Completely Baffled Need Help Quick

[Andy V]

My Pipe Organ has been closed up for 3 days in a row now. My Torch, Zoas and Yellow Button Polyps are now closed today. All my corals have been in the same space for over a month and were doing fine until the last couple days. The only thing that has changed, is that I added the first fish, a Lawnmower Blenny and a Firefish, which are both doing fine.

I also have a bubble coral, xenia, yellow leather and a clam, all still doing fine. Water is at consistent 78, SG at 1.025,

0 amm
0 nitrite
0 nitrate
8.4 ph
8 dkh
420 calc
1300 mag

28 g nano cube 150w MH running 12 hours


What the hell could be wrong?

 

[stingythingy45]

You might have some warefare going on between corals.
Do you run any carbon?I would do a water change asap.
Also,check your temp. just to be sure it's ok.

 

[Andy V]

I am using carbon and the cartridge is only 4 weeks old. Temp is at 78 consistently. Water change was done 2 days ago and I can't do another one until Saturday. Any other thoughts?

 

[stingythingy45]

One other,has the blenny been perching on the corals?
Those guys will get around the tank and it's swimming around them might make them close also.Mine used to throw some sand every once in a while when he did the side to side shuffle.That would make the zoas close for a while.

 

[Andy V]

Yeah, he has been all over the corals but I haven't seen them close until today. I guess I just need to wait and pray everythings ok

 

[reefkeeper2]

I change my carbon every four weeks.

 

[garyl]

andyvalk,

Your alk is a little low. Where do you usually keep it.

A lot of corals react badly to fast alk changes.

Good luck,

Gary

 

[NateHanson]

I agree on the low alk.

Also pipe organs do not have a good survival rate in our tanks. I don't know if that's related to your more general problem though.

Did this start happening right after your last water change? Is it possible you didn't balance your alk in the new water? If that alk was at a more normal value (low teens) and fell to 8 with a water change that could certainly cause some problems.

On the other hand, I wouldn't suspect a problem with zoas and yellow polyps with anything short of a flood of hot lava. Those are pretty tough. Maybe in light of that, chemical warfare is a decent guess. I don't know.

 

[Andy V]

My alk has always been at 8dkh. Everything I have seen said 8-12 was a good range. Am I wrong? I figured it was at the low end of the range, but once you start tinkering with the water all the time, usually that's when the problems start...not when you leave it alone. I was hesitant to mess with it since I though 8 dkh was acceptable. What is everyone keeping theirs at?

As far as Carbon change frequency...I also thought every 12 weeks was normal. I also thought that changing it too frequently, like monthly would strip out essential trace elements. Can I get some opinions on this too? Thanks everyone.

Hopefully they can tough it out until Saturday because I can't go to the LFS until then

 

[NateHanson]

As with many things in reefing, there's probably no "normal" interval for carbon changes, water changes, or a "normal" level for alk. Some people advocate keeping alk at the high end of the range, as corals seem to like it, and nusiance algae doesn't.

You're right about messing with things too much. It's to be avoided. I wouldn't let it keep you from adjusting up to a level that you'd like to maintain things at.

 

[stingythingy45]

"You're right about messing with things too much. It's to be avoided. I wouldn't let it keep you from adjusting up to a level that you'd like to maintain things at."

Most definitely agree with Nate here.
It wouldn't hurt to add a little Baking soda to up the Alk a point.
I use a little baking soda solution that I baked to raise the PH.One gallon RO/DI to 2 1/4 cups Baking soda.I also have a green Pipe Organ that is growing like crazy.Also note,Pipe Organ and zoas like a good amount of flow.Detritus can build up between the tubes in the pipe organ and cause problems.

 

[Andy V]

The pipe organ is getting good flow. There was hair algae growing in between the pipes which I thought was the problem...until other corals started acting weird. Algae isn't a problem anymore since I got the Blenny. I will SLOWLY bring up the alk and change the carbon I guess. The other thing is that I only get to see the tank for 2 hours with the lights on during the week so maybe I am seeing them at the wrong time. I have no idea, I just hope the money I put into this does not literally go down the drain.

 

[Andy V]

Wanted to bump this up. Can I get some more opinions on Carbon change frequency. I was going to do every 3 months, but now I see that may be too infrequent. Is monthly too much? Any opinions?

 

[Cardiak]

I run a mixed so I change mine twice a month. Anyways, every tanks different just experiment and see what works for you. You should be able to tell when the carbon needs changing.

 

[Miller]

Liams advice on carbon

a few hours after you change the carbon hold a piece of white paper on one side of the tank and look through from the other side of the tank,it should look pretty close to white.Then do the same test after 2 weeks,the paper will likely have a yellow tinge to it.
Once you have determined the yellow tinge and how to spot it,that gives a good ballpark on the carbon being exhausted.

 

[Andy V]

I wanted to thank everyone for the advice. I got the alk up to 12dkh and then I did a 50% water change, and changed the carbon. The corals are looking a lot better, and the pipe organ is still a little bad looking, but on the up and up.

 

[stingythingy45]

Great news.
I'm sure the Pipe Organ will be out soon also.