Blog Comments

What you are describing correlates to "old tank syndrome" although your system is merely two years old. Usually "OTS" is really lazy reef husbandry, in that you've become so comfortable with the system that you don't keep checking stuff on a regular basis. I'm in that area myself, looking at livestock instead of test tubes.

There's a good chance your sandbed and rock is leaching something into the water, but it could just as well be equipment related. Stray electricity in the water, a split magnet in the skimmer pump, foreign matter that has fallen into the sump unnoticed are all things that happen to us eventually. If you like the type of sand you have now, you can rinse it completely clean, washing away everything vile until all that remains are the sand grains. Those will be safe to use again. You mentioned being fearful of a DSB, but there really isn't a reason to be. If your sandbed is active and live, if you seed it with more life twice a year, if you have conchs, cucumbers, serpent stars and nassarius snails working the sand and if your flow is strong, it'll last for many years. My DSB in the 280g was nearing exactly six years old, and the water quality and coral growth was solid. It may need to be replaced at some point, just like we end up replacing the carpeting in our homes after an extended duration.

If you want to use new rock to replace the coral-infested rock, you can. You can take your old rock and cook it. You can reduce the rock you have now, only adding a little more to fill in where needed. You are the one person that can see what rock is still usable and what needs to be pulled. Smell the rock as you remove it, and look for black areas. If it looks black, often this is where sulfur has collected or spread to.... this is often where the rock and sand touch. The rock should always smell clean like the ocean, no foul stench. Perhaps you could put a couple of rocks in a bucket of circulating / heated tank water and test it for metals to see if there is something leaching out of it?

Unfortunately you've lost corals, but how many fish do you have? If you do the full reset (rinse the sand out, add new rock, and put your livestock in), how big is the bioload in relation to the tank's size? 20%, 50%, or more? Can you scale back the feedings and let the tank equalize again? Over the years, I've done a number of tank resets, transplanting all livestock into a new tank virtually overnight with excellent results. The key is stability, and watching everything very closely to make minor adjustments before it can spiral out of control.

Well if you are going to change out the sand bed, My recommendation is the Tropic Eden reef flakes sand. It will tumble and move around with vortechs but it does not create a sand storm. The other brand has a special grade which may act similar. Cyano if you are near Charlotte I have a empty 55 that you could use.

Sorry it has been a little while since I have been on here, Life has been busy. I would like to thank everyone for their responses and advice. After reading what you guys have said and doing a little research I have ordered 50 lbs of dry marco key largo rock which as floggin stated is supposed to be "precycled" and according to marco rocks has gone through a 4 step cleaning process and should have no inhospitable organics to worry about. I will also take some of my live rock as well and try to scrub and clean it (as midnight stated) well enough to seed the dry rock but remove things I don't want re-added to the tank again (such as certain corals and potential pests.) I am going to see about getting a loaner 45 gallon breeder from a friend that I can set up as a temporary holding tank just long enough to get my main tank cleaned out, filled back up, re-aquascaped, and ready for inhabitants again. I plan on dosing bacteria to try and curve any potential spikes and unfortunately a lot of my corals are dead so I will try and salvage what I can with them and then basically start all over. When I moved my tank the last time I did not think to rinse the sand or get new sand so I am afraid of reusing it again after this so I will also be changing out my sand and basically starting from as far as the display is concerned. If anyone has any other input please feel free to chime in. Before I take this on I would like to get as many things considered as possible.

If you're starting a new tank, I think that you could rinse the Marco Rock, soak it in Ro for a week and maybe even soak in some vinegar. I have 50lbs of Marco I rinsed it, soaked it in RO for 2 weeks and cooked it for 11 months in a tote. I kinda went overboard since I didn't have the room in my DT. I put it in my existing tank about 2 months ago with no problems.

He shouldn't have to "cook" his Macro rock. The website says "Reef safe, Pre Cycled". I know someone who might be able to add some more input on that, and I will have them get on and add his 2 cents.

Could you keep at least half of your existing rock and scrub the crap out of it? Marco rock will need to be cooked for a while to get all the phosphate out to avoid many algae issues. You can probably avoid most of the cycle this way, alaong with using some bacteria to jump start things, like Prodibio line. You can prolly find a cheap 55g to hold your fish temporarily if needed. That is my 2 cents.

Here is a picture of them, the little blue polyps, I have read about a tablet that kills them if dosed correctly but it also will kill any other soft coral and in some cases not allow them to grow again for years. They are starting to release spores into the water column at least 2-3 times a month lately, it is getting a little ridiculous.

I looked up Blue Clove Polyps on Google and saw this .............. you might try it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cbk7m...ature=youtu.be

Are they a mushroom? I have not heard of them before. Got pictures of the infestation? Does anything eat them?

I hate hate hate them, I thought they were pretty and yeah they don't seem bothered by any coral but they also are not bothered by any coral I can tell. They laugh at euphellia stings, grow on everything and I mean EVERYTHING! I have had to "skin" them off of my toadstool leather, they are all over the sand and the back wall of the tank, they have overwhelmed my rock to the point that I would have to get new rock, drain my tank, replace the sand, and frag every coral I have just to get rid of them. since they are so abundant and they don't sting I am assuming in this massive quantity they probably are releasing toxins that are negatively affecting my sps.

I can definitely relate to that jlemoine, lol

I'd rather have blue cloves and pulsing xenia better than apstasia.... but I do recognize they can all be a pest.

I think my biggest mistake in the hobby is buying mediocre equipment and expecting it to function well and last as long as a better built (more expensive) product... Then I end up spending much more in the long run than if I had just bought the better unit in the beginning.

Blue clove polyps are nice looking, but are the devils spawn. They spread like wildfire, and will even get up to grow on locline and powerheads as I think they spread by spores? I hope one never enters my tank. I have seen many tanks around here taken over by them, covering every inch of the tank and rock. They don't seem to bother the coral though, they just cover everything around them

we just had the ac go out last weekend! try freezing pop bottles or solo cups of tank water, drop them in when you are able it will help somewhat....keeping in mind SW takes along time to freeze. or 2l pop bottle of tap water then keep the lid on it and throw it in the sump

unfortunately I am looking a 2 hour drive one way in any direction of people with chillers for sale and the one I am finding either would be too small or way too huge

I would check Craigslist for a used chiller. I had looked into this as I didn't know when I was going to get the AC put in the garage. I found some reasonable deals in the Charlotte region.

It's fully polyped out. Perhaps you can put a rock under the trunk to help support it for the time being.

Can you post a picture of it?

does my toadstool seem distressed as far as it's droopiness? it has gone through shedding procedures before but it is not shedding, it's as if it just got lazy and would rather sit upside down opened up.

It sounds like you made the normal corrections: water changes, fresh carbon, water testing. Change the carbon weekly. And make sure your skimmer is running at peak efficiency by cleaning the neck and cup daily for the next couple of weeks.