My 150 Tall Journey...

[Bearjohnson]

Whoa, I must be a bit slow on the uptake! What happened Mark?

Oh Leigh, Leigh, Leigh....

Let's see...Here is the short version. I ran a series of tests on the 4th of July and noticed that my Alk was marginally low. So I went ahead and did what any responsible reefer would do and dosed a little Alk buffer. Within 24 hours I had every coral closed and dieing.

The end result...I believe I spiked PH WAY to hight by doing so and the rest is history. Dead rotting corals in a matter of 48-72 hours later.

3 major water changes later and a complete removal of every dead or potentially dieing coral and a few zoos are now just beginning to open.

I love this hobby.

 

[Bearjohnson]

there have been a few wacky tank things lately, multiple technologies and new procedures, some times there are interactions, I know we never had this stuff happen 10 years ago, scarey sometimes but don't let it nag at you on the bright side reefers don't kill nearly as much stuff anymore

Not gonna lie sir...Quite proud of the 125 up too this point. Won't make the same mistake twice though.

 

[lethal]

Geesh Mark, sorry to hear about all of that. I hope you can get back on board again and not give up on this sometimes frustrating hobby.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Looks like things are slowly turning the corner for the better. Time will tell.

 

[dmatt88]

Looks like things are slowly turning the corner for the better. Time will tell.

I'm sure they are. Good luck buddy.

.............stay thirsty my friend.

 

[Bearjohnson]

OK so here is the update...I brought my salinity up to 35ppt and my xenia, which is the only coral that had absolutely no issues at all during my recent meltdown is now completely off the rock and gone. Some of my zoa's are opening but they are now super small and the only color to them is the outer ring. Their is no color on the inside of any of them. Also some of the zoa's have detached or fallen off of the rock on which they were on. I was contemplating going to a local guy who sells $5 and $10 frags and grabbing one or two just to see if they do well or not. I don't know at this point if things are trying to recover or if I still have an issue that I don't know about. All water tests are fine.

 

[dmatt88]

Is there another tank u can move stuff to so u can manage a damn near 100% wc? I can't think of anything else. U r running charcoal correct.

.............stay thirsty my friend.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Correct on the carbon. No place to move them... Like I said, it looks like I've turned the corner but nothing is completely open and full of color. So far all that has opened just looks like they haven't eaten in a month and lost weight.

 

[Clownfishfan]

Thanks guys, it's been the roughest road yet with any tank I've owned.

I know what you mean! With my 14 I never had to do much more than add a little food and water daily but know I'm doing that and fixing some problem all the time.... I thought big tanks were supposed to be easier.

 

[dmatt88]

What's ur led intensity set at?

.............stay thirsty my friend.

 

[Bearjohnson]

What's ur led intensity set at?

.............stay thirsty my friend.

Same as it's been forever 90%. I just spoke to my frag guy and he said that sometimes when something like this happens the corals loose the plankton that they store inside of them (dies off) and can cause what I'm experiencing.

That theory also leads me to believe that if that is the case, then I could have also killed off a ton of good bacteria as well along the way.

 

[sk8rdn]

Same as it's been forever 90%. I just spoke to my frag guy and he said that sometimes when something like this happens the corals loose the plankton that they store inside of them (dies off) and can cause what I'm experiencing.

That theory also leads me to believe that if that is the case, then I could have also killed off a ton of good bacteria as well along the way.

Expelling zooatha is different than the nutrifying bacteria. You should be ok... Still, I'm with matt... but instead of an all at once wc, I suggest rapid, small wcs... like 5 gallons a day for a 2 week period... but that's if things dont look to be improving any...

 

[dmatt88]

Devon has his Apollos at 50% Max. I'm at 60% Max blues n 50% white.

.............stay thirsty my friend.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Devon has his Apollos at 50% Max. I'm at 60% Max blues n 50% white.

.............stay thirsty my friend.

These are my AI's not Apollo.

 

[dmatt88]

Aw hell I thought u got the Apollos. Too many tanks to follow!

.............stay thirsty my friend.

 

[Bearjohnson]

Aw hell I thought u got the Apollos. Too many tanks to follow!

.............stay thirsty my friend.

Apollo's were on my 150.

 

[dmatt88]

Did u sell them? U like ai better?

.............stay thirsty my friend.

 

[redneckgearhead]

OK so here is the update...I brought my salinity up to 35ppt and my xenia, which is the only coral that had absolutely no issues at all during my recent meltdown is now completely off the rock and gone. Some of my zoa's are opening but they are now super small and the only color to them is the outer ring. Their is no color on the inside of any of them. Also some of the zoa's have detached or fallen off of the rock on which they were on. I was contemplating going to a local guy who sells $5 and $10 frags and grabbing one or two just to see if they do well or not. I don't know at this point if things are trying to recover or if I still have an issue that I don't know about. All water tests are fine.

Ok, have you calibrated your refractometer (sp) lately? What is your temp? And it may take some time to get things back to normal.

 

[Bearjohnson]

I did calibrate the meter right before i brought the sg up. Temp hovers between 78.5 and 80. I did a test today and from all the water changes (I'm guessing) my calcium is 530. All other parameters are fine.

 

[sk8rdn]

Apollo's were on my 150.

Did I miss something? This is the 150 thread? But it's the 125 that's having issues?