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Help!! Could use some expert advice...

Discussion in 'Waterloo / Cedar Falls Area' started by Kendall, Dec 18, 2015.

  1. Dec 18, 2015 #1
    Kendall Dike, IA

    Kendall Board of Directors Leadership Team

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    I've had my 210 going since May. Have some LPS, some SPS, and a couple clams. Lost an SPS yesterday from RTN. Getting some growth on a few corals, but not good. Most of the SPS are fading or browning. Just not looking good.

    I've been doing water test after water test and have come up with nothing. I've been messing around with lighting and struggling to get things under control.

    I'd love to have someone local come over and check out my setup and give me some recommendations if anyone's willing. There may be some cold ones involved as well!

    Anyone interested?
     
  2. Dec 18, 2015 #2
    xroads La Porte City, IA

    xroads Veteran Reefkeeper Vendor

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    Sure I would love to come hang out sometime. I'm free weekend after Christmas if u are
     
  3. Dec 18, 2015 #3
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

    blackx-runner Administrator Website Team Leadership Team

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    ^ that man can surly get you squared away.

    In the mean time what tests are you running on the water, what test kits, and what levels are you seeing.
    Could just be that things aren't stable enough yet, or it could be something else with the water that you aren't seeing.

    SPS is pretty picky. Lighting, flow, water quality and stability all need to be just right for SPS to thrive. My tanks been up for years and I still haven't hit the right combo to be successful in the SPS game. Yet...
     
  4. Dec 18, 2015 #4
    jeremy Davenport, IA

    jeremy Acro Addict

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    Stability is key. Especially with SPS. Alkalinity swings, nutrient swings, temp, all will cause STN. And slow growth. Browning could be lighting or high phosphates or corals just not settled in yet.
    Post some numbers and test kits used. Maybe your dosing schedule and stuff dosed. Do you use gfo-carbon? Stuff like that. Maybe a couple pics.
     
  5. Dec 19, 2015 #5
    Kendall Dike, IA

    Kendall Board of Directors Leadership Team

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    Thanks for all the replies!

    Xroads - I'll see what our schedule is for the 26th. I know the 27th won't work as we are having out family at out house for Christmas. Thanks for the offer!

    Here are my water parameters as of yesterday:
    Temp: 78.6 (ranges between 78.3-79.0)
    pH: 8.02 (ranges between 7.85-8.04)
    Salinity: 1.026 (refractometer)
    Alk: 10.1 (Salifert)
    Calcium: 425 (Salifert)
    Magnesium: 1320 (Salifert)
    Phosphate: undetectable (Salifert and Seachem)
    Nitrate: undetectable (Salifert and Seachem)

    Ive been doing monthly 65-gallon water changes with Instant Ocean salt.

    I have a DIY led fixture with 96 LED's (36 white, 12 violet, 36 blue, 6 red, 6 green). I recently (this week) added 3 XR15 Radions. Since adding them I've turned the LEDs down to 50% and am running the Radions at 50% to get everything acclimated. My thought was that the browning may be from not enough light so I'm trying to fix that.

    I haven't started dosing anything yet. My corals are all small. The clams have been in the tank since Black Friday. According to the tests, I didn't want to dose anything if it wasn't needed.

    I'll see if I can get some pics. Thanks again for the help!
     
  6. Dec 19, 2015 #6
    jeremy Davenport, IA

    jeremy Acro Addict

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    Everything sounds fine except the 65 gallon water change. Why so much? Is this 65 at a time? Is it 65 a month? Week? What's your alkalinity before water change? Then a few hours after?
     
  7. Dec 19, 2015 #7
    Kendall Dike, IA

    Kendall Board of Directors Leadership Team

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    My water change system is set up for 65 gallons at a time so that's what I've been doing. I could easily do less. I didn't even give that a thought! I've never tested right after a water change. I'll do that next time and see if that has an impact. Thanks for the advice!
     
  8. Dec 19, 2015 #8
    jeremy Davenport, IA

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    It might be just fine. I was just wondering. I do 20 gallons a week on my 120. It probably isn't a problem but if tank is 10dhk and salt mixes at 10dhk could be a large enough change to piss off some corals.
    I think your corals are not settled in yet. You have a newer tank and just switched lighting. Maybe a combo of things.
    Hopefully Craig can help when he stops by.
     
  9. Dec 19, 2015 #9
    Kendall Dike, IA

    Kendall Board of Directors Leadership Team

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    I'm hoping the additional lighting will help some of these issues. Time will tell... Craig's advice sure couldn't hurt either!!
     
  10. Dec 19, 2015 #10
    Kendall Dike, IA

    Kendall Board of Directors Leadership Team

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  11. Dec 19, 2015 #11
    jeremy Davenport, IA

    jeremy Acro Addict

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    The only one that looks bad is the blue one. The others aren't that bad. The blue one may not pull through. When they she'd that much tissue top and bottom, they usually go fairly quick. You can try to cut off all dead tissue and remount it. That may work.
    --- Auto-Merged, Dec 19, 2015, Original Post: Dec 19, 2015 ---
    How do the clams and LPS look?
     
  12. Dec 20, 2015 #12
    Placid Norwalk, IA

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    I'm by far no expert, but I would be glad to share a recent experience I encountered similar to yours. Has to do with Carbon and GFO...

    I have had a few experiences where too much carbon or GFO is used. Mainly GFO. I my own assumptions that GFO dust can cause browning to corals. My example is few months ago I didn't run ANY gfo on my 225. About 3 weeks ago I put on GFO with 80% of the recommend amount from BRS in a reactor. Few days went past and I notice 2 Leptos started turning brown and a few Zoa's started closing up. I stopped the GFOs and on the second day things started looking good again. I need GFO to keep my phosphates from taking off so I removed 50% and started it back up. It appears I found a happy medium...
     
  13. Dec 20, 2015 #13
    Kendall Dike, IA

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    The clams and LPS look pretty good. Good color and opening up nicely.

    I think Placid is on to something. I was running a lot of GFO - 2 canisters in a BRS media reactor. I read an article a couple weeks ago that said what you just mentioned about the dust. I've since stopped using it and will test for phosphates more often now. Once I notice the levels creeping back up I'll use a smaller dose of GFO. I hope it isn't too late.
     
  14. Dec 20, 2015 #14
    jeremy Davenport, IA

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    I have done that also. Not the dust part because I rinse the go well and don't tumble to much or it will grind it's self to dust. Get the go to where it's just the top is barely simmering.
    If too much go is added you can strip the water of phosphate too fast and the swing can cause browning and stn in sps. Don't go from none to a reactor full and strip water too fast. Try half recommend dose and leave it for a couple weeks.
    I run gfo all the time on my 120 but probably only 2/3 amount. I change every 3-4 weeks. My target for phosphate is .02-.05. I test with a Hanna low range phosphate tester.
     
  15. Dec 20, 2015 #15
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

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    It sounds like your tank is actually doing pretty well for how new it is. Just take things slow. Instead of completely shutting off all GFO I would take it down to a single canister. WELL RINSED, and run it at moderate flow. Monitor your phosphates.
     
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  16. Dec 20, 2015 #16
    Waterrat41 Des moines

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    I too had a similar thing going on. I do the thing where I mix GFO and carbon together and run in one reactor (packed tight-no tumbling), also run bio pellets. Nitrates were starting to creep up and phosphates were undetectable so I backed off on the GFO in the mix and now run about 1/3 the recommendation by the BRS calculator. Phosphates are still undetectable but the biopellets seem to be doing more (as judged by my skimmer output and nitrate levels). FYI - I use the Rox 0.8 carbon and the high capacity GFO using the guidelines for those particular products for quantity and change them out every 4 weeks. I also only make small changes every month or two and force myself to wait....and keep telling myself "only bad things happen fast in this hobby"
     
  17. Dec 21, 2015 #17
    Kendall Dike, IA

    Kendall Board of Directors Leadership Team

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    After doing some more research and reading all the comments above, I'm certain the GFO is part of the problem. When I first bought the reactor and started using GFO, I didn't realize that there was a calculator to determine the rate or dose for the size of your tank. More is better, right??? Not necessarily as it turns out...

    I've been running both canisters FULL of BRS High Capacity GFO.... that's about 6 cups!!! The BRS calculater says 1.88 cups for my system. I was running more than 3 times the amount needed!!

    I'm going to scale it back as most of you have suggested. The BRS calculator says 1.88 cups... I'm going to start with 1 cup mixed with carbon and see how it goes.

    Thanks for all the help so far!
     
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  18. Dec 21, 2015 #18
    blackx-runner Cedar Rapids, IA

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    Unless needed for space I wouldn't mix the GFO and carbon.
    You have 2 reactors I would utilize them both and run one with GFO and one with carbon. IMO they preform better separate and at different flow rates through the media.
     
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  19. Dec 21, 2015 #19
    Kendall Dike, IA

    Kendall Board of Directors Leadership Team

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    I have the dual reactor... I'll put the GFO in the first and carbon in the second. I'd like to have a little higher flow rate through the carbon than I'll be able to get out of the GFO, but for now, it is what it is. Maybe I'll add another pump and separate them over Christmas break.

    Good advice!
     

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