How to manage leather toxicity in a mixed reef

[eag]

I am building a pico tank, and recently received a lobophytum (rabbit's ear) along with some SPS. I didn't think much of it at first, so long as I kept things separated... then I started reading more. No shortage of first hand accounts of leathers stunting sps growth (or worse). Given my small water volume, I'm a little concerned.

From what I understand, it's possible for everything to be "fine" up until the leather(s) get irritated and start secreting in overdrive. What I'm really trying to understand is, how much effect (if any) does the size/ratio of leathers to non-leathers and water volume have on the likelihood of encountering a problem? I mean, it stands to reason that a small leather in a large tank with many other corals is probably less risky than a large leather in a small tank with a few other SPS?

How can I go about assessing the relative risk of my specific situation?

 

[eag]

Oh, and of course as the title says... is there anything I can do to manage the risk?

I threw a couple carbon bio ball things in the back chamber, but I'd really rather not run them if I don't have to.

WC schedule is 40% every week

 

[Bossman]

I'm curious about this as well. I have quite a few leathers and had no idea they could be toxic. Then again, I have to learn.

 

[eag]

This post on another thread of mine is what tipped me off that maybe I should be more worried than I was:

Sanity check on spring water ICP results - what is acceptable for source water?

I have access to a freshwater spring, and am curious about the viability of the water for use in a reef tank. Using water from the spring is easiest... I'd say buying distilled water is 2nd easiest... So, what I'm really wondering is how suitable is the spring water, and how might it compare to...

www.reef2reef.com

Some googling turned up additional information, like this post:

Rapid Tissue Necrosis (RTN) and the Devil’s Hand

No, I'm not talking about the actual Devil's Hand. Although when you're watching your prized acro frag you've drooled over at your local LFS and finally bought

reefs.com

I knew that they were toxic, but I didn't realize that it could be so problematic

 

[danieyella]

I can't help you in terms of small tank, etc. But I run a mixed reef of lps, a bunch of leathers, and just recently in the last few months started adding sps. I run rox .8 carbon in a reactor at all times, changed once a week to help mitigate any leather toxicity. I started running this a few months ago, and had tried sps a few times prior with no luck, I definitely contribute the change to the carbon.

 

[bigdrew]

Stumbled on this thread. @eag were you able to learn anything outside of this particular thread? I have a similar situation and am wondering if I am not doing something simple/basic to prevent such an incident. I do not run carbon, as my phosphates, nitrates and ammonia are all in check/borderline too low at times.

 

[jarviz]

Stumbled on this thread. @eag were you able to learn anything outside of this particular thread? I have a similar situation and am wondering if I am not doing something simple/basic to prevent such an incident. I do not run carbon, as my phosphates, nitrates and ammonia are all in check/borderline too low at times.

Does carbon even affect phosphates and nitrates? I thought it was more for absorbing inorganics, toxins/chemicals, and helping keep the water clear and odorless.

 

[Reef Tripp]

Gac not carbono

 

[jarviz]

Gac not carbono

what? what's the diff from GAC and carbon?

 

[eag]

@bigdrew I stuck with the one leather, and SPS grew. A little slow in some cases, but there could be many reasons for that.

I ran carbon in the beginning for a while, but stopped because my water was too clean. Now, the tank has only mechanical and biological, and is growing acro (slowly), cyphastrea (quickly), and montipora (medium rate). I have also seen growth in my astreopora and pachyseris.

I'm not too worried about it at this point, but I'll probably avoid putting any more leathers in.

 

[Reef Tripp]

Carbon=vinagear, vodka, sugar..
GAC=granular activated carbon.