★★★ Project " GENESIS (II) 2020 " ★ [ Re-Engineered / REBOOT ] ★ SPS 110G ★★★

[WallyB]

WATER CHANGE/CARBON (WORKING) QUICK!


I'm not yet out of woods...but this is interesting. Just 4 days after I did the water change. I can clearly see improvement in PE and Glow. I have a theory on the cause...

This was "just" BEFORE WATER CHANGE (4 days ago)

This was AFTER WATER CHANGE (Today)

Both photos taken by same camera and lighting levels.

Can you see a slight improvement? Look at the RED DIGI in the center. Even the Yellow Turbinaria looks much better.


The crazy theory is this. I know that Planaria release deadly toxins if you kill them with Flatworm-Exit. I didn't use F/Exit on my SPS tank but I did test how the treatment works a bucket of Planaria I extracted. Pretty nasty stuff get's released as planaria die. If the Planaria are so toxic when killed, is it possible they release toxins when they die naturally? I have thousands of red planaria....they are constantly multiplying and dying. They don't die all at once like with Treatment, but they die and maybe over time the toxins build up. I've stopped using carbon on the SPS tank ages ago. Maybe I need to run small amount of carbon to cut down on the slow toxin build up. This could explain why I've had a bad SPS reaction twice. Like a cycle. Each time I did water changes, extracted the planaria and this time I did carbon which sped up recovery. Just a theory but is it possible?

This small improvement gives me hope, since even without comparing photos the tank looks more alive just looking at it. It was getting bleaker and bleaker before and I actually was avoiding sitting at my desk.

 

[crusso1993]

WATER CHANGE/CARBON (WORKING) QUICK!


I'm not yet out of woods...but this is interesting. Just 4 days after I did the water change. I can clearly see improvement in PE and Glow. I have a theory on the cause...

This was BEFORE WATER CHANGE (4 days ago)

This was AFTER WATER CHANGE (Today)

Both photos taken by same camera and lighting levels.

Can you see a slight improvement? Look at the RED DIGI in the center. Even the Yellow Turbinaria looks much better.


The crazy theory is this. I know that Planaria release deadly toxins if you kill them with Flatworm-Exit. I didn't use F/Exit on my SPS tank but I did test how the treatment works a bucket of Planaria I extracted. Pretty nasty stuff get's released as planaria die. If the Planaria are so toxic when killed, is it possible they release toxins when they die naturally? I have thousands of red planaria....they are constantly multiplying and dying. They don't die all at once like with Treatment, but they die and maybe over time the toxins build up. I've stopped using carbon on the SPS tank ages ago. Maybe I need to run small amount of carbon to cut down on the slow toxin build up. This could explain why I've had a bad SPS reaction twice. Like a cycle. Each time I did water changes, extracted the planaria and this time I did carbon which sped up recovery. Just a theory but is it possible?

This small improvement gives me hope, since even without comparing photos the tank looks more alive just looking at it. It was getting bleaker and bleaker before and I actually was avoiding sitting at my desk.

Wow! This is a pretty cool possibility and one I would not have given thought to but it is very interesting. I can definitely see an improvement!

 

[crusso1993]

@WallyB - are things continuing to improve?

 

[Gumbies R Us]

WATER CHANGE/CARBON (WORKING) QUICK!


I'm not yet out of woods...but this is interesting. Just 4 days after I did the water change. I can clearly see improvement in PE and Glow. I have a theory on the cause...

This was "just" BEFORE WATER CHANGE (4 days ago)

This was AFTER WATER CHANGE (Today)

Both photos taken by same camera and lighting levels.

Can you see a slight improvement? Look at the RED DIGI in the center. Even the Yellow Turbinaria looks much better.


The crazy theory is this. I know that Planaria release deadly toxins if you kill them with Flatworm-Exit. I didn't use F/Exit on my SPS tank but I did test how the treatment works a bucket of Planaria I extracted. Pretty nasty stuff get's released as planaria die. If the Planaria are so toxic when killed, is it possible they release toxins when they die naturally? I have thousands of red planaria....they are constantly multiplying and dying. They don't die all at once like with Treatment, but they die and maybe over time the toxins build up. I've stopped using carbon on the SPS tank ages ago. Maybe I need to run small amount of carbon to cut down on the slow toxin build up. This could explain why I've had a bad SPS reaction twice. Like a cycle. Each time I did water changes, extracted the planaria and this time I did carbon which sped up recovery. Just a theory but is it possible?

This small improvement gives me hope, since even without comparing photos the tank looks more alive just looking at it. It was getting bleaker and bleaker before and I actually was avoiding sitting at my desk.

Tank looks incredible!!

 

[WallyB]

@WallyB - are things continuing to improve?

Hey @crusso1993 thanks for asking. During tank rough times it's nice to have some moral support. I do have good news, the decline has certainly ended. No more damage showing up. I wish I added the carbon when I noticed the first signs on the Monti's since I could have save a couple of SPS.

The other good news is this downturn forced me to do some long-overdue pruning and space the higher end SPS out for future grow out.

It will take a few months for a full recovery if things continue on the good path. This is the tank today for future reference. THIS PHOTO is under white lighting so it shows it as it is. The good and the bad. The damaged areas will take a bit more time to recover. I actually see burn tip healing, color and PE coming back strong and that gives me hope I solved the issue.

Once things recover a bit more I will siphon off as much of the Planaria Flatworms as possible, then do the Flatworm-Exit treatment. Only when I fully prepared to treat safely.

For now, I will continue using small amounts of Carbon regularily.

 

[WallyB]

Tank looks incredible!!

Thanks. Appreciate the compliment. Hoping things improve since this tank and a nice collection of SPS has more potential.

 

[crusso1993]

Hey @crusso1993 thanks for asking. During tank rough times it's nice to have some moral support. I do have good news, the decline has certainly ended. No more damage showing up. I wish I added the carbon when I noticed the first signs on the Monti's since I could have save a couple of SPS.

The other good news is this downturn forced me to do some long-overdue pruning and space the higher end SPS out for future grow out.

It will take a few months for a full recovery if things continue on the good path. This is the tank today for future reference. THIS PHOTO is under white lighting so it shows it as it is. The good and the bad. The damaged areas will take a bit more time to recover. I actually see burn tip healing, color and PE coming back strong and that gives me hope I solved the issue.

Once things recover a bit more I will siphon off as much of the Planaria Flatworms as possible, then do the Flatworm-Exit treatment. Only when I fully prepared to treat safely.

For now, I will continue using small amounts of Carbon regularily.

Very happy to hear the good news! It’s a shame that we couldn’t have caught it sooner but, I’ll tell you what, it’s fantastic that you caught it when you did. As you know, it could have gotten a lot worse.

I will say that the tank still looks good even with some burnt tips!

 

[WallyB]

Has anyone Noticed? ( The Tube Worm Gardens encrusted by Sunset Monti)

Those areas with yellow areas are tube worms. They just keep getting taller trying to not get sealed at top from the monti. No Harm. I let those worms live. I'm more worried about the Monti Encrustnig my whole tank. Or the planaria.

Too bad the Melanaraus Wrasse didn't become a planaria eater as promised. He may peck when I'm not looking, but it was suggested that he would polish off the whole tank in no time. Maybe I feed him too well. I will not be risking doing FlatWorm-Exit treatment on this tank, till it's fully recovered and then some.

 

[crusso1993]

Been about a month since any update. How goes it, Wally?

 

[WallyB]

Been about a month since any update. How goes it, Wally?

Things are SLOWLY getting better. No further damage other than the original burned tips. I do see new (healthy) growth on some of the smaller SPS colonies (Rainbow Loom, Red Planet, Pink Matrix) which is reassuring.

Month ago.

TODAY

I'm happy things are not getting worse.

 

[crusso1993]

Things are SLOWLY getting better. No further damage other than the original burned tips. I do see new (healthy) growth on some of the smaller SPS colonies (Rainbow Loom, Red Planet, Pink Matrix) which is reassuring.

Month ago.

TODAY

I'm happy things are not getting worse.

Healthy growth sounds like 180 degree turn from what was going on and I’d call it a win!
Happy for you.

 

[WallyB]

Quick update. (Tank is so-so...Still recovering). Recovery is slow but all prized colonies are holding up and that's future potential when they grow up to be larger colonies. Some colonies need a bit more pruning since some of original burnt tips were dead and growing over with algae. This photo is last week just before I started the Bryopsis treatment.

I'm taking this opportunity to go ahead and use the Bryopsis Treatment (Flucanazole). For last year I tried hard to carefully prune the Bryopsis and then cover up roots with putty and glue but it would always show up in a couple of new spots. Bryopsis is impossible to beat manually.

It's hard to believe but this is only day 5 of the two-week Flucanzole treatment and already there isn't any visible Bryopsis Algae left.

The downside is now that the Algae including any GHA is gone I see all the hidden tiny aiptasias. Oh well, I can live with Aiptasia. Plenty of solutions. I know that Berghia work 100%, but they are expensive and not ideal for small aip outbreaks. Copperband Butterfy Fish are my favorite fish, but they don't live past a 3-4 years (for me) and it's always been a sad thing when they died from starvation even if I fed them well. They are best to be left in nature. I am thinking of a Aipasia eating Filefish. They look ugly but they control aiptasia and will eat other foods.

 

[WallyB]

SPS Tank is coming to LIFE ( FINALLY !)

Finally the TANK is starting to look alive again. You know when a SPS tank is doing good since the corals start to GLOW more. Hard to show the more vibrant GLOW in a photo comparision, but you can certainly see growth and encrustment picking up.

THIS was 3 Months ago. Both PHotos are Blue Lighting only, using Yellow Filter on SLR.

And today.

You can notice the improvement best in the PAC MAN in yellow-bottom-left-circle.

Even the Sunset Milli is starting to look Golden Yellow. During the downturn it turned Green.

So I took a full water test and it's interesting that my Alk is 7.5. Before the downturn I raised the Alk to 8.5 Slowly since the higher level provided more wiggle room. Maybe my corals want 7.5 since I've always had ALK at 7.8.

Regardslesss, I'm not touching or changing anything. The last while was depressing and I started losing interest in the Tank. Now my spirits are up.

 

[crusso1993]

SPS Tank is coming to LIFE ( FINALLY !)

Finally the TANK is starting to look alive again. You know when a SPS tank is doing good since the corals start to GLOW more. Hard to show the more vibrant GLOW in a photo comparision, but you can certainly see growth and encrustment picking up.

THIS was 3 Months ago. Both PHotos are Blue Lighting only, using Yellow Filter on SLR.

And today.

You can notice the improvement best in the PAC MAN in yellow-bottom-left-circle.

Even the Sunset Milli is starting to look Golden Yellow. During the downturn it turned Green.

So I took a full water test and it's interesting that my Alk is 7.5. Before the downturn I raised the Alk to 8.5 Slowly since the higher level provided more wiggle room. Maybe my corals want 7.5 since I've always had ALK at 7.8.

Regardslesss, I'm not touching or changing anything. The last while was depressing and I started losing interest in the Tank. Now my spirits are up.

Things are definitely looking up, Wally! It can certainly be frustrating and suck the joy out of the hobby when trouble happens. I do not know of a single reefer, that has been at it a while, who hasn’t eventually run into the “why am I doing this again” mentality. Happy to hear you’re back to high spirits and enjoying your tank!

 

[WallyB]

Been a while.....Things have (NOT) Been Well, Extra XR30 might Help

So since my last post the SPS kept declining, I could not figure things out since water parameters were fine and still are. So I tried instead to boost lighting. My suspicion was that my T5's are not enough light since I've never changed the Bulbs in a couple of years (thinking one XR15 would be adequate with 6 T5's). So I removed one Pair of T5's in the center and added an XR30 G4 fixture.

I used a PAR meter and adjusted things to 350-450 Pars. Set acclimation for a month. I'm on week 2 of acclimation and can't really say things are great but I see hints of improvement.

It will take time but I'm in no rush since this tank has hit rock bottom and I don't care. I may tear it down and start all over....No SPS, just bring in my LPS from Frag Tank.

At least the fish are healthy!

 

[Bpp124987]

Rock bottom? Looks solid.

 

[WallyB]

Rock bottom? Looks solid.

Thanks, however the Tank ONLY looks good from a distance. Close-up is another story since you see sps damage almost everywhere. I still have hope that things can recover. Thanks for the encouragement. There is potential if I can get this stubborn/finicky Tank back on track.

 

[WallyB]

OMG!! COULD THIS BE MY PROBLEM with (SPS TANK)?

Last night my Tunze Osmolator Failed on my other LPS tank. After checking things I discovered the ATO wire somehow drooped into my (SPS tank SUMP). It was sumerged in water and that part of the wire had a splice which I did to extend the ATO wiring. The splice was soldered and sealed with Electrical tape however after months of it sitting in my sump all the copper wires were totally corroded and they disinagrated. (why the ATO wiring failed).


A ICP water test would answer the question but I'm not waiting. I just ordered some CUPRISORB. Could this be slow Copper/Solder-Metals leaching contamination that's been going on for few months? Not enough copper to wipe out tank but certainly enough to cause this never ending slow damage to all SPS.

 

[WallyB]

I've finally made a decision to reset the 110G Office tank. The main reason is the Purple Star polyps took over almost all the surface area of rocks. I see no solution to rid the tank of these guys. Every single rock has been infected by them. It has to be all or nothing since I never want to see Purple polyps again.

I have decided to Bleach the rocks to speed up the process. Today I did a one-rock test. This is one rock I removed and shows the Polyp coverage. Impossible to scrap from every nook and cranny.

I will bleach all the rocks for a week however after just one hour sample rock test, the results are amazing. No scrubbing was needed. Everything is just disolving.

A week of bleaching will certainly do the job. Then I will follow proper procedures to rinse and soak rocks, treat with PRIME to remove any residual chlorine.

I don't want to kill the whole system so the plan is as follows:

- The Fish will stay in the Tank. All rocks and corals will be removed. Only bleach rocks will be returned to the DT for a new start. New corals will only be added when rocks recover and start showing Coraline coverage.
- The sump rocks may have some pests (aiptasia), but it appears they have no Star Polyps since there is no lighting. I will not be bleaching sumps rocks. That will help seed the new rock and possibly eliminate any major cycle.
- Once the rocks are out it will be a good time to treat the tank with Flatworm Exit to safely kill the Red Planaria. Risks of Planaria toxins will be low since most of the planaria will be removed when rocks are removed.

I know this is not a full reset but the trade-off is time and effort, and get's me back to enjoying my tank.... hopefully within a year or so. I clearly understand there is risk pest will come back from the Sump. It will take a long time and I have no issues dealing with Planaria, or Aiptasia but the Star Polyp is another story. I also expect to have the rock to go through Ugly Stages (Cyano, Algae), but hoping it will be minimal.

Some good news...The Frag tank is still doing well and getting quite full.

Bad idea? Good idea? Any recommendations or thoughts?

Wish me luck.

 

[WallyB]

I started the restart. Removed 2/3 of the rock. Left right Island for fish and once I throw in some temp habitat stuff, the rest of the rocks will go except the one encrusted beautiful Branching Cyphatea and the only suriving SPS worth keeping, the Berry Wine. The Turbinaria I will keep a piece and give the rest of LFS for cut up.

I started the rock bleaching. 40 Gallons of Tap water and 4 Gallons of Clorine beach. 40:1 ratio.

In the garage. The tupper bin is on wheel and if it stinks too much I can roll it out to the driveway. So far our Garage smells like a pool.

I need to clean the sand out, vacuum the bottom, and then lower the water and razor blade scrape the glass on the bottom of the tank to loosen any attached pests. I can't bleach the tank.

I will do a mini cleaning on the sump but not clean too much to keep all the bacteria growing there to reseed the tank. At that point, it will be safe to treat the planaria with Flatworm Exit since their population will be much lower. They are all dead in the bleach soup.

I have 7 days to do stuff when the rocks should be ready. I need to order a chlorine test kit to ensure rocks don't go back in DT with chlorine. I may decide to dry the rocks indoors before using them.

I have a sense of relief and look forward to building new. Except for the ugly stage.

One step at a time. There is no turning back now.