Here is the long story - many of my acropora corals have been retracting their polyps and browning out over the last couple of months. I don't know why because they were doing pretty well for over a year, and I have made no substantial changes in my tank husbandry during that time. My montis, stylos, euphyllias, and everything else are still growing well and looking as good as ever, and so are some of the tougher acros, like a staghorn, a blue slimer, ORA frogskin and a couple others. So, this seems to be a problem just with some acros including (pink lemonade, garf bonsai, strawberrry shortcake, sunset millie, JF nightstalker, some no-names). I have also noticed an increase in cyano growth, and maybe that has something to do with the problem.
Since only about 1/2 the acros are affected, I do not think that this is due to a major chemical imbalance (though I reserve the right to be wrong). Salinity (1.0265), alkalinity (8.5), and Calcium, Magnesium, nitrate (5ppm), and phosphate (0.05ppm), have all been pretty stable for several months, with no major swings that I am aware of. Therefore, since I had no idea what the issue was, I did what most people do - I increased the frequency of my water change schedule. This, unfortunately hasn't helped the sensitive acros yet, and some seem to be STN'ing from their bases, making it less likely they will recover before I can fix this mysterious issue. Then, yesterday, I was doing a water change, and decided to suck some of the gunk out of my sump, and I got blasted with a hydrogen sulfide smell. I am now suspecting that some of this H2S is making its way to the main display and causing some stress in the more sensitive corals. Then I got to thinking that my sandbed is now 10 years old, and I am sure it is probably making H2S just like my sump.
So, now I want to get rid of my 3" sandbed, in addition to clearing out all the muck from my sump.
Anybody have a similar experience with hydrogen sulfide being produced in their tank?
Anybody have any suggestions for sucking the sand bed out?
Do I need to worry about my live rock breaking or cracking through the bottom of my tank, since right now it is all just sitting on the sand?
Tank specs:
10 year old 50g mixed reef, about 50 different corals, mix of SPS, LPS, and some softies.
rabbitfish, 2 pink skunk clowns, 6-line wrasse, pygmy angel, yellow-tail damsel
Reefbreeders LEDs plus lumen bar
Tunze 9004DC Skimmer
Since only about 1/2 the acros are affected, I do not think that this is due to a major chemical imbalance (though I reserve the right to be wrong). Salinity (1.0265), alkalinity (8.5), and Calcium, Magnesium, nitrate (5ppm), and phosphate (0.05ppm), have all been pretty stable for several months, with no major swings that I am aware of. Therefore, since I had no idea what the issue was, I did what most people do - I increased the frequency of my water change schedule. This, unfortunately hasn't helped the sensitive acros yet, and some seem to be STN'ing from their bases, making it less likely they will recover before I can fix this mysterious issue. Then, yesterday, I was doing a water change, and decided to suck some of the gunk out of my sump, and I got blasted with a hydrogen sulfide smell. I am now suspecting that some of this H2S is making its way to the main display and causing some stress in the more sensitive corals. Then I got to thinking that my sandbed is now 10 years old, and I am sure it is probably making H2S just like my sump.
So, now I want to get rid of my 3" sandbed, in addition to clearing out all the muck from my sump.
Anybody have a similar experience with hydrogen sulfide being produced in their tank?
Anybody have any suggestions for sucking the sand bed out?
Do I need to worry about my live rock breaking or cracking through the bottom of my tank, since right now it is all just sitting on the sand?
Tank specs:
10 year old 50g mixed reef, about 50 different corals, mix of SPS, LPS, and some softies.
rabbitfish, 2 pink skunk clowns, 6-line wrasse, pygmy angel, yellow-tail damsel
Reefbreeders LEDs plus lumen bar
Tunze 9004DC Skimmer