Z & Ps not happy - tank pissed - help?

DB9181

DB9181

New member
Alright ... I severally pissed off my tank.

Last week noticed some HA on my eggcrate frag racks so I thought i minus well re-generate my 2 bags of purigen. In the meantime I thought I'd try out a bag (1 unit) of chemipure since I had taken out my carbon to change it out afew weeks back and forgot to replace it. I've never had issues w/ activated carbon in filter bags undernegth my 2 drains going into the sump. I thought I rinsed out the chemipure enough but noticed probably 80% of my Z/P collected partically closed/shrivled up. Also noticed some SPS RTNing, and my purple idaho crap out on me... Not really concerned about the SPS, more worried about my Z/Ps - Thinking maybe the SPS were due to an alk swing or something.

My thought is that particulate matter from the chemipure (being rinsed too well or not well enough) was irritating my z/ps. This past weekend i took a closer look and the HA had really started taking over my eggcrate racks.
View attachment 18122
(It was pretty solid/thick in between the eggcrate)

So I removed the rest of the racks I had in there and move those frags to the sandbed - No HA growing on rocks. I manually removed as much as I could from some of the plugs, the bad ones i did a peroxide dip. Thinking that it was particulate matter in the water that was irritating the rest of the poylps i removed the chemipure, started running my skimmer wet, added back in the regenerated purigen, put filter floss in between the sump baffles to try and catch debris and did a 25% WC (25-30gals). Things seem to be doing slightly better - I added 2 frags from AP post WC, etc and they seem to be open like normal ... some of my others are starting to open more but im still worried about it.

Any other suggestions??? Another big water change? Some additive/supplement? Dip in revive? I have a nice order coming from PZ tomorrow and want to have the best situation possible - as i mentioned, frags added post WC, etc seem to be fairing much better than the frags that were in my tank the whole time. I may add afew frags from my frag tank to the DT tonight just to see how the polyps react...

Advice? Oh and no i dont have test results/readings... I can get them tonight, but I dont really think its a Ammonia, etc issue.
 
27 views and nothing? lol

Below are some really crappy pictures, but they kind of show u the state of the polyps - again, there as some frags/colonies that are almost fully open/normal but the vast majority ~80% look like this...

View attachment 18130
This rock has gobstoppers, peperoni, and god of wars - as you can see they're all shriveled up...

View attachment 18131
Here you got vivid rainbows and pink hippos in the back... again slightly opened but pissed/shrivled -up front you can see a frag of Blue Rhinos that looks pretty much normal showing that not all z/ps are effected.

25% WC was on Saturday...I guess i'll start mixing up more water, guess it cant hurt. New frags may end up in the frag tank - although its only a 20L w/ a HOB filter, I just threw on my SS-65 Skimmer since it looks like my AquaLife 115 stopped running... I havent really gotten the 2 Par38s set right to get color/growth (z/p stalks are very extended yet they ended up getting bleached). I've moved the bulbs higher - This tank may be a better option for the new arrivals. FML lol
 
maybe they got particle in them and they are working them out
maybe try to blow on the with a turkey baster and see if it helps :noidea:
 
The eggcrates will algae up, they all do. Nothing to do with your water quality. Algae is feeding off whats on the crate. Soaking the crate in peroxide will kill off algae on it.
I stopped using my carbon (Rox) because I started having mass STN and RTN with my SPS corals. Carbon was absorbing too much from the water.
 
frostyjay1 said:
maybe they got particle in them and they are working them out
maybe try to blow on the with a turkey baster and see if it helps :noidea:
Click to expand...

thanks Jason, I got roughly 25gal of new water mixing but need to give it afew hours ill try basting them and see if that helps.

its not my RO/DI:
tap water: 133ppm
rodi: 1ppm
waste water: 202ppm

working on getting water perimeters ...
 
Try looking into carbon dosing. It knock out all the algae you have growing. Clean up the tank a little more.
 
I had activated carbon going but took it out to replaced it, and never got around to adding it back in (something came up right when i was working on the tank) I have a phosban reactor that I can run carbon and/or GFO just gotta get it hooked up/see if I have a suitable pump to run it.
 
I've noticed that my znps get pissy when my nitrates are immeasurable. I don't use any carbon, but do run a gfo reactor with a good amount of gfo.
 
DD said:
I've noticed that my znps get pissy when my nitrates are immeasurable. I don't use any carbon, but do run a gfo reactor with a good amount of gfo.
Click to expand...

Same with me. I don't know what your levels are at but check those. I had a problem with my zoas when my nitrates hit 0 after too much carbon dosing. I stopped and once my nitrates went back up to 5ppm-10ppm, everything looked MUCH better.

As long as your zoas are open somewhat, I think you are good and they will bounce back. I wouldn't dip them just yet, it might stress them out more. Check your levels first before you start doing a lot of water changes. If the particles went into them, just grab a small koralia and blow over them for a bit to get anything on them off. Hope they pull through.
 
Alright....
Salinity: 1.025
Mag: 1220-1280 (roughly - Red Sea test)
Alk: 7ish (red sea test)
Ca: 370-390 (red sea test)
nitrate: 0 (API) zero = bad ... Yeah I stripped everything
ph: 7.8 (API) low side... Opens some windows (?)
Phos: tested twice 0.24 & 0.32 (Hanna) mine have always been alil high since I'm not using gfo right now ... I could add some poly-filter to help absorb phos ... Yes/no?

i just don't understand ... Now corals (z/p, ducan, plates, frogspawn, and even forest fire digi) are all starting to bleach yet some z/p, hammer, and other sps aren't and are seemingly total normal/open.

frag tank's (diff system) ph and trates are the same as DT but everything in there is open - guess ill start moving over my z/ps =\
 
Dan, I got the HA in the frag rack too and also in the Overflow and sum. I dosing vinegar and a bag of GFO in the overflow the HA less and leas now. Too much PO4 in my tank and lost some high end Z&P last couple months. Now everything seem OK to me and they are all happy.
In my experience, if too low N and P (like zero) coral unhappy same as N & P too high they easy to close up and melt.

P = 0.03 to 0.07 and N < 0.2 --> coral happy
 
Yeah i know the Phos is way to high - I added a piece of poly-filter in between a baffle to hopefully absorb some of the phosphates until i can my Phosban going (not sure if I have an apporiate pump) I can toss a bag of GFO in the sump for the time being but i just dont want to strip Phos to quickly as well. I know my pH is low - just tested again and we might be at 8 now.

Well after 4-5hrs, nearly all of my z/ps have been moved over to the DT - I left afew (8-10) frags/mini colonies in the DT for observation/test - most of those seem to be uneffected by whatever is going on so at least I can monitor if it gets worse and they start going down hill too.

My 20L frag tank currently looks like this:
View attachment 18208
Right side of rack is everything that was in there condensed - the rest of the rack/under the left half (which is completely full) and the frags/colonies on the rocks on either side are all from the DT.

View attachment 18209
It'll be a sight if/when they bounce back ... Yes I love Z/Ps, we've all established that...

Frag tank setup:
20L w/ 10-15lbs of LR
HOB Filter w/ Carbon and some K1
SuperSkimmer 65 (my AquaLife 115 crapped out) so we toss the extra big-boy on
Small PH (either a K1 or K2)
2 16K full Spec Par38s from CC

Also currently hosting Purple Tilefish and Blue Midas blenny for QT/Observation (not copper, only medicated mysis)
Frag tank's pH is the same range as DT, same as nitrates and Phos read 0.33 (Hannas are great but... that powder is so #@% hard to get all into the vial, thus 2 reading on the DT were completely different). Everything thats been in the Frag tank has been fine (minus color lose/fading/bleaching but thats due to getting the Par38s adjusted) Even the frags I added from PZ yesterday are all open and looking great.

Guess its just a waiting game now...
 
I think since you haven't changed the carbon in a timely manner and all of sudden you did.. This caused your water to be super clear and light penetrate more.. Which could have shocked your corals...

This is just my crazy mind working :D
 
I'm sure everything will turn out fine Dan, just keep your head up. If you need anything just call me bro, I'm right around the corner.
 
Steve1986 said:
I'm sure everything will turn out fine Dan, just keep your head up. If you need anything just call me bro, I'm right around the corner.
Click to expand...

Thanks Steve, I appreciate it - Assuming things go as the have been in the frag tank, I think I'll be okay - it just depends on if some frags are too far gone. But then again z/ps are pretty resistant and can eventually bounce back. I've lost several SPS from this too, but I think I'm straying away form those/except for low end 'fillers'.

Lil BamBam said:
I think since you haven't changed the carbon in a timely manner and all of sudden you did.. This caused your water to be super clear and light penetrate more.. Which could have shocked your corals...

This is just my crazy mind working :D
Click to expand...

I totally agree that could be a likely reasoning since chemipure is carbon based - The bleaching began after I made all these changes. The odd part (at least for the z/ps) is that they were on racked 1/2 up my tank getting ~200ish par at 60% Blues 50% Whites and I dropped them down to the sand bed (9-12 inches) but did not increase my lighting strength. I can only imagine how quickly they would have bleached had they still been higher.

Currently running Skimmer, purigen, and a sheet of poly-filter (to absorb phos). Glass is starting to need a cleaning again (speaking of which... I used to have hundreds of the dwarf cirths on my glass at night and they're pop has def declined...might need to boost up my CUC.

I have afew options...Looking for suggestions as I do not wait to make any more drastic changes...
1) Feed fish regularly/slightly heavy to get trates back up.
2) Add bag of GFO to sump (possibly get Phosban Reactor running if i have an extra pump) to reduce phos (which, according to my Frag tank readings isn't excessively higher than usual)
3) Add back fresh Activated Carbon Bag
4) Water Change (have not done anything since Saturdays 25%)
5) Reduce LED strength
6) Still need to get Alk up (and pH which has always been low), I do have reef fusion I could dose - other suggestions?
7) __________
8) Do nothing, just wait
9) Pray to the great baby Jesus in the sky
 
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