cjrudy
Active Member
Three weeks ago my tank experienced an event its still struggling to recover from. On Saturday July 27th I was gone for the day, the day was a hot one and I did not have the AC on. My tank normally runs 78-79 but got up to 84 that afternoon. I had recently changed bulbs and had screens covering the tank which also helped to hold in that heat. I got home later that evening, the tank was still 84 but I was not overly concerned. Unfortunately that was just the beginning.
I woke up Sunday morning to find all three pumps not working. My external pump had seized up, my MP40 seized and errored out and my MP10 wetside was laying on the sand bed with a broken propeller. My tank had just gone 6-8 hours with no flow at 84 degrees.
Needless to say I went into panic mode. I swapped out the external pump with a back up and got the MP10 running with a broken propeller, but it took a few more days before I got both vortechs running properly. Unfortunately the damage had already been done, I immediately noticed the corals turning pale and bleaching from the base.
So could it get any worse.........YES. On Friday August 2th I checked the alkalinity to find it had plummeted to 6.7dkh even though I have a doser running. I had to add daily manual doses for almost a week to get the alkalinity to stabilize. During that week on August 5th another twist, the timer for my calcium doser went haywire and overdosed calcium which skyrocketed to over 600.
I have been able to finally stabilize all my parameters over the past week
Alk 7.8
Ca 475
MG 1300
PO4 .03
NO3 1.0
PH 8.0
Salinity 1.026
Unfortunately I now have STN/RTN in addition to the bleaching and browning.
So in the past month my SPS have experience new bulbs, high temp with no flow, low alkalinity and very high calcium which has caused most of my SPS to experience stn, rtn, bleaching, turning pale or brown. Because I am literally experiencing everything its hard not know what exactly to address.
While my LPS, Zoas and leathers have been fine I really hope my SPS can recover.
Any advice is welcomed.
I woke up Sunday morning to find all three pumps not working. My external pump had seized up, my MP40 seized and errored out and my MP10 wetside was laying on the sand bed with a broken propeller. My tank had just gone 6-8 hours with no flow at 84 degrees.
Needless to say I went into panic mode. I swapped out the external pump with a back up and got the MP10 running with a broken propeller, but it took a few more days before I got both vortechs running properly. Unfortunately the damage had already been done, I immediately noticed the corals turning pale and bleaching from the base.
So could it get any worse.........YES. On Friday August 2th I checked the alkalinity to find it had plummeted to 6.7dkh even though I have a doser running. I had to add daily manual doses for almost a week to get the alkalinity to stabilize. During that week on August 5th another twist, the timer for my calcium doser went haywire and overdosed calcium which skyrocketed to over 600.
I have been able to finally stabilize all my parameters over the past week
Alk 7.8
Ca 475
MG 1300
PO4 .03
NO3 1.0
PH 8.0
Salinity 1.026
Unfortunately I now have STN/RTN in addition to the bleaching and browning.
So in the past month my SPS have experience new bulbs, high temp with no flow, low alkalinity and very high calcium which has caused most of my SPS to experience stn, rtn, bleaching, turning pale or brown. Because I am literally experiencing everything its hard not know what exactly to address.
While my LPS, Zoas and leathers have been fine I really hope my SPS can recover.
Any advice is welcomed.
