OP
OP
eschulist
Active Member
Hey everyone,
Long time no post, and it was kinda for a reason. In the winter of 2021-2022 a few of the corals started slow tissue necrosing and things just kept continuing to decline. Over probably 6 months I lost almost every coral and a couple fish including my Venustus (profile picture fish) and I completely lost motivation in the reef.
I still had my clown, royal gramma, widow nem, and 1-2 corals (My red blastos and the blue ridge seem to be able to survive nuclear level meltdowns) I continued to feed the fish and keep the tank running but it was pretty bare for about 2 years.
This spring I just happened to see our local reef club was having their frag swap so I took a chance on a couple frags to see if I could have success again. Probably spent too much rather than testing with some FIF canary corals but by doing so it lit a fire under my butt to make sure I put in the work to keep them alive.
A week or two later everything was doing well. Coraline was going crazy, corals were surviving so I decided to keep pushing. I ordered myself a new captive breed baby Venustus from Biota, another Midas, and a red firefish.
The fish have all been doing great!
A few weeks later my 2 of the SPS corals I bought at the swap, the yellow encrusting Monti (Maybe CrazyT or Minions) was losing its yellow color and so was the Anacropora. All of the main salt parameters and nutrients tested great. Then it dawned on me. Even with the large water changes my trace elements have probably been striped to absolute zero over the last few years, which might have even been the reason for the decline and crash in 2022. I probably could have done an ICP test to confirm but I wanted to try and save the 2 corals before those results would even get back. I decided to switch from my usual BRS 2 part that I've used for years to All-For-Reef. With a tank this size I figured it was a no brainer to switch. I ordered the powder form and mixed up a batch and replaced the CA container with the AFR. I left the Alk in the other container and have it currently turned off at the DOS but could tweak it and add little bits if I needed to suppliment.
Since making the switch those 2 corals have shown recovery and are regaining their tissue and yellow coloration!!
Now with this success that those corals are improving and showing bits of growth I've gone back all in and have ordered a bunch of corals online. So far not a single coral has shown decline and I'm really happy!!
Long time no post, and it was kinda for a reason. In the winter of 2021-2022 a few of the corals started slow tissue necrosing and things just kept continuing to decline. Over probably 6 months I lost almost every coral and a couple fish including my Venustus (profile picture fish) and I completely lost motivation in the reef.
I still had my clown, royal gramma, widow nem, and 1-2 corals (My red blastos and the blue ridge seem to be able to survive nuclear level meltdowns) I continued to feed the fish and keep the tank running but it was pretty bare for about 2 years.
This spring I just happened to see our local reef club was having their frag swap so I took a chance on a couple frags to see if I could have success again. Probably spent too much rather than testing with some FIF canary corals but by doing so it lit a fire under my butt to make sure I put in the work to keep them alive.
- Nice tipped torch
- A new Kelly Green Psammacora
- An encusting Orange Psammacora
- Yellow Monti
- Golden Rod Anacropra
- Pot of Gold Favia
A week or two later everything was doing well. Coraline was going crazy, corals were surviving so I decided to keep pushing. I ordered myself a new captive breed baby Venustus from Biota, another Midas, and a red firefish.
The fish have all been doing great!
A few weeks later my 2 of the SPS corals I bought at the swap, the yellow encrusting Monti (Maybe CrazyT or Minions) was losing its yellow color and so was the Anacropora. All of the main salt parameters and nutrients tested great. Then it dawned on me. Even with the large water changes my trace elements have probably been striped to absolute zero over the last few years, which might have even been the reason for the decline and crash in 2022. I probably could have done an ICP test to confirm but I wanted to try and save the 2 corals before those results would even get back. I decided to switch from my usual BRS 2 part that I've used for years to All-For-Reef. With a tank this size I figured it was a no brainer to switch. I ordered the powder form and mixed up a batch and replaced the CA container with the AFR. I left the Alk in the other container and have it currently turned off at the DOS but could tweak it and add little bits if I needed to suppliment.
Since making the switch those 2 corals have shown recovery and are regaining their tissue and yellow coloration!!
Now with this success that those corals are improving and showing bits of growth I've gone back all in and have ordered a bunch of corals online. So far not a single coral has shown decline and I'm really happy!!
