Author Topic: Chalice Help (Read 3276 times)

Neogenesis · « **on:** November 22, 2013, 21:39:31 »

Hey Guys,

I've got something odd going on here, and I can't put my finger on what it is. My chalices just seem to be peeling their skin. I had trouble with my Hammer closing up a few weeks ago, but that seems to have subsided and this is the only symptom something is wrong in the tank. I'm stumped and was wondering if anyone has any idea on what might be wrong and how to save them. I should also mention that each of these chalices is in a seperate tank, although they all share the same water.

About my system:

It around 300 gallons, pushing 5 years old.
180g DT
125G Sump
2 - 30g frag tanks
dosing is done via pumps run by my reef angel controller

Water Specs:

SG - 1.024
PH - 8.28 - low swing at night time is 7.9 the last few nights.
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 0
Alk 9.912
Cal - 381
Mag 1200

I don't think my specs are so far off that it would cause this......so any reasonable thoughts would be appreciated.

Now for the grusome pics:

AquaUnderground · « **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2013, 13:17:20 »

Very strange?!? Not quite sure? If you need a place to hold them till you get the issue figured out I would be happy to hold them for ya!

chromiumlux · « **Reply #2 on:** November 23, 2013, 18:28:00 »

How much flow you got them under?

Twizted1 · « **Reply #3 on:** November 23, 2013, 20:41:56 »

Wasn't the mag then. Hmm strange.

Neogenesis · « **Reply #4 on:** November 23, 2013, 21:27:16 »

Flow is pretty low. 24" x 24" x 12" flow is is korelia nano. And the flow into the tank is pretty low as well.

What's really flippin me out now is I just found my male clown dead in the back of the tank.

Arghhhh!!!!!!

lazylivin · « **Reply #5 on:** November 23, 2013, 22:29:41 »

I did about hour of searching threads/google and didn't find much out there on this issue. There were a few but no responses back with anything confirmed. Wish I could have helped more. At a loss on this one. Hope you can figure it out.

Are you doing anything advanced with this tank such as carbon dosing that you can tapper back on?

Neogenesis · « **Reply #6 on:** November 23, 2013, 23:04:08 »

I am running pellets.....that's the only thing out of the ordinary that I'm doing. I'm willing to take those offline.....need to figure out the process. Can you just yank all of them.....or do I taper back little by little? Time for google.

Wall_Tank · « **Reply #7 on:** November 23, 2013, 23:31:12 »

How long have you been running the pellets? I would open up the reactor and dump media out into a bowl. Is it clean? Any strange smell? If you suspect this at all, I would not put them back online. What levels are your Phosphates and Nitrates?

Neogenesis · « **Reply #8 on:** November 23, 2013, 23:44:12 »

Pellets have been online for around 4 months now. I just had the reactor open about a week ago, pellets were clean, no off smells. Nitrates are at 0, phosphates I need a new kit. I'll head to the LFS and see if they have one in stock tomorrow. I just read a article over on reef central that references keep your mag at around 1400, otherwise you can start seeing skin degradation around the edges. So I buffered my mag a a little tonight and will test tomorrow for levels.

If I were to remove the pellets now, do I just pull all of them or do I have to remove a little at a time....if anyone knows. Google isn't revealing much on that matter.

Wall_Tank · « **Reply #9 on:** November 23, 2013, 23:53:37 »

You could just pull it. Are you sure that you are not just driving too much nutrients out of the water? Possibly just reduce how much volume of pellets are in the reactor.

Neogenesis · « **Reply #10 on:** November 24, 2013, 00:06:34 »

Well....I initially added pellets to the system after it got away from me this summer. Work got crazy, money got tight and the tank suffered. Everything but too much work has been rectified....lol.

Anyway, I can't kick the cyano, and I'm not running the entire amount of "recommended" pellets. So, I've been thinking of pulling them anyway. I've reduced feedings to every other day, skimming wetter, and upped my water changes. The only thing I can think of is going back to basics and see where i land.

Wall_Tank · « **Reply #11 on:** November 24, 2013, 10:26:02 »

The cyano can cause alot of issues if it is irritating the corals(your last pic above looks like the cyano is really bothersome). I would pull the pellets and use byod's chemiclean (powder) to get rid of the cyano. Then figure out where to go from there to control the nutrients.

johnnymu · « **Reply #12 on:** November 24, 2013, 12:51:43 »

Do any household chores that might have gotten into the tank?

Neogenesis · « **Reply #13 on:** November 24, 2013, 23:23:01 »

I haven't done anything in the house lately that would have leaked anything into the tank.

Actions taken today:

-Biopellets removed cleaned and dried
-New carbon loaded and ready to go
-Chemiclean added and cyano disappearing nicely.

Looks like I'm losing a milli, however it hasn't looked right since the day I brought it home from the CORA swap. In fact nothing I got from that guy was as advertised and looked like crud from day one, so I'm not really worried there.

Hoping for the best here.

discus513 · « **Reply #14 on:** November 25, 2013, 06:24:42 »

Red Slime remover works wonders on fastly removing cyno, it will come back eventually but it wipes it out for a while atleast

Neogenesis · « **Reply #15 on:** November 25, 2013, 18:27:04 »

Well....this tank just doesn't want to cooperate. Everything looked good through the treatment yesterday.....but I get home from work tonight and the tank is all cloudy and corals are closed up and some are excreting slime. I've got 2 canisters of carbon running now and will get a water change done soon.

Frustrated.............

Bucknutz · « **Reply #16 on:** November 25, 2013, 18:34:53 »

Quote from: Neogenesis on November 25, 2013, 18:27:04

Well....this tank just doesn't want to cooperate. Everything looked good through the treatment yesterday.....but I get home from work tonight and the tank is all cloudy and corals are closed up and some are excreting slime. I've got 2 canisters of carbon running now and will get a water change done soon.

Frustrated.............

did you get an airstone running in the sump while using chemo-clean?

Neogenesis · « **Reply #17 on:** November 25, 2013, 19:37:40 »

Airstone in sump, plus I was able to drop the water level in my skimmer enough that I could keep it running as well. So there should have been more oxygen than normal in the tank.

Neogenesis · « **Reply #18 on:** November 27, 2013, 11:38:31 »

Argh......looks like I should have spaced out my steps a little bit.....as things are not good......however now recovering.

All but 3 chalices are pretty much gone. Most SPS is still closed, and most LPS is not looking good. Some stuff is looking great however.....so aggravated right now. Continuing to do water changes nightly to get this tank back on track.

Neogenesis · « **Reply #19 on:** November 28, 2013, 22:35:10 »

The death toll continues to rise. I've changed out well over 100 gallons of water, and while the tank has stabilized and looks good, the toll was taken on some livestock and the death toll continues to rise. I've lost pretty much all my birdsnest, nearly all millipora, all chalices but about 3, clam, one gorgonian, and while my hammer is hanging on, it doesn't look good. There was as lot of stuff that pulled through, but I'm approaching a 50% loss in the display tank. The frag tanks didn't take as large of a hit, but still too much loss to easily swallow.

Bottom line here, don't pull your bio pellets offline and run ChemiClean on the same day. Time to rebuild.

Travis8896 · « **Reply #20 on:** November 28, 2013, 23:08:11 »

I'm really sorry to hear this if there's anything I can do let me know.

Twizted1 · « **Reply #21 on:** November 28, 2013, 23:47:46 »

Hope things start getting better soon.

Mussin · « **Reply #22 on:** November 29, 2013, 06:41:15 »

damn Scott, sorry to hear that.

lazylivin · « **Reply #23 on:** November 29, 2013, 21:23:50 »

I can hook you up with another pink birdsnest. Let me know if you going to swap sat and if so I will bring it

Neogenesis · « **Reply #24 on:** November 29, 2013, 23:51:13 »

LazyLivin......I've lost them all but that one, it seems to be the only one that is coming back. Thanks for the offer but I think I'm good on that one for now. I talked to Heath at Changing Tide, whom purchased all my mother colonies over the summer, and made a deal with him to get frags of most of them back, so I think I'm mostly set there. It's the chalices I can't replace right now.

Thanks guys!!

2024 Ohio Reef Frag Swap

Author Topic: Chalice Help (Read 3276 times)

johnnymu