My Green Slimer went from this...... To this..... PICS--Acro Help Please

[JDK]

Well things are getting worse not better. I am still detecting copper in the tank using a Salifert test kit- reading .01
The poly-filter has been running for a few days and has not changed color or apparently removed any copper. The blue tint of the test vial looks the same.
Got some Seachem Cuprisorb today and will begin running that right now in a sock in a high flow area.

Now my problem is ALL other acros are turning for the worse......

I have increased the light intesity almost back to where it was. Blue and Royal blue are back up to 95% but I kept the whites around 50%
I do not know what else to do the lack of light seems to have hurt things more.

The Blue Mille is 90% dead. Other acros are showing some type of tissue necrosis I think but it does not look like stn??? Tips and bases. It does not look like normal tissue necrosis like I am used to where you can see the flesh peeling off. They are just white. It is very very white. All this began BEFORE I started raising the light levels.

The orange crush acro and Jason Fox unknown which have had the best PE and color out of every frag are showing white bases around the rim of the encrusting edge. The JF Unknown is also showing white tips. A green acro which has had the best growth of any coral in my tank is also showing white at the encrusting edge. This all happened early last week. The slimer is not showing these characteristics nor is the stylo or pink lemonade frags.

It sucks because these were the best growers and colors in the tank and now it appears they are declining and possibly dying. I had never really mentioned them before cause they were fine.

Here are the ugly pics. Past few days I am probably the most frustrated I have ever been in this hobby. Running out of ideas and patience.

New Pics- weird white spots?

7-12-12
Orange crush

Jason Fox Unknown ACRO

Green acro unknown name

 

[mcarroll]

Poly Filter in a high-flow area (e.g drip tray, between baffles, in overflow chamber, etc)?

You should get some kind of indication in not-too-long from it if there's still Cu (and/or something else) in the tank and there's plenty of flow through it. Give the corals time though - even once you start doing water changes with your rebuilt RODI media (which I think will make the ultimate difference....Poly Filters and Cuprisorb are just trying to clean up the mess a little.) it'll take some time for them to fully recover. This could be much worse too - I don't see anyone in your pics who shouldn't make a big recovery.

You'll make it!!

-Matt

 

[impur]

Thats what all my montis did when I switched to my LEDs. Dang man I feel for you, really hope you get this sorted out soon.

 

[tangs are awsome]

Your rocks are acting like sponges. Most people do not know that rock holds elements from the water. Your rock can still be leaching stuff back into your system. If you can remove the rock from your system and let it sit in a container for a few days with salt water, your chemical remover, sponge pad, and power head. I have If you are using the same source for water dry boiling it before you mix it. I know you stated your copper level was zero now but I am paranoid. Any thing with copper problems makes me leery of future problems. Sorry to hear about your problems still not clearing up. Hope this helps a bit.

 

[blurry]

any updates?

 

[Adrnalnrsh]

any updates?

Ditto! Any?

 

[Blindf8th]

Hi JDK,

Whether you choose to update this thread or not, I just wanted to say thank you for sharing it with us. This thread is one of the most informative and thought provoking tank challenges I've come across in a long time. As it has been 3 months since your last update, I'm assuming things turned for the worse. We hope not, but there are many people anxious to hear how things turned out; to bring closure to the fight you went through, etc. Earlier in the thread, you mentioned one of the reasons you posted this thread in such detail was to help others with similar challenges. Give us an update as time permits over the coming days if you don't mind? Either way, we hope you're doing well and enjoying the hobby for what it is....FUN

 

[Young Frankenstein]

Seachem cupysorb I think is a better solution than the pads, Its the salt mixes we use.

 

[Young Frankenstein]

JDK what salt mix do you use ?

 

[Young Frankenstein]

JDK I looked more into this and started this thread https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-chemistry-forum/98456-copper-reef-aquarium-discussion.html

 

[TotallyAddicted]

..... Metal Halide Baby! I'll NEVER go to leds!!!

 

[Touring]

My corals did the same thing with my LEDs...... The color the LEDs make the coral look will trick you. I was like "wow look how good they look" but in reality they were barely living.... So glad I went to mh's. I know that's not what you wanted to hear but I hope it helps.

 

[akitareefer]

just found this thread, I have a similar problem in one of my frags tank. Just wondering where you are at

 

[ycnibrc]

if you have copper in your tank then the only way to get rid of it is tosing all rock and completely sterilize your tank and pump. Running poly filter only get the copper from the water colume out but your live rock and substrate still have them and leak back to the water.

 

[rosshamsandwich]

what happened?

 

[Reefltx]

what happened?

I doubt you'll get an answer, op hasn't signed on in years.

 

[rosshamsandwich]

I read through this entire thread. There was no closure or resolution..... I got to page 10 and I was extremely disappointed.....

 

[Tig_Tech]

This was an easy fix. He just needed to keep the NO3 between 5ppm-10ppm. It was never the lights. Those sticks were starving for fertilizer! I had the same problem when I started this hobby. Ill never run ULNS again.

 

[markalot]

I disagree, IMO the fix was evident all along.

BRS GFO in Reactor

PO4 browns acros, GFO can kill them. I hope the OP will reply but my turnaround was when I got over my low PO4 obsession and let the tank ride it out, telling myself I would tolerate brown but healthy acros for a while. It worked, and then I switched to using Lanthanum Chloride (PhosphateRx) at a single drop daily, which helped slowly bring down PO4 without the rapid deadly swings GFO can cause.

I dosed NO3 for a long time while using PhosphateRx and it sometimes helped increase color but didn't seem to have much effect on the health of the acro.

 

[Nburg's Reef]

I would not dose Iron unless you have a test kit for that. I would also stop doing two part until your corals get bigger and just do regular water changes. I doubt its too much light.

Agreed, if it was an iron deficiency in a 29g, simple water changes with decent salt should fix that.

Im thinking light or nutrients. I had pale and low growth issues... so i temoved my chaeto, and started dosing KNO3 to get nitrates from 0 to 4-5 ppm and everything started improving. Now i have great color and decent growth for a small tank.