Something's wrong...

[jerkyjunky]

So I have a 120g + 65g sump that has been up for ~4 months. I have a reef octopus 2000Int rated for a 180g running full boar since start. The nitrates are just about down to 0ppm (about 1-2ppm right now). The four small fish are super happy. Things look good on paper, but I've had poor luck with snails and now my new torch coral (4 days old) is still not fully extended.

My thought is algae...

I've only got a diatom bloom right before I moved my rocks around after that I haven't seen any. I've had next to 0 algae at all. Maybe 3 red spots on my glass and a few more on some rocks here and there. So I'm guessing the snails just don't have enough of what they want to eat around. I'm starting to think there might not be enough for the coral either...

Could the skimmer be SO efficient that it is removing the food needed for the algae bloom and thus in tern killing my snails/corals? I've been feeding the tank phytofeast at a solid dosage and still no algae as well... If I boost the lights to try to spawn more algae, the coral closes up from the bright lights.

Any ideas of what to try? Right now I'm going to try leaving the skimmer off for a day and see what happens...

[thebkramer]

I wouldn't try to get algae to bloom!! you are looking for a super migraine if you do!!!! just be patient.. algae will grow.. I'm sure you have some on your rocks.. just can't see it! nothing happens fast in this hobby! and trying to rush it along will only cause more problems than you will ever need!!!! you don't have to have snails right now. they can come later on down the road (:
you only listed your trates.. what are your other water params??
its only been 4 months!! just sit back and enjoy the ride !! lol
why are you feeding phytofeast? if you over do it.. you can possibly see a lot of headaches soon too! you don't want an overload of nutrients and have nothing to eat it up.
give your torch a few more days.. they too take time to acclimate to new surroundings. where in the tank do you have it? how is the water flow where it is? what kind of lighting do you have? powerheads?

like I said.. just be patient.. and everything should fall into place!! :bounce3:

[jerkyjunky]

I wouldn't try to get algae to bloom!! you are looking for a super migraine if you do!!!! just be patient.. algae will grow.. I'm sure you have some on your rocks.. just can't see it! nothing happens fast in this hobby! and trying to rush it along will only cause more problems than you will ever need!!!! you don't have to have snails right now. they can come later on down the road (:
you only listed your trates.. what are your other water params??
its only been 4 months!! just sit back and enjoy the ride !! lol
why are you feeding phytofeast? if you over do it.. you can possibly see a lot of headaches soon too! you don't want an overload of nutrients and have nothing to eat it up.
give your torch a few more days.. they too take time to acclimate to new surroundings. where in the tank do you have it? how is the water flow where it is? what kind of lighting do you have? powerheads?

like I said.. just be patient.. and everything should fall into place!! :bounce3:

Thanks for the great reply. I turned back on my skimmer this morning after sleeping on it it seemed much worse than it did in my haze last night. lol

I'm a bit bummed cause my QT is doing _SO_ well in supporting all life, and things seem to die easily in my nice tank. There are even some sponges on my chaeto ball in QT which I hear is a good sign of things. **shrug**

Anywho, my ammonia and nitrites are both 0ppm. DKH is 9. SG is 1.024. I haven't done any calcium tests since I've had nothing in there using calcium. Figure it is on level with whatever it was from the salt mix which should be a decent level. pH fluctuates from 8.12 to 8.2 and temp from 75 to 77F. The light fixture is a 56LED setup of 3W LEDs half blue half white running ~50% 11 hours a day currently (had them higher before the corals).

Being a coral noobie I was told by the LFS to get some phytofeast to feed the corals. Following the instructions on the bottle it says 1tsp/100 gal/day. I figure that is probably high for a system with one coral, but I've been playing with it. Don't want the investment to starve, and if they need that to eat... I'll stand a minor headache to keep them fed. :-P

It is just that it has been 4 days now and it hasn't expanded more than 1-2cm. The polyp cups haven't opened up at all either. So it makes me quite worried. The coral though is located midtank on the bottom between 2x MP40s running at 40% (turned down as to not blast the coral). The coral gets a nice breeze but nothing where it whips it around. There is also nothing near the coral that might bump or hit it.

[erock68]

It will come in time. You might get some just starting on your rock. Some diatoms, will begin then on your sand.

Further down the road...I remember I couldn't wait to see coralline algae. Now, I have to scrape it off the glass.

[jerkyjunky]

Sadly it looks worse today. Just got home and some of the tentacles look brown and none have extended any more. Most look more retracted. No idea what to do for it. :-(

[gbru316]

11 hours of lighting a day is a bit much. I'd reduce your lighting to 8 hours.

I wouldn't worry about starving the coral, and phyto is a bit small to feed a torch anyway.

If the tentacles have a brown jelly-like substance on them, you need to break them off in an attempt to save the coral. Brown jelly is a killer, and the best way to combat it is to isolate heads that haven't yet been affected.

You should also start testing for magnesium and calcium. LPS corals require both, as well as a stable alkalinity, to thrive. Coralline algae alone is enough to reduce alk/ca.

FWIW, you WILL lose livestock, esp when starting out. Unfortunately, it's part of the hobby.

[gbru316]

11 hours of lighting a day is a bit much. I'd reduce your lighting to 8 hours.

I wouldn't worry about starving the coral, and phyto is a bit small to feed a torch anyway.

If the tentacles have a brown jelly-like substance on them, you need to break them off in an attempt to save the coral. Brown jelly is a killer, and the best way to combat it is to isolate heads that haven't yet been affected.

You should also start testing for magnesium and calcium. LPS corals require both, as well as a stable alkalinity, to thrive. Coralline algae alone is enough to reduce alk/ca.

FWIW, you WILL lose livestock, esp when starting out. Unfortunately, it's part of the hobby.

[jerkyjunky]

They are not turning brown from any jelly. They look darkened like they were burnt almost. Just darker pigmentation. Looks like 1-2 tentacles per head. Nothing slimey or gooey about it just dark...

Let me do more tests just to know... one sec.

[jerkyjunky]

They are not turning brown from any jelly. They look darkened like they were burnt almost. Just darker pigmentation. Looks like 1-2 tentacles per head. Nothing slimey or gooey about it just dark...

Let me do more tests just to know... one sec.

[jerkyjunky]

Calcium according to this test is around 470.

[Chris Roberts]

are you aclimating the snails long enouph? they cant take sudden changes in ph and salinity.

[jerkyjunky]

The snail in this last case was from the demo reef tank at the LFS. I checked with the store owner and the tank was at 1.025, and as an assumption I'd say their pH on the good tank was around 8.2 since it was a nice tank. The snail was then temp acclimated for 15 min and drip acclimated for 30 min before released into my tank. Upon release it was wild and full of life, took off down the rock work I put it on and even went upside down on some rocks for a while. I woke up the next day to find it upside down on the bottom of the tank, and mind you it was a trochus snail so it was able to flip itself. I moved it to the sump and it was unable to keep a good hold on anything after that point.

That sort of story is common of the snails I've put in my tank in the past. I've done 30 min acclimates to 90 min acclimates against astrea, turbo, and nassarius snails. So far none have made it. Honestly I'm pretty shocked the last cleaner shrimp has been doing so well after 5 days now. Usually they don't make it past 4. Maybe the water is getting better?

[jerkyjunky]

As for the coral, after I got home I tried bumping the water flow on the mp40s as some people on other forums mentioned their torches liked higher flow. It looks like it might be a little happier, but since it is night it is hard to tell. Hopefully I don't come home tomorrow to a dried up dead coral :-/

[Chris Roberts]

Hmm well if your aclimating everything and all you parimeters are good the only thing left is to check for copper.

[Chris Roberts]

Hmm well if your acclimating everything and all you parimeters are good the only thing left is to check for copper.