tank before. Bummer.

[Steensj2004]

Good news, crying a are looking better! Everything seems to be coming around except for the frogspawn... Temp is down, salt has come up slightly, mag is still low but in dosing slowly.

 

I know they aren't super extended but a far cry from looking like death.

 

Acans eating today!

 

 

Fuge light also arrived, cleaning crew to be delivered tomorrow after work, along with some macros for the sump!

[Steensj2004]

omgomgomg

 

 

Wooooooohooo! Build quality is top notch!

 

So I got it all out of the box, and got the gooseneck installed, which was a PITA because of the location I wanted it in and the confined space inside the stand ..... Got it all hooked up, screwed the bulb into the outlet, and plugged the goose-neck into the Apex....... Entire tank went dark, as well as my living room, and all the electric in that portion of the house..

 

Unplugged the light, reset the breakers( thank GOD it didn't damage the Apex) and uninstalled the light and goose-neck. Tried it outside the tank, blew that breaker too. Damn!

 

Figured out that one of the prongs had a small wire ( confused as to why, kind of retarded) that was supposed to contact the center of the bulb, but both were contacting the sides. Got it fixed, and she works like a charm! Programmed the Apex to turn it on and off, and BOOM, good to go! Now to get the Macro and CUC from John @ Reefcleaners tomorrow! Yay!

[HarryPotter]

omgomgomg

 

 

 

Wooooooohooo! Build quality is top notch!

 

So I got it all out of the box, and got the gooseneck installed, which was a PITA because of the location I wanted it in and the confined space inside the stand ..... Got it all hooked up, screwed the bulb into the outlet, and plugged the goose-neck into the Apex....... Entire tank went dark, as well as my living room, and all the electric in that portion of the house..

 

Unplugged the light, reset the breakers( thank GOD it didn't damage the Apex) and uninstalled the light and goose-neck. Tried it outside the tank, blew that breaker too. Damn!

 

Figured out that one of the prongs had a small wire ( confused as to why, kind of retarded) that was supposed to contact the center of the bulb, but both were contacting the sides. Got it fixed, and she works like a charm! Programmed the Apex to turn it on and off, and BOOM, good to go! Now to get the Macro and CUC from John @ Reefcleaners tomorrow! Yay!

 

 

GLAD YOU FIGURED IT OUT

 

I love reefcleaners.... jealous of your Refugium light

[Steensj2004]

 

 

GLAD YOU FIGURED IT OUT

 

I love reefcleaners.... jealous of your Refugium light

Thanks!

Yeah, I about shit my pants when everything shut down....with my luck the last week, I needed NOT to fry my controller, lol! :lol:It looks like it will be a winner.

 

The order coming from Reefcleaners:

 

-25 Dwarf Ceriths

-15 Florida Ceriths

-10 Nassarius Vibrex

-10 Assorted Hermits

-10 Hermit Shells

-1 Penny Macro

-1Red Gracilaria

1- Fern Caulerpa

 

I also had a handful of Trochus, but John reminded me they need overnight shipping. We decided he would throw some other stuff in to replace them.... I already have a few anyway......

[NorthGaHillbilly]

One thing I do if things are looking alittle off, try a 24 hour black out, not lighting in the main tank at all. has helped me track down over lighting issues in the past.

 

Also, watch out for running too much carbon, when I was running alot and would slack on feedings, things would start lookin droopy.

[Steensj2004]

One thing I do if things are looking alittle off, try a 24 hour black out, not lighting in the main tank at all. has helped me track down over lighting issues in the past.

 

Also, watch out for running too much carbon, when I was running alot and would slack on feedings, things would start lookin droopy.

Ok, Ill try that, what result am I looking for? Increase extension?

 

I'm running about 1-1.5 cups in the reactor, the bag was pulled out after 24 hours, was only running the extra to try and soak anything I may have gotten in the tank out. I work around grease and solvents a lot, scares me putting my hands in the tank even though I am very careful to clean my hands.

[Steensj2004]

Annnnnd because of the week I've had with moving into a new shop, and my tank being a total dick.... Time to open up the sliding doors to the deck, grab a drink, and enjoy the view.... Wish this thing sat faceing the sectional, lol

 

[NorthGaHillbilly]

Ok, Ill try that, what result am I looking for? Increase extension?

 

I'm running about 1-1.5 cups in the reactor, the bag was pulled out after 24 hours, was only running the extra to try and soak anything I may have gotten in the tank out. I work around grease and solvents a lot, scares me putting my hands in the tank even though I am very careful to clean my hands.

if its a decent carbon, you might be overdoing it, I think Ive got a 1/3 cup in a bag, it is ROX carbon tho. I worry about the same thing, I end up with all sorts of chemicals on my hands, and I have a freak out every few weeks thinking ive contaminated something.

 

Ive seen alot of LPS that were not extending well, will really stretch out after a black out, if it is over lighting that’s the issue, Ive got a suspicion that that might be the case.