Dead Coral in the 140g SPS Reef Tank - September 2021 Update

[@stonecoldant316]

So happy to see you're bouncing back from this!

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Tony. Was definitely sweating bullets for awhile there before things turned around. 😅

[@mikejohnson9923]

Looking good man. Keep on going

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Mike! 🙏 Was feeding the tank tonight and realized it seems to be almost back to normal. 😭 didn't realize how much I took everything for granted.

[@mikejohnson9923]

@@TheReeferYT awesome mine is about where is was before I had Dino then overdosed nitrate and phosphate to beat it

[@Mikeymikemike]

Thanks for sharing your journey! It’s all a part of the hobby and you will come back better as you say. Hang in there as we all go through moments of wanting to leave but I’m glad you stayed.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Mike. 🙏 Its rough now with higher shipping costs, the price of coral here in Canada has risen significantly compared to pre-covid. Have prices down under been affected?

[@nat-kingreef3955]

Acans look great!!!! Keep pushing

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Nat. 🙏 the acan footage came out great eh? I was a little surprised. 😅

[@fletcherwright7042]

Sorry for all the coral loss good to see it turning around.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Fletch! 🙏 I'm glad things are turning around as well. 😀

[@the.humble.reefer7230]

Man I hate to hear and see all this death. I'm glad you have gotten a control on it. Keep up the diligence and don't ever consider getting out of reefing, you no you're hooked just like the rest of us acropora loving people lol.

[@TheReeferYT]

Lol Scottie! I thought I had responded to your comment. It made me chuckle when I read it last week. Yes, I am stuck for now and I've found new passion now that I've got a new goal of coloring acros up properly and some new impulse buy no-name acros. 😁

[@daniellawrence9229]

I love your videos. Thank you for the time and effort

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Dan! 🙏 Appreciate you taking the time to check my videos out. 😀

[@Alex_Correa]

Golden tip for you... get more water motion distributed throughout the system. It doesn't have to be too strong, but throughout the whole system. Maybe get those pumps that alternate flow and place them strategically in addition to what you have there. Maintain pH relatively higher (8.0-8.4, better 8.1-8.4, stable as possible). Temperature stable (78°F is great)! Brittle skeletons are due to lack of water motion o high phosphates and/or low alkalinity. Also stability will be the Key to have the whole colony strong as far as skeleton. Water motion... water motion... you already have the best lights in the world! And very nice colonies! Another tip... get something to eat the aiptasia. Copperband butterfly fish or those Berghia nudibranchs. Also peppermint shrimp. The aiptasia could also contribute to Acro stress. LPS corals can stress Acropora sometimes. Remove the dead tips from the bottom of the tank while doing water changes using a tick hose to suck them out with the detritus. Crap happens! Be strong and positive. Work hard, but make sure to allow nature do it's part. Thanks for sharing. All the best to you!

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks Alex. 🙏 I will keep pushing ahead. New goal is to draw out the maximum growth and color from the acros. 👍😀

[@kylesreef2989]

Been there man. Been in that funk for over a year.. most of the systems in maintenance mode. Little by little it comes back though. Just takes time, and this is a hobby that is all about the long term, not the short term. Tin from the starphire and plumbing is a good assumption. My losses came a few months after adding a 6ft starphire tank to my existing system, but never went with an ICP. Always remember the solution to pollution is dilution. Water changes don't hurt anything except your wallet. When I re-do my system plumbing to key them all in properly, I will be running much heavier than normal water changes for a few months while that crap leaches out.

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks buddy. I was feeling really down but it helps knowing other reefers have gone through the same thing. 👍 That's a good idea with the water changes. I was doing about 10% weekly but then life got in the way and unfortunately tin isn't something we normally test for at home. Thanks for checking out the video. 🙏

[@zaher.w]

I’ve been battling Tin for over 5 months didn’t know the source only thing I did that time I’ve added frag tank and I lost lots of high end corals, it could be the one but still waiting for ICP results wish me luck, anyways my corals are doing really good now

[@TheReeferYT]

Thanks for sharing your experience Zaher. 🙏 Is your set up similar to mine? Frag tank plumbed to your main display? Please keep me posted once you receive your icp test results.👍 I'm going to continue with 10% weekly water changes and will send in another icp test in November to confirm things are back to normal. Visually most of the acros have never looked better now that we are back.

[@zaher.w]

@@TheReeferYT yes buddy very similar, as matter Of fact since I connected my frag tank to my main DT things start go downhill with Tin I’m still not sure the source but as I said I was suspicious with the new frag tank glass and pipes anyways I’ll keep you posted once I got the ICP. Good luck buddy

[@bobbyknox9258]

If this hobby was easy everyone would get bored and move on. Corals for me are by far the most interesting creatures you can keep in an aquarium. It looks like your over the worst and worked it out, whatever it was. 👍

[@TheReeferYT]

So true Bobby. I dont know about you, but I get bored when things are too easy. Things are back and better than ever. I'm excited to make the October tank update. 😀 Thanks for checking out the video. 🙏

[@bobbyknox9258]

@@TheReeferYT always watch your vids. This is one of those channels done right. The ups and the downs. I'm curious as to what you run phosphate and nitrate at, at the minute

[@TheReeferYT]

@@bobbyknox9258 5 days ago my phosphates were 0.03 and nitrates about 3ppm. I dose both nitrates and phosphates now, still trying to figure out the right ratio to dose. I just tested an hour ago and its now phosphates at 0.01 and nitrates at 5 ppm. Needless to say, I will not be dosing nitrates for a few days until the phosphates are back up. Coloration is on point now, and alot of acros that seemed dormant are growing alot of new branches.

[@bobbyknox9258]

@@TheReeferYT excellent cheers 👍

[@aquaticnstuff7666]

your sheet shows high magnesium (higher than 3x your calcium) Right?

[@TheReeferYT]

Hi Aquatic! 👋 Yes it does! Mg = 1487, Ca = 434

[@Messier87_M87]

I thought I heard you mention in your last video that you may have thought the rtn may have started from adding nitrate and phosphate? I was just curious, if that you add an unbalanced amount, if that could cause rtn? I’m kinda new to reefing and I was interested to see what your thoughts were on that.

[@TheReeferYT]

Hi Dave. Regarding phosphates and nitrates, my understanding now is that when an organism such as a coral use one, they also use the other. So you can think of it as a formula " P + N = energy. " It seems alot of reef systems are low in either Phosphates or Nitrates and that causes a bottleneck for uptake of the specific nutrient. In my case, I had typically 0.03 to 0.05 phosphates and 0 nitrates, which was fine. When I started dosing nitrates the bottleneck disappeared, things were happy for awhile, however because of my lack of knowledge and experience I didnt realize that phosphates were now dropping. Unfortunately 0 phosphates will result in acropora death. Where as 0 nitrates just resulted in pale coloration. This is my current understanding, I hope it helps. 👍

[@Messier87_M87]

@@TheReeferYT Thank you for that info!

[@davelenjan19]

how do you deal with the aiptasia? i saw some in your video. tia

[@TheReeferYT]

Hi aquano. 🙋‍♂️ Good observation. The aptasia have gone nuts! If the reef system was solely sps, I would have tried a copperband butterfly, aptasia eating file fish or peppermint shrimp. However because I have alot of lps and zoas in the frag tank, I will be trying berghia nudibranchs again. Thanks for checking out the video. 🙏

[@davelenjan19]

@@TheReeferYT the reason i asked, because i have also lots of aiptasia in my tank lol! i tried matted file fish, hes good on eating on it but he also have a taste on the zoanthids, i tried cbb works wells unfortunately after 3 months died cant find whats the cause, also i trained him to frozen. i tried berghia, bought 2 dissapear in my tank idk if they still alive lol. i used also red sea aiptasia x, for week it was good i thought all the aiptasia died but eventually came back with fie lol. my last option will be pepperment shrimp.

[@TheReeferYT]

@@davelenjan19 i feel you. That is part of the problem, depending on your coral live stock, certain aptasia predators are not feasible. Based on my reading with berghias, it seems that its not the first wave that you place in the tank that is going to take care of things, but their babies. Often I've read the term "when they reach critical mass" the aptasia will just disappear overnight. So in that case, 2 may not be enough to ensure there is breeding unless you breed them outside your tank. If you don't have lps, maybe try the copperband again? If you can get one from a local reefer, it might last longer than your first one. Fingers crossed for you 🤞. I will try to keep the channel updated with my third berghia experience.

[@davelenjan19]

@@TheReeferYT will wait for that for sure