Help Needed!

EricTheRed said:
Dan, this is crazy. You have browning up high on some and bleaching down low on others. Could there be 2 issues at the same time? The only thing I can think of is to drop your alk a little bit. There is a lot of evidence to support that it should be 7-8 dkh when carbon dosing. Higher than 8 can cause bleaching...but you're only at a 9...???...how new is your alk test kit?

Other than that it sounds like your idea of testing the par should be your next step.
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Thanks ETR... The test kit is just a couple months old. I have already reduced the amount of Kalk in my top off. This should help bring the ALK down as well.

Next step is finding a PAR Meter. Some over on RS hve said they have measured par on their sand at 591 under these lights full on. Yikes. I doubt I am getting that much in my 30" deep tank.... but... in a ULN system... who knows.

Let me know if you have a line on PAR Meters!!!!
 
Thanks to "Crooks" for his assit this afternoon... I now have PAR values for my Apollo Reed 15k Solar Blast LED above my tank.

What strikes me is that this is with both blues and whites at 100%....and unless we were up at the top... just under the water level.... which had a 875 par value.... none of the readings at all...would suggest that I am cooking anything with the lights.

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I sent these same readings to Joe at Apollo Reef to review and am waiting for his feedback. Though I have to say, Joe told me point blank the other night that the lights were not cooking my coral. BTW... he is a great guy and has spent a few hours on the phone with me to trouble shoot different things... I do not know what other vendor would do that!!!

Anyway... so unless I am missing something here... I do not think any of these par values would suggest that the light is the problem. OH.... also just for reference the light is 11.5" above the water line.... and the tank is 30" from top to bottom. If anyone has other ideas around the light... please chime in.

So, the next hypothesis is that I am running too low of a nutrient system. I had been running GFO and Carbon in a BRS Dual Reactor....as well as bio pellets... and a strong skimmer.... Joe at Apollo suggested that maybe... I am running too low of nutrients... or stripping out too much. Crooks suggested the same thing. Observations were how clean the back sides are... the rock is... The tank has been running since December. I have a lot of nano fish and a really good cleanup crew. I also run bare bottom. Everything that goes in...gets eaten.. and filtered out... or just filtered out. Nothing sticks around such a fish poo... or left overs... to raise the nutrient level.

I shut down the GFO and Carbon Reactors two days ago... thinking that might be over kill. I am going to keep that shutdown for now. I am going to up my feeding a bit... and I am going to find a couple of addiitonal fish...a little bigger fish.. to add to the tank.

I would be interested in everyone's opinions and additional ideas.
 
Wouldn't it be better to keep the carbon running and kill your skimmer half the day or so to let your corals absorb nutrients in the water before being skimmed out? The carbon is pulling more impurities than nutrients, will keep the stinky fish smell at bay and floss your water. The skimmer removes the extra food your tank needs right now.
 
FishBeard said:
Wouldn't it be better to keep the carbon running and kill your skimmer half the day or so to let your corals absorb nutrients in the water before being skimmed out? The carbon is pulling more impurities than nutrients, will keep the stinky fish smell at bay and floss your water. The skimmer removes the extra food your tank needs right now.
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Good point George! That might not be a bad idea. I could run the skimmer in the over night hours and have the greater reduction in noise...though that skimmer does not produce a lot. I could even do the same with the carbon... to run part of the time... like overnight. I guess that is one of the advantages of having the Apex controller as the programming is quite simple.

What other thougths do people have?
 
My other thought is your flametail eats too much, you should let me take him off your hands, the coral needs the food more. I'll send you a bill for relocating services.
 
FishBeard said:
My other thought is your flametail eats too much, you should let me take him off your hands, the coral needs the food more. I'll send you a bill for relocating services.
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My 10 year old daughter was looking over my shoulder when I read this... she said "Yeah.... Hell No!" LMAO!!!!!
 
What branch?

DanSreef said:
Nah.... Drill Instructors.....
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You have some drill intructors in the family? What branch of service? I am a recruit division commander(RDC) out at naval station great lakes. I can take today youth and whoop them in to fighting shape in eight weeks flat!
 
RedDevil.258 said:
You have some drill intructors in the family? What branch of service? I am a recruit division commander(RDC) out at naval station great lakes. I can take today youth and whoop them in to fighting shape in eight weeks flat!
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Nope... we aren’t drill instructors.... just called one on occasion... You know kids these days... A little discipline... and next thing you hear is ok Sarge!

So how long you been up at Great Lakes? By the way....Thank You for your service!

I did the old ROTC stuff in college...and I was supposed to go into flight school. Then a half blind flight surgeon out of the old NAS Glenview failed me on an entrance eye test. I had a slight astigmatism (sp?) in my right eye. Complete BS... if you ask me… They had me read a chart in a dark and dank hallway in their clinic there. Hell... I don’t think anyone of the group that I went through with passed. Anyway… once you failed … it was a no go from there…even if you could prove them wrong… I think it was all BS and they were trying to move front seaters into the backseaters... That was not my cup of tea.... So... I never followed through with a commission. Of course... now... my eyes are still near 20/20 and all the rotorheads and plane drivers I would have started with...and still are friends with today...are blind as bats.... Oh Well.

Keep up the great work! Thanks again for your service!
 
So, I have not done an update in over a month.... Hard to Believe!

Well the problems I was having must have been related to a super ultra low nutrient system. I did the par readings... and those did not really concern me. I shut down the carbon and GFO reactor and started dosing with Aquavitro Fuel at the suggestion of ETR. Thanks Eric! I also upped the ammount I feed both the corals and the fish. The result.... the tissue recession has stopped on my various birds nest colonies. The recession of the various stags I have also stopped. Some pieces I thought were toast are now coloring up... though some I think are a total loss. My Montis are toast... fortunately I can get some new pieces. I have growth on some other corals...and zoas... and the coraline algae has begun to grow. I also ended up losing my pepermint shrimp and a couple of the chromis.... not sure the reason there.

I have the LEDs up to near full intensity....I think 85% on whites and 100%on blues. I am once again seeing growth on some like the green slimmer and the forest fire digi....which I thought was a goner. it is back big time....lots of poly extension and growth.

So... it looks like the bare bottom tank and all of the filtration I am doing just basically stripped the system clean....and in such a low nutrient environment...the corals failed... The LEDs had nothing to do with the problems... Though.... I have to admit... I wish there was a red LED or two in the light. I am seeing some amazing LED setups....and I am missing some of the color I see in those. I may need to contact Joe and see if something can be done.

I am getting ready to introduce a Mimic Tang and a Convict Tang to the system to add a little fish load. They have been in QT almost 3 weeks and have been eating like crazy. That should add nicely to the nutrient of the system. The skimmer is still drawing a huge amount of nasty skimmate...I am sure it will increase with the new tangs introduced. I am now looking forward to a trip to MCF to get some new corals to replace some that I lost.

More to come!
 
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