SPS quarantine setup and log

[FarmerTy]

Thanks. The way I see it the cost of a simple setup like what I have pales in comparison with the cost of several of the higher end SPS out there. And I know I may loose one or two acros along the way but to me this is a cost well worth taking to prevent introducing pests that sometimes lead to full tank teardowns. Aptasia is what I would call a simple pest. Red bugs or AEFW are another story altogether. And in both cases your dip will get the bugs but potentially not the eggs.

I am starting now and prefer to ensure from day one that I keep as much as possible out of the tank, rather than a couple of years down the line watch thousands of dollars of acros going down the drain.



As far as buying livestock I am privileged enough to have a marine biologist buying direct from the importer, so I guess you can not get any safer than that.

However, some things may come unseen. Not only coral parasites but also fish parasites, as ich Tomonts usually attach to hard surfaces and may remain there for up to almost 2 months.

After two times having to catch all my fish and running quarantining them I do not want to risk it again.

As with so much in this hobby, to each it's own. I will continue to do this process with future purchases so all feedback from seasoned SPS keepers on how to keep them is much appreciated [emoji4]

I like your style sir! And I 100% agree on the weighted cost of acros versus the gamble of not QT'ing. I never QTed before and just dipped with Bayer and tossed them into the old tank. 3 years later, I realized I had AEFWs. Everything looked good for years until the population grew enough that I started to see deaths in my acros. Keep in mind, this took years before it really affected the health of any acro. By then, it was almost a complete loss. And let me tell you, I could have bought 5-10 QT setups for the amount of money I lost on dead acros.

With my new tank, I told myself I was going to do it right this time and now QT all new fish and coral.

I could say the same story for fish and not QTing them as well. Lost half my tank to velvet from a flame angel... some of the fish were with me for over 5 years. I currently have all my fish in a tub right now and going fallow just to have an ich free tank to start with and all fish will be treated with TTM and QTed for at least a month with no symptoms prior to adding to my tank. Again, a simple QT could have saved me a lot of money in fish livestock as well.

 

[SPSREEFS]

wow! With those problems I may have done what your doing too. NEver had problems that bad that I can remember. I have had the same fish for about 8 years. Golden pygmy is my oldest. Been in 3 different tanks.............lol

 

[FarmerTy]

Yeah, I had the same fish for about 4-5 years. It was the addition of the flame that did me in. For 12 years, I would just throw new fish into the tank. I thought I was an exception. All it took was one wrong fish to blow it all up. It was just inevitable that it would eventually happen. Obviously if you don't add any new fish, you won't have an issue.

For SPS, something to think about. I only used to buy from the primo SPS tanks in town. Their tanks looked so pristine and their colonies so large, experts on SPS tanks, there has to be no way they have pests.

Looking back, they probably had over 50 different types of acros in their tanks alone. Think about how many different sources they used to build their collection? To me, the tanks with the most amount of corals are also the ones with the highest chances of picking up pests just by sheer odds. I always tell newbs that come to pick up coral from me when they ask if they should dip my coral. I tell them, I should be the one they trust the least! My tank has corals from tons of different tanks. Of course I dip the heck out of my corals but I use it as a good warning to them. Just food for thought... the most diverse and beautiful tanks got a whole lot of coral from somewhere...

 

[SPSREEFS]

The key for me is realizing you cannot get everything you want I guess. Just adding that one more fish or coral may create a huge problem. I have 5 fish in my 65 and probably will not add anymore. The clown tang is king and he can be quite a jerk at times. He messes with my purple tang as soon as I add food to the tank. So I figure im good with the fish unless I absolutely need another to help with something in the tank. Only then would I chance it and try to make provisions to pull it off.
I did lose a bunch of corals to RTN about 20-25 years ago. I used to purchase most of my frags or small colonies from Steve Tyree back then. He would deliver them to me, we would trade etc. Importing SPS was tuff back then and much more risky. According to Steve, one of the main importers or holding facilities on the other end had a very bad problem in their holding tanks. Of course they passed it along to everyone else. And I am still not sure to this day if it was over here or over there.
One day all my corals looked pale, the next day they started melting off the skeletons. And its a chain reaction. All the slime being released into the water creates loads of water born bacteria, which essentially choke the system out of oxygen. My skimmer just quite working! Very strange for sure.
I added a UV sterilizer and the skimmer started working like crazy and the tank slowly came back. Not after losing about 1000.00 worth of corals. I remember that one well.
According to Steve, that facility was emptied and sterilized. And it solved the problem. But it cost a lot of guys a lot of money. But I remember guys with huge tanks losing all their corals and getting out of the hobby. Pretty devastating for sure.
So the pest thing does not seem to be such a big deal to me because the RTN thing years ago was down right brutal. At least now there are treatments for the pests and ways to combat them. My comb toothed filefish to me is one ugly fish. But hes worth his weight in gold.........

 

[FarmerTy]

The key for me is realizing you cannot get everything you want I guess. Just adding that one more fish or coral may create a huge problem. I have 5 fish in my 65 and probably will not add anymore. The clown tang is king and he can be quite a jerk at times. He messes with my purple tang as soon as I add food to the tank. So I figure im good with the fish unless I absolutely need another to help with something in the tank. Only then would I chance it and try to make provisions to pull it off.
I did lose a bunch of corals to RTN about 20-25 years ago. I used to purchase most of my frags or small colonies from Steve Tyree back then. He would deliver them to me, we would trade etc. Importing SPS was tuff back then and much more risky. According to Steve, one of the main importers or holding facilities on the other end had a very bad problem in their holding tanks. Of course they passed it along to everyone else. And I am still not sure to this day if it was over here or over there.
One day all my corals looked pale, the next day they started melting off the skeletons. And its a chain reaction. All the slime being released into the water creates loads of water born bacteria, which essentially choke the system out of oxygen. My skimmer just quite working! Very strange for sure.
I added a UV sterilizer and the skimmer started working like crazy and the tank slowly came back. Not after losing about 1000.00 worth of corals. I remember that one well.
According to Steve, that facility was emptied and sterilized. And it solved the problem. But it cost a lot of guys a lot of money. But I remember guys with huge tanks losing all their corals and getting out of the hobby. Pretty devastating for sure.
So the pest thing does not seem to be such a big deal to me because the RTN thing years ago was down right brutal. At least now there are treatments for the pests and ways to combat them. My comb toothed filefish to me is one ugly fish. But hes worth his weight in gold.........

We got Steve Tyree coming to speak at our conference this year in Austin. It'll be fun to get his take on all the years of frag farming he's done.

Oddly, I've bought a good number of maricultures over the years and usually have a pretty good success rate with them but one time, I brought in 3 colonies, dipped them, and added them to the tank immediately. They all RTN'ed within 3 hrs and the resulting aftermath was it took out 2-3 healthy colonies in my tank. I can only assume some type of bacterial infection and it spread in the tank. Water changes, UV, and skimming wet probably saved the day for me. I wonder if you guys experienced something similar but on a greater scale.

 

[VJV]

Day 14.

Alk: 6,8dKH
Calcium:491

 

[VJV]

Even though I turn all circulation off the bloody iPhone camera still decided that the photos should have stripes...

In any event, comparing the milka Stylo with last weeks pictures it seems to have brown put a bit... Last week I had increased the intensity of the light substantially because I thought the brown tone of the poccilopora was due to low light.

Now however, the milka seems (to my eye at least) to have lost a bit of its color. Should I decrease light intensity again?

Thanks.

 

[FarmerTy]

I say no. Crank it! My purple stylo rocks out in 500 par.

More importantly, what are your nutrient levels? Also, what kind of lighting do you have and what kind of lighting did the frag come from? Reason I ask is because everything from under MHs goes into my LED lit tank and browns out for a couple weeks before coloring back up.

 

[VJV]

I am using a Maxspect Celestial C35-F LED. The corals came from tanks with T5 lights. I cannot measure par right now as my pat sensor is in the fish QT (because it doubles as an ammonia sensor which is useful for fish quarantine) and has been in copper (cupramine), so not sure if it is safe to put it with the corals...?

According to the manufacturer my light would get to a max PAR of around 150 at 30cm from the object which is approximately the distance it is at currently.

I know it does not seem too much but I have also heard that corals need to acclimate slowly to led...?

Anyway, nutrients are zero nitrates and phosphates, as I do not feed and there are no fish in the tank.

Do you think I should crank the light?

 

[FarmerTy]

I personally would but that's just me. My SPS seem to do better when moved directly to high light, but that's usually dealing with acros though.

With the poci, I'd be a little more careful with but that stylo should be fine and can go into high light immediately.

 

[JPSika08]

Very nice setup, I'm planning my QT Coral tank right now, not much experience in corals, will take your log for learning, thanks for sharing.

This hobby is more like job than a hobby, lol.

BTW, take FarmerTy advice, he really knows what he's talking about.

 

[VJV]

Cranking it is!

 

[FarmerTy]

Very nice setup, I'm planning my QT Coral tank right now, not much experience in corals, will take your log for learning, thanks for sharing.

This hobby is more like job than a hobby, lol.

BTW, take FarmerTy advice, he really knows what he's talking about.

No kidding, I feel like I've switched from being a part-time moonlighter to overtime with no extra pay these days. Thanks for the nod sir! [emoji6]

 

[VJV]

Well, followed the advice. I will follow with another update next Friday on the 21st day mark.

Corals have great polyp extension though poccilopora is still brown, and milka not as purple as before.

Next week I may give them another dip in coral RX, just to make sure that any resilient hitchhikers (or recently hatched eggs) are taken care off.

 

[SPSREEFS]

This is what I was trying to explain. Very hard to have a hospital tank for SPS! It really needs to be a full fledged operation to compliment the corals health! And to know the coral is ok and being able to see it thrive in the system its in and not blame it on a problem the coral had before you purchased it.
And the corals you got are pretty hardy corals. I figure I dip, say a prayer and hope for the best! And knowing when to say...I better not add that one more piece or one more fish....................

 

[VJV]

Day 21 update.

Alk @ 8,5dKH
Calcium@472

After having increased the light to maximum 3 days ago, the Milka Stylo is not looking great... Polyp extension is the smallest since acquired. The other variable that changed is Alk, now much higher than initially when it was at 6,5dKH. This value is also closest to what the seller has in their tanks.

Should I back down on the light or cut back on the Alk?

Pink Stylo looking ok.

Poccilopora looking great.

 

[FarmerTy]

I think it looks fine. My stylo has been doing weird polyp extension days for years now. One day its fully polyped out, then a couple hours another day it will pull in the polyps. Its just an odd coral to me.

One thing we didn't discuss was flow. What kind of flow do you have in there? Thats been the biggest bane of my frag tank, getting proper flow in there. The better flow, the better my acro frags look in there.

I only noticed this when my frag tank was directly plumbed to my DT. In the exact same water, my frags turned brown and hardly put out polyps. Lighting was exactly the same too so the only difference was flow.

 

[FarmerTy]

I should say I have the same phenomenon in my sump where I have some colonies and frags as well. Exact same water and same lighting fixture but they look not as happy down there. I will be remedying the flow situation down there hopefully soon.

 

[VJV]

Thanks. Well, in terms of flow i have the return at 300l/h and a hydor koralia nano at 900l/h. That is 1200l/h for a 27l tank (and much less if you only count the display area). So we are talking upwards of 40x, probably even more than 50x. However, it is not varied nor random...

 

[FarmerTy]

I think that's less of a concern to have it varied in that scenario but it seems like you are getting plenty. It's hard to visualize flow based on technical data of velocity though, any chance you can post a video?