Donmarco

The tank setup is 7 years old. I did have an equipment malfunction in early May and lost all my corals and most of the fish. I cleaned everything up and maintained the tank for almost 3 months before beginning to restock - added 5 small fish and then, a couple of weeks later, 3 small coral frags. The algae appeared before restocking began. You suggested that the algae could be feeding on the phosphates, giving me a false read. How do I obtain an accurate read?

I'm having some problems with algae in my tank (photos attached). The phosphates test at .16 ppm, ammonia, nitrates and nitrates at 0. I also have a biodenitrator and phosphate reactor in the sump. Last week I changed the reactor media. Any ideas?

Just a little while ago I discovered water all over my floor. When I looked, I discovered that the protein skimmer was overflowing. It filled up the overflow reservoir and water was leaking from that. That's never happened before and I've had this tank 7 years. Well, I cleaned the whole thing up and then started the skimmer again and it began to over-foam and over-fill again. I quickly adjusted the air-intake valve and got it under control. I'm trying to figure out what I may have done to cause the problem. The only thing I did today was add some Seachem Stress Guard to the tank. Can this cause the skimmer to overflow? If so, if I use it again, I'll turn the skimmer off for awhile and then monitor it when I turn it back on. Does anybody have any hunches about this? Thanks. Mark

After a system crash and the loss of almost everything in my tank, I'm amazed that two mated Clownfish and their host anemone have survived. Actually, they're looking very healthy now (three weeks later). There are also two hermit crabs, one Fighting Conch, and one snail that survived the apocalypse. Although the tank environment isn't yet stable and ammonia is still elevated (I'm presuming that the tank is cycling all over again), these few creatures are hanging in there. I've attached a picture of these rugged little fellows.

Hello everyone. First, thanks for your kind replies and encouragement. I finally managed (I don't know how I did it) to reinitialize my Apex aqua controller. All the equipment is working, but I haven't yet reprogrammed all the outlets. That can wait. I did a water change this morning (as many gallons as I could manage - 15 g) and I'll continue doing that every day until the water clears. I also cleaned the protein skimmer (the smell was worse than a sewer), replaced the filter sock (I'll do that every day as well until the tank stabilizes), cleaned the tank and removed as much of the dead coral as I could (except for the star polyps and leather corals that are anchored firmly to the rock). I'll begin taking rock out tomorrow and scrubbing it submerged in fresh saltwater. I discovered my Foxface hidden in the rocks. He looks okay, but he's still hiding. It emerged for a couple of minutes when I was pulling dead coral. It ate a little of the algae I dislodged, but then took cover immediately afterward. I had another large fish - I found bits and pieces of it in the water after I removed coral. I haven't yet found the majority of it, but I'll keep looking. The anemone is still alive, though it's color isn't very good. The oral cavity is firmly closed. I'm thinking this might all be a good sign - at least it isn't filled with polluted water. The Clownfish are still staying close to their anemone. They wouldn't leave it this morning to eat. I'm being very sparing with the pellet food I feed them as I don't want to further pollute the tank. I'm doing the best that I can. Yesterday I was really in shock after seeing the tank after returning from vacation. Now I've calmed down so I'm handling things a little better. A couple of people asked where I live - I live in Charlotte Hall in Charles County, Maryland. The nearest reputable aquarium supplier is in Leonardtown. I called them about prepared saltwater, but they don't keep it in stock. Anyway, I just wanted to give all you kind people a little update. I'll keep you posted. Mark

Thanks for the advice. I reinitialized the Aqua Controller and now the whole system is off. Try as I might, I can't get the power strips to work and the controller isn't responding. The system failure was definitely caused by the controller. I don't intend on spending several hundred dollars to replace the controller and I'm not able to do a 60g water change. With so little left alive, it seems best to remove everything and then to try to bag whatever still shows signs of life. Perhaps the local fish place will want the fish. I suppose that this is just a sign that I shouldn't continue in this hobby. I think I'll post the equipment I own on the forums and see if anyone wants to buy it. As for the Aqua controller, I'll just trash that. Thanks again for the advice.

I received an emergency call from a neighbor last week while I was out-of-town. When he arrived to take care of my 125G reef tank, the water was milky white, the coral were all dead or dying, and the water temperature was 95 degrees! Long story short - the Apex Aqua Controller malfunctioned and, for some reason, it turned the heater permanently on and the chiller permanently off. I talked my neighbor through the nested menus and reversed things. Still, the damage was done. When I returned home today all the corals were dead - nothing survived. I have only 4 fish in the tank - the two larger are either hiding behind the LR or are dead behind it. The two Clownfish are desperately hanging on to their host anemone, but it looks in bad shape. Remarkably the hermit crabs and Fighting Conch seem okay (perhaps not for long). I honestly don't know what to do. Should I remove all the LR? Should I scrub all the coral in saltwater to remove what I can of the coral and then return it to the tank? Should the sand (6" deep) be removed? Should I attempt to remove the anemone (I can see the foot, but it still seems attached to the rock). What should I do? I'm filtering water right now, and I'll mix up saltwater tonight. Tomorrow I thought I'd change 10 gallons and then continue to change 10 gallons every day until all 125 gallons (tank) and 35 gallons (sump) are replaced. My fear is that water changes won't be enough. Can anyone offer me advice? This is heartbreaking because I've had the reef tank for 7 years and it's survived some of the older tank challenges. It was absolutely beautiful when I left. It tears my heart out to look at it now.

I have a 4.5 yo 125G reef tank with a 35G sump. Three weeks ago I installed a Koralin Biodenitrator below the tank, next to the sump and am using a small doser pump to supply tank water siphoned in from the sump and then returned to the sump near the return pump. At first the biodenitrator worked flawlessly but about a week ago it started malfunctioning. Several times a day the small doser stops pumping water into the biodenitrator and the effluent goes dry. I've tried several things. Usually what works is that I shut off the Eheim pump on the reactor, close the effluent and open the air release valve. The chamber fills again with water. Then I close the air release valve, open the effluent and turn on the Eheim pump. The moment I do the doser stops drawing water again and the effluent goes immediately dry. I can see air bubbles which move up and down through the air tubing, both on the intake and the effluent. When I eventually get things working again, it works only for a short while and then the trouble recurs. Might anyone have experience with the Koralin? Does anyone know what may be causing this and how I might correct it? I've read in another post that someone vents excess CO2 from their reactor into the protein skimmer. Might this be the problem I'm experiencing, an excess of CO2? Would venting it continuously resolve the problem I'm experiencing? If so, might I presume the way to vent is to remove the air release tube from the top of the reactor and run air tubing from it to my protein skimmer? If I do this won't water from the reactor overflow into my protein skimmer? I've noticed that when the air release valve and effluent are both open that the water level drops drastically in the reactor and continues to fall until I turn off the Eheim and doser pumps. Thanks for the help. Mark

That's really a helpful article. Thank you. I was surprised to read that lower dosage may be required, which seems counter intuitive when CA is so low. I'll reduce dosage for the next several days and see what happens.

You're asking if I dose Magnesium? Yes, actually, I'm dosing every other day. I use Brightwell Aquatics Magnesion and dose according to package instructions. I also carefully dose iodine, but only after testing and then only in small amounts if necessary.

I have a 125G reef tank, fully stocked with hard and soft coral and six fish. I have a 35G sump and the setup is nearly 3 years old. Recently I started having trouble maintaining water chemistry, after a long and stable period. CA and dKH took a dive so I increased (well below manufacturer's maximum daily dosage recommendations) daily 2-part dosing. I'm using Two Little Fishes C-Balance. For the past week I've dosed daily in equal parts of C-Balance, 60 ml per day. CA levels rose a little and are stable at 250, but well below 400 where they've been for more than 2 years. dKH however has rocketed almost off the charts, today reading at 14 dKH! pH is 8.4. I'm not sure what to do to balance the water chemistry. I'm shooting for higher CA levels, lower dKH, and pH at about 8.3-8.4. I don't have a CA supplement, only the 2-part mix. Any suggestions? Thanks for your help. Mark

What caused your tank to crash?

i'm throwing this out to check my observations.I've had a beautiful, large Hammer Coral in my tank for the past three years. A couple of weeks ago I noticed it splitting in half. It looks like it's reproducing. Is this the normal way?Mark

Last year I added thee blue neon gobies to my 125G reef tank. Well, one died fairly straight away, but the other two swam happily for months, until about three months ago when one of them disappeared. When it didn't reemerge, I presumed it had died and was eaten by one of the crabs. Imagine my surprise last week when I had a plumbing problem in the sump and while I was working on it I caught a flash of blue out of the corner of my eye. Low and behold, somehow that little neon goby had gotten through the overflow, down one of the pipes and either escaped the sock filter or made it through my refugium. Now it's living and swimming happily among all the plumbing, protein skimmer and other stuff in my sump. I've tried to lure it into a net, but it won't come close and I haven't any way to capture it. Even if I turn everything off and break down the sump, there are still a number of compartments and it could easily elude me. I haven't any idea how it survived so long without food (it must have found something to eat, somewhere) nor do I know how long it will live. Has anyone ever experienced this sort of thing? Any ideas what I might do? Mark

Okay, just a question born of pure curiosity.My 125G reef tank is home to a variety of coral. A year ago I introduced a colony of pulsing Xenia and it thrived! Actually, it started taking over so besides teaching it its place, I also moved a small colony on its own piece of LR to the left rear of the tank, where it wouldn't threaten anything for awhile. Well, before long the Xenia began moving onto and up the glass! The attached photo was taken several weeks ago and one colony was already at the surface of the water, with three others on their way. Today all the colonies are much closer to the surface and the rock is almost empty. Has anyone seen Xenia behave this way? I'm not at all worried, but it is a little tricky cleaning around them. Now I have a fresh piece of LR where I can move another coral. That's good because I have several Staghorn frags and a Acro that are looking for real estate.Mark

The flow was good even when the chiller wasn't working properly. The back flush procedure seems to have done the trick. This morning (8 a.m.) the tank temperature was 78 degrees, now at half past midday it's 78.8 and all seems well. Now I can sit back and enjoy my tank for awhile. My current fascination is the Zenia, particularly two colonies that have attached to the glass and are growing toward the surface. I have 8 large frags (mostly stag, acro, birdsnest, etc.) that need to be relocated from the rack to rock. I haven't any rock now where they'd prosper so I'm aging some LR with the thought of placing it within a few weeks and reallocating a little space. I have two large Frogspawn that I'll either move backward in the tank (I have four large colonies, two on each side of the tank, right now). I'll probably offer two of them to the LFS and if he takes them I'll then have a little more room for the beautiful coral now sitting on the frag rack.Again, thanks for all the advice.Mark

Oops, I mistyped in my post. The start temperature was 81.6 after restart, not 80.6. The temperature now is 79.5 and the unit is set to 78 degrees. I'll check it again in the morning and hopefully it will have lowered the water temperature to target. Mark

Just thought I'd post an update for all those kind people who provided their suggestions. I took my chiller off line last weekend and watched the tank water temperature to see if it would rise or lower. It did neither. It remained at 81.2 to 81.5, a little lower at night and a little higher during the day (not unusual I know). Yesterday I back flushed my chiller following the manufacturer's guidelines, but I embellished a bit, for safety and thoroughness. First, I back flushed the chiller with fresh water for 30 minutes. Next, using a mixture of 1 gallon of white vinegar and 3 gallons of fresh water, I back flushed for 1 hour. Afterward I back flushed with fresh water only for 30 minutes, then changed the water and back flushed again for 15 minutes. Finally I back flushed a third time with fresh water. I left the chiller overnight, while I mixed a sufficient quantity of salt water and thoroughly cleaned the chiller's feed pump. I also (while I had everything apart) replaced the vinyl feed and return tubing and added new clamps. Today when I started up the chiller I piped the fresh water from the chiller into an empty bucket and slowly added salt water to the sump to replace what was being directed to the chiller. Then I turned the feed pump off, repositioned the return tubing to the sump and started up the feed pump again. Lastly I turned the chiller on (I had already cleaned it thoroughly, front and back). After 3 minutes the unit began to function properly. I've monitored the water temperature throughout the day. When I turned the chiller on the temperature was 80.6. Now, about 8 hours later, the temperature is 79.7 and it looks as if everything is working well. That's my tale and I'm sticking to it. Thanks to everyone for the advice. Mark

I have a very good, accurate temperature probe I use to manually check. Actually the manual probe is about .6 higher than the chiller. I unplugged the chiller for today. The manufacturer suggests using 3 gallons of fresh water and 1 gallon of white vinegar and then back flushing the unit (for one hour) to clean the titanium inner workings, then to follow with 3 gallons of fresh water (30 minutes). I'll try that to see if it helps. It will be Monday before I can go buy a gallon of vinegar. I checked the unit while it was running and it seemed to be working correctly, so perhaps its just calcium buildup in the unit. Once I back flush (I'll also clean the supply pump while it's out) I'll connect everything again and then check after a few hours of operation to see if conditions improve. If not then the chiller might have a larger problem that just a little build up. Thanks for the advice. Mark

How might I check that? I cleaned the unit front and back (it wasn't very dirty because I regularly maintain the chiller). Do you think it would be worth turning the chiller off to see what happens to the water temp? Mark

I'm running a 125G reef tank, loaded with many coral and a few fish. I have a 35G Zero Edge sump with refugium and there are three pumps there, one feeding water to the chiller, one supplying the protein skimmer and one return pump. I have a Current Outer Orbit halide/T5 fixture suspended above the tank. The fixture is 7.5 inches above the tank and there is good air flow between the fixture and the tank. The tank is 4 years old. Until recently, summer and winter, the water temperature was hovering around 77-78 degrees but over the last few weeks I've noticed a significant spike. Today the water temperature is 81.8 in a room with am ambient temperature of 72 degrees. I've checked the pumps and they're all cool to the touch, though I'm sure they are adding some radiant heat (though the pumps are all high-end products that provide output with less power consumption). I unplugged the titanium heater in the tank and removed it a few weeks ago, thinking that might be the problem. Obviously the heater was not the problem. I'm concerned about the spike in temperature. The chiller runs 24/7 now, but the water temperature is not declining. Any ideas what could be causing the spike in temperature and how to correct it? Mark

No, the arrangement in my new home is such that there isn't room for a calcium reactor, though I do own one and used it on the same tank when I lived in Montgomery County. Instead I test CA weekly, and perform regular water changes (10 G at a time). CA seems to remain stable, so I do not dose it unless it falls below minimum target. Nor is it high and there is little fluctuation in CA presently, though I keep an eye on it. My regular tests of water parameters hasn't prompted me yet to dose, only to monitor and continue to observe. Only ALK fluctuates. Below my tank I have a 35G Zero-Edge multi-comparment sump. Water flows into the sump from the rear, left and right. On the right water flows from the tank into a refugium stocked with live Fiji mud and chaeto. It flows toward the opposite end, meeting the overflow from the left side of the tank, flowing through a filter sock. The water flows toward the front left and is pumped into a AquaC protein skimmer. The water returns from the skimmer into the same compartment. Water then flows to the right front of the sump, over a filter sponge that is in place to reduce micro bubbles, and is returned by a pump to the main tank. I don't use limewater for top off. Instead, for the past four years, I've used RO water. Actually, the particulates are solids and not microbubbles. I do see bubbles in the water from time-to-time as the return pump in the sump does sometimes suck up air. The materials suspended in the water are solids, some of which might be detritus, but I do not think all of it is. I've checked the tubing, connections, etc. and cannot find any problems. I don't know what might cause detritus to become stirred up in the water column. There are four return water fittings at the rear of the tank, but these are pointed toward the front and sides of the tank and not toward the sandy bottom. I also have two Vortech pumps, one on each side, but these are near the top of the tank and the wave-making action is set low, in lagoon mode, not tidal crest mode. Thanks for the advice. I'm open to suggestions.

Last July I moved from upper Montgomery to lower Charles County, Maryland. Getting my 120G reef tank down here was a real chore, but after a lot of work (and the total replacement of the live sand, yet keeping the LR and everything else) I had it back up and running. I did lose several specimens (coral and fish) and overall I felt lucky that I still had the tank. I lost a large birds nest coral, but fortunately I saved a half dozen frags, which are growing very nicely. In a year or two I should have five or size show pieces. Now it's 7 months later and the tank is doing very well. All the coral are thriving, the fish are healthy and the tank is the showpiece of the neighborhood. Children and adults even stop outside my window to "ooh" and "ah" at the sight of it. Still, I have a couple of things

The Yellow Tang is about 6 inches. The tank is also the habitat for a Sailfin Tang, a One Spot Foxface Rabbit Fish, a pair of mated Ocelaris Clownfish, three Six-Line Wrasse, and a pair of Blue Stripe Neon Gobbies. Lots of activity! Mark

I love the clams! The Maxima I've had three years. It was tiny when I purchased it, but it's absolutely stunning now. The Derasa took a slight step backward. It was thriving on the sand but I have a Blue Spot Jawfish that decided to burrow in nearby and continued to spit sand all over the clam. I blew the sand off every day but that little fish kept covering him up again. I tried moving the clam a few inches away, but the fish seemed to follow wherever it went, so eventually I moved it up to the rock, where the clam is now attached and untroubled and it's starting to blossom again. Mark