Moai of the Sea!

[Sk8n Reefer]

Ouch, so hard to see this.

 

Chop up the purple stylo as soon as you have time IMO, that's what I had to do to save mine. Once mine started dying from the center out I could not stop it without chopping off the good tips. I have one frag where I included a dead patch and it continued to recede for a few more days before stopping.

 

Damn GFO.

My long term plan for my stylo is to use the multi frag technique to regrow it quickly. Going to mount my individual encrusted frags on a larger plate so they all grow together quickly.

 

Of course now that it's gone I'm not so sure I want a giant purple stylo anymore.

Thanks Mark, I love the purple stylo's they have such a cool look to them. I did break off 5 larger tips and they are in the Nuvo- there's a few pics up above. They are doing ok- not great. None of the corals I transferred back to the Nuvo are doing very well yet- pretty frustrating - but I want immediate results. Yup, damn GFO - if I do need to run it again I'll run it passively/ that's what I am doing in the Nuvo now.

 

hopefully when I get back I will see some changes- still wondering exactly why my older corals lost it- my caps went through some roug periods before in the Nuvo and never reacted like this- pretty frustrating. I understand the Acros but not everything else. Hopefully I'll be back on track soon.

[ManGups]

That sucks! What doser did that?

Not to highjack the thread .. It was a jabeo dosed which siphoned ..

[markalot]

I moved my stylo frags to my 40 in a panic and they looked bad for a few days but did slowly recover. I don't think I will ever run with a single tank, just for situations like this when one tank goes tits up. it took about 3 weeks before the frags started encrusting but they did slowly return to health. Hopefully yours will do the same.

[Arce]

Sorry to see all the white sticks , you'll bounce back.

[Sk8n Reefer]

I moved my stylo frags to my 40 in a panic and they looked bad for a few days but did slowly recover. I don't think I will ever run with a single tank, just for situations like this when one tank goes tits up. it took about 3 weeks before the frags started encrusting but they did slowly return to health. Hopefully yours will do the same.

well that's good to know on the timeline. That's a good idea to mount the frags all together to give it a better look. ya, it was nice to have the Nuvo sitting there but keeping up on two tanks is a challenge for sure- AIO's are much easier to deal with though. I may have to look at getting a larger sump - it would be nice to have some extra room and run a fuge

Sorry to see all the white sticks , you'll bounce back.

Thanks Arce- it seems we keep encouraging each other - the sticks can be a challenge for sure but I do love 'em

[ninjamyst]

I regret adding a purple stylo to my tank. They grow soooo fast! And they encrust and spread too. It may overtake my zoas soon....

[Sk8n Reefer]

I regret adding a purple stylo to my tank. They grow soooo fast! And they encrust and spread too. It may overtake my zoas soon....

grow it huge/ they look awesome with fish cruising around them- any sps that grows like that is a friend of mine ?

[gena]

Holy moley...the pics of Benny and his formerly glorious home . Soooooo sorry about this .

 

Jack totally cracked me up with his Malibu to Skid Row analogy LOL. It's so true though. We need to save Benny from Skid Row!!!

[ReefWeeds]

Thanks Spectra- I don't care what they say- your alright in my book Seriously though- I really appreciate it

 

Sk8n! You weren't supposed to tell Spectra what I say about him!

 

48 hours. I would turn your skimmer way down. Just enough to aerate the water. I did the same thing removed the cup and kept the skimmer going. I had bubbles and foam over flowing my AIO.

This is exactly what my sump looked like when I kept the skimmer running, no cup and turned as far down as I could i had foam coming out of the cabinet doors. The husband was not happy so I opted for the airstone and shut the skimmer off since I could NOT get it to run, no matter how far I turned it down, without causing something that looked EXACTLY like that photo

[ReefWeeds]

And Sk8n - so sorry you have gone/are going through this. The purple rimmed cap photo with Benny just about made me tear up. I am so glad you're fighting through all of this.

[braaap]

Right in the feels. Sorry buddy.

[cnseekatz]

Rough times man. It all seemed very familiar to me. I went through the same thing last year. You'll rebuild!!

 

I'm still pretty surprised that GFO could do that much damage so quickly. I know that once the tank starts to go, it just snowballs... but still. Have you checked to make sure you don't have any stray voltage in the tank? A loose wire here or there would definitely cause the carnage you experienced. Just a thought...

[vlangel]

Hey Polar, thank you so much. Hopefully after this weekend I will see some improvement. I run BRS gfo, just the regular type t it was in a reactor. I will definitely run and absorbent passively now- I'll have to try Phosban. My sump is to small for a fuge but I would like to- I always did in the past. Most all of the rock I transferred from the Nuvo so there was a ton of micro fauna covering most of the rock. It's been a real set back but I am coming back with a slower safer approach and not running any reactor. Thanks again for all the info- much appreaciated .

We'll see how things go next week and hopefully things will be better

 

Hahaha- ya I see that this morning........damn

 

Thanks Dawn, ya it was more of a tank transfer with almost all the rock coming from the Nuvo. Plenty of micro fauna which is why I think the tank did so well even early on..........just scratching my head alittle for sure

Thats right, almost everything in the nuvo was moved over. (I was thinking a lot of the rock was new) Yeah, that is a real puzzler for sure! I guess there are some things we may never figure out definitively.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Holy moley...the pics of Benny and his formerly glorious home . Soooooo sorry about this .Jack totally cracked me up with his Malibu to Skid Row analogy LOL. It's so true though. We need to save Benny from Skid Row!!!

Thanks Gena, ya it's tough to see for sure..............Jack made me laugh out loud with that one. Unfortunately, Benny has nothing right now ?

Sk8n! You weren't supposed to tell Spectra what I say about him!

 

 

This is exactly what my sump looked like when I kept the skimmer running, no cup and turned as far down as I could i had foam coming out of the cabinet doors. The husband was not happy so I opted for the airstone and shut the skimmer off since I could NOT get it to run, no matter how far I turned it down, without causing something that looked EXACTLY like that photo

Spectra knows he rules ? Ya, after one night my skimmer was foaming up a bunch but it should be ok- I told Lisa just scoop some out if it gets to bad- I've had the door off the stand all week so she can see if anything needs addressing. Foam coming out the doors- that's crazy- should of gotten some pics of that. ?

[Sk8n Reefer]

And Sk8n - so sorry you have gone/are going through this. The purple rimmed cap photo with Benny just about made me tear up. I am so glad you're fighting through all of this.

Yup- he had about a month of bliss before it all went to shit on em.......il make it up to him. He's stoked to be with the clowns though- he goes and checks on them throughout the day ? I know clowns can be brutal to some fish but they have a great relationship with Benny- he comes over and they just chill

Right in the feels. Sorry buddy.

Thanks Braaap! I'll get it back ?

Rough times man. It all seemed very familiar to me. I went through the same thing last year. You'll rebuild!!

 

I'm still pretty surprised that GFO could do that much damage so quickly. I know that once the tank starts to go, it just snowballs... but still. Have you checked to make sure you don't have any stray voltage in the tank? A loose wire here or there would definitely cause the carnage you experienced. Just a thought...

Thanks cnseekatz! Yes I will ? Didn't think about stray voltage- how do you check for something like that? Chilling in your town tonight for a quick one day trip! Beautiful day........but you can say that everyday right ?

Thats right, almost everything in the nuvo was moved over. (I was thinking a lot of the rock was new) Yeah, that is a real puzzler for sure! I guess there are some things we may never figure out definitively.

Yup, that's why I was so comfortable adding sps and some new frags - it was a total tank transfer. I haven't checked in with Lisa yet tonight( I am in Cali for one night) I hope the cyano is taking a hit?

[dropped]

Gutted mate!

 

If I was local I'd donate some frags to you.

[vlangel]

Scott, I read that you mentioned stray voltage. I had that in my tank and I used my husband's volt meter. Just put 1 prong in the ground of the outlet and 1 prong in the tank water.

[jinx]

That sucks. Sorry.. Sucks really bad when this happens. Lost almost all of my SPS recently and I'm still having issues..

[Sk8n Reefer]

Gutted mate!

If I was local I'd donate some frags to you.

thanks man, ya it was a tough one for sure. Hopefully when I get back today the tank is doing better

Scott, I read that you mentioned stray voltage. I had that in my tank and I used my husband's volt meter. Just put 1 prong in the ground of the outlet and 1 prong in the tank water.

cool, thank you- I think Lisa has one of these - she's the handy one around our house?

That sucks. Sorry.. Sucks really bad when this happens. Lost almost all of my SPS recently and I'm still having issues..

Thanks Jinx- ya it's hard to watch happen, especially when your not around. Surviving corals in the Nuvo were still in bad shape so hopefully when I get back tonight I will see some improvement. What issues are you still having with your sps?

[ManGups]

thanks man, ya it was a tough one for sure. Hopefully when I get back today the tank is doing better

 

Did u get to find out the root cause of the issue ...

[Orangutran]

Very disheartening to see this, but your tank will come back harder better stronger faster!!!

Makes me nervous about my own situation, cus I'm running with 0 phos but I have been using the same amount of gfo for the last 10 months.

[cnseekatz]

Didn't think about stray voltage- how do you check for something like that? Chilling in your town tonight for a quick one day trip! Beautiful day........but you can say that everyday right

 

Hey... what are you doing in So Cal? How long are you in town?

 

Here's something I read about testing for stray voltage:

 

Here's what you do.

 

Get a three prong extension cord.

 

Plug it into a nearby outlet.

 

Change your meter to the RED V with a squiggle over it. . The next one up from your picture's setting.

 

Now place one probe into the ground hole of the extension cord.

 

Place the other probe into the widest remaining prong slot. You should see some very low reading. Perhaps a volt or three. This is the Neutral. This is just making sure your ground is really a ground.

 

Now move the probe from the wide slot to the the narrow one.

 

You should now see something around 120V. This is the HOT.

 

If these last two things happened as I stated then your outlet that the extension cord is plugged into is in all likelihood correctly wired.

 

Now to test your tank. Before going further you need your Ground test lead to be reliable or you can make bad errors. Like thinking something that is fatally live, is not. So you should grab some masking tape or electrical tape, (not scotch or duct), and tape the probe snugly into the ground hole on the extension cord. Once this is done you should be able to wiggle the test lead a bit and not have the ground probe connection interrupted.

 

When done taping, again test the ground by probing the Hot again.

 

If that reads correctly you're set to go.

 

Using the free probe touch it to your tank water - read the meter.

you will likely see something like 60V or possibly even 120V. If so you have a PROBLEM.

 

Leave that probe in contact with the water, you can tape it somehow, (here you could use duct tape on the probe handle).

 

Now while checking the meter start unplugging things one at a time.

 

Do this until the reading plunges to very close to zero. The last thing that you unplugged was the culprit. Once you think you have the culprit always take the probe back to the hot slot in the extension cord and prove nothing has changed to cause the meter to stop working, like the ground probe has come out of contact, or a test lead has failed. Once you've re-proven the test setup you can be confident that you really found the problem.

 

Remove the problem completely from your aquarium setup and if it has exposed metal like a light fixture you can re-power it and then touch the probe directly to it while it's isolated from the system. This will confirm your prior test.

 

If it IS a fixture. Unplug it again and then examine it. You may find a frayed wire or cracked insulation, or a large salt buildup somewhere. If it is a cracked or frayed cord inspect for other age issues. Are the lamp prongs all corroded? If so you should replace all that, or pitch the entire fixture. If it's just the cord DO NOT try to repair the cord. It's a fools errand! Replace it with a new cord.

 

If it is a non metallic device like a heater cut the cord off of it as close to the heater body as possible so some fool doesn't try to resurrect it. Heave it in the trash and acquire a new one.

 

If it's something else let us know and we can help you make a determination.

 

I must stress that hunting for a problem like this is not without hazard. People have died while trying to find issues like this.

 

Be very conscious of what you are trying to do from moment to moment. Do not touch anything that might be conductive while hunting this problem. Even a salty cord could result in injury. Commonly a high resistance fault that smarts badly can be upgraded to a fatal low resistance fault because you wiggled the wrong thing or somehow increased the contact area. Don't get all entangled under the tank or bent over a sump, or rest your hand on a piece of metal or a pump while doing this troubleshooting. Approach the problem like everything is live, and out to get you, and you will be safe.

 

Happy hunting.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Did u get to find out the root cause of the issue ...

nothing obvious stand out besides the cyano removing Nutrients and then my running a small amount of GFO in a reactor seems to have shocked the system. Surprising though - I ran GFO in my Nuvo almost constantly and my corals never reacted like this. That's what's so surprising about my corals that were over 2 years old and transferred from the Nuvo- they all died in this episode. I could see the new and more sensitive Acros being affected but not the caps and stylo's- they've all been through worse than that. Frustrating and really broke my confidence- I thought I had things dialed in and 'wham' RTN and STN took everyone out.

[Sk8n Reefer]

Very disheartening to see this, but your tank will come back harder better stronger faster!!!

Makes me nervous about my own situation, cus I'm running with 0 phos but I have been using the same amount of gfo for the last 10 months.

 

Thanks Orangutran! I am hoping I can get it going again. Damn sps- just don't fight to live it seems. If it's working I wouldn't sweat it- are you feeding regularly? As I said above, I ran GFO constantly in a small reactor in my Nuvo and feed heavily and it seems to keep things in balance- it is a touchy call though. I think moving forward I will run everything passively in a bag and not a reactor. That's how I am running carbon and GFO in my Nuvo now

[Sk8n Reefer]

Hey... what are you doing in So Cal? How long are you in town?

 

I flew in for a quick visit to one of our vendors- at John Wayne now heading back- quick one day trip

that voltage testing seems sketchy- yikes