Popcorn ceiling killing my hard coral?

[Wiz]

Any possible pests? peppermint shrimp or something that might have all of a sudden developed a taste for LPS?

Two cleaner shrimp to Emerald crabs some Hermits ,snails and starfish. Maybe the emerald crab

 

[JEREMY82]

Well hopefully all the info will help u find the problem

 

[JEREMY82]

Coral dip see if any pests come off

 

[Wiz]

I took one of the frogspawn heads that was just about dead and dipped it first in flatworm exit then in peroxide. Did not see anything

Coral dip see if any pests come off

 

[JEREMY82]

Do use a controller ?if so maybe see if u graphed any big swings.

 

[JEREMY82]

Or could be a bacteria or fungus infection

 

[Wiz]

I do not run a controller. They scare me.

 

[Wiz]

The 44 reading that I got was from the display tank. The pump that was causing the a 24 volt drop is in the refugium. That water must leave the refugium travel through the sump and get pumped back to the display. Is it possible that the voltage is stronger in the refugium tank where the pump is?

 

[JEREMY82]

I'm sure with all the info on here your on the rt track,only problem is (time) just have to monitor stuff .looks worse as days go look for more solutions to problem.

 

[JEREMY82]

I don't think so because the water carries current

 

[JEREMY82]

Any cords up top touching tank ?powerhead up top?

 

[Wiz]

Both of my LED cords are attached to the rear glass of the tank to hold them from spinning. But they are attached to the black liner not the actual glass. There are two pumps in the main display tank. The jaybo 25 + 40

 

[Wiz]

Heater and skimmer and return pump are in sump. Maxi jet is the only one in the refugium

 

[JEREMY82]

Check those maybe in display 1 at a time

 

[Sabellafella]

I've searched everything. No idea how to proceed

Try doing some extensive iodine dipping. Sucks that theres almost nothing you can point a finger on in this hobby. Youll just have to rule out probable cause

 

[JEREMY82]

Another thing I do is note down on paper stuff I do to my tank. Sometimes it takes a few days b4 u see affects of something .change in salt mix or dosed this or got a new item and I rt my numbers down .then when problem occurs I go through my stuff .look and see if I was the problem or if something else is

 

[JEREMY82]

Keep me posted as of what becomes of stuff would like to know so down the road I may share your experience to help others.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Sabellafella is right, it's likely too that you have a combination of circumstances compounding the issue. All of which may not have any visual clues.

I've caught back up with your thread now and it's interesting that you mention adding the T5's to your tank. Was that about the time that all of this started happening? The increase in light can cause an increased internal demand for nutrients, it could have been the tipping point leading to a phosphate starvation event. (I know you don't buy into this theory but hear me out). IMO one of the things that makes phosphate starvation worse than nitrate starvation is that even a punctuated event causes permanent damage that continues even after conditions are corrected. (think about all the people that nuke their tank by running too much GFO too fast. Just turning off the reactor doesn't fix the damage caused). Nitrogen starvation is a bit of a different beast, the corals mostly just bleach and can be brought back days and weeks later. not so with phosphate starvation. permanent damage occurs that often results in coral mortality.

Couple this with the concept of "imbalanced nutrients" where if you have ample nitrate and no phosphate available it actually magnifies the phosphate starvation effects. (at least in the research that I have read).

It's a tough call what you have going on. I think you have to take a multi prong approach and systematically eliminate any and every possiblilities. At some point you will turn up another clue, or something will change.

I would definitely get a grounding probe. (I agree the stray voltage could very well be causing this issue).
Triton test
I would test NO3 and PO4 daily and dose each to maintain detectable levels.

I'm sorry this is happening and I hope we can help you figure it out.

 

[Yojoe10]

Hey Sorry, did not read the entire story here but seems you still got issues.

My first checkpoint is to maintain No3 2-3ppm and PO3 to be lifted into 0.15 ppm range via Reef Nutrition Phytofeast. That takes only a few days ;-)
LPS dont like ULNS, and ALK higher then 8 burns all tissue while Nutrients are super low.

However, there might be a bacterial issue. For that watch out for whitish furry growing stuff in the low flow corners. Can also look stringy and the water appears a bit white or haze in the day looking along the tank from side to side. Also these non reef bacteria are limiting Coralline to grow. Watch for those symptoms.

Another issue might be a real contamination with heavy metals or something, for that I would preventively use a Triton Detox dosage for the tank. That requires activated carbon to strip it out, and here I would use Red Sea Reef spec to get all the crap out of the tank for once.
After that back to normal and see if things improve.

-Andre

You mention a bacterial issue that causes hazy water from time to time and zero coralline growth. Those are symptoms of my tank for last five years. What would one do to rid a tank of bad bacteria like that without killing "good" bacteria?

 

[GoVols]

Wiz,
You mentioned can carpet cleaner. I'm not saying it's your problem but you must be safe.

3 years ago we had our carpets cleaned. The guys shot some aerosol spray to hit the high track area in front of my reef before they got their main equipment going. Well, It was just 3 months of heartbreak . That aerosol made the biggest bacteria funk that I've ever seen in a reef. I did water changes to no end. I just had to let it run it's coarse and added up the damage when it was finally over. To this day my wife wont even use a Glade Plug-in in our den.

I don't think it's your problem but please be safe. That carpet cleaning aerosol is no joke.

Regards, GoVols