Tank issues corals dying

[jennm]

Yes I can send you polyfilters - PM me to work out the details.

You should also test the tank for stray voltage. Usually it bothers fish first.... but since your fish are now acting strangely, and the presence of Stealth heaters....

If you need instructions on how to test for voltage (you need a Multimeter to do this) let me know.

Jenn

 

[ralph atl]

here is some info on polyfilters:

 

[stevhan]

I love polyfilters. I place them in every tank that has bizarre problems and it has saved more than a few in the past. You can pick them up at most LFS. The newer packaging goes into more detail about what colors they change and what they are removing. Yellow= Petroleum or Ammonia. Copper is Blue and Iron is red I believe.
Palythoas are very toxic from what I have read. If you scrubbed them off the rock they could have released a toxin into your tank.
Your nitrates dont concern me with the massive die off that your having. Your bio load is much smaller than mine and I feed daily in a tank 40 gallons smaller than yours.
If you have MH bulbs check them and make sure that the shields arent cracked or if you have HQI make sure the shields are correctly positioned. A store that I worked at about 6 years ago had a bulb crack but still work and killed all corals with UV light. The glass filters most UV out (around 95%).
I'd say polyfilters and water changing...thats my way of fixing most questionable things.

 

[william1]

Stevhan;448305 wrote: I love polyfilters. I place them in every tank that has bizarre problems and it has saved more than a few in the past. You can pick them up at most LFS. The newer packaging goes into more detail about what colors they change and what they are removing. Yellow= Petroleum or Ammonia. Copper is Blue and Iron is red I believe.
Palythoas are very toxic from what I have read. If you scrubbed them off the rock they could have released a toxin into your tank.
Your nitrates dont concern me with the massive die off that your having. Your bio load is much smaller than mine and I feed daily in a tank 40 gallons smaller than yours.
If you have MH bulbs check them and make sure that the shields arent cracked or if you have HQI make sure the shields are correctly positioned. A store that I worked at about 6 years ago had a bulb crack but still work and killed all corals with UV light. The glass filters most UV out (around 95%).
I'd say polyfilters and water changing...thats my way of fixing most questionable things.

Im getting some poly filters as we speak should be here in a few days. Ill try that out plus tomorrow Im doing another water change.

 

[schwaggs]

I agree with Jenn, you need to check those Stealth heaters to see if they are leaking electricity into the tank. I had 2 on my system and after 3 years, they both started leaking. You just need a volt meter set to measure AC voltage. Make sure the heater is heating, put one probe on a ground (the screw on an outlet faceplate usually works) and touch the other probe to the surface of the water. Kind of grind the probe into the slot of the screw to make sure you are getting good contact. The meter should read 0 or at less than 10V. If it reads 70v or up to 120v (like mine did) your heater(s) is bad.

 

[william1]

Schwaggs;448544 wrote: I agree with Jenn, you need to check those Stealth heaters to see if they are leaking electricity into the tank. I had 2 on my system and after 3 years, they both started leaking. You just need a volt meter set to measure AC voltage. Make sure the heater is heating, put one probe on a ground (the screw on an outlet faceplate usually works) and touch the other probe to the surface of the water. Kind of grind the probe into the slot of the screw to make sure you are getting good contact. The meter should read 0 or at less than 10V. If it reads 70v or up to 120v (like mine did) your heater(s) is bad.

I will try this. I remember last year I had a koralia that was giving me a good shock when my arm was in the water and I touched the metal on my tek light made me jump a little but nothing since then.

 

[leslie]

I had a similar challenge recently. Lost SPS, xenia and had very unhappy zoas for several months. Turned out my heater was the issue. My zoas all perked up within days of my replacing my heater. My fish never were impacted though by all accounts they should have been.

 

[acroholic]

William,
by any chance, do you have any single type of soft corals or polyps that are in a lot of places, like GSP or red/green mushrooms, or blue clove polyps? Anything that has spread around a lot in your tank. I'm not referring to physical contact between the spreader and your acroporas, but have wondered if this type problem could be related to chemical secretions from the prolific spreader.

I have been having the same issues as you for several months, I just haven't posted about it. No pests, all chemical parameters are good. I have tried changing literally everything. New bulbs, GFO/No GFO, took the nitrate reactor off line/put it back on line, GAC/No GAC. Had Joe double check my chemistry levels with his kits. Did a 25 gallon WC every day for two weeks straight with D&D salt instead of my usual IO. You name it and I think I have tried it.

There is a thread of Reef Central about the same thing, and some folks are sure it is a bacteria issue or that the live rock in a system with this issue is clogged up and needs replaced. I'm not going to do that.

The last thing I am trying is to eliminate all the blue clove polyps from my system. Over the last year they have spread to cover about 85% of all the light receiving bare live rock in my 210 SPS tank. They are not aggressive, in that they are easy for acroporas, even Montis, to kill. But they can crowd out zoas and palys.

I am wondering if the sheer mass of them may have something to do with my STN issues? I have literally 350 lbs of LR and they looked like a blue carpet over 85% of it. Pretty, but I wonder if they are overdosing the system via allelopathy. I run GAC, but not a ton of it (one single BRS media reactor).

I have been using my reef napalm to kill them over the last couple weeks, and I only have some stragglers to take care of now. If this wasn't it, then I am totally out of options and am just going to let it settle on it's own and no new acros go in the tank until it settles out.
Dave

 

[ralph atl]

pm sent!

 

[ralph atl]

Joe has no issues with clove, and the like, and his tank is swank, ya know? I'm thinking it's more obvious than everyone is thinking? it's right in front of you!

heaters can pose a major issue, also! of course!

 

[acroholic]

I don't have a traditional in-tank heater. My 1/2 HP chiller is a heat pump. It heats and chills the water.

 

[william1]

I going to test for electric tomorrow as soon as I pick up a tester in the morning. I really dont have alot of softys a few mushrooms anda little xenia not spread around any SPS.

 

[smoothie]

Hope you find it soon. Definately start with the koralias and heater when you get the meter.

 

[william1]

Im going to, plus the poly filters are on the way. I have had the stealth heaters for a while now and never thought they would leak electricity into the tank. My powerheads are all pretty new but we will see what happens.

 

[william1]

I really want to say thanks for everyones help here its has been a long battle and hope it ends soon. But Im not going to give up yet Im not that kind of person.

 

[acroholic]

I tested my water with a voltmeter, and was only picking up .39.

 

[smoothie]

I do to. I had to replace some korlias because some were made faulty. The improved ones all have "NEW" in the corner of the box. Older ones (still see them for sale now) got to where they would shock the piss out of me. Grounding probes are cheap insurance after you get through this and find the true problem

 

[william1]

Schwaggs;448544 wrote: I agree with Jenn, you need to check those Stealth heaters to see if they are leaking electricity into the tank. I had 2 on my system and after 3 years, they both started leaking. You just need a volt meter set to measure AC voltage. Make sure the heater is heating, put one probe on a ground (the screw on an outlet faceplate usually works) and touch the other probe to the surface of the water. Kind of grind the probe into the slot of the screw to make sure you are getting good contact. The meter should read 0 or at less than 10V. If it reads 70v or up to 120v (like mine did) your heater(s) is bad.

So I want to use the AC voltage side correct? In the 10 volt range?

If so I think I only have about 1 volt in the water by the heaters and the same in the main display.

 

[hackman72]

William- I haven't sat and read through every post so someone may have already offered this. If you're still having troubles and losing corals, you're welcome to make frags and I'll house them in quarantine for you until you get the problem resolved. No cost. That way if you lose the mother colony, you might have a frag to regrow once you get back to running normal.

 

[william1]

Hackman72;449329 wrote: William- I haven't sat and read through every post so someone may have already offered this. If you're still having troubles and losing corals, you're welcome to make frags and I'll house them in quarantine for you until you get the problem resolved. No cost. That way if you lose the mother colony, you might have a frag to regrow once you get back to running normal.

Thanks man I havent seen any more receeding in the SPS in the last few days so I might be on the right track with the water changes. But thanks for the offer this club is amazing. Now I wish a few other people had more control over there issues since it seems to be going around the club.