Can’t keep SPS alive !

[vetteguy53081]

 

[X-37B]

Possibly but where is it comming from?

 

[Jackooze]

Possibly but where is it comming from?

Not sure but while I investigate I ordered Seachem Cuprisorb to remove it.

 

[X-37B]

You may have knocked some rust loose during the move and it got into the tank. Check all pumps, powerheads, magnets and other for rust.

 

[Jackooze]

You may have knocked some rust loose during the move and it got into the tank. Check all pumps, powerheads, magnets and other for rust.

I am just wondering if it was rust wouldn’t that also have high levels of cooper ?

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I think there is probably a connection there between the low nutrients and lack of coralline.

The competition in a low nutrient system for N and P can be fierce, and some algae (and even corals) are just far more effective at getting to the nutrients. Obviously, the scrubber here is your main source of competition.

Don’t underestimate your soft corals capacity for nutrient uptake. I have a mixed reef that I do that’s really successful. A while back, I noticed that the skimmer wasn’t really pulling much out, but the corals (including SPS) all looked really good. Water tests showed NO3 @ ~5, PO4 @ ~0.03. Stopped using GFO to see what the PO4 would do, and after a few months, it was the same and even a little lower.

One thing I hate doing is attributing causation to correlation. But in this particular tank, there is a toadstool and GSP that have gotten massive...the toadstool is about 16” in diameter, and the GSP colony covers a rock the size of a football. So, in a 120g tank with about 40 fish and 2 big feedings a day, no skimmate production, no GFO, little in e way of water changes, we have 5ppm NO3 and 0.02ppm PO4 and a number of happy SPS. Hmmmm....

The point of that whole ramble is that I think there is a benefit of giving corals right of first refusal to nutrients rather than stripping them all and making the corals deal with it. I’ve had far more success letting things go until I got to the point of coral growth AND algae growth...and then dialing nutrients back. Some food for thought.

 

[Jackooze]

I think there is probably a connection there between the low nutrients and lack of coralline.

The competition in a low nutrient system for N and P can be fierce, and some algae (and even corals) are just far more effective at getting to the nutrients. Obviously, the scrubber here is your main source of competition.

Don’t underestimate your soft corals capacity for nutrient uptake. I have a mixed reef that I do that’s really successful. A while back, I noticed that the skimmer wasn’t really pulling much out, but the corals (including SPS) all looked really good. Water tests showed NO3 @ ~5, PO4 @ ~0.03. Stopped using GFO to see what the PO4 would do, and after a few months, it was the same and even a little lower.

One thing I hate doing is attributing causation to correlation. But in this particular tank, there is a toadstool and GSP that have gotten massive...the toadstool is about 16” in diameter, and the GSP colony covers a rock the size of a football. So, in a 120g tank with about 40 fish and 2 big feedings a day, no skimmate production, no GFO, little in e way of water changes, we have 5ppm NO3 and 0.02ppm PO4 and a number of happy SPS. Hmmmm....

The point of that whole ramble is that I think there is a benefit of giving corals right of first refusal to nutrients rather than stripping them all and making the corals deal with it. I’ve had far more success letting things go until I got to the point of coral growth AND algae growth...and then dialing nutrients back. Some food for thought.

That makes complete sense. I am going to turn off my turf scrubber and see how the tank reacts. Once I notice my po4 start going up should I turn it back on ?

 

[X-37B]

I am just wondering if it was rust wouldn’t that also have high levels of cooper ?

Search for elevated tin.
It will give you an idea of where its comming from.

 

[Lasse]

I do not know if the Tin value create YOUR problem but I know that the same low nutrients levels have made SIMILAR problems in other tanks.
When I get back a result with high levels of some unwanted - I normally wait till it have been confirmed with the next test.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

That makes complete sense. I am going to turn off my turf scrubber and see how the tank reacts. Once I notice my po4 start going up should I turn it back on ?

Not necessarily. Watch your corals response. Obviously if the PO4 shoots up, have an action plan ready. But it probably won’t go up much if there isn’t a substantial change in feeding/biomass.

I think it’s great that we can test so much, so accurately. But I think it makes it so that people watch their numbers more than their corals. I manage a bunch of reef tanks, but rarely test the water. I watch the corals. Keeps me from chasing numbers.

 

[svogun]

I agree with everyone above. Get the nutrients up. Don't chase the numbers. Watch the corals.

 

[Jackooze]

If I reduce the light cycle time for the scrubber will that increase nutrients or it has to be fully turned off ?

 

[svogun]

If I reduce the light cycle time for the scrubber will that increase nutrients or it has to be fully turned off ?

I’d take it offline. When I first added sps to my system I had the same issue. Took my fuge lighting down to 6 hrs and dosed nitrate and phosphate. Then I waited. It took about 6 to 8 weeks for the corals to recover but they did.

 

[Jackooze]

Sup guys , since my last post I turned off my scrubber and conditions in the tank haven’t improved. Not only have all my sps died I am now having issues with my torches, hammers and BTA, they are not fully opening up. Since I turned off my scrubber No3 has gone up to 10ppm and Po4 is 0 on the Hanna meter. Makes me wonder now what can possibly causing my coral to suffer when all my parameters are good.

Since my ICP results showed high levels of TIN I started searching for anything corroding. The first mp40 pump I opened up
I came across rust on the spindle where the propeller sits on. My other mp40 has a speck of rust. I tried cleaning it but it won’t come off.
Here’s my question can this be the cause of all my problems ?
How can I clean this rust off or do I have to replace the wet side of the pump ?

 

[svogun]

You can use citric acid to get the rust off. I’ve even used lemon juice to remove rust. Do you run GAC?

 

[dwest]

Sup guys , since my last post I turned off my scrubber and conditions in the tank haven’t improved. Not only have all my sps died I am now having issues with my torches, hammers and BTA, they are not fully opening up. Since I turned off my scrubber No3 has gone up to 10ppm and Po4 is 0 on the Hanna meter. Makes me wonder now what can possibly causing my coral to suffer when all my parameters are good.

Since my ICP results showed high levels of TIN I started searching for anything corroding. The first mp40 pump I opened up
I came across rust on the spindle where the propeller sits on. My other mp40 has a speck of rust. I tried cleaning it but it won’t come off.
Here’s my question can this be the cause of all my problems ?
How can I clean this rust off or do I have to replace the wet side of the pump ?

Zero phosphate with hanna. That’s impressive (not in a good way). So your scrubber has been off for a weeks right? You don’t use gfo or some other phosphate reducer do you?

I saw the high tin result. I've never had that but I know there are discussions about that issue. Did you learn anything about what might be the cause of that? I personally don’t think it’s the rust from your vortechs. I’ve seen that on mine before and don’t have high tin. I would keep pulling stuff apart and checking though.

 

[aqua_code]

high tin is from plumbing additions. It's in the new PVC pipes. Do water changes to flush it out of your system.

 

[Jackooze]

Zero phosphate with hanna. That’s impressive (not in a good way). So your scrubber has been off for a weeks right? You don’t use gfo or some other phosphate reducer do you?

I saw the high tin result. I've never had that but I know there are discussions about that issue. Did you learn anything about what might be the cause of that? I personally don’t think it’s the rust from your vortechs. I’ve seen that on mine before and don’t have high tin. I would keep pulling stuff apart and checking though.

Hanna has been giving 0 for the past week no matter how many I test I do through out the day. Scrubber has been off and I don’t use anything else but a skimmer.
Any research I find regarding TIN has to do with new pvc piping or new tank glass. I was hoping someone was gonna confirm it was because of the pump rust. Now I’m still at a loss.

 

[Jackooze]

high tin is from plumbing additions. It's in the new PVC pipes. Do water changes to flush it out of your system.

I don’t have any new PVC. Last time I replaced piping was 6 months ago. Since then I have done dozens of water changes.

 

[aqua_code]

Check out this thread:

ICP-analysis results high tin

My frogspawns have been looking not so great for about a month, so I decided to send in an ICP test. I thought I might save some money and time and go with ICP-analysis.com as they are a US company. I got my results back the same day they received my sample which I thought was amazing, but...

www.reef2reef.com

Tin may come from the glass itself (the float side is floated on molten tin) or PVC (it is sometimes added as a heat stabilizer).

May want to try cuprisorb to remove the tin.