Elos 150 SPS Collection

[jroovers]

Things are looking great Dwayne.  Love the acan and chalices... I had to get rid of my acans because my regal decided they were too good to resist.

 

[Hayes]

Have not posted anything in a while as I have been plagued with problems, to the extent that I too have thought about giving up or just going LPS/Softies

Troubles started about a three weeks after Frag Fest, I didnt buy any livestock so I was not concerned about bugs/critters

Daily observation and testing ALK are my primary tools when observing my tank. I come home every day and cant wait to see see if there has been a tiny bit of colour change or growth. That has turned into trepidation and anxiety coming home the last week or so, not a good thing for sure.

I started to experience very slow STN I mean painfully slow. Started with a nice sized colony of Raspberry Limeaide. Each day you could see it recess another mm, so sad.

Over the next week several other prized pieces started the same peeling process. This has now turned into a full peeling session on half a dozen pieces.
Lost completely
SSC cousin
Oregon Tort (came from Vlad)
Avenger
Matrix Milli

The ones that are hanging in with a frag
Golden Budha
Two Face
Tyree Green Blue stag

Badly affected but still mini colonies
Red Dragon
Darryl's Yellow SPS/tenius
Raspberry Limeaide
Palmers Blue
Speciosa
Setosa

My Softies, chalice acans have never looked better though !  I guess thats some positive out of this. I swear I can hear  my Chalice growing

About a week ago I was distraught, could not figure what was going on. Went back to basics. Strong wet skimming, water changes, absolutely zero additions or dosing other than 3 part which I had to keep dialing back as SPS was NOT growing.

So no success, day after day another piece kept dying.

Thursday night I finally figured it out. By mistake.

At Frag fest I bought a new Cadllight biopellet reactor but never took the time to install it. Well approx 3 weeks ago I went ahead and set it up. It was easy to install and easy to adjust the flow. I set it and forgot about it.

Back to Thursday.

Working on the skimmer I accidentally knocked the output of the biopellet reactor which popped off. I cursed myself then had a good look at the Cadlight

Turns out it was completely full of Bacteria, I mean plugged full of snot like stuff. Amazing really. The pellets were rocking and rolling the whole time but just going around and around, not actually out letting into the skimmer intake.

SO my problem was super high nutrients, what a mess. And for those that know me I like to FEED FEED FEED.

Happy to report that I havent lost anything else since the discovery and things look like they may be back on track. Only time will tell.

Have done significant WC's, have the reactor working properly, carbon running and continuing to wet skim and clean often.

You have to love this hobby. I need to just never change anything

Snapped a few pics with my cell phone as I am lazy. Notice the torch, its sooo happy. Been living in soup for a month !

 

[spyd]

Crazyness! Happy to hear you figured out the issue because it sure would suck seeing a tank like yours get shut down. You have an amazing tank going there. One of my favourites. Sorry to hear about the lost pieces. I would offer you up an Avengers but mine grows like freakin molasses. Spreads a little but no vertical growth.

 

[Flazky]

dannng =( sucks to lose corals but at least you figured out what went wrong! Gotta come by sometime and see those chalices that are poppin  ;D

 

[Salty Cracker]

Tank looks really good for someone with losses!

After having a "soup" tank myself for the better part of 15 years, I know that when the softies are really really happy, the water quality probably isn't that good. 

so how is the bio pellet reactor linked up so that it can just run back into itself? 

 

[Giglio324]

Tank is still lookin awesome. Sorry about your luck. I had set-up a biopellets reactor and after 2 months took it off because I a) couldn't get it to tumble right and b) it was causing GHA. It's always nice to see things back on track. More pictures!

 

[TORX]

...

so how is the bio pellet reactor linked up so that it can just run back into itself?

I think the key word is it is a CADLight. They have a closed loop per say. Once you reach your desired levels, you can keep them tubbling, but less water goes through the unit. I had them demo their stuff at frag fest. If I was aloud to sell a kid, I would use the money on their stuff lol.

Sent from my SGH-T989D using Tapatalk 2

 

[rowdy29can]

Wow! It's always a grind in this hobby but it shows how much your passionate you are for your tank. Good for you for trouble shooting the problem. What made you decide to go with a bio pellet reactor, since things were working out good already? All the best and your tank looks great as always despite your recent losses.

 

[copperkills]

This appears at first glimpse to be similar to Tyree Bubblegum monster chalice

 

[Hayes]

thanks for the comments guys. I will keep plugging away for sure. Just another large bump in the road

dannng =( sucks to lose corals but at least you figured out what went wrong! Gotta come by sometime and see those chalices that are poppin  ;D

Anytime, just text or PM me

Tank looks really good for someone with losses!

After having a \"soup\" tank myself for the better part of 15 years, I know that when the softies are really really happy, the water quality probably isn't that good. 

so how is the bio pellet reactor linked up so that it can just run back into itself? 

So true. The cadlights one recirculates, you have to adjust the output flow. Obviously mine was too low flow and clogged up.

Wow! It's always a grind in this hobby but it shows how much your passionate you are for your tank. Good for you for trouble shooting the problem. What made you decide to go with a bio pellet reactor, since things were working out good already? All the best and your tank looks great as always despite your recent losses.

Been running pellets for 2.5 years in a JNS reactor, I changed because I was worried that I was grinding the pellets too hard. Should have just left it alone. This is proof that pellets do reduce the crap in our water though!

This appears at first glimpse to be similar to Tyree Bubblegum monster chalice

Could be, its a RR "back room"  addition. Paid a fortune for it but it is awesome in real life.

 

[jroovers]

Man, you have had more than your fair share of issues... that said, the tank still looks incredible!

 

[Hayes]

Thanks Jordan, most of my issues are "self induced" LOL
Must fight temptations to listen to other ppl and try new things when old things work just fine haha

 

[Hayes]

So, thought I had it figured out but apparently not.
Have lost three more colonies, with another on the way out
Gonna pull a couple (chisel - not fun) and dip for pests but I really do not think thats what is going on

Not good, just about ready to throw in the towel

 

[teebone110]

So, thought I had it figured out but apparently not.
Have lost three more colonies, with another on the way out
Gonna pull a couple (chisel - not fun) and dip for pests but I really do not think thats what is going on

Not good, just about ready to throw in the towel

Hey Dwayne... keep the faith 8)

Just wondering if things have been caused by a change in your nutrient iimport/export balance?

You added a new biopellet reactor right? Maybe there is too much nutirent export and things are just out of balance.. Have you adjusted your feedings? Just a thought.. Good luck, as I am confident things will stabilize again soon.

 

[unibob]

So, thought I had it figured out but apparently not.
Have lost three more colonies, with another on the way out
Gonna pull a couple (chisel - not fun) and dip for pests but I really do not think thats what is going on

Not good, just about ready to throw in the towel

What colonies are you loosing? All same species or ?

 

[Darryl_V]

[quote author=Hayes link=topic=3589.msg57468#msg57468 date=1375757888]
So, thought I had it figured out but apparently not.
Have lost three more colonies, with another on the way out
Gonna pull a couple (chisel - not fun) and dip for pests but I really do not think thats what is going on

Not good, just about ready to throw in the towel

Hey Dwayne... keep the faith 8)

Just wondering if things have been caused by a change in your nutrient iimport/export balance?

You added a new biopellet reactor right? Maybe there is too much nutirent export and things are just out of balance.. Have you adjusted your feedings? Just a thought.. Good luck, as I am confident things will stabilize again soon.
[/quote]What you would see if there was a nutrient problem is browning or paling of the corals and it happens slowly with usually no deaths until the problem gets obvious.

SOunds like RTN which is more likely chemistry or temperature.  Have you double checked your temps? 

Sorry to hear about your troubles Dwayne.  I was struggling with temps myself at one point this summer and have some browning to get rid of.

 

[jroovers]

That stinks Dwayne. Hopefully you get it figured out, try and keep the faith in the meantime.

 

[Hayes]

Changes made since the problem started

Cleaned new cadlight reactor and cleared the clog
Multiple WC
This stopped the STN and even saw some growth. Colours deepened but no browning, several pieces looked as good or better than htey ever have

Went away for a week and came home to more STN which led to this post

Since then I have pulled the Cadlight reactor and put my JNS back online
another 30g WC
good cleaning of every thing but the sandbed

Today sad to say one of my favorites is all but gone. Raspberyy Limeaide colony. Pretty sad!

 

[theyangman]

Hopefully everything turns around man. Sucks to see people have their tanks go sideways...

 

[AdamS]

This is sad and scary. It worries me to see people that have had so much success suddenly begin to have problems for no good reason.

I hope it turns around, for your sake. And i hope you identify the problem for ours.