Sps help pleaseplease

[Lonny]

So I got a red dragon frag yesterday. Drip acclimated it, dipped it in coral rx put it low in the tank.

woke up this morn to this

not sure if I've lost it completely or not. I have 9 sps in my tank this being number 10. Never had an issue before. Here's my numbers
Salinity 1.025
Ph 8.2
No3 0
Po4 .02
Temp 79
Cal 480
Alk 9
Lights t5ho/orbit marine leds
150gl tank with a 30gl sump
Any thoughts or advice is appreciated thanks

 

[Lonny]

Oh and for flow I have a gyre 130

 

[Diesel]

Hi there,
Dragons are delicate SPS and are more sensitive than other acro's.
Looking at your # your No3 is 0.0 and that ain't good but not sure if it results overnight in a bleach.
Po4 is some what at the low range too but not to bad low.
The question is how accurate are the test results as what happened to your dragon is a common thing in to big of difference in parameters from one tank to an other.
Make sure it has still flesh on the bone structure if so it can bounce back but you need to bring up slowly your No3.
Try to feed some more dry food or just throw some in your filter sock that would be the easiest way or turn your skimmer off for two or three hours at the night.
Good luck let us know what happens.
And please post a FTS of your tank.

 

[Lonny]

Thanks diesel! I've never shown any nitrate since I started. I use nyos test kits. The guy I got the frag from told me if it didn't make it he'd give me another one. But it's a two hour drive so I'll chalk it up as a learning experience. I didn't know they were more sensitive than others and I don't know what his parameters were. I can't see any flesh on it but I'll leave it for now, maybe it'll bounce back. Thanks again for the help!

 

[Lonny]

Hi there,
Dragons are delicate SPS and are more sensitive than other acro's.
Looking at your # your No3 is 0.0 and that ain't good but not sure if it results overnight in a bleach.
Po4 is some what at the low range too but not to bad low.
The question is how accurate are the test results as what happened to your dragon is a common thing in to big of difference in parameters from one tank to an other.
Make sure it has still flesh on the bone structure if so it can bounce back but you need to bring up slowly your No3.
Try to feed some more dry food or just throw some in your filter sock that would be the easiest way or turn your skimmer off for two or three hours at the night.
Good luck let us know what happens.
And please post a FTS of your tank.

Oh forgot to ask, what is a good no3 number to shoot for?

 

[Eaj1001]

Thanks diesel! I've never shown any nitrate since I started. I use nyos test kits. The guy I got the frag from told me if it didn't make it he'd give me another one. But it's a two hour drive so I'll chalk it up as a learning experience. I didn't know they were more sensitive than others and I don't know what his parameters were. I can't see any flesh on it but I'll leave it for now, maybe it'll bounce back. Thanks again for the help!

Nice looking tank!

 

[Lonny]

Nice looking tank!

Thank you! It's a little over six months old now.

 

[zoomonster]

That tank looks pretty bright and I might think a combination of low nutrient and light shock if not shipping shock (if it was shipped).

Also there are various acro's called * dragons but at least with the one I got that was "true red dragon" from Divers Den some time back it was one of the hardiest corals in my tank. Had it over a year and then I had an alk crash that took out some stuff. That red dragon was actually the last to go long after the rest had perished. Of course that looks like a fresh frag just glued. It could have come from a wild colony they just chopped up which wasn't "tank hardened" and already stressed.

I buy quite a few frags shipped and I have often seen that type of behavior from shipping stress. Some did that and survived and some didn't. Matter of fact I have a couple that look like that sitting on my frag racks now waiting to see what they do.

 

[Lonny]

I picked it up at the guys house. His colony got to big for his tank and he fraged it. But it is a fresh cut. My tank is 150gl and the fixture is a four bulb t5ho with giesemann bulbs. And two orbit marine leds which are low power. Photo period is from 9am to 5pm for the t5's and 8am to moonlight for the leds. When the frag went into the tank last night the t5s were already off

 

[mcarroll]

Take a [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] over to the dude's house and measure his lights where they hit his mother colony.

High nutrients is about the only way some corals tolerate bright light or changes in lighting, if nutrients and lights proves to be your combo of issues.

Increasing nitrates I think will be important in the short run. Feeding your fish more is probably the best avenue based on the circumstances we know so far, but how much? Go slow with increases in feeding and make sure you can test (po4 and no3) often enough to see your progress.

BTW...Your tank looks very new for how many corals. Is it your first tank? That much livestock that quick can be a very hard to manage situation.

If you weren't already, now is a great time to slow down and spend way more time observing between individual livestock additions.

 

[Lonny]

Thanks, just over Six months. Other than the dragon I've had no issues and lots of growth. I feed the fish twice a day with spirulina gut loaded brine shrimp, Mysis shrimp, and pellet food. I feed my lps pellet food and feed the sps oyster feast mixed with reef chili. Sps get fed twice a week, lps every other day or so. I guess I can feed them more than 1 cube at a time but they don't finish it lol. Yes this is my first reef tank, had a fowlr years ago. He lives over a two hour drive away so probably won't be returning. But he was running some type of leds that seemed pretty strong. Thanks for your Imput!

 

[mcarroll]

Our eyes are terrible at judging relative intensity.

Try to get that light intensity information from him then. It should take less than five minutes. (Try it yourself first.)

There are free [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] apps for your smart phone's camera (search the forum for "lux meter" or click on one of those tags above...lots of threads out there) so you can have him download one of those if he does not already have a light meter. (I use a slightly nicer handheld lux meter that cost 15 bucks.)

Otherwise any light meter he has will work and we can help you get a rough conversion factor to use for your lights.

 

[Lonny]

Sounds good thanks!

 

[Lonny]

Our eyes are terrible at judging relative intensity.

Try to get that light intensity information from him then. It should take less than five minutes. (Try it yourself first.)

There are free [HASHTAG]#lux[/HASHTAG] [HASHTAG]#meter[/HASHTAG] apps for your smart phone's camera (search the forum for "lux meter" or click on one of those tags above...lots of threads out there) so you can have him download one of those if he does not already have a light meter. (I use a slightly nicer handheld lux meter that cost 15 bucks.)

Otherwise any light meter he has will work and we can help you get a rough conversion factor to use for your lights.

So he said 300 par at the surface and 100 at the bottom.
I'm showing 60 lux at the surface and 43 at the bottom with all lights at max.

 

[Sabellafella]

I dont think anything wrong at all with the tank, for it to overnight croke like that has to have ben something it could not tolerate fast, low nutrients low flow low light low w.e the case may be would not cause an acro to bleach/and or rtn overnight. Its obviously not something like copper/contaminants so this couldve ben the result of large temp swings from the ride

 

[Lonny]

I dont think anything wrong at all with the tank, for it to overnight croke like that has to have ben something it could not tolerate fast, low nutrients low flow low light low w.e the case may be would not cause an acro to bleach/and or rtn overnight. Its obviously not something like copper/contaminants so this couldve ben the result of large temp swings from the ride

Hmm, you got a point there. It was 95 degrees that day. I had it in a cooler but no cold packs. It was out in the car while we were in the fish store picking up my mandarin goby gbta. They are doing just fine and came straight home in a Styrofoam cooler from the lfs. So that dragon was in the car for 30min. No ac!!!! Man I'd bet money that's what did it and that's all on me!!!!!! Didn't even dawn on me that the temp probably got to high. Thanks for responding, I think your right

 

[Sabellafella]

Hmm, you got a point there. It was 95 degrees that day. I had it in a cooler but no cold packs. It was out in the car while we were in the fish store picking up my mandarin goby gbta. They are doing just fine and came straight home in a Styrofoam cooler from the lfs. So that dragon was in the car for 30min. No ac!!!! Man I'd bet money that's what did it and that's all on me!!!!!! Didn't even dawn on me that the temp probably got to high. Thanks for responding, I think your right

I always travel to buy corals, and have had this happen recently before with a fox flame colony. After the dip it was white And never recovered. So i started taking one of those digital 10$ probe thermometers with ice and or a heat pack to makesure my little coolerbag would stay somwhat near 75-80°

 

[Lonny]

Live and learn. I'll be doing the same on my next trip. Thanks again!

 

[mcarroll]

So he said 300 par at the surface and 100 at the bottom.
I'm showing 60 lux at the surface and 43 at the bottom with all lights at max.

Which app are you using? That sounds like you might be using the wrong camera (front when it's set to back or vis versa) but it could also be a bum app. (Unless maybe you meant 60K lux and 43K lux?)

If you check and the app is set to use the camera you think you're using (generally the "selfie" cam, so you can read the screen while taking the reading) and you still get ultra low numbers like that, try a different app. "Galactica luxmeter" is one for IOS that people generally have luck with. There are many on IOS and Andriod tho, so don't feel limited.

The light meter in a camera is actually more sophisticated than a basic light meter like we'd normally use, so the app software has to do some (successful) manipulation for us to get a "normal" reading. Apparently every phone has (or can have) different sensors and different cameras, so the lux meter apps don't always work on every phone.

(If you check Amazon or any major online reseller for the "LX-1010B" lux meter, they go for about $15, delivered. There are similar models you may see that would also be fine. This is the best way to start out measuring your lights without spending a bundle, IMO. Free apps are nice while you wait for shipping. :) :) :) )

 

[Lonny]

Which app are you using? That sounds like you might be using the wrong camera (front when it's set to back or vis versa) but it could also be a bum app. (Unless maybe you meant 60K lux and 43K lux?)

If you check and the app is set to use the camera you think you're using (generally the "selfie" cam, so you can read the screen while taking the reading) and you still get ultra low numbers like that, try a different app. "Galactica luxmeter" is one for IOS that people generally have luck with. There are many on IOS and Andriod tho, so don't feel limited.

The light meter in a camera is actually more sophisticated than a basic light meter like we'd normally use, so the app software has to do some (successful) manipulation for us to get a "normal" reading. Apparently every phone has (or can have) different sensors and different cameras, so the lux meter apps don't always work on every phone.

(If you check Amazon or any major online reseller for the "LX-1010B" lux meter, they go for about $15, delivered. There are similar models you may see that would also be fine. This is the best way to start out measuring your lights without spending a bundle, IMO. Free apps are nice while you wait for shipping. :) :) :) )

Wow thanks for the info! And yes I was using it backwards lol! Probably should have read the manual first:rolleyes:But my lights are off now so I'll check tomorrow. Didn't know you could get a decent meter that cheap I'll look into one. I've always been curious what my lights were putting out.