Help with Coral Issues

[this is me]

Nick,

by your arrogant and ignorant response...I can see you have some other agenda and would like to blatantly lie...

and you should really get your facts straight...cause you don't know hardly anything that you think you know.....lol

you summary of my history is so far off it is hilarious...

and again you lie by saying that you have not seen Corals I have for long term....hahahaha....you obviously don't open your eyes much.....there are Corals in the shop that have come from location to location with me for well over the last 7-10 years....and a bunch of them are SPS....
As far as doing well with SPS...again....guess you don't pay much attention or open your eyes when you go into the shops you mentioned....over the last 10+ years


you might want to re read the linked article again...cause it clearly states the ranges in which we run our systems (and many industry leaders)

you quoted my exact point....there is no "ideal temperature"

I was merely telling Marshall that temp is not one of his issue....and you continue to beat a dead horse....as the rest of the reefing community (or most with some experience) already know this. But for some reason you don't, and choose to be completely closed off. hey to each his own....I am trying to help people, by clearing many myths in this hobby. I spent 12 years in Medford with 18 saltwater tanks in my 2 bedroom apartment and over 80 service accounts...literally challenging and trying everything I could possibly read and hear to see what was true and what was garbage. Let me tell you....don't believe most of what you read....cause it can easily be proven wrong...and this was done long term over years...not just a few months like many other people do and feel is adequate.

Again...anyone that wants to doubt what I have said, is more than welcome to come by and see for themselves....no smole and mirrors here. Not arrogant, just giving you the proof you claim to need. Seeing is believing right???

And Nick, I treat every system in here like they are my personal home tanks.....oh, that's right....CAUSE THEY ARE!

Please tell me what I lie about in my previous post. I never said I know your whole life, I rather not. Really.
http://www.bostonreefers.org/forums/showthread.php?50487-Re-Introduction&highlight=aquarium+gallery

In 1996 I started the Perfect Pet, an aquarium maintenance and installation company. While continuing to do this a had the opportunity to work at many of our favorite LFS's.(Skipton's, Tropic Isle, Aqua Addicts, Aquarium Gallery..to name a few) -B-

An agenda? Sorry, I don't have anything to sell. But you do. And I think you should go back and focus on doing that.

 

[cilyjr]

this thread is no longer making any attempt to help a really good guy who many of us know personally. the mods should really make most of this go away.

 

[saltwaterB]

^^ this is exactly why I don't post much on here these days...You try and help people and people just want to get in pissing match over nothing...


Marshall, next time you are in the shop I will be glad to go over both temperature and lighting with you extensively. And discuss many other compounding variables that may lead to this. But I will stick to my guns here and suggest you look at the lighting as the root source. But as mentioned, and as I am sure you already know, it is most likely several stressors that have added up to a bigger problem.



I wont even address the children in the room...

 

[Overlook reef]

It is a real shame that this thread has turned into an argument. The one thing everyone is trying to do is help and not everyone has the same opinion and or experiences. Hopefully with all the responses you can narrow down some of the factors that may be causing your issues. Please keep us updated. I am interested to hear what changes you made and the effect it had.

 

[Marshall O]

Marshall, next time you are in the shop I will be glad to go over both temperature and lighting with you extensively. And discuss many other compounding variables that may lead to this. But I will stick to my guns here and suggest you look at the lighting as the root source. But as mentioned, and as I am sure you already know, it is most likely several stressors that have added up to a bigger problem.

Thanks Brendon. I do think it was a combination of several things as mentioned. I am not ready to give up on my lights yet, but as mentioned if I don't see improvement, than I will certainly be on the market for new lighting. I do appreciate your insight either way.

It is a real shame that this thread has turned into an argument. The one thing everyone is trying to do is help and not everyone has the same opinion and or experiences. Hopefully with all the responses you can narrow down some of the factors that may be causing your issues. Please keep us updated. I am interested to hear what changes you made and the effect it had.

Good post, thank you. Here are the changes made: upped Alk to 9.5, lowered intensity of my center fixture 5%, increasing water changes to at least 10% weekly, moved corals around and/or fragged them. I am going to post some pictures I just took, more as a reference point to compare moving forward.

 

[Marshall O]

 

[Marshall O]

A snail died a while ago and since has been covered over!


I ended up having to frag the Digi, here is one piece:

 

[Marshall O]

 

[Marshall O]

 

[Marshall O]

And one bonus one, 'cause I like it

 

[saltwaterB]

Honestly, from the pics you posted it looks like one of two things....too much light or improper light...or someone picking or nipping at them...all the other Corals look great and super happy...but a bunch of LPS and a birdsnest look very stressed almost bleaching...
Although it can be very hard to tell from pics...


And I would never want you to change out the lighting, as that could send the whole tank into a downward spiral...maybe augment the lighting...look at what is there and what it is giving out and not putting out ...photo period, spectrum, intensity...start by just changing one variable at a time... can you control white and blue channels separately??? maybe try turning the white leds down a bit...can you add a T5 strip or two??

 

[Marshall O]

Thanks B. Yes, I can individually adjust white vs. blue. What are you thinking? I know it's tough to tell from photos. The LPS that are stressed were all up higher. They already seem to be recovering down low in the tank. The birds nest is a light pink color, and so tough to tell. To my eyes, it seems fine. White on the tips indicating growth. PE seems OK too.

 

[saltwaterB]

I have a service customer with Pacific Sun lights LED lights and his orange digitata and a few of his birdsnets are doing the same exact thing as yours...but tons of other SPS and Corals are doing excellent...I keep moving it around the tank trying to find the right spot for it. I think in his tank they are just getting too much light...but everything else is doing great so we do not want to touch the light at all...lol

an looking again at your pics, I notice the flesh of the LPS (acans and scoly) very tight to the skeleton, which is a tell tail sign that they are getting a bit too much light. They should be extended from the skeleton a bit...as to expose their "solar panel"/polyp to the light to capture energy.

 

[Marshall O]

Agreed on the Acans. The Scoly I already have in low light off the side of the tank. It is missing some tissue from when my Hollywood Stunner attacked it. It has been recovering nicely though, as most of the tissue was gone. I can try moving it again to even lower light though.

 

[saltwaterB]

sounds right...lower the whites down a bit, and bring those Corals that want to be lower in the tank down to where they want to be, and I bet they will start to get happy real fast.

Normally Scolys are found on the substrate, and most LPS we keep in our tanks are collected in water that is 20'to 40' deep, so they prefer lower positions on the rockwork like in nature...

 

[saltwaterB]

sounds right...lower the whites down a bit, and bring those Corals that want to be lower in the tank down to where they want to be, and I bet they will start to get happy real fast.

Normally Scolys are found on the substrate, and most LPS we keep in our tanks are collected in water that is 20'to 40' deep, so they prefer lower positions on the rockwork like in nature...

 

[saltwaterB]

No, if the scoly is recovering there, I would leave it right there....I did not realize it was recovering from being stung.

 

[Marshall O]

Thanks B! I will lower the whites a bit (5%) and see if that makes a difference. I appreciate you taking the time to help!

 

[jdeb101]

Be sure to keep updating us here Marshall, I'm very interested in the turnout since I've been experiencing some issues with my tank recently and have similar params, lighting, etc as you.

And FWIW, in case you don't know B, yes he does run a business but he knows his stuff! Back when I got into this hobby 8+ years ago B worked at AG and I remember how much time he would spend just sharing his knowledge and experience without trying to sell me a single thing. And that hasn't changed since I've known him! But you can see that yourself from his posts here and the offer for you to visit to discuss further. He's one of the few LFS's I trust and respect.

 

[Marshall O]

I do know B, yes. Most of my rare Wrasses are from him