240g crash

[mojo]

Originally Posted by JeffMuse

Man, that is an awesome looking tank! VERY well done!

I am sorry to hear that it went down hill... what happened?

Thanks.

We had a baby, so the tank was neglected for a few months. Corals started losing color and a couple things started to STN. I assumed it was due to lack of maintenance, but even after 1500g of water changes in the past couple months, things continue to melt away. I've never had this kind of issue, and despite everything that I know and have tried, things continue to get worse. I'm fully willing to accept that it's something I've done, but I don't have a clue anymore what that might be...

[mysterybox]

water changes, and change out carbon and gfo every 10 days....move to vodka could also be an answer......


check for bugs.

[mojo]

Originally Posted by mysterybox

water changes, and change out carbon and gfo every 10 days....move to vodka could also be an answer......


check for bugs.

I've tried all that (except the vodka, and I'm not going there), plus everything else I can possibly think of: Disabling ca reactor, GFO/no GFO, GAC/no GAC, no dosing, no ozone, no UV, using Salinity salt with 100-200g/week water changes, cleaned all pumps, checked flow inside tank, replaced all bulbs, tested the water, tested for electrical grounding, completely cleaned out my sump, and a few other things I can't think of at the moment.

[Eddie]

Is that beautiful blue/green clam doing ok???

[mojo]

Originally Posted by Eddie

Is that beautiful blue/green clam doing ok???

Unfortunately, no - I lost that clam as well. I do still have the teardrop maxima (the other large clam next to it), but the blue one was lost somewhere in all this mess... probably one of my most depressing losses...

[JDabs]

Wow Chris! I'm really sorry to hear that! Your tank was awesome. You have some amazing things in that tank and I couldn't stop telling people about it when I came over last. I hope that you can turn things around and get it to bounce back.

[mojo]

Thanks. It's been frustrating and depressing, for sure.

[mapleredta]

Chris, can you post your latest water parameters? Have you checked for stray voltage?

[LilRobb]

I got a confirmation for the testing Chris, will have results friday or so...

[mojo]

Originally Posted by mapleredta

Chris, can you post your latest water parameters?

Ammonia, nitrate: 0 ppm
Phosphate: 0.03 ppm
Alkalinity: 7.5 dKH
Calcium: 400 ppm
pH: 7.95-8.1
Temp: 75-77

I know there's some nitrate / phosphate in the system, as I have some cyano on the sandbed and some hair algae that grows on my overflow teeth. But that's expected with the amount of coral death I've been having.

Have you checked for stray voltage?

Yup. I even tested with everything turned off, to get a baseline, and then turned on each pump, heater, etc, etc, on until the end - the voltage between the tank water and house ground always floated around 0.000.

[mojo]

Originally Posted by LilRobb

I got a confirmation for the testing Chris, will have results friday or so...

Great - thanks.

Robin is having my water tested by some super secret mass spectrometer or something. Or maybe it was a monkey in his basement. Either way, it'll be 3rd party verification.

[beccamc10]

Can you ID the 2 corals in your tank I sent you a pm about.

[haninja]

We asked Ouling to taste your water for confirmation...

Sorry to hear about your tank Chris.

[Amici]

Chris, Ive seen this happen a few times in systems and could never figure out the issue either. What I ended up doing was setting up a stand alone system with new water and existing system rock. I mainly used that to frag large pieces of coral from and put them in that tank to recover. My goal was to prevent losing the whole colony. I found that eventually the tank would bounce back but without removing a good portion of corals most would have been lost.

I have a 4'x4' frag tank/stand and 400w halide sitting in my storage unit. If you want to borrow it to hold some corals in its yours.

[mojo]

Originally Posted by beccamc10

Can you ID the 2 corals in your tank I sent you a pm about.

This one is just a random tabling acro that I got from Fosters and Smith:

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/~arci...e/IMG_1483.jpg


And this one is my "shaggy watermelon".

http://www.atlantareefclub.org/~arci...e/IMG_1478.jpg


I'm not doing frags right now, due to everything talked about in this thread, but you may be able to get some of the shaggy watermelon from someone else in the club - I've fragged it a good bit.

[beccamc10]

Thoes are the 2 nicest corals I have seen.

[mojo]

Originally Posted by Amici

Chris, Ive seen this happen a few times in systems and could never figure out the issue either. What I ended up doing was setting up a stand alone system with new water and existing system rock. I mainly used that to frag large pieces of coral from and put them in that tank to recover. My goal was to prevent losing the whole colony. I found that eventually the tank would bounce back but without removing a good portion of corals most would have been lost.

And it's quickly headed that way... I've got probably 60-70% of my corals still, but a lot of the nice ones are already gone. I removed a soccer-ball sized piece of pink birdsnest (used to be pink, anyway) just the other day. I also lost my colony of pink stylophora - the size of a football when I pulled out the skeleton...

I have a 4'x4' frag tank/stand and 400w halide sitting in my storage unit. If you want to borrow it to hold some corals in its yours.

Thanks. I actually have a 140g frag tank ready to go (actually, being used to hold corals for the frag meeting this weekend when they arrive). I just haven't committed to tearing corals out of my tank yet...

[mojo]

Originally Posted by beccamc10

Thoes are the 2 nicest corals I have seen.

Fortunately, I still have both of these. They've been fragged and distributed as "insurance"...

[Amici]

Believe me, I realize how frustrating it is. I had this Myagi tort the size of a softball that I had been growing for years and years as my show piece. It was the first to go downhill of some of my SPS and I now have 4 good size frags left to show for it :(

[Barbara]

I'm so sorry Chris. Your tank was truly beautiful. I hope you get it under control. As you know, I'm going through my own personal "reefer shame" right now, so I feel your pain.

Oh well, maybe starting anew will revive your love of the hobby.