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Saxplayer’s 16g LED Biocube


saxplayer

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Hmm... I don’t know the answer... one of my zoas started closing up a few weeks ago after a water change and I’m not sure what’s going on with mine either, except that I think I need to change my carbon out, so I appreciate the reminder 😬😊 ... will be curious to see what others have to say. 

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8 minutes ago, saxplayer said:

HELP - not sure what is going on in my tank.

 

I have added a bunch of zoas primarily about 4 weeks ago, and they seem to have been fine.  I left recently for an 8 day trip over Christmas and I had my neighbor feed the fish every 3rd day (3 times total over 8 days).  I am confident he didn't add anything wrong or over feed.  

 

When I returned, this past Thursday the 27th, all my zoas were essentially closed.  My acans were somewhat retracted / closed and my euphyllia don't look super happy.  I have 3 snails (1 turbo and 2 astrea).  Both astrea were lying on their side which I have never seen before.  The turbo was munching along. The 2 fish seemed fine.  I was unable to test / do a water change Thursday.  

 

I did about a 60% water change yesterday (Friday the 28th) and siphoned / blew off the rock well as well as the sand.  I set the 2 astrea on the sand upright and observed.  I also used a paint-brush lightly with 6% hydrogen peroxide on about 75% of the zoas I could see after the water was down, to remove algae that was visible to me.  This in the past worked well for me when a similar issue was happening.  

 

Today (Sat the 29th) everything seems to be looking somewhat the same, some zoas are mildly opening but not really.  1 of the astrea is on the glass cleaning and the other remained on its side where I left it yesterday, so I removed it. 

 

Testing from today:

Salinity 1.026

Temp 77.8 (off of chiller) and 78.6 (off of external thermo).  These stay quite constant.

Mg 1460 ppm, Ca 390 ppm, Alk 2.6 MeQ/L or 7.3 dKH (all Red Sea)

Phos 0 ppb (Hanna ultra low phos)

Ammonia = 0.2 to my wife's eye vs 0 to my eye?  Where would I have ammonia from - poss dead snail??

Nitrite = 0 

Nitrate = 2 

 

I replaced my sponge again today (after replacing yesterday after water change), replaced my chemi pure bag.  I also dosed a cap full of prime due to the (maybe) ammonia level?

 

Please help if able.  Not sure why any of my zoas aren't open and they were all fine previously 8 days ago.

 

I feel like I do need to get some more snails ASAP.  Could algae on them be an issue?

 

Thanks!  Grant

 

Did you test your params before your water change?? I am betting your alk was low . What salt do you use?

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3 minutes ago, Weikel said:

Did you test your params before your water change?? I am betting your alk was low . What salt do you use?

I did not test parameters before the change although that may have been a good idea to compare.

 

I use Red Sea salt.. the blue bucket (not pro).  Never had an issue with it so far.  

 

Do I need to do something to increase Alk ?  

 

EDIT - I do have to say the Alk test I think is the hardest of all the tests I run.  It is the least color change specific to my eye.  

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52 minutes ago, saxplayer said:

I did not test parameters before the change although that may have been a good idea to compare.

 

I use Red Sea salt.. the blue bucket (not pro).  Never had an issue with it so far.  

 

Do I need to do something to increase Alk ?  

 

EDIT - I do have to say the Alk test I think is the hardest of all the tests I run.  It is the least color change specific to my eye.  

I use the same stuff as you and yea the red sea alk is hard to see the color change. Recently on my new tank I started using the blue bucket salt as well. For me the alk is too low. All of my euphila dont expand as much unless my alk is higher around 8.5. I dose my tank anyways and when I do do w.c. now I have dose that as well. I think when I run out of the blue bucket I am switching salts. Imo your hammer should be more inflated even before you left out of town.. maybe is lower alk doing it???

 

Here is one I have it has 7 heads now and started about a year ago with only 2 heads.. see how you cant see much of the stem.. 

Screenshot_20181229-152901_Gallery.jpg

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2 hours ago, Weikel said:

I use the same stuff as you and yea the red sea alk is hard to see the color change. Recently on my new tank I started using the blue bucket salt as well. For me the alk is too low. All of my euphila dont expand as much unless my alk is higher around 8.5. I dose my tank anyways and when I do do w.c. now I have dose that as well. I think when I run out of the blue bucket I am switching salts. Imo your hammer should be more inflated even before you left out of town.. maybe is lower alk doing it???

 

Here is one I have it has 7 heads now and started about a year ago with only 2 heads.. see how you cant see much of the stem.. 

Screenshot_20181229-152901_Gallery.jpg

What do you use to dose to raise alk?

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13 hours ago, saxplayer said:

HELP - not sure what is going on in my tank.

 

I have added a bunch of zoas primarily about 4 weeks ago, and they seem to have been fine.  I left recently for an 8 day trip over Christmas and I had my neighbor feed the fish every 3rd day (3 times total over 8 days).  I am confident he didn't add anything wrong or over feed.  

 

When I returned, this past Thursday the 27th, all my zoas were essentially closed.  My acans were somewhat retracted / closed and my euphyllia don't look super happy.  I have 3 snails (1 turbo and 2 astrea).  Both astrea were lying on their side which I have never seen before.  The turbo was munching along. The 2 fish seemed fine.  I was unable to test / do a water change Thursday.  

 

I did about a 60% water change yesterday (Friday the 28th) and siphoned / blew off the rock well as well as the sand.  I set the 2 astrea on the sand upright and observed.  I also used a paint-brush lightly with 6% hydrogen peroxide on about 75% of the zoas I could see after the water was down, to remove algae that was visible to me.  This in the past worked well for me when a similar issue was happening.  

 

Today (Sat the 29th) everything seems to be looking somewhat the same, some zoas are mildly opening but not really.  1 of the astrea is on the glass cleaning and the other remained on its side where I left it yesterday, so I removed it. 

 

Testing from today:

Salinity 1.026

Temp 77.8 (off of chiller) and 78.6 (off of external thermo).  These stay quite constant.

Mg 1460 ppm, Ca 390 ppm, Alk 2.6 MeQ/L or 7.3 dKH (all Red Sea)

Phos 0 ppb (Hanna ultra low phos)

Ammonia = 0.2 to my wife's eye vs 0 to my eye?  Where would I have ammonia from - poss dead snail??

Nitrite = 0 

Nitrate = 2 

 

I replaced my sponge again today (after replacing yesterday after water change), replaced my chemi pure bag.  I also dosed a cap full of prime due to the (maybe) ammonia level?

 

Please help if able.  Not sure why any of my zoas aren't open and they were all fine previously 8 days ago.

 

I feel like I do need to get some more snails ASAP.  Could algae on them be an issue?

 

Thanks!  Grant

 

If your Zoas are starting to open back up then it sounds like you are on the right track.  Any changes with the Acans or the Euphyllia? 

 

Also have you tested what dkh your new salt water mixes at?  I'm guessing that it mixes higher than 7.3 which means that the alk in your tank prior to the water change may have been low and could be the cause. 

 

The astrea snails will fall on their sides.  They can't flip over like some other types of snails.  So you have to manually upright them. 

 

I would continue to monitor the tank to make sure it's not getting worse but keeping it stable is the best thing to do right now. 

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WhiteVelvetStarfish

It looks like you have a lot of flow in that tank and I haven't seen a pic of the hammer extended completely.  I'm wondering if maybe the flow is a bit much for them?  I had a frogspawn that did the same until I dialed back some of the GPH in my old tank.  

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Ya I'm sure the flow could be a touch high, since I positioned some stuff around I can't get the flow right angles.  My wifi controlled pump is at 5% power.

 

However - my main concern now is the zoas.

 

It has been 1 week since I posted (6 days I guess).  About to do another water change.  Zoas perked up a bit after first water change 6 days ago (and 2 capfuls prime added).  I tested dKH again with Hanna - 7.6.  So not terrible.  Ammonia testing at 0.2.  Why would have I have any ammonia after 4 months?  

 

I don't know what to do - zoas still look bad and closed.  About 60% of them opened up some after water change / prime 6 days ago.  Then they slowly closed up again over the next few days.  Acans look good.  

 

Ideas?  

 

I'm getting frustrated here...I bought the Hanna dKH checker and some Red Sea foundation B in case.. but at 7.6 doesn't look like I prob need it?  I'm going to water change tomorrow and test my mixed water dKH before the change 

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19 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

 what ammonia test kit are you using?

Red Sea pro. Previously it was clearly yellow zero. Last week and today it was the first shade of light green at 0.2. I wonder if the prime neutralized all of it for a few days allowing the zoas to reopen and once it was gone they closed again?

 

if this is true then it’s ammonia that’s a problem and I have zero clue where or why?  

 

If its not that - what could it be. 

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I've never used prime but I believe that I've read that it can give a false positive for some ammonia tests.  

 

I doubt that you would see any ammonia in a cycled tank unless something drastic happened.  Do you see any differences in your fish looking stressed or breathing hard? 

 

Zoas can be touchy.  Sometimes they will close up for a couple days and then open back up again.  Sometimes they won't open in one area (maybe light or flow) but a couple inches away they do great.   

 

If the other corals and fish are doing well then I wouldn't change the tank parameters much or it could mess with them too.  

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On 1/5/2019 at 7:47 AM, Jackal227 said:

I've never used prime but I believe that I've read that it can give a false positive for some ammonia tests.  

 

I doubt that you would see any ammonia in a cycled tank unless something drastic happened.  Do you see any differences in your fish looking stressed or breathing hard? 

 

Zoas can be touchy.  Sometimes they will close up for a couple days and then open back up again.  Sometimes they won't open in one area (maybe light or flow) but a couple inches away they do great.   

 

If the other corals and fish are doing well then I wouldn't change the tank parameters much or it could mess with them too.  

I realized I have been mis-speaking.  I have been using Stabilize not Prime.   My fish seem fine.  I lost my orange clown because my black one harassed it to death but that was also 3 weeks ago, maybe 4.  I feel like my over-all tank is doing much worse for some reason and I can't pinpoint why.

 

Regardless... today I did a water change about 50%.  Tested my salt mix before water change it was also at a dKH of 7.6 so it seems my dKH is not a problem. 

 

I have zero clue why my zoas are being so pissed.  They were literally fine for 2 weeks - I left for 1 week.  My neighbor supposedly fed frozen brine shrimp 2 times appropriately and when I came back 8 days later they are all closed, euphyllia look worse, and acans so-so.

 

My water chemistries post change are all good.  Acans look happy.  Euphyllia, not so great and Zoas all closed.  I did get some hermit crabs today because I see some GHA popping up and I only had 1 Mexican turbo and 1 astrea snail for a CUC. 

 

I don't know what to do.  

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Wanted to add - my salt mix says my ppm at 35 salinity should be a dKH of 8 not 7.6.  

 

My refractometer - I calibrate it every time with refracto juice to 35 and mix salt based on that.  SO maybe that is off slightly too?  

 

Even if it is - it is the same way I've been doing it for 5 months without any issues until just 2 weeks ago.

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9 hours ago, saxplayer said:

Wanted to add - my salt mix says my ppm at 35 salinity should be a dKH of 8 not 7.6.  

 

My refractometer - I calibrate it every time with refracto juice to 35 and mix salt based on that.  SO maybe that is off slightly too?  

 

Even if it is - it is the same way I've been doing it for 5 months without any issues until just 2 weeks ago.

As long as it's stable then there is nothing wrong with 7.6.

 

Is the temperature stable? 

 

Are you running any chemical media? 

 

Post some pictures of the other corals. 

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Crappy shots but gives you an idea... Acans have looked ok.  Quite closed up after I messed with some stuff.

 

I removed my chemi pure blue.  Wonder if the water is too clean.  I haven't seen any visual spotting of nudibranchs plus ALL my zoas are doing the same thing.  

 

DSC01898.thumb.JPG.25919453fcf46e9820c5d5298a8d04f1.JPGDSC01897.thumb.JPG.8657d05790740d1bf7ccc2ae3606dfda.JPGDSC01896.thumb.JPG.d61afc25091d85a88ea0dd54a9c80ae8.JPGDSC01895.thumb.JPG.c8922e782b19448c6eca0d843c008b12.JPGDSC01894.thumb.JPG.d8be87fefb02613c368573f18533a409.JPG

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5 hours ago, saxplayer said:

Ok so I don't know what these are.. little white things and they are everywhere.  Snail eggs?  Something bad / worse - hope not - tons of them.

 

IMG_5097.thumb.JPG.0ef8a6191b1cdb9b9c56e57fea6d6a3c.JPG

Looks like they might be spirorbid worms based on the color.  It's hard to tell from the picture but yours look like they may be larger.

 

39 minutes ago, saxplayer said:

Horrible video but an idea.

 

39719360193_8742b1c7a8_b.jpgBiocube Zoa Problem 1.9.19 by S@xplayer, on Flickr

Hmmm... It's very odd that it is only affecting the Zoas. 

 

Your Acans do look happy.  Even if it was a pest I would assume that they wouldn't all be closed at the same time which would lead me to believe it's something with the water.  I would still keep a close eye on pests though.  

 

How much Chemipure were you running? 

 

When I went through my tank crash my Zoas were closed for almost 2 months and eventually reopened and came back so there it still hope as long as they aren't disappearing. 

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26 minutes ago, Jackal227 said:

Looks like they might be spirorbid worms based on the color.  It's hard to tell from the picture but yours look like they may be larger.

 

Hmmm... It's very odd that it is only affecting the Zoas. 

 

Your Acans do look happy.  Even if it was a pest I would assume that they wouldn't all be closed at the same time which would lead me to believe it's something with the water.  I would still keep a close eye on pests though.  

 

How much Chemipure were you running? 

 

When I went through my tank crash my Zoas were closed for almost 2 months and eventually reopened and came back so there it still hope as long as they aren't disappearing. 

1 bag. I took it out. Are those worms bad?

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Vid this morning after all lights are on.  Acans look good right?  Some zoas are trying to open but still mostly closed.  30 hours after removing chemi-pure blue.  The scans have never looked bad.  I did get 5 hermits added about 3 days ago.  

 

39739147463_f635bfa05e_b.jpgUntitled by S@xplayer, on Flickr

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9 hours ago, saxplayer said:

Vid this morning after all lights are on.  Acans look good right?  Some zoas are trying to open but still mostly closed.  30 hours after removing chemi-pure blue.  The scans have never looked bad.  I did get 5 hermits added about 3 days ago.  

 

39739147463_f635bfa05e_b.jpgUntitled by S@xplayer, on Flickr

Yes the Acans look happy to me (very nice colors on them too) along with the euphyllia and mushrooms.  If the Zoas are starting to open back up then that sounds like they are improving. 

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On 1/11/2019 at 10:43 AM, saxplayer said:

Vid this morning after all lights are on.  Acans look good right?  Some zoas are trying to open but still mostly closed.  30 hours after removing chemi-pure blue.  The scans have never looked bad.  I did get 5 hermits added about 3 days ago.  

 

39739147463_f635bfa05e_b.jpgUntitled by S@xplayer, on Flickr

Tank looks great Sax! If only the zoas would open back up. What’s your water source? Have you tested your parameters lately?

 

Also, I’m a big fan of BioSpira personally, rather than Prime... if you’re still getting an ammonia reading maybe do a little research and consider adding some. 

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They are all mostly open or working on opening!  Not sure why lol. Have left the tank alone since taking the chemi pure out last post and adding the hermits last post. No water change now for about 12-13 days. Usually do every 8-9. 

 

Untitled

 

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