Hey everyone, so heres what im coming up against: i started into saltwater 3 years ago in the nano world, ive bumped up from a 7.9gal on my night stand to a 16gal on my dresser and now im up to my 36gal in my living room (each time i transfer everything over to the larger tank to clarify only 1 system running not 3) i have gone from a softy tank to mixed reef. So now my frustration comes in. Ive been doing all the tanks bewteen multiple apartments and on a budget so they are nothing extravagant. Just a tank, a led light, heater, powerhead, and a hang on the back filter. I know this is not an ideal setup, but up untill now ive never had any issuses and my corals have always looked fat and happy with great colors and growth. I have had to keep up with constant large waterchanges and water checks to keep all my params in check. Like i said my system has been doing great... untill recently. I have tried everything from flow change, light changes, changing my salt, increased water change rate. All my params are steady and all my corals are doing fine, except they keep dying off one by one, i have lost almost all my sps. Ive had one gold torch melt while the torch next to it is thriving! My leptos and other encrusters have been exploding with growth while my acros have been totaly wiped out. Im at a total loss and to be completely honest thinking about throwing in the towel on this tank and cut my losses. I love this hobby and love my corals and my clowns. I dont want to give up but i am at the point where im running out of options and scared of a total crash. Honestly just dont know what to do.
Frustrations!!!
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- Thread starter Payson
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EriksOasis
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First thing everyone is going to ask for is a recent test result of all parameters. Also some pictures could help out. What kind of light are you using?
tdileo
Valuable Member
As previously stated, params will help us be more accurate so get those up as soon as you can.
Based off of your post it sounds like only SPS dying, right?
My guess is either not enough flow or nutrients being too high. When they die, what happens? Do they bleach out, brown, experience major tissue loss quickly (RTN) or slowly (STN)?
A mixed reef also presents other problems. Some softies will leech toxins into the waters to inhibit growth of other corals, most LPS can put out pretty big sweeper tentacles that can badly sting and kill other corals, and even some SPS will expel things inside of them to fight for space.
Based off of your post it sounds like only SPS dying, right?
My guess is either not enough flow or nutrients being too high. When they die, what happens? Do they bleach out, brown, experience major tissue loss quickly (RTN) or slowly (STN)?
A mixed reef also presents other problems. Some softies will leech toxins into the waters to inhibit growth of other corals, most LPS can put out pretty big sweeper tentacles that can badly sting and kill other corals, and even some SPS will expel things inside of them to fight for space.
Not only sps, i have lost 3 acan colonies, amd half of my tubbs blue zoas. My sps died slow and fast. My hawkins bleached over night. My red dragon deteriated over several weeks from the base up. My green slimer browned, colored back and has browned out again, it has a tip with a little polyp activity still. My raimbow acan lord colony (over 30 heads) is gone. My rr iron man acan colony (15heads with babies) melted over a couple days. The only zoas that have been affected are my blues (down to 5 heads from 15). I have a euphy garden, i have a 4 head gold torch whitch is a monster its looks amazing, my 1 head gold torch melted about a month ago. My other torches and spawns seem to be of the fritz too though. They ate all fully open for about 3 hours a day and are pouty the rest of the time, one of my frog spawns has one of its three heads melting. I have a splater hammer with about 10 heads that ive never even seen partially closed while the lights are on.
EriksOasis
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How long has your current system been running with that led light?
Could there be large fluctuations in temp?
Sorry to hear your losses. Dont give up.
Couple of things I would mention is that dont change too many things at once.. even if the situation detoriates.. it makes harder to diagnose problem. Most of the corals you have lost, are not very hardy. So, it is possible that water has some contaminant or in general the water params are not correct.
I do not think HoB filter will be enough for most acroporas, you need more than that.
Share as much details as possible about your choice of equipments, water change regiment, source of water, salt etc.
I know at least couple of folks who had bad experience with fritz salt, .. so worth cross checking
Couple of things I would mention is that dont change too many things at once.. even if the situation detoriates.. it makes harder to diagnose problem. Most of the corals you have lost, are not very hardy. So, it is possible that water has some contaminant or in general the water params are not correct.
I do not think HoB filter will be enough for most acroporas, you need more than that.
Share as much details as possible about your choice of equipments, water change regiment, source of water, salt etc.
I know at least couple of folks who had bad experience with fritz salt, .. so worth cross checking
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