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I have learned that nothing last forever..... the good times, the bad even the slumps. Said the man who is celebrating the one year anniversary of the the start of his "air cycling".
Ever just sick of things?
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I have learned that nothing last forever..... the good times, the bad even the slumps. Said the man who is celebrating the one year anniversary of the the start of his "air cycling".
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What you'll find is that some corals just do well in your tank, and some just don't enjoy the environment. For me... any kind of millipora or digitata has issues at this point. Other corals seem fine.
The 2 in the pics are doing ok for now. Some aren't so lucky.
Water change and carbon / Gfo change is coming this evening
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My frustration comes from KNOWING I can have a thriving tank, and not understanding why it isn't happening. There's something to be said for having great parameters BUT, there's so much we don't know about the animals yet... even IF you follow the recipe for parameters to the T you can still have major issues.
I see a lot of inexperienced reefers struggle with that reality.
"My lighting is good, parameters are all in check, no pests, but my corals are dying". I see that on the boards a lot.
There's something you can't buy or test for and it is just a "feel" for what's going on. The great reefers have it. I'm still developing it ... as are most of us if we are truthful
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I see a lot of inexperienced reefers struggle with that reality.
"My lighting is good, parameters are all in check, no pests, but my corals are dying". I see that on the boards a lot.
There's something you can't buy or test for and it is just a "feel" for what's going on. The great reefers have it. I'm still developing it ... as are most of us if we are truthful
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Well, if you want a place to house your corals just let me know! LOL
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Ahhh stress free air cycling. Did you buy a special additive to speed us the air cycling process haha
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My wife surprised me with a 70g corner tank in 2009 and it was up and running well for a few years when everything started dying for what seemed like no reason. It turned out that the AC line to the heater had a pin hole in it and copper was leaching into the water. I had to completely tear it down and restart it with new sand, rock, etc. A year later it was up and running again with fish and LPS and everything looking good. I had a pair of clownfish that suddenly started spawning every month or so. The dying fry overwhelmed the bio load and hosed the tank up. My wife wouldn’t let me get rid of the pair, so there you go. Eventually one of the clown fish died and the tank stabilized, but by then it was in pretty bad shape with all the coral and coralline algae dead. It probably stayed in that embarrassing state with three fish and an auto feeder for a year or so.
About a month ago I decided to reboot the tank and have invested in an RKE, a doser, a phosphate reactor and a big clean-up crew. All of my parameters are back in line, the coralline algae is starting to spread and the LPS and fish all seem to be doing well. I had one issue when I added a lemon peel that started picking on my LPS. I literally watched him rip two polyps off the side of one of the zoas. I McGivered a trap and got him out this past Saturday and I’m expecting the LPS to come back. I’m ready to take things to the next level and recently bought a couple of small SPS from Brandon to see if my lighting and other parameters will support them. I guess all this rambling is to say it seems to be cyclical thing and it’s nice that it is still there waiting for you when you and your wallet are ready.
About a month ago I decided to reboot the tank and have invested in an RKE, a doser, a phosphate reactor and a big clean-up crew. All of my parameters are back in line, the coralline algae is starting to spread and the LPS and fish all seem to be doing well. I had one issue when I added a lemon peel that started picking on my LPS. I literally watched him rip two polyps off the side of one of the zoas. I McGivered a trap and got him out this past Saturday and I’m expecting the LPS to come back. I’m ready to take things to the next level and recently bought a couple of small SPS from Brandon to see if my lighting and other parameters will support them. I guess all this rambling is to say it seems to be cyclical thing and it’s nice that it is still there waiting for you when you and your wallet are ready.
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I did a water change tonight. I plan on changing out the media tonight too.
I'm not sure what has caused the issue I'm having, but it has been a slow thing now for a long while.
Its really a little strange because I can have a good sized sps die completely, or so it seems... to rock white... and then... a month later it will come back and be just fine.
I've got to figure out what is creating these cracks...
It is a fairly simple system with a CA reactor, ATO, great skimmer, what I consider fantastic lighting, and as good flow. The Alk, ph, and temp all tend to sway very little each month when I go back and look at my apex graphs.
The one aspect I need to revisit is the light intensity and the time of that intensity. I run 8 T5 lamps, but the tank is only 16" deep, so that added PAR though the course of the day could simply be too much. The top corals are receiving almost 600 PAR with the lamps I have now, but the photoperiod may be too long, thus creating photoinhibition because of the sum of the par when carried through the course of the day.
I'm not sure what has caused the issue I'm having, but it has been a slow thing now for a long while.
Its really a little strange because I can have a good sized sps die completely, or so it seems... to rock white... and then... a month later it will come back and be just fine.
I've got to figure out what is creating these cracks...
It is a fairly simple system with a CA reactor, ATO, great skimmer, what I consider fantastic lighting, and as good flow. The Alk, ph, and temp all tend to sway very little each month when I go back and look at my apex graphs.
The one aspect I need to revisit is the light intensity and the time of that intensity. I run 8 T5 lamps, but the tank is only 16" deep, so that added PAR though the course of the day could simply be too much. The top corals are receiving almost 600 PAR with the lamps I have now, but the photoperiod may be too long, thus creating photoinhibition because of the sum of the par when carried through the course of the day.
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I have an 8 bulb ATI also w/2 reef Brite all blues. All my acros receive 430-300 and are doing good with color and growth. 7.5hrs full intensity. That's with high nutrients also. So someone with less nutrients could probably get away with a little less par. Just rambling here but that's just a thought that comes to mind
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I have to say that ...
after a few days of TLC things are looking better.
for me this consisted of simply doing a few water changes, bringing down the light intensity JUST A LITTLE (replacing ONE purple plus t5 with an actinic), and VERY slightly adjusting my CARX to keep up with new growth and negate alk drops over months of time.
If you're fairly new to reefing read on, because it will save your butt later on.
THINGS WILL look bad eventually, even if it is just temporary, however DO NOT make huge fast drastic changes in a panic. Keep cool, measure what you can, and begin edging things in the right direction.
Realize what you see happening, even if it is STN or RTN, is probably a RESULT of a snowball of previous things that have added up over the past weeks, and NOT necessarily what is going on in the tank RIGHT NOW.
With THAT in mind know that as you make positive changes the same principal must be applied and that, while you may see immediate changes, the REAL changes OR consequences of what you do NOW will be seen in the coming weeks and months.
SO YES, you can test test test test, and thats not a bad thing, however keep in mind that observation and learning your tanks tendencies and cycles (not the NO3 kind) are of paramount importance. When you begin observing a PULL in one negative direction counter act it with stability that lands you within good pastures when the MOMENTUM OF YOUR CHANGE has terminated and the snowball comes to a stand still.
AM i rambling? Maybe I've had too much coffee... one more thing......
DO NOT chase numbers. Chasing numbers is something the test kit companies WANT you to do, and not what is best for your animals. What you want is acceptable STABILITY that you reach by balancing your tank's chemical components. A slightly out of whack parameter is a LOT better than one that isn't stable / isn't chemically balanced and experienced crazy weekly or daily swings that you are CONSTANTLY adjusting.
Hopefully my tank is on the upswing.
The cause of this issue was simply a lack of observance on my part and not noticing the simple things the pets tell me. I had started building acoustic guitars, and MAN that is a time sink so I have to balance that out and make sure I take care of my tank.
Best to you guys... Let me know if I can help in any way
after a few days of TLC things are looking better.
for me this consisted of simply doing a few water changes, bringing down the light intensity JUST A LITTLE (replacing ONE purple plus t5 with an actinic), and VERY slightly adjusting my CARX to keep up with new growth and negate alk drops over months of time.
If you're fairly new to reefing read on, because it will save your butt later on.
THINGS WILL look bad eventually, even if it is just temporary, however DO NOT make huge fast drastic changes in a panic. Keep cool, measure what you can, and begin edging things in the right direction.
Realize what you see happening, even if it is STN or RTN, is probably a RESULT of a snowball of previous things that have added up over the past weeks, and NOT necessarily what is going on in the tank RIGHT NOW.
With THAT in mind know that as you make positive changes the same principal must be applied and that, while you may see immediate changes, the REAL changes OR consequences of what you do NOW will be seen in the coming weeks and months.
SO YES, you can test test test test, and thats not a bad thing, however keep in mind that observation and learning your tanks tendencies and cycles (not the NO3 kind) are of paramount importance. When you begin observing a PULL in one negative direction counter act it with stability that lands you within good pastures when the MOMENTUM OF YOUR CHANGE has terminated and the snowball comes to a stand still.
AM i rambling? Maybe I've had too much coffee... one more thing......
DO NOT chase numbers. Chasing numbers is something the test kit companies WANT you to do, and not what is best for your animals. What you want is acceptable STABILITY that you reach by balancing your tank's chemical components. A slightly out of whack parameter is a LOT better than one that isn't stable / isn't chemically balanced and experienced crazy weekly or daily swings that you are CONSTANTLY adjusting.
Hopefully my tank is on the upswing.
The cause of this issue was simply a lack of observance on my part and not noticing the simple things the pets tell me. I had started building acoustic guitars, and MAN that is a time sink so I have to balance that out and make sure I take care of my tank.
Best to you guys... Let me know if I can help in any way
Whatcha feeding them?
The best success in growth for me of all coral has ALWAYS come from feeding them the best possible foods.
IMHO coral SPS included can and will adapt to a (slow) wide range environment if stable. Not "swings" just slowly adapt. It's amazed me at what can/does thrive from feeding but it's SO much work!
Sure, the Radion's, Vortech, expert filtertration, WC... are all important but coral don't thrive off fish food or fish poop! We all feel better & look better when eating healthy!
Edit:
My "quality" test kits expired a few years ago, they're still 3/4th full. Never had STN, RTN...
like you stated Brandon, watching our critters (color/tentacles) tells their condition. PRAMs for me = WC, WC, WC, review & correct.
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I keep NO3 at 2ish
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Your the SPS king I'm just a mixed, so is that what all the successful SPS people do? Would it hurt to feed and filter more?
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