Casualties of GFO

[justdeb1107]

So last night I changed the media in my GFO/Carbon reactor. I have run the reactor for 6 weeks or so. My phosphates were at .17. After adding new media last night, they plummeted to .04. Within hours, my 2 previously happy SPS pieces looked bleached. The monti at least now has its polyps extended. The birdsnest looks gone. The rest of the tank (mostly LPS) is happy, happy. I had no idea this would stress them so badly. I know, stability is key. But my GFO reactor has never dropped my phosphates that quickly. I am sad.

Will the monti live, at least?
[Edit: polyps are out on birdsnest now, but it still looks rough.]

 

[crazyfishmom]

Hard to know. It’s pretty crazy how this sort of thing can happen. I had one of my acros RTN overnight. No idea why. The rest of the tank (acro heavy) is doing fine. No clue. I normally would put a bleached coral lower in the tank and would suggest feeding restore to the tank.

 

[justdeb1107]

Hard to know. It’s pretty crazy how this sort of thing can happen. I had one of my acros RTN overnight. No idea why. The rest of the tank (acro heavy) is doing fine. No clue. I normally would put a bleached coral lower in the tank and would suggest feeding restore to the tank.

Thanks for the suggestion.

 

[Pod_01]

My phosphates were at .17. After adding new media last night, they plummeted to .04. Within hours, my 2 previously happy SPS pieces looked bleached.

From my experience the two species you mentioned are really sensitive to sinking PO4 values.
Your PO4 dropped by a factor of 4 so I am not surprised.
It took me some time to clue in to sinking PO4 and RTN in SPS corals.

Some SPS experts are able to run SPS reefs at 0.04 ppm value, I find lot more success when PO4 is at 0.1-0.2ppm or even up to 0.5ppm.

At those values I tend to sit on my hands and observe.

Also with GFO less and changed often works better vs. a lot and changed infrequently. GFO may strip other elements so it can really shock some corals.

Good luck, hope they recover…

 

[DanyL]

I’m sorry for your trouble.

GFO can be very aggressive in the first couple of days, leading to a sudden drastic drop in PO4, which is why I recommend to either start with a slower flow than recommended or using a less aggressive media in the first place (I.e - Rowa vs Fauna Marin PowerPhos).

If you have access to Cipro, you can dip the corals for 1-3 hours and it’ll stop the RTN from proceeding and help them to recover.

 

[justdeb1107]

From my experience the two species you mentioned are really sensitive to sinking PO4 values.
Your PO4 dropped by a factor of 4 so I am not surprised.
It took me some time to clue in to sinking PO4 and RTN in SPS corals.

Some SPS experts are able to run SPS reefs at 0.04 ppm value, I find lot more success when PO4 is at 0.1-0.2ppm or even up to 0.5ppm.

At those values I tend to sit on my hands and observe.

Also with GFO less and changed often works better vs. a lot and changed infrequently. GFO may strip other elements so it can really shock some corals.

Good luck, hope they recover…

Thanks for the insight. My reactor has never dropped it this lower so quickly before.

 

[justdeb1107]

I’m sorry for your trouble.

GFO can be very aggressive in the first couple of days, leading to a sudden drastic drop in PO4, which is why I recommend to either start with a slower flow than recommended or using a less aggressive media in the first place (I.e - Rowa vs Fauna Marin PowerPhos).

If you have access to Cipro, you can dip the corals for 1-3 hours and it’ll stop the RTN from proceeding and help them to recover.

I do have cipro, so I appreciate the suggestion.

 

[Dburr1014]

So last night I changed the media in my GFO/Carbon reactor. I have run the reactor for 6 weeks or so. My phosphates were at .17. After adding new media last night, they plummeted to .04. Within hours, my 2 previously happy SPS pieces looked bleached. The monti at least now has its polyps extended. The birdsnest looks gone. The rest of the tank (mostly LPS) is happy, happy. I had no idea this would stress them so badly. I know, stability is key. But my GFO reactor has never dropped my phosphates that quickly. I am sad.

Will the monti live, at least?
[Edit: polyps are out on birdsnest now, but it still looks rough.]

Drop your lights output 20% for a couple of days to let them rest.
Think of it as a cloudy day.

Remove half of the GFO. Let po4 come up a bit.

You caught it early, should be a good outcome.

EDIT:
I'd be wary of using cipro this soon on a first event of this nature. They are completly stressed out right now and that will stress them further. IMO.

 

[justdeb1107]

Drop your lights output 20% for a couple of days to let them rest.
Think of it as a cloudy day.

Remove half of the GFO. Let po4 come up a bit.

You caught it early, should be a good outcome.

EDIT:
I'd be wary of using cipro this soon on a first event of this nature. They are completly stressed out right now and that will stress them further. IMO.

Thanks for the good idea. I had decided against cipro because this really isn't an illness thing. Also because all of their polyps are back out, even the birdsnest, which I thought was beyond hope. Sure didn't think this would stress them so badly. I have a 32 gallon I run as a "frag tank" and I have dropped pH in it pretty steeply with a hefty water change, and it didn't do this to the SPS in there. So bizarre.

 

[DanyL]

I'd be wary of using cipro this soon on a first event of this nature. They are completly stressed out right now and that will stress them further. IMO.

In fact, I actually highly recommend doing so as soon as tissue narcosis begins.
Not an opinion, but first hand experience.

 

[Lavey29]

What was wrong with .17 phosphate and healthy corals?

 

[justdeb1107]

What was wrong with .17 phosphate and healthy corals?

The powers that be say I need .03-.05. Was told SPS especially need the low phosphate to grow.

 

[justdeb1107]

The same corals today. They look much better, but still lost some color. Pics taken during feeding. Shrimp floating everywhere.

 

[Lavey29]

The powers that be say I need .03-.05. Was told SPS especially need the low phosphate to grow.

Remember each tank is unique and one size does not fit all. My phosphate was .79 a few weeks back and my SPS along with about 50 other corals thrive.

Let your corals tell you how they are doing not the powers to be on the internet.

 

[Dburr1014]

In fact, I actually highly recommend doing so as soon as tissue narcosis begins.
Not an opinion, but first hand experience.

If this was tissue neurosis I would agree.
This is simply a stress event and they will recover without any intervention.

 

[Dburr1014]

The powers that be say I need .03-.05. Was told SPS especially need the low phosphate to grow.

Nope.

My tank was always 0.1 but now it's higher.
Many run higher. Let the coral tell you when there not happy.
If you do want to go lower, slow and steady win the race.

 

[DanyL]

If this was tissue neurosis I would agree.
This is simply a stress event and they will recover without any intervention.

That’s correct.

My original recommendation explicitly delegated the use of Cipro to treat RTN, and I than clarified that whether the coral is stressed or not I would still recommend going through this therapy in case of a tissue narcosis.