I have a purple table top was doing awesome since I got it in March, now it is loosing flesh on the bottom. There is still polyp extension on the ends about 1" to 1/2" depending on the location. Will the coral live or do I break off the surviving pieces and frag it all out and toss the base of it.
salvaging a sps
- Thread starter volivier
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SueT
Well-known member
Valerie, table acropora are known for being extremely hard to keep. Is this a wild piece or aquacultured?? Being that it is the base I'd try to frag what you can and dispose of the base. Could be the base area wasn't getting sufficient flow... As they grow out their flow needs change.
ReeferPatt
Well-known member
bought it from Jeremy this March, it grew awesome too. jerm something on the forum in the pictures section, the show your photo area.
ReeferPatt
Well-known member
Then flow may not be your problem. What are you perimeters? Feeding schedule, how old are the bulbs. Have you checked for bugs, pests?
haven't seen any bugs or pests with the mag. glass....the bulbs are probably 1 year old, bought the light used in feb. was told one year old, i have since replaced one but the lights need replaced i'm sure... looking at the reeflux 12K from http://www.reefexotics.com/reeflux.htm what do you all think about the bulbs? mine are 400 watt
i've been getting a lot of green on the glass to be scaped off, i'm sure the lighting is the issue, though at my local reef club, someone said my rock is an issue for the flow...? what do you think? he also doesn't like the dsb, he's a bare bottom guy...
ReeferPatt
Well-known member
My self I use 400w 10k XM. Very white, very intense. May switch to reeflux 10k in a month or so. Sue T. use the reeflux 10k in 250w and swears by them. White with a hint of blue. She has nice color and good growth.
Your rock appears to be somewhat concave looking in the pick. You might try moving your powerheads around some to see if you can distribute the flow a little more. Have the flows from different powerheads directed at each other to creat more of a random action. Just don't direct it directly at the corals. Just so you get some nice rythmic action.
As far as BB or DSB, if you have some sand critters in there to help maintain it and keep the detritus from building up you should be fine. I've alway had a dsb with no problems. I use bar gobies and sand stars to keep it cleaned up. Other than that I never touch it. Just let it do it's job.
One other thing is on your return, if it's rated at 1141 gph that is probly at 0 head pressure. Odds are your loosing 2-300gph at 4-5 ft. of head pressure. Something else to consider would be some larger Powerheads in Seios or Tunzes. Or maybe a couple Maxi jet 1200's modded. They produce around 2000 gph and are much cheaper than the latter if money is an issue. You could ask Sue T. about them, I built 2 for her.
Hope that helps some. By the way, Jerm is JermReefer. Nice guy.
Your rock appears to be somewhat concave looking in the pick. You might try moving your powerheads around some to see if you can distribute the flow a little more. Have the flows from different powerheads directed at each other to creat more of a random action. Just don't direct it directly at the corals. Just so you get some nice rythmic action.
As far as BB or DSB, if you have some sand critters in there to help maintain it and keep the detritus from building up you should be fine. I've alway had a dsb with no problems. I use bar gobies and sand stars to keep it cleaned up. Other than that I never touch it. Just let it do it's job.
One other thing is on your return, if it's rated at 1141 gph that is probly at 0 head pressure. Odds are your loosing 2-300gph at 4-5 ft. of head pressure. Something else to consider would be some larger Powerheads in Seios or Tunzes. Or maybe a couple Maxi jet 1200's modded. They produce around 2000 gph and are much cheaper than the latter if money is an issue. You could ask Sue T. about them, I built 2 for her.
Hope that helps some. By the way, Jerm is JermReefer. Nice guy.
kevinpo
Expert
Hello,
If your coral looks like the last picture you posted I wouldn't frag it. If just the tips are left then I would frag it. Judging from the picture I would say light and flow are the issues. Also from your overall tank shot it looks like you have more nutrients than desireable for an SPS tank. I would do a couple of 20% water changes 10 days apart using water with less than 10 TDS. I use 10,000K 400W Reeflux on most of my tanks with good results. I tested the 12,000K and the par and life was low.
It can be a challenge to provide enough flow and light on the underside of coral colonies as they grow larger. They tend to shade and block water flow to themselves. In the wild they die off around the base and provide a place for lower light corals to grow (like LPS and soft corals).
Regards,
Kevin
If your coral looks like the last picture you posted I wouldn't frag it. If just the tips are left then I would frag it. Judging from the picture I would say light and flow are the issues. Also from your overall tank shot it looks like you have more nutrients than desireable for an SPS tank. I would do a couple of 20% water changes 10 days apart using water with less than 10 TDS. I use 10,000K 400W Reeflux on most of my tanks with good results. I tested the 12,000K and the par and life was low.
It can be a challenge to provide enough flow and light on the underside of coral colonies as they grow larger. They tend to shade and block water flow to themselves. In the wild they die off around the base and provide a place for lower light corals to grow (like LPS and soft corals).
Regards,
Kevin
picture date
no that pic. was from aug. 1st it just started to "fall apart" on me the last few weeks. I did have some "grape" macro algae in my refugium that died overnight on me it seemed. Might have poluted the tank from what i've been reading about, and yes the lights need replaced, i'll go with the 10K reeflux instead of the 12K after reading your reply about them. I just didn't want a pink look. The 010 pic is of the table top today, the 001 is one that the base is fading on me, I did move it to this location, it was lower in the tank.
no that pic. was from aug. 1st it just started to "fall apart" on me the last few weeks. I did have some "grape" macro algae in my refugium that died overnight on me it seemed. Might have poluted the tank from what i've been reading about, and yes the lights need replaced, i'll go with the 10K reeflux instead of the 12K after reading your reply about them. I just didn't want a pink look. The 010 pic is of the table top today, the 001 is one that the base is fading on me, I did move it to this location, it was lower in the tank.
I was thinking I could take off the return line on each side of my oceanic reef ready tank, it is the bendable hose that came w/the tank. I'd change to some pvc pipe of hose off of some fittings to add more water return lines. I'm assuming the pump is big enough to push that much water through more lines into the tank. Also the location of the powerheads, I'll attach a tank photo maybe you can suggest good locations for the power heads. I plan on purchasing 1-2 seio 2600 I think too. I'd take out the maxi if I did that.
ReeferPatt
Well-known member
From what I can see it looks like you have one powerhead on left of tank and one on right. If you could mount those so they face each other that would help to cause some random flow action. Have the other PH's pointing towards the front glass directed into the flow of the PH's facing each other. Getting the Seio 2600's (2) would be a great improvement. Have those facing each other end to end along with the say 2 620s and the 820 and you should be in good shape.
As far as your return, I probably wouldn't add any more return lines. This would just cause more head pressure and you would loose more flow from pump. Yes you could run pvc, I would go say 1" T'd off to two 3/4 lines.
What kind of protien skimmer do you have. It is a very important piece of equiment if your going to keep acros/sps. In this case bigger is better.
euroreef cs2 plus skimmer, love it too!
SueT
Well-known member
What other kind of corals do you have in this tank Valerie?? Tony at Reef Exotics is who I got my reeflux lamps from. He's a really nice guy. I'd definitely think twice about the 12k's, they are reported to loose so much PAR and the 10k is fine. No pink to mine at all. I just think you can never have too much flow and especially for table acropora.
SueT
Well-known member
I would just be afraid of loosing so much PAR as you will loose with going with the reeflux 12k's. I have heard a lot of negative feedback about them, like what Kevin just said. Some put them on and have them off by the end of the day they hate them that bad. I also like the dawn/dusk effact with the actinics. They don't need to be run all day though unless you want to. I agree with Kevin in that I would do several water changes as it does seem that there is too much nutrients available for sps.
I've got 2 seio 2600 on the way. I'm seeing some of the other acropora that have had great growth, getting some white on the undersides! What can I do about this? there is going to be a bottom no matter where I put the coral at. my calcium is 500 and the alk was a little high, (notes downstairs) I just got the refractometer, it was 1.022 last night, I added a little salt to the sump, haven't checked it this AM. what do you run for your salinity? could this be part of the problem? Also the new bulbs will be here today.
ReeferPatt
Well-known member
I run mine at 1.026, closer to NSW levels. I think with the larger Seios and bulbs you should see some improvements. I'd slowly raise the specif gravity over a few weeks.
SueT
Well-known member
I run my salinity at 1.026 also. Bleaching from the base is sometimes a lighting issue. If you have new lights coming then I'd get them on asap but acclimate the corals slowly to them. If you can raise them fine, screen over the tank will also work. Calcium at 500 is high, so I'm wondering what your alk is and hoping it hasn't bottomed out low. Sps corals are one that will not tolerate changes for the bad. Any one thing gets off balance and they will show signs of not being happy.
