Sean Donohue
New Member
So I've been trying to figure out why my LPS tank has been struggling with receding tissue on many of my corals. (spoiler, 2 hidden issues were the real cause). I've been following threads for months now, trying to figure out why my Chalices, Favias, Acan echinatas, Lepastreas, Leptoseris, Goniopora, Trachy, Euphyllia, and a few of my Micromussa lords were all experiencing tissue recession. I started this 50g cube with some orbit LEDs, a 6g sump with a 500gph return pump and a skimmer, 50lb of dry rock, and 1 200gph powerhead.
since about month 2, the tank's chemistry stabilized and I wasn't seeing any fluctuation in the numbers after that (Hint: this is not something you can trust). I was confused as to why my corals were unhappy.
As I mentioned, there was a lot of tissue recession and exposed skeleton, mostly around the edges and particularly sharp angles corners of skeleton underneath healed-over frag edges would start poking through. this would become covered with algae or some other fuzzy life-forms. Some threads say it's bacteria infection and to dip your frags, so I mixed up a batch of revive coral cleaner and dipped a few frags, placing them back where they came from. this didn't change anything, except to further stress my corals. I had lost some color in almost all of my corals by then and was freaking out. Salvation came a few months later (you just gotta hang in there and take things slow), but with quite a nasty shock!
As I reached into my tank one morning to dislodge a food pellet that had become stuck in the drain grill at the back of the tank, I got zapped by my ****** return pump the second my finger touched the water. This is what I get for typing "quiet reef aquarium pump" into amazon and getting excited over finding one for 25$ that matched my gph output requirements. ANYWAY so I went to my LFS (Humboldt area has nooooo great options) to find a pump and the only one they had was 110$ so heck no sorry local economy. I only have a 50(ish) gallon setup and I'm a poor college student. I still had to get one from amazon which means I was going to wait for 3 days WHICH ENDED UP SAVING MY TANK. Here's why:
Pop Quiz: your (only) pump shorts out and a replacement is days away. what do you do?
Answer: You reposition your powerhead(s) and drop your backup water heater into your main display tank. (ALWAYS HAVE BACKUPS)(I now keep a backup return pump on hand too!)
So this ended up keeping things alive... and more! The tank's current was reduced by quite a bit and for the first time, (other than brief feeding moments) I was able to see how my tank reacted to the change over the span of a day. within 4 hours, some of my corals polyps were beginning to extend in ways I hadn't seen before. The next morning as my lights came up, It was almost as if I was dreaming. my corals PE was off the hook and I was seeing feeding behavior from ALL of my Micromussa, and my chalices were swelling and my Favias were plump and happy looking. ;Happy CURRENT WAS MY PROBLEM. I had been chasing tank parameters, bought amino acids, different coral foods, dips, adding cleanup crew, watching with a black light at night to see if they were attacking each other, I WAS LOSING MY MIND and all I had to do was turn the water down. well, almost...
So I was ecstatic. My new return pump came and I set it on its lowest setting and REMOVED my only powerhead from the tank. NOTE: I HAVE NO SPS corals. I think my problem was that I had watched so many videos and read so many different opinions, I was convinced that I had some unsolvable problem when the real issue was quite simple. most of the corals I have don't need that much flow at all.
The second and last thing I want to mention is to calibrate your instruments. PLEASE buy some salinity refractometer testing liquid and test your refractometer (and other testing instruments). once these things are tweaked with, they give you the wrong answer every time. there is a little nob on my refractometer that is used for calibration. when I bought my refractometer, I didn't now what it did and while trying to adjust the viewing end, I must have turned the nob a little and so for EIGHT MONTHS I've thought my salinity was 1.025 and it was really at
1.021. I have NO idea how my corals are still alive. I only lost 9 frags of various species during this time and everything else is making a colorful comeback. *wipes sweat from forehead*
1.Don't just get powerheads and equipment because 8/10 reefers you see on youtube have one, or just because it exists. Find a need before you buy a tool.
2. Trust, but verify. Your water quality and your reef keeping skills are only as good as your ability to trust the equipment you do need, so CALIBRATE OFTEN, and when you need it, don't buy one of the cheapest ones. ;D
since about month 2, the tank's chemistry stabilized and I wasn't seeing any fluctuation in the numbers after that (Hint: this is not something you can trust). I was confused as to why my corals were unhappy.
As I mentioned, there was a lot of tissue recession and exposed skeleton, mostly around the edges and particularly sharp angles corners of skeleton underneath healed-over frag edges would start poking through. this would become covered with algae or some other fuzzy life-forms. Some threads say it's bacteria infection and to dip your frags, so I mixed up a batch of revive coral cleaner and dipped a few frags, placing them back where they came from. this didn't change anything, except to further stress my corals. I had lost some color in almost all of my corals by then and was freaking out. Salvation came a few months later (you just gotta hang in there and take things slow), but with quite a nasty shock!
As I reached into my tank one morning to dislodge a food pellet that had become stuck in the drain grill at the back of the tank, I got zapped by my ****** return pump the second my finger touched the water. This is what I get for typing "quiet reef aquarium pump" into amazon and getting excited over finding one for 25$ that matched my gph output requirements. ANYWAY so I went to my LFS (Humboldt area has nooooo great options) to find a pump and the only one they had was 110$ so heck no sorry local economy. I only have a 50(ish) gallon setup and I'm a poor college student. I still had to get one from amazon which means I was going to wait for 3 days WHICH ENDED UP SAVING MY TANK. Here's why:
Pop Quiz: your (only) pump shorts out and a replacement is days away. what do you do?
Answer: You reposition your powerhead(s) and drop your backup water heater into your main display tank. (ALWAYS HAVE BACKUPS)(I now keep a backup return pump on hand too!)
So this ended up keeping things alive... and more! The tank's current was reduced by quite a bit and for the first time, (other than brief feeding moments) I was able to see how my tank reacted to the change over the span of a day. within 4 hours, some of my corals polyps were beginning to extend in ways I hadn't seen before. The next morning as my lights came up, It was almost as if I was dreaming. my corals PE was off the hook and I was seeing feeding behavior from ALL of my Micromussa, and my chalices were swelling and my Favias were plump and happy looking. ;Happy CURRENT WAS MY PROBLEM. I had been chasing tank parameters, bought amino acids, different coral foods, dips, adding cleanup crew, watching with a black light at night to see if they were attacking each other, I WAS LOSING MY MIND and all I had to do was turn the water down. well, almost...
So I was ecstatic. My new return pump came and I set it on its lowest setting and REMOVED my only powerhead from the tank. NOTE: I HAVE NO SPS corals. I think my problem was that I had watched so many videos and read so many different opinions, I was convinced that I had some unsolvable problem when the real issue was quite simple. most of the corals I have don't need that much flow at all.
The second and last thing I want to mention is to calibrate your instruments. PLEASE buy some salinity refractometer testing liquid and test your refractometer (and other testing instruments). once these things are tweaked with, they give you the wrong answer every time. there is a little nob on my refractometer that is used for calibration. when I bought my refractometer, I didn't now what it did and while trying to adjust the viewing end, I must have turned the nob a little and so for EIGHT MONTHS I've thought my salinity was 1.025 and it was really at
1.021. I have NO idea how my corals are still alive. I only lost 9 frags of various species during this time and everything else is making a colorful comeback. *wipes sweat from forehead*1.Don't just get powerheads and equipment because 8/10 reefers you see on youtube have one, or just because it exists. Find a need before you buy a tool.
2. Trust, but verify. Your water quality and your reef keeping skills are only as good as your ability to trust the equipment you do need, so CALIBRATE OFTEN, and when you need it, don't buy one of the cheapest ones. ;D
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