Help! Somethings Not Right

[mr pink floyd]

Well with the increased flow in my tank, alot of sand and detritus got kicked up form dead spots, so the past day and a half my tanks been kidna cloudy, but lately only from suspended particles of sand not being taken out. I decided to give it some help and throw and old HOB filter on there, with a washcloth in it to remove some stuff, same thing I usually do in this kind of situation.

Well after putting it on i moved it around, over my SPS, over zoos, to try to get it quiet, and now all my SPS are half closed, clam is looking ****ed off too. My zoos are all shriveled up, and I dont know whats going on.

The possible things I came up with were:

-The filter not being run in a very long time leached something?(sittign in cabinet)
-The washcloth I used I might have wiped up water off the floor with it(if water drips from my hands and such onto the floor)
-The extra flow over the corals and bubbles and noise vibrations ****ed them off

No aeresols haev been used by my tank, and the last thing added was over a week ago(Added a blue millepora, was doing great, now is half closed like the others)


My params are all fine,
nitrate/trite/ammonia-0
calcium is high at 475
Salt - 1.025

Things have been fine, all open for ther past day until I used this filter

Im running lots of carbon through it now(rinsed for a long time in FW) and i got the flow so its not bugging anything

I used the last of my salt for a waterchange yesterday too, and I cant go get any right now

Any advice/ideas would be great

Thanks,

~Mike

[mr pink floyd]

Just looked back in, the millepora is sliming up, but thast the only SPS doing this

my clam is still half closed too

[jasper24]

My guess would be something on the washcloth or filter like soap or another contaminate.

[mr pink floyd]

any ideas on what to do?

ill get salt ASAP, hopefully tomorrow afternoon, and do a big WC if things dont clear up

[sulp]

Why would you risk filtering water through a dirty rag. I wouldn't filter my tank water through a clean rag if I knew it had been in my washing machine. Id say after you fix this issue you discontinue this practice of using a rag to filter your water. Your only asking for trouble.

[mr pink floyd]

Well that advice is not gonna much good right now is it?

And i haev a set of rags just for the tank, I had 2 sitting on my desk, I'm just guessing it was dirty, and I hand wash them in hot water as needed


I'll consider your post a free bump

[sulp]

Wasn't trying to rag on you or say it was even the cause of ur problem. I guess I am visualizing the rags I use around my tank. The last thing I would do is filter my water through them.

I really can't see it being anything else other then the rag. It's the only thing you changed. Do that water change as soon as you can and hopefully things will go back to normal.

[mr pink floyd]

yea sorry i got kinda snippy too, just a little stressing, all the coral i got in there

well the milli is still sliming up, which i think would be a good sign, porites has more and more PE, everything else is still the same

i have my last day of midterms tomorrow, so as soon as i get home if my dad isnt working ill go get soem salt and do a nice big WC

[teetimefun]

I had something similar (not a dirty rag as a filter but contamination) do a big water change If your HOB has room, clean it thoroughly, run carbon and a polyilter and if it doesn't improve do another large water change. Depending on the contaminents water changes and waiting is all you can do. Some corals are more resilient than you think.

[reefshadow]

Yes, probably the washcloth was to blame. Even if it didn't go through my machine I would be hesitant as hell to use one, cotton isn't a good media for a tank. Plus if it's coloured it is impregnated with dyes.

A better DIY filter material would be nylon batting, rinsed well of course.

Carbon is good, so you're dealing with it appropriately, IMO. Do the WC ASAP and crank up the skimmer if you have one.

GL! :)

[mr pink floyd]

i run skimmerless, was alwasy saying im gonna get one, gonna get one, but my 12 gallon fuge completely full with cheato keeps nitrates at 0, just lots of cheato, flow and LR for filtration, alwasy worked for me

and yea, i have the carbon bag in my tank, zip tied to my light in an area of really high flow, this way i dont have to use the HOB filter, and its getting forced filtration

my porites coral is looking good, which is one of my favorite pieces, my milli still slimed, has lots of long strings hangign off it, green birdnest is still closed, clam is still half closed, most digis are half open, zoos still funky looking

when the lights kick on tomorrow hopefully things will be better

im also hoping for the water to clear up


at least i know what i did wrong this time, i lost my train of thought for 1 minute and caused a possible crash, at least i know to pay more attention

and thanks for all the help

[mr pink floyd]

bump for the night crew

any other ideas or advice would help, but theres nothing more i can do at this point except wait...

fun fun

[mr pink floyd]

So this mornign with the actinics on, Gren birdnest is open and looking fine, Milli is fine, rainbow monti is fine, green cap is fine, clam is fine

Some of the zos last night are looking like their gonna be fine, theyre just a little closed up, fire and ice still look pretty shriveled and bad, but heres the weird thing

All but 1 of my digitada frags had their polyps bleach out. The skin color is still normal, but the polyps are a ghostly milky color, and still extended. THey stil have PE so i think theyll pull through, but no far no losses. Im going to keep the carbon bag in the tank for the next 4 days, and do 5 gallons when i get the salt, and probablhy another 5 after dinner