Corals Melted

[mphammer]

Well I just finished transferring everything from my 75 to my 120..
The fish did perfectly, surviving the 24 hours in a 40 breeder with a power filter.
My coral, on the other hand, were not as lucky. When it came time to move everything, I grabbed the first piece I saw, some hairy mushrooms, and they dissolved instantly. Upon further inspection, all my softies looked like brown mush, and all of my sps were bleach white.

WHat do you guys think caused this? Again, they were housed for about 18 hours in a breeder with plenty of water movement, consistent temperature, and a power filter rated for 90 gallons...

 

[the-bubonic-one]

Could have the 40 gal been contaminated by something?

 

[mphammer]

That could be... but why would the fish not have been affected as well?

 

[kilralpine]

Acclimated right? Major salinity change? or maybe like he said contaminated?

Edit: Fish in the wild swim from one region of the reef to the other or beyond and experience salinity swings and are therefore less stressed than corals.

 

[mphammer]

The 40 had never seen water prior to this.. and I used water from my 75 to fill the 40. The corals were in the same water the entire transfer

 

[ripped tide]

Coral warfare?

 

[kilralpine]

Should be fine on that front, what about temperature? same heater and all or?

 

[the-bubonic-one]

Did you rinse out the tank? I'm just paranoid about things like buying a tank and what it was exposed to prior (in the store, freight, etc) .

 

[kilralpine]

^^ thats a good point, corals that are stressed can release toxins, when cramed into 40G instead of its normal 70+ which acts as a buffer it could have caused very bad things to happen very fast.

 

[ripped tide]

Some corals release toxins when stressed. If there isn't fresh activated carbon or efficient skimming, these toxins can wipe out other Corals.

 

[kilralpine]

How much stuff did u house in the 40?

 

[mphammer]

The-Bubonic-One;807513 wrote: Did you rinse out the tank? I'm just paranoid about things like buying a tank and what it was exposed to prior (in the store, freight, etc) .

Gave it a quick scrub with RODI water, but not a real serious clean

kilralpine;807512 wrote: Should be fine on that front, what about temperature? same heater and all or?

Temperature was between 78-80 the entire time

Ripped Tide;807515 wrote: Some corals release toxins when stressed. If there isn't fresh activated carbon or efficient skimming, these toxins can wipe out other Corals.

I've heard of this, but I guess I just never realized how damaging those toxins could be

kilralpine;807516 wrote: How much stuff did u house in the 40?

A decent amount, and thinking back, I had live rock stacked on one side and the majority of the coral crammed on the other side. In retrospect that was a really stupid move on my part :mad2:

 

[cedzaquaddiction]

Ouch. So sorry to hear of your troubles. Wish I were closer, I don't know much about corals yet, but, I could reimburse you for some of that beer that moving the tank cost ya...

 

[jennm]

Sounds like temperature to me. How long were they in the 40?

 

[mphammer]

JennM;807565 wrote: Sounds like temperature to me. How long were they in the 40?

They were in the 40 about 18 hours... But I had a consistent reading of 80 degrees the entire time

 

[eagle9252]

when i went from the 75 to the 120 people gave me flac about me setting up a stock and plumbing in my sump. i knew it was going to take me a while. it took 3 weeks but everyone said if you can do it in 4 to 6 hrs buckets are fine.

i tell everyone that you need to over plan for what if's. yes it takes longer but what if. this way i was not in any hurry. the wife was but i was not.

 

[mphammer]

eagle9252;807582 wrote: when i went from the 75 to the 120 people gave me flac about me setting up a stock and plumbing in my sump. i knew it was going to take me a while. it took 3 weeks but everyone said if you can do it in 4 to 6 hrs buckets are fine.

i tell everyone that you need to over plan for what if's. yes it takes longer but what if. this way i was not in any hurry. the wife was but i was not.

Thats a great point Charles... wish I would have done some more planning before this move. All my previous transfers were pretty quick, but then again I never dealt with upgrading to 120 gallons of water. Took quite a bit longer than anticipated