TheWrongReefer
08-27-2012, 08:07 PM
Hello everyone,
I really don't know where to start. My tank is in shambles!
I've been suffering some serious issues in my tanks the past two weeks. It started when I brought a golfball sized rock with some pokerstar monti that wasn't doing so hot in a friends tank, actually it looked pretty sick and I should have known better. I threw it in my nano, which I usually use as quarantine for my 90 (spoiler: I certainly don't know the meaning of "quarantine"!). The next day everything looked horrible, zoas in there all closed up, LPS shriveled and dying. What I noticed was some type of algae or dino growing on the rocks, looks like sick, brown hair algae, kinda reminds me of brown sticker bushes. I did a 50% water change and cleaned the best I could. The two clowns I got in there seem unaffected, so Im just leaving it alone to run its course for now. Here's where I made my grievous error. I took a few frags over to my 90 to try and revive them. Two days later, the same scenario occurred in my 90.
Mostly stuff that encrusts or has a skeleton of some sort is now dead or dying, now the only thing hanging on is some ORA pink birdsnest, a few large chalices which are beginning to look ill, my 18" wall hammer which doesn't look so hot, and a red monti cap just now fading. Zoas are all closed and their skin is developing a brown algae like film. A few Acros I have look like their skin just peeled off the skeleton (RTN). My Mauve hammer and neon frogspawn look like they developed brown jelly disease and are starting to show skeleton. I'm seeing that same algae or dino that was in my nano now, its all over the place, but not taking over.
Water parameters were all in check:
1.025 salinity
10 dkh alk
400 ppm calcium
Nitrates undetectable on red sea test (has been accurate for me)
Phosphates detected but read low using crummy API test kit (I suspect they're actually much higher)
Ammonia undetectable
Temp stable at 78 degrees
Changes done in tank: 4 weeks prior, Fish came down with ich, treated with Kordon Reef safe Ich treatment... didn't notice any change and frankly, didn't have enough faith in product. Removed fish 3 days later and placed in QT with copper. Tank has since been fallow.
1 week later, installed more LEDs in my kit, just a few cool blue and violet actinic LEDs to the mix to bring up some color, total of 84 3w LEDs now over a 90 gallon tank. Was running them all around 15% except the whites around 25% Tank looked dim to the eye, no par meter... no idea what these things are putting out... Things were looking good so I started increasing over the next two weeks up to about 20-25% with the whites around 35%. almost two weeks later... Placed sick frags from crashed nano in 90g tank. 2 days afterwards very obvious signs of tank crashing... everything retracted and closed up, soft tissue peeling right off the skeletons of acros and cats paw... been tossing corals ever since.
Tank is about 6 months old and was doing well up until the bad frags I threw in there, I suspect its from them, but the more reasonable explanation is too much light too fast. Either way, I suspect with stuff dying off I'm in a vicious phosphate cycle now. I just thought it was a strange coincidence for this to occur so fast from one tank to the next. I realize now the error in my ways and need some advice from you pros on getting my 90 back on track. I've made too many changes and made them too fast. Lesson learned, N00b here... I've only got about a year's experience and this crash almost has me about ready to walk away if I can't steer my way out of it. I've already counted all corals as a loss, but I could use a little advice on how to get through this. There's no fish in the tank, just a few shrimp and crabs from my CUC.
Do I start doing water changes? Should I run a Phos Reactor? Should I be worried about Dino or pathogens? Or do I drain the tank bake the rock and start over from scratch? Lost in the reef right now...
I really don't know where to start. My tank is in shambles!
I've been suffering some serious issues in my tanks the past two weeks. It started when I brought a golfball sized rock with some pokerstar monti that wasn't doing so hot in a friends tank, actually it looked pretty sick and I should have known better. I threw it in my nano, which I usually use as quarantine for my 90 (spoiler: I certainly don't know the meaning of "quarantine"!). The next day everything looked horrible, zoas in there all closed up, LPS shriveled and dying. What I noticed was some type of algae or dino growing on the rocks, looks like sick, brown hair algae, kinda reminds me of brown sticker bushes. I did a 50% water change and cleaned the best I could. The two clowns I got in there seem unaffected, so Im just leaving it alone to run its course for now. Here's where I made my grievous error. I took a few frags over to my 90 to try and revive them. Two days later, the same scenario occurred in my 90.
Mostly stuff that encrusts or has a skeleton of some sort is now dead or dying, now the only thing hanging on is some ORA pink birdsnest, a few large chalices which are beginning to look ill, my 18" wall hammer which doesn't look so hot, and a red monti cap just now fading. Zoas are all closed and their skin is developing a brown algae like film. A few Acros I have look like their skin just peeled off the skeleton (RTN). My Mauve hammer and neon frogspawn look like they developed brown jelly disease and are starting to show skeleton. I'm seeing that same algae or dino that was in my nano now, its all over the place, but not taking over.
Water parameters were all in check:
1.025 salinity
10 dkh alk
400 ppm calcium
Nitrates undetectable on red sea test (has been accurate for me)
Phosphates detected but read low using crummy API test kit (I suspect they're actually much higher)
Ammonia undetectable
Temp stable at 78 degrees
Changes done in tank: 4 weeks prior, Fish came down with ich, treated with Kordon Reef safe Ich treatment... didn't notice any change and frankly, didn't have enough faith in product. Removed fish 3 days later and placed in QT with copper. Tank has since been fallow.
1 week later, installed more LEDs in my kit, just a few cool blue and violet actinic LEDs to the mix to bring up some color, total of 84 3w LEDs now over a 90 gallon tank. Was running them all around 15% except the whites around 25% Tank looked dim to the eye, no par meter... no idea what these things are putting out... Things were looking good so I started increasing over the next two weeks up to about 20-25% with the whites around 35%. almost two weeks later... Placed sick frags from crashed nano in 90g tank. 2 days afterwards very obvious signs of tank crashing... everything retracted and closed up, soft tissue peeling right off the skeletons of acros and cats paw... been tossing corals ever since.
Tank is about 6 months old and was doing well up until the bad frags I threw in there, I suspect its from them, but the more reasonable explanation is too much light too fast. Either way, I suspect with stuff dying off I'm in a vicious phosphate cycle now. I just thought it was a strange coincidence for this to occur so fast from one tank to the next. I realize now the error in my ways and need some advice from you pros on getting my 90 back on track. I've made too many changes and made them too fast. Lesson learned, N00b here... I've only got about a year's experience and this crash almost has me about ready to walk away if I can't steer my way out of it. I've already counted all corals as a loss, but I could use a little advice on how to get through this. There's no fish in the tank, just a few shrimp and crabs from my CUC.
Do I start doing water changes? Should I run a Phos Reactor? Should I be worried about Dino or pathogens? Or do I drain the tank bake the rock and start over from scratch? Lost in the reef right now...