OK Greater problems now... Maybe crappy MH bulb?

[tkmak]

I posted the thread about 4 hrs ago regarding the peppermint shrimp.

Just looked in the tank and both corals are both all retracted. Thinking my water quality is off, did all the tests.

pH 8.1
nitrate: none
nitrite: none
ammonia: none
phosphate: none
Ca: a bit low - at 375
temp: 81.5
salinity: 1.025

I have noticed over the past week, the live rock is bleaching out a bit in areas where the light is the greatest. I have a 150w 10k and (2) 24 actinics power compacts over the top of the 28" deep aquarium.

I bought the lighting system secondhand and didn't repl the bulbs - something I guess I am going to do. I found out my Oddysea unit is a Chinese manufactured unit. Will be changing to 20k and repl the actinics.

Has anybody heard of crappy chinese manufactured bulbs being the culprit?

I guess I am going to take a jar of water down to the LFS and see if they can find anything that I have overlooked.

Fish seem to be doing well, but even the pest Aptasia is staying in the shade.


Comments???







Rest of the tank? 50gal with 20 refug, euroreef skimmer, pentair mech filter, 1/3 current chiller, 90lbs indo live rock, tons of cheato now (growing like a weed), 3 fish (true percula 1", purple and regular firefish), 4 peppermint and 1 cleaner shrimp. Adding Kent Marine Coralvite and Concentrated Iodine, Brightwell aquatics PytogreenM, and Seachem's ReefPlus at recommended dosages 1x/week. Newly added leather and hammerhead coral. 2 coralife powercompacts and a compact florescent curly bulb over the refugium to support the rock and the cheato.

 

[dnjan]

What is the Alk? Low alk can lead to lots of problems for corals.

 

[dnjan]

Thinking my water quality is off, did all the tests.

pH 8.1
nitrate: none
nitrite: none
ammonia: none
phosphate: none
Ca: a bit low - at 375
temp: 81.5
salinity: 1.025

Adding Kent Marine Coralvite and Concentrated Iodine, Brightwell aquatics PytogreenM, and Seachem's ReefPlus at recommended dosages 1x/week. .

As a follow-up, once your tank has stabilized (past the cycling), and you plan on keeping corals, the most important things to test are probably:

Alkalinity
Calcium
Magnesium
Salinity

Occaisionally test for phosphate and nitrate.

Also, you list lots of additives, but give no test results for those additives (for example, iodine???). Additives can be a bit tricky unless you are testing for them, as you don't know whether they are being utilized or are accumulating.

 

[tkmak]

Thanks for the input Don,

checked my Alk. its at 7 dKH. Rechecked the other values tonite.

Phosphate: unmeasurable
Nitrate: unmeasureable
Calcium: 390 mg/l
Alk: 7dKH
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 82.5
ammonia: unmeasureable
Nitrite: unmeasureable

I haven't had a chance due to work, to get down to my LFS to have them confirm my water quality. I am thinking either:

1. Pests? Ok, no aptasia near the said corals, fish are reef safe, one of the peppermints gave some interest and nipped at the hammerhead until I scared it off. LITTLE ISOPODS, ETC???

2. Crappy MH bulb - the only thing that would lead me to believe this is the one pesty Aptasia that I have is staying in the shade and not coming out. from what I understand, they are photosynthetic.

Also, I do agree w/ your assessment of blindly adding trace elements. I added them (with the exception of the coralvite) once, about an hour before adding the corals at the advice of my LFS.




Anybody else with input???

 

[evansbr]

how long ago did you put the fixture over the tank? what lighting level did you have prior to putting on the 10k 150w Halides? might be the tank not acclimated to the light level. you could try cutting back the hours of operation of the lights and bring it back up slowly. my guess is intensity problem.. what else have you done recently ( week or so) to the tank? big water change?? started running carbon? what salt do you use?

 

[tkmak]

Thanks for the input evansbr,

the lighting is the original lighting unit over the tank. the tank is 4 mo old. I have one 150w MH bulb on a 28" 50 gal corner tank but some have advocated a 250w since its a single bulb, not a dual. No carbon is in use, I started with Reef Crystals due to having it on hand, moving to Red Sea Salt since I ran out of Reef Crystals. I have done two 25% water changes since, both with RO/DI water and ensured salinity, temp, and O2 levels were similar before adding.

I may start cutting back on the MH lights, they are running 8-9hrs/day, actinics 10.5hrs, moonlight leds the remainder of the 24hr period.

Thanks!!!

 

[evansbr]

I've noticed in my tank everyone looks crabby around water change time...
so you've been "reefin" for 4 months?? when were the corals added?? how long has tank been running? is it glass or acrylic,, did you do fish only prior to reefin? also don't let the ALK get below 7.. I try to run mine about 10.
was tank new, or used.?? mainly I guess that question is about if copper had ever been used??? corals hate that. :badgrin: so up till a couple weeks ago everyone expanded and looked good???

 

[tkmak]

corals were just added last week. tank for about 4 mo, cycled already with 3 year old rock (purchased from a guy tearing down his tank). Acrylic tank, fish only w/ live rock prior to introduction of both corals.

Copper? Now thats a good question. I never intro'd copper into the tank. My dad used the tank briefly w/ freshwater goldfish and may have, but I thoroughly washed the tank out. I don't know how sticky resdue of copper is, but if there is some, I would understand why these guys aren't happy. Didn't think of that possiblity.

I have Green star polps in the tank that hitchliked with the rock along with one decent sized Aptasia that seem to be thriving (although the aptasia stays in the shade and the GSPs are off to the side where the light intensity is the least.

Being that the aptasia hasn't shriveled up and the GSPs haven't either, I don't think copper is my issue, but will double check anyway.

Anybody think I may have some microscopic pests? I don't see any red bugs, etc. The LFS says I shouldn't have to worry too much with softies.

I am still at a loss, the corals look bad....

 

[dnjan]

In my experience, leathers go through phases. Look great for a while, then kind of shriveled with little/no polyp extension, then slough-off a thin layer, then looking great again. Perhaps your leather is just doing that.

And if the other coral is downstream of the leather, the sloughed-off skin or other chemical warfare could have caused problems.

 

[evansbr]

I was thinking more of copper in the rock that you bought??? I don't think acrylic will hold it too well (copper) if at all... you could try and put carbon in a filter sock in the sump to test a chemical warfare problem.. just make sure you get decent flow thru it. was the tank that you bought the rock from FO or a reef?? are the corals attached or can you pull one of the unhappy campers??? red bugs, flatworms, ect are real tiny. couldn't hurt to pull one for a minute and see if you can see anything on 'em. keep up on the parameters, try carbon for coral chemical warfare, and see if you can find a LFS to test for copper.... they make stuff to pull copper out of the water too. maybe Cut back the light, what light were they under in the store??? how deep and how high was the store lighting over the tank? I always start corals low in the tank , let em aclimate, and then place them... sorry for the long response but it could be quite a few things...

 

[evansbr]

I guess I should ask, what kind of corals.. if it is strictly softies I would say too high intensity lighting.. move them to the bottom of the tank and too the sides so they aren't direct under the bulb and see how they react.

 

[tkmak]

I think that may be a good idea. I had similar thoughts. I bought these guys at Atlantis Aquarium (atlantisaquarium.net). They have all their SPS LPS under 400w 20k mtl halides, but these softies were under power compacts and I moved them to 10k mtl halides.

I was gone for the past 5 days and noticed the tips of my leather is bleaching a lighter, almost white. comments anybody?

 

[evansbr]

any update on these? doing better??

 

[tkmak]

any update on these? doing better??

Sorry guys, I neglected my own string.

I think it was just a phase. After the addtion of the Ca Rx and just tincture of time - everything turned out fine. All opened up and the CA levels are topped off. Haven't really had any issues since. I did change to bulbs to Ushio's.

I am still considering upgrading to a 250w hqi metal halide, but since everything has been happy, its getting pushed off.

Thanks all for the input!