Time to Reboot My Tank

Ashish Patel · May 15, 2017

I have never paid attention to Dino's until seeing your videos - I am using the same dry rock as you did and was undecided on using refugium and UV until few weeks ago. Thanks for bringing me awareness on Dinos and encouraging me to go the natural route. Looking forward to your progression. Also, your algae reactor is a beast!
Below are pictures (Fuge, 3 weeks old tank)

ReefBum · May 16, 2017

Ashish Patel said:
I have never paid attention to Dino's until seeing your videos - I am using the same dry rock as you did and was undecided on using refugium and UV until few weeks ago. Thanks for bringing me awareness on Dinos and encouraging me to go the natural route. Looking forward to your progression. Also, your algae reactor is a beast!
Below are pictures (Fuge, 3 weeks old tank)

Many thanks. Yes, I do think a more natural approach is the better way to go. Very nice looking setup!

bubbaque · May 16, 2017

What store in Orlando did you get the rock from?

ReefBum · May 16, 2017

bubbaque said:
What store in Orlando did you get the rock from?

Sea in The City. A great bunch of folks.

ReefBum · Aug 16, 2017

A long overdue update.

Bao · Aug 17, 2017

beautiful system you have there. Your old tank was one of my favorite.
Can you list all the supplements and trace elements that you will be dosing now that you changed to dosing 2 parts for Alk and Cal.
Thanks.

ReefBum · Aug 18, 2017

Bao said:
beautiful system you have there. Your old tank was one of my favorite.
Can you list all the supplements and trace elements that you will be dosing now that you changed to dosing 2 parts for Alk and Cal.
Thanks.

Thanks! Right now I am dosing Nitrate/Molybdenum and Iron/Manganese with the ARID reactor. That's it.

solitude127 · Aug 18, 2017

Nice comeback.

ReefBum · Aug 19, 2017

solitude127 said:
Nice comeback.

Thanks. It is heading in the right direction.

reefrf · Jan 2, 2018

Any updates Keith?

ReefBum · Jan 4, 2018

A lot has been going on with the tank, unfortunately most of it has not been good, although I think I have pinpointed the problem. First of all my dinos started to return but after a few weeks they dissipated after I was able to dial in my algae reactor. I vowed to never again fight these pests with 3 day black outs, peroxide, Vibrant etc. and essentially I got rid of them via natural means. The next problem I ran into was a mysterious loss of LPS and SPS frags. I had never experienced such losses and everything was heading south pretty quickly. I did a Triton test and found my lithium levels were extremely high so I ended up switching salts and doing a series of very large water changes. Fortunately, the losses stopped and many of my corals started to rebound. I still have to do another Triton test to see if the Lithium levels went down after switching to the new salt but that is my primary suspect at this point.

oneilwiz · Jan 4, 2018

That sucks sorry to hear, what brand salt are you using ?

najer · Jan 4, 2018

As above, that sucks, are there any other sources for the lithium potentially?

Abhishek · Jan 4, 2018

Keith,

Interesting to hear that high lithium is the cause of LPS and SPS death. High Li is not uncommon in US as its an impurity in many of the salts used. I too have very high Li when using Instant Ocean and do Triton tests every 4-5 months . No casualty ever with respect to acros and my system is close to 90% filled with acros.

How high is your Li? Its not harmful until its very very high like in tens of thousands like sodium.
I may be wrong as always, so better check with @Randy Holmes-Farley but I find it hard to believe that Li would be so high in your salts to be the sole responsible for sps and lps death .

Regards,
Abhishek

ReefBum · Jan 4, 2018

oneilwiz said:
That sucks sorry to hear, what brand salt are you using ?

PM me about the salt. I don't want to put that out there at this point since I have been a loyal customer for years. And I still want to do that follow-up Triton test to make sure the lithium has gone down. Another possible source is the magnesium supplement I have been using.

ReefBum · Jan 4, 2018

najer said:
As above, that sucks, are there any other sources for the lithium potentially?

It could be from the magnesium supplement I have been using.

ReefBum · Jan 4, 2018

Abhishek said:
Keith,

Interesting to hear that high lithium is the cause of LPS and SPS death. High Li is not uncommon in US as its an impurity in many of the salts used. I too have very high Li when using Instant Ocean and do Triton tests every 4-5 months . No casualty ever with respect to acros and my system is close to 90% filled with acros.

How high is your Li? Its not harmful until its very very high like in tens of thousands like sodium.
I may be wrong as always, so better check with @Randy Holmes-Farley but I find it hard to believe that Li would be so high in your salts to be the sole responsible for sps and lps death .

Regards,
Abhishek

My lithium tested in the high 900s. What is your level at?

Abhishek · Jan 4, 2018

ReefBum said:
My lithium tested in the high 900s. What is your level at?

Well urs is higher than mine . Mine is around 550 and I haven't been any water changes due to using ATI essentials . I have done a few wc to bring down not only Li but high levels of silica from siporax and high levels of lanthanum from using lanthanum chloride to handle phosphates .

Still honestly am not sure if levels of Li as high as 900 or 1000 is enough to kill corals that quick . I personally had them in 800s with no problem .

Here's a quick search of the presence of Li in water :-

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/detox-to-remove-elevated-lithium-levels.225766/

May be Randy or anyone else can say what's the impact of high Li but I haven't seen any yet .

Regards,
Abhishek

reefrf · Jan 4, 2018

Abhishek said:
Well urs is higher than mine . Mine is around 550 and I haven't been any water changes due to using ATI essentials . I have done a few wc to bring down not only Li but high levels of silica from siporax and high levels of lanthanum from using lanthanum chloride to handle phosphates .

Still honestly am not sure if levels of Li as high as 900 or 1000 is enough to kill corals that quick . I personally had them in 800s with no problem .

Here's a quick search of the presence of Li in water :-

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/detox-to-remove-elevated-lithium-levels.225766/

May be Randy or anyone else can say what's the impact of high Li but I haven't seen any yet .

Regards,
Abhishek

Really sorry to hear this Keith. Your previous reef always inspired me to create a masterpiece like yours. Yeah, like previously said, my own Triton results had my Li at 548. I’ve never had any issues resulting in high lithium.