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Unread 10/21/2018, 09:46 AM   #151
tdb320reef
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Nice colonies! Love the natural growth form!


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Unread 11/01/2018, 07:43 AM   #152
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So I’ve hit a rough patch with the tank ever since I left town for a few weeks on vacation in May and lost a bunch of corals. Still never was able to definitively nail down the cause, and honestly it doesn’t seem like the issue has been resolved yet... ~6 months later. I’m still having issues with some SPS. Growth seems to have slowed, colors have slowly been coming back, but I lost my two largest plating colonies and some very expensive “high end” acros.

As a result of the weakened health of my corals and the subsequent coral deaths, I have now been struggling with a GHA outbreak. The stuff is everywhere in my tank now and I pulled out over two full pitchers worth of algae from my tank in October. On top of this, all of my sponge growth died back last month, I assume because GHA exploded and starved my sponges to death. Needless to say I have become discouraged with half a year of struggles and unsolved health mysteries.

I couldn’t take the GHA any longer and thought maybe it was compounding my coral health issues by outcompeting them and smothering them. I bought Vibrant and dosed the entire bottle to no avail. Then last week I gave up on hoping Vibrant would work and dosed Fluco 200. The GHA is still there, but I’m starting to think it is at least stunted, if not starting to die. The pH in my tank took a sudden drop and, even with windows open last night, is lower than it has been. This tells me that some big CO2 scrubbers in the tank are taking a hit and microbial activity is starting to break the algae down and drive pH even lower. I assume (and hope) this trend will continue and is indeed indicative of dying GHA. Here’s a snap of my pH trends this week:



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Unread 11/01/2018, 03:35 PM   #153
Piper27
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That sucks I hope things turn around. Seems like you have a good idea about what could be going on in the tank. Could you run a refugium or do you think it would help?

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Unread 11/01/2018, 03:36 PM   #154
Piper27
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Your last fts looked fairly good though, what is happening to your corals that are having issues?

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Unread 11/01/2018, 04:32 PM   #155
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Your last fts looked fairly good though, what is happening to your corals that are having issues?

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I’ve tried running a fuge in the sump and it was never very helpful. Probably not enough flow I would imagine. The tank as a whole looks ok, it’s just when you look closely at some of the corals and the rock work that you notice something isn’t quite right. You know how you can tell by the look of the flesh of an acro that it’s healthy or not? That’s kind of how it is with a lot of mine.


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Unread 11/04/2018, 07:45 PM   #156
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I don’t want to be too optimistic and jinx myself, but it seems like things are starting to turn around for the better. The hair algae is getting more thin, hasn’t been growing back where it usually does, and may be disappearing slowly.


My sponge might also be starting to recover too. You can tell the dead sponge that is more washed out and transparent and what might be new sponge growth that is more tan color in the shadows there. Hopefully that’s a sign that the tank ecosystem is returning to normal


And here are a couple of tank shots just for the heck of it






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Unread 11/15/2018, 01:46 PM   #157
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I’ve felt hopeful about my tank for the first time this week in a long long time. The GHA is mostly gone now thanks to the Fluco treatment, and what a difference that has made on the health of my corals! I performed a large water change this week and it seemed like the next days the colors of my corals was noticeably better. Sponge growth is definitely starting to come back, my feather dusters are starting to pop back up again, and I’m starting to see mysid shrimp in the sump again. I’m hopeful the recovery will continue and corals that have laid dormant for half a year will start growing again. Fingers crossed!

New sponge growth peaking through the dead sponge.


A couple FTS:





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Unread 11/16/2018, 11:25 AM   #158
Piper27
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Looking better! Definitely less algae. Sponge growth starting back is a good sign for sure.

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Unread 12/01/2018, 10:02 AM   #159
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My tank continues to not make up its mind wether it’s happy or struggling. I had some RTN this past week losing 90% of my SSC and nearly a whole large branch of my red dragon.


I can’t really explain the SSC, but the red dragon RTN coincided with my CaRX flow stopping while I was out of state and my alk dropped below 6. The RTN has slowed and maybe stopped now that the CaRX flow has restarted.

On the other hand, coral colors continue to slowly improve. They haven’t returned to optimal coloration, but a slow and steady improvement is better than none or reversal.







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Unread 12/01/2018, 06:07 PM   #160
Piper27
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Two really sensitive corals I'm, even though they grow like weeds small changes will make them peel.

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Unread 12/01/2018, 06:09 PM   #161
Piper27
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Other corals look ok though! Keep it up.

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Unread 01/24/2019, 06:02 PM   #162
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Wow it’s been a long time since an update. Over 7 months of struggles ever since my tank randomly started having troubles while I was out of the country on vacation. A lot of losses, then half a year of stagnant growth and poor coloration. Now things seem to finally be turning around, better colors and corals started growing again. I lost all of my large colonies, including my red dragon.

The red dragon bone yard:


Here’s some more upbeat photos of my survivors

Green slimer


Oregon tort


I neglected the frags on my frag rack this whole time, the montis didn’t skip a beat it appears




RR The Vinh









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Unread 01/25/2019, 09:25 AM   #163
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Sorry to hear about the troubles..
nice to see the recovery is well under way!
Do you think there is anything you did/changed to help the recovery?


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Unread 01/25/2019, 12:58 PM   #164
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Sorry to hear about the troubles..
nice to see the recovery is well under way!
Do you think there is anything you did/changed to help the recovery?


Not really. I knocked out my GHA outbreak that occurred when corals were dying and not removing many nutrients. Then after that it was just patience.... a lot a lot of patience.


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Unread 01/25/2019, 01:00 PM   #165
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How did you knock it out? Vibrant or fluco?
It’s interesting how quickly the hair algea takes over, the minute the corals take a hit and stop thriving..


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Unread 01/25/2019, 08:52 PM   #166
Gig 'em
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How did you knock it out? Vibrant or fluco?
It’s interesting how quickly the hair algea takes over, the minute the corals take a hit and stop thriving..


Right? The GHA was always present in small patches, but it got to plague proportions at the peak of my woes. I tried vibrant and it did nothing but anger the system as a whole even more. Fluco is what finally took it out, but I should have ran it for a couple more weeks, some little sprouts have re-appeared here and there. Luckily it’s so small my CUC has been keeping it at bay.


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Unread 01/27/2019, 09:08 AM   #167
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I have heard many accounts of dinoflagellates appearing after fluco treatments.. did you see any dinos after treatment?
I never really did in my system.. I’ve treated twice with fluco.


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Unread 01/27/2019, 01:24 PM   #168
Gig 'em
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I have heard many accounts of dinoflagellates appearing after fluco treatments.. did you see any dinos after treatment?
I never really did in my system.. I’ve treated twice with fluco.


I don’t remember seeing many. If there were any, it was a small amount and it didn’t cause much of an issue in the tank.


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Unread 03/08/2019, 11:30 PM   #169
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I went to LA this week and made a (expensive) trip to UC! Excited to have something new to google at.



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Unread 03/09/2019, 06:45 AM   #170
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Mmmmm.. yummy box o candies.
What’s upper right?


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Unread 03/09/2019, 08:46 AM   #171
Gig 'em
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Mmmmm.. yummy box o candies.
What’s upper right?


This one? It’s the UC Night Walker. It’s a bright purple acro in white light, reminds me of ARC Fireworks



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Unread 03/09/2019, 09:50 AM   #172
reefmutt
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Yeah. Nice!


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Current Tank Info: 53x32.5x26 190g dt 60g of sumps 3 tank-100 gal frag system 6xAI prime 8xt5. 4x maxspect gyre. Skimz Dual internal sicce pump skimmer Deltec PF601s ca rx+Kalk stirrer
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Unread 03/10/2019, 05:03 AM   #173
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Unread 04/15/2019, 03:06 AM   #174
Gig 'em
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I haven’t posted in a while, it’s hard to get excited about the hobby when you’ve been struggling with mysterious coral deaths for nearly a year with no major culprit or solution. Yesterday though I may have *possibly* found a smoking fun. I was performing a water change and noticed the magnet holding my PH was slipping a bit. Pulled it off and noticed my hand was covered in black and there were some bumps on the magnet


Needless to say I tossed the magnet immediately, changed 20 gallons, and put new carbon in the reactor. Really really hoping this has been the cause of my most recent coral struggles.


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Unread 04/18/2019, 04:48 PM   #175
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When you get home from a week in Wyoming and your CO2 cylinder is bled dry and your alk dropped from 8.3 to 5.2, you use what CO2 you have until you can swap out the 20lb cylinder



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