Why is my RFA looking like a toadstool?

Silverlava

New Member
View Badges
Joined
Dec 18, 2023
Messages
15
Reaction score
31
Location
Boston Area
What state or country do you live in
Massachusetts
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
My RFA has been looking "taller" lately. Almost looks like the shape of a toadstool mushroom. Instead of nestling down into the sand, he's stretching vertically. I thought the other RFA next to him might be crowding him out, so I tried moving him at night, when hes usually really extended like this. He just sucked down all the way to the glass and I didn't want to blindly pull and injure him.

All levels are normal, and the other three rfa's look great.
dKH- 10.5
Ca- 450
pH- 8.1-8.2
Mg- 1440-1500 (two test kits, they disagree)
Nitrates - 0

We had a fifth rfa that had been looking unhappy. My best guess is bristleworms or something were living under him and he couldn't move away. We also had a day where my mobius app went rogue and turned the light on for an extra 5 hours until we noticed. I moved that one and he melted overnight, so I'm concerned the same might happen here. I did swap out the phosphate reactor (it was 4 weeks old and due anyways), added a carbon reactor, and did a 20% water change after the rfa died.

PXL_20240413_132709578.jpg PXL_20240413_132233010.jpg PXL_20240413_132235906.jpg
 

IF YOU HAD TO OPERATE EVERYTHING ELSE MANUALLY, WHICH AUTOMATED SYSTEM WOULD YOU KEEP?

  • Auto top-off

    Votes: 36 57.1%
  • Automated dosing

    Votes: 4 6.3%
  • Mechanical filtration / roller filter

    Votes: 4 6.3%
  • Automated water testing

    Votes: 3 4.8%
  • Automatic feeding

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Lighting schedule

    Votes: 9 14.3%
  • Controller and remote monitoring

    Votes: 3 4.8%
  • Leak detection and emergency shutoff

    Votes: 1 1.6%
  • Automatic water changes

    Votes: 2 3.2%
  • None. I prefer to operate everything manually

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Something else (explain in the comments)

    Votes: 1 1.6%
Back
Top
Home
Post thread…
Market
What's new