HELP!!! My corals are dying.

[brandon429]

my last several were on large tanks but we’d just downscale the action for James if he wants to take control of this tank by 3 pm today, most don’t want that kind of resolve. James if you want your tank to look like this by 3 and are ready, lemme know:

Gator reefer before rip clean

and after

one year after as follow up on this reef above

Pest, eggs of some sort, something else?

Anyone know what this white spiral looking thing on my rock is? Noticed it today. Not sure if pest of some sort, or eggs laid by a snail perhaps?

www.reef2reef.com

now that’s a rip clean


it always amazes me when after posting that, about 99% of invasions still persist for months after if we track offers vs accept


there’s something in us that likes the invaded condition, we choose for it much more often than the alternative. By 3 pm today

James if you want your tank fixed right up, post a full tank shot below as it sits now and we will build a rip clean plan.

 

[Goaway]

If I would have left my lights off when my heater broke, I wonder if I could have saved my elegance, wall frogspawn, tree and chalice coral. They were so bleached after that event, I hate thinking about the past.

 

[LRT]

@brandon429 I took my ocean rock out, scrubbed and blasted it with high pressure tap at tank temp.
What is the protocol on blasting dry rock? Would it be better to scrub and clean in system water during water changes? Outside of the tank of course.
@James_O how old is your tank?
Age and maturity of rock in system may be fully dependant on brandons answer id imagine.

 

[James_O]

@brandon429 I took my ocean rock out, scrubbed and blasted it with high pressure tap at tank temp.
What is the protocol on blasting dry rock? Would it be better to scrub and clean in system water during water changes? Outside of the tank of course.
@James_O how old is your tank?
Age and maturity of rock in system may be fully dependant on brandons answer id imagine.

I am interest in the answer to these questions as well.

I’m willing to do anything at this point to save my coral and get rid of this algae. I hate it.

—-

I’m 100% willing to do a complete strip clean and get all those rocks out.

My current concerns in doing this (please give me your thoughts on them)

• The fish - all of that filth in the water, plus all of that debris that may cause a lot of ammonia
• Coral - same reason for fish as well, but I also don’t want to damage any
• Time - how long would it take to do all of this?
• Location - where would be best to do this?

I might have more, but these are the ones right off the top of my head.

 

[James_O]

one year after as follow up on this reef above

Is this the wrong link?

 

[LRT]

I am interest in the answer to these questions as well.

I’m willing to do anything at this point to save my coral and get rid of this algae. I hate it.

—-

I’m 100% willing to do a complete strip clean and get all those rocks out.

My current concerns in doing this (please give me your thoughts on them)

• The fish - all of that filth in the water, plus all of that debris that may cause a lot of ammonia
• Coral - same reason for fish as well, but I also don’t want to damage any
• Time - how long would it take to do all of this?
• Location - where would be best to do this?

I might have more, but these are the ones right off the top of my head.

Take the fish out put in bucket during water change.
Remove water put in tub.
Remove rock put off to side.
Take sand out and thoroughly rinse in separate bucket or tub until water runs clear. You can use tap water for this part every one does.
Clean tank.
Put sand back in.
Scrub rocks and rinse in water change water unless Brandon says its ok to blast your rock with tap water brought up to tank temp.
Put rocks back in but do it smart this time as you very well may have to scrub them a cpl more times during water changes to get a good handle on things.

Rip clean means exactly that. Your tearing it all out and making it new again. Siphon as much water out without disturbing sand and rocks before you take rocks and sand out.
Should be all good from there.
System is ripped clean and total do over.
Weekly water changes, regular maintenance, keeping your temps and params stable will help your system turn the fight around.

Hard work and dedication and more hard work until your system and cuc is able to keep it maintained is how long this will all take. Its up to you how long you want to stretch it out

 

[Goaway]

My current concerns in doing this (please give me your thoughts on them)

• The fish - all of that filth in the water, plus all of that debris that may cause a lot of ammonia
• Coral - same reason for fish as well, but I also don’t want to damage any
• Time - how long would it take to do all of this?
• Location - where would be best to do this?

1. Fish need to be put into a bucket with tank water. You want to keep 70% of the water.
2. Coral need their own container from fish and rock. This makes it easier on you to place them back into the tank when it's ready.
3. You have 30 gallons, and should not take more than 2 hours. I did a rip clean on 100lbs of rock. But I did it before. took less than 2 hours.
4. clean rocks outside.

 

[LRT]

1. Fish need to be put into a bucket with tank water. You want to keep 70% of the water.
2. Coral need their own container from fish and rock. This makes it easier on you to place them back into the tank when it's ready.
3. You have 30 gallons, and should not take more than 2 hours. I did a rip clean on 100lbs of rock. But I did it before. took less than 2 hours.
4. clean rocks outside.

Forgot about the corals I always had another table to put mine in!
My tables where 26 gallons. I actually rip cleaned them once a week for few months. Had it down to about a half hour each.
Remove corals and fish.
Remove water from system. I was able to get nearly all water out of tubs without disturbing bottom.
From there its easy. Brutally man handle rock and rinse.
Rinse sand.
Put sand, rock and water back in.
Put fish and corals back in.
Done.

 

[Goaway]

I don't think he has the buckets to rip clean though. I would say 5 gallon bucket for fish. Difficult for sand as I don't know how many lbs he has. But a 5 gallon should hold it all and a second to place the rinse sand in. a bucket for the rocks to take outside and clean.

I use a 13g plastic garbage can to store my fish in when needed. 5x 5gallon buckets and a few 2 gallon buckets for corals. Winter time, I would use heaters for corals and fish.

 

[James_O]

Some pics:

I did open the blinds a little bit just to add SOME light. Tomorrow I will turn on the lights at 25% and then go to 50% the next day if the coral show good signs.

The big colony is showing signs of recovery.

 

[James_O]

I want to TRY to strip clean it tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Goaway]

I am liking the look of the torch. The swelling is gone.

 

[GHOSTLY]

Phosphate: 0.15ppm
KH: 143.2
dKH: 8
pH: 8.2
Nitrate: 0ppm
Calcium: 430
With these parameters and those corals I assume its high phosphate and No nitrate. It could be light but most likely a mix of low nitrate, high phosphate, and strong lights

 

[brandon429]

That link above shows extreme closeups of his coralline where algae used to be, that thread he made asking about snail eggs was about a year after the rip clean pics above and I noticed that solid coralline in place now, that’s the ideal post rip clean scenario / cleaning off the plants a few times leaves room for actual coralline and corals to be, instead of algae


heres the copy thread for his rip clean:

Algae Identification

Any opinions on what type of algae this is growing on my rocks and sand bed?

www.reef2reef.com

 

[brandon429]

James your reef isn’t even that bad

why not just lift out the rocks and set them on the counter, get access to those lower ones with algae, scrape them clean with a knife, peroxide on the cleaned spots after left burning for 3 mins then rinse off in saltwater (all detailed above, we are doing only a section of activity compared to those wrecked tanks above) set it all back and skip the sand cleaning for now. Your tank does not look as bad as most, hit the rocks that need it and keep all the same water and sand in place, no full rip clean yet merely some guiding and gardening


all you are doing is getting out the rocks that need it, scraping algae off by precision with a pocket knife, rinsing off in saltwater, putting peroxide on the spots now clean that used to have algae for a bit, rinse again and set back in tank. This is the price of dry rocking until coralline takes over


that’s doesn’t mean other ways might not work, but they’re through the water + wait and see, this one is clean within a couple hours option.

 

[James_O]

James your reef isn’t even that bad

why not just lift out the rocks and set them on the counter, get access to those lower ones with algae, scrape them clean with a knife, peroxide on the cleaned spots after left burning for 3 mins then rinse off in saltwater (all detailed above, we are doing only a section of activity compared to those wrecked tanks above) set it all back and skip the sand cleaning for now. Your tank does not look as bad as most, hit the rocks that need it and keep all the same water and sand in place, no full rip clean yet merely some guiding and gardening


all you are doing is getting out the rocks that need it, scraping algae off by precision with a pocket knife, rinsing off in saltwater, putting peroxide on the spots now clean that used to have algae for a bit, rinse again and set back in tank. This is the price of dry rocking until coralline takes over


that’s doesn’t mean other ways might not work, but they’re through the water + wait and see, this one is clean within a couple hours option.

Will try to do this tomorrow.

What should I do with the rock that has my big colony on it? The palys are attached, so I can’t really like wash the rock without wrecking them.

 

[Goaway]

Will try to do this tomorrow.

What should I do with the rock that has my big colony on it? The palys are attached, so I can’t really like wash the rock without wrecking them.

Scrub in tank water first. Add 1 ounce of peroxide per 3 ounces of salt water for final scrub. Should be no more than 5 minutes. Rinse off in clean saltwater when done.

 

[brandon429]

Might have to leave those for later consideration and get what you can for the easier items

for sure read the work example back to front, know how to clean it by disassembly if needed even though this first round is light work. Along with direct handling risks for paly rocks theres detritus clouds to consider etc, know rip clean procedure before beginning that way you can redo the job correctly in a couple days if your light work here reveals a very messy tank

 

[James_O]

I know it really doesn’t look like it, but I did manage to get algae out yesterday. I will be removing eve more today as well.

The coral are showing great signs of recovery!!!

(the pink and gold palys are pretty much wasted. Still alive and showing good signs, but their colors are completely drained. )


I have opened the curtains to allow light in the last few days, and I think it’s really helped them get slowly reintroduced to light. I haven’t even turned on the tank lights since the day I started this thread.

I think tomorrow I will turn on the lights, at 50% of what they usually are. I’m just so happy they are recovering!

(I will also be removing a few of the top rocks and blasting the heck out of them)

 

[James_O]

Also, the Kenya tree is splitting. Weird little booger - why choose this of all times to split!?

Looking much better though.


(I plan to deep clean the rock at the Kenya is on, because it has the most algae of any of the rocks)