Cali tort shedding?

Lonny · Jul 30, 2016

horrible pic, sorry. So this has been my best grower so far. I've never seen it do this before. Is it just shedding it's mucus layer? I dosed chemiclean last night, though no other corals seem bothered by it.
150gl with 30gl sump
Ph 8.2
Alk 9.4
Cal 475
Temp 79
N03 5
P04 .075
Mag 1400
Thanks all!

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

Your phosphates are high. Almost concerned high. 0.06 is high and you have 0.075. Need to knock that number down.

You can run GFO. Need to start off slow with it. Too much can shock the rest of inhabitants.

Depending on how old the tank is, vacuuming the sandbed can help rid of phosphates also.

Lonny · Jul 30, 2016

Ya, been chasing numbers a little. It's slowly coming down. I next to no nutrients for a long time. 0 no3 .025 p04. Ams everyone was like you to bring that up! Over shot the p04 a little but it's coming down. All my acro's have better color now, not there yet but getting better. Still what do you think about the shedding? I have an Oregon tort right next to it and it's fine. All of them look fine actually.

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

Aside form the elevated po4, do yo have any cyano or algae growing?

From your picture, it looks like your coral is slimming and not shedding? Something might be irritating it. Possible a fish is nipping at it? Or maybe an LPS coral trying to tell it to back off a little bit?
Can you provide a full tank shot?

Lonny · Jul 30, 2016

I do have a little cyano because of the p04 I'm sure. I dosed chemiclean last night and maybe that's irritating it but it's the only one out of 9 sps. This one is my baby. I just want to stay ahead of a problem if there is one.

Lonny · Jul 30, 2016

Lights had gone down when I took the pic and I'm not home right now.

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

Lonny said:
I do have a little cyano because of the p04 I'm sure. I dosed chemiclean last night and maybe that's irritating it but it's the only one out of 9 sps. This one is my baby. I just want to stay ahead of a problem if there is one.

Nice tank. I would say if your fish aren't bothering it and LPS coral isn't in it's path then it has to be the combination of high po4 and chemiclean.

When cyano grows it's going to absorb phosphates. So your 0.07 might actually be 0.09 or 0.1 which is a problem.
I would tackle the phosphate problem by first turkey basting rocks and sand bed to remove as much cyano as possible. Then start vacuuming the sandbed to remove as much detritus. Then preform a 30% water change. Wait a week and then again, vacuum sand bed. Chemiclean should be last resort and used only if zero po4 and small amount of cyano is growing.

Lonny · Jul 30, 2016

Thanks! Sounds good. I have 25gl of rodi water made up so far. Doing a 45gl water change tomorrow. I forgot about acro's sliming when stressed. To be honest, I've just never seen it first hand lol. My reactor is offline for the chemiclean right now. I just started running GFO again so I'll get that number down soon. Thanks for your help!

reeferfoxx · Jul 30, 2016

Lonny said:
Thanks! Sounds good. I have 25gl of rodi water made up so far. Doing a 45gl water change tomorrow. I forgot about acro's sliming when stressed. To be honest, I've just never seen it first hand lol. My reactor is offline for the chemiclean right now. I just started running GFO again so I'll get that number down soon. Thanks for your help!

Just make sure you get that detritus out. Water change alone won't fix the issue at hand.

Just in case, here is a video on how to properly vacuum sand without wasting all your water. By pinching the vacuum line you can control the amount of detritus vs sand and water that is being sucked out.

Lonny · Jul 30, 2016

Sweet, thanks!

mcarroll · Jul 30, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
Chemiclean should be last resort

Agreed!

Mostly just to pile on....

Cyano
Cyano has the capacity to blanket a tank and literally choke out an individual coral, or even all other sessile/benthic life.

IMO, an out of control instance of cyano like that is really what Chemiclean is for these days – emergency control.

However, the presence of a cyano bloom is just one symptom of conditions in the tank - it is not the problem per se.

Nitrogen
Cyano usually predominates under low-nitrogen conditions since it can fix its own nitrogen directly thus out-competing other organisms which generally cannot and which become nitrogen starved.

If you just have a small patch or two of cyano, increasing nitrates may be all you need to do in order to give the edge back to the green algae and other photosynthesizers. Reducing phosphates is usually a good complimentary strategy.

Detritus
Detritus removal is always a good strategy - don't wait for algae or cyano to dictate your actions on this front! Just as people have been saying - blow off the rocks as frequently as necessary. You'll never do more than the wave action most wild reefs see, so be bold and regular.

And keep an eye on your sand bed. If detritus levels are high and tank flow is less than ideal, your sand can quickly become clogged with detritus. If this happens, I think it's usually a better move (less work and cheaper) to remove the sand bed rather than trying to clean it. Take the opportunity to address any flow issues that may have been part of the problem – and, if possible, consider running the tank without a sand bed.