tank crashing......

[Nicks387]

I have a grounding probe in the tank for stray voltage and still the same issue. Also, the thing that really gets me is that all my sps have awesome color and growth and even when they look in peak condition some are still stn'ing from what every bit of my gut and lengthy experience says is the biopellets.

 

[Troylee]

Dude I'm telling you I watched my Millie smoke while the Polyps were reaching for the stars!!!!!!it was crazy!!!!!

 

[DrTrey]

I'm sorry to hear about your crash, bro. It's really tough to watch all of your hard work just go up in smoke right before your eyes. But I am glad that you chose to document your unfortunate experience in this post. I've been having good results with Reef BioFuel, and I had been considering switching over to these newfangled biopellets. But now, not so much...

 

[Nicks387]

I know. I have always been able to identify and correct any tank issue, this time though, I have checked and re checked every possibility, even changed every filter and membrane in my ro/di. Even water changes with perfect water are not helping. Nothing left to point to but the pellets. Everything has been stable. I take an acro thats stn'ing out of the display and put it in my seperate tank without the pellets and it stops. Same paramiters. Same RO water, same test kits. Same ph, same salt, same area in the house.......Everything looks great, but three acros still stn'ing.

 

[Troylee]

Here is a real crappy actinic phone shot the Only one I took you can see the polyps out and the Piece just smoking...

 

[Just Clownin Around]

holy xblbnxsjncwdinc. that sucks man. i was thinking of trying these. i even purchased the reactor but heck no i am not now

 

[sf_ramsden]

That picture of it just smoking/melting away is crazy. I don't think I've seen anything like this. I am definitely wondering what others are experiencing with the pellets.

 

[Reef UP]

Hey Troy I'd frag below where it is melting like that one of the only things that has saved corals when similar things happens to my sps! Worth a shot!

 

[Troylee]

Ya I have been that was a show size colony now I have 4 frags...:(

 

[Reef UP]

That sucks but at least you might have frags to restart! Whenever me or any of my reef buds get a new coral we frag it out as soon as possible and desperse it amongst our tanks so if one of our tanks crash we can at least get our corals back and going again!

 

[VegasRick]

I think its more likely you have a build up of something toxic. No water changes for a year is just asking for trouble

 

[skinz78]

Any chance of household cleaners being used too close to the tank and getting inside?

 

[Billgax]

I just don't see the pellets being the issue.

+1. Seen at least 8 tanks running Vertex pellets and Brightwell additives together with great results. Zero issues thus far. As for that salt in question... had a number of SPS die off due (anecdotally) to that common denominator. Only use high end salts (one brand in particular, for consistency's sake) nowadays on the systems I maintain...

 

[aquafrags]

man that really, sucks, i went through a tank crash on my 300 gallon filled with sps, nuked my calcium reactor. Hope it all works out:sad:

 

[Paul_N]

I know. I have always been able to identify and correct any tank issue, this time though, I have checked and re checked every possibility, even changed every filter and membrane in my ro/di. Even water changes with perfect water are not helping. Nothing left to point to but the pellets. Everything has been stable. I take an acro thats stn'ing out of the display and put it in my seperate tank without the pellets and it stops. Same paramiters. Same RO water, same test kits. Same ph, same salt, same area in the house.......Everything looks great, but three acros still stn'ing.

If this was the case then there would definitely be more than a handful of issues with the pellets. Troylee and I run very similar tanks in that we use pellets, no wc and dose to make up for depleted params. I haven't did a water change since I set this temp system up in June and I started the pellets in July. I even tried my alk at 8 and 11 to see if the coral reacted differently.

 

[CJO]

If this was the case then there would definitely be more than a handful of issues with the pellets. Troylee and I run very similar tanks in that we use pellets, no wc and dose to make up for depleted params. I haven't did a water change since I set this temp system up in June and I started the pellets in July. I even tried my alk at 8 and 11 to see if the coral reacted differently.

I've heard about quite a few people who have had similar issues that went away once they took their pellets offline. However, it could be a combination of things with one of them being the pellets.

CJ

 

[Paul_N]

I've heard about quite a few people who have had similar issues that went away once they took their pellets offline. However, it could be a combination of things with one of them being the pellets.
CJ

I hear ya. That's why I added about Troylee and myself running our systems the very similar. Something just doesn't add up to me with the pellets being the cause. The same thing happened a couple years back when vodka dosing came on the scene. Everyone attributed the vodka to every problem they had including tank crashes. Most of the time, it was user error. Unless there is a contamination issue with a certain batch I just don't see it.

 

[Troylee]

I don't know honestly I can't purely blame it on the pellets just because I can't test anything to tell me for sure it's the issue..... All I know is the first sign of stress was a Mille the tips just decenegrated and crumbled... That particular Millie was the first to show signs and it's still alive and well polyps out etc just missing a few tips that's when I started testing because it's a sign of high alk... I tested and my alk was at 10 which is higher than the normal 8 I run it but still shouldn't be detrimental... After that I started losing a single piece 3 days later... Every morning I get up another one is gone.:( I checked this morning and no casualties thus far... Fingers crossed it's the same case when I get home...
The only reason I changed my water was to lower the alk to 8 or I wouldn't have changed. Thing...;)

 

[Reggie]

My guess is GFO. How long have you been using GFO? Did you just do a big GFO change? I would guess that STN/RTN started happening a few days after you added a new batch of GFO, correct?

I suggest, you take the GFO offline, and do a 50 percent water change and run more GAC than usual for a few days.

 

[HighlandReef]

Does anyone actually know exactly what these pellets are made of/from? I remember hearing from someone that they would not run pellets because of what they are made from but don't remember who offhand? And they didn't say exactly what they were made of?