chimera

they love HEAPS of light - probably why it survived no, not really yet. mind you, the calculations i did to bring the water parameters up were spot on. i tested again tonight, Mg is low at 1200 (because i didnt have enough Mag chloride left) but kH @ 10.6 and Ca @ 415 are all good. Need to get another bag of Mg chloride although this time I think i'll keep the whole bag myself as you use heaps to bring levels up. Of all the acro's still in the tank (poc is @ shaneo's and 2 acro's @ crackers) only the hydnophora, one other acro that was under the glass brace, a small purple frag half way down and the blue coral are alive. I also dumped in a heap of cyclopeeze mixed with phytoplankton. Figured the LPS and BTA's could pick up some of it. The hydno was the only thing with polyps out feeding on the food i dumped in. Quite amazing as the hydno is the only acro that was sitting out "in the open", in the centre of the halide and high up in the tank. Talk about hardy! I also bought a sailfin tang tonight, he's happy as roaming around the tank. Beautiful fish. I think him and the blue tang are in love None of the fish look at all phased by the coral deaths I've had. Im guessing they're not as sensitive to UV as much as acro's - and probably because they move around all day Thanks Fay, appreciate the offer. I've given away so many frags in the past (from the small amount that I could share) and all those who I gave too have been generous to offer them straight back so thanks to all those people. Now just have to plan the upgrade... oh wait, there's that little problem called money... :lol: Just looking at dates of events, and looking further into the potassium dosing (pohl's k-balance) which commenced on the 3rd of October. Things went down hill 1 week after the first days dosing (initial dosing was 1ml per 100 litres for the first 4 days then twice weekly after that) Could the rapid increase in potassium have effected the corals alot faster? I think I read from wasp that TN in the tips could occur if too much was added.

yes, about 3 months ago. layton swears the damage was already done :roll: on the contrary, and specifically after the lighting upgrade some of the corals were better than they've ever been (to an extent where they were at a colour i would be exceptionally happy with and wouldnt have thought they could have got any better) it has been going on for a couple of years now http://www.fnzas.org.nz/fishroom/1-vt3256.html

profile: http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/388.htm compatibility: http://www.liveaquaria.com/general/comp ... _chart.cfm

only happens to australians i hear?

you da man! cheers bro

The acro's were doing exceptionally well, all showing signs of great colour, those that had fully coloured up were stable at that colour for a couple of months (eg: pink monti, purple milli etc) It seems fairly logical that, based on the timing of the events, the addition of fluidised carbon was when things started going down hill (about 3-4 weeks after it was added). However, things did deteriorate exceptionally slowly - bleaching would have been a difficult term to use at the time, the corals got lighter but certainly did not look like they were lacking zoox to an extent that they would bleach (i dont buy into Layton's "zeovit" theory). Things went downhill very fast after the addition of potassium (to theoretically darken up the corals) The addition of that along with a couple of 20% water changes was when things went backwards. Now I'm not saying the water changes caused the issue nor the potassium dosing being the cause - moreso the sudden change in water parameters further stressed the acro's (from the carbon/lighting issue) causing them to expel their zoox. IMO, the lights on their own most definately did not cause the corals to bleach, in fact I even raised them by 2" on the 19th of Sept. Problems started around early October (could it be because the PAR they were receiving was now reduced? ) I've been doing some reading on this and this is my theory to the problem in order of events (assuming that there isn't a bundle of 2 cent coins sitting in the bottom of the tank ) Most definately a number of factors caused the bleaching: In order, it started with fluidisation of carbon stripping too many proteins from the water (eg: amino acids). The lack of these amino's meant the acro's had less chance of creating MAA (mycosporine-like amino acids, a protective coating that absorbs UV light which then enables the zoox to photosynthesize without being damaged by the UV) So, the lack of MAA in addition with the intense lighting and further exassperated by the sudden changes in water parameters from the water changes and dosing of potassium caused further stress causing the zoox to expell at a higher rate, and thus causing the bleaching. The fact that the poccilipora (which admitedly loves alot of light anyway) was the least effected because it sat directly under the glass brace (which would have helped to add UV protection) is potentially more evidence. At the time, large water change or not, I really dont think I could have saved many of them as the damage was already considerably done. Im guessing that the xenia at the bottom of the tank have suddenly "melted" since the lights were reduced to 3 hours a day and continued to after the large water change is probably caused simply by stress, or perhaps because of the amount of bacteria released by the acro's when they did bleach.

ahem,... when you run about 750grams of carbon fluidised *cough* i guess i deserve it :oops: but regardless, yes it is a mega downer. funny, i have drunk either beer or vodka every night in the last 3 weeks... must be the summer thing coming up... :lol: trying to stay positive when losing $1,500+ worth of acro's is difficult to say the least. not really the money though, its seeing the progress of all those acro's doing so well then finally colouring up over a year or more to see it all turn to shit in less than a month is rather depressing. im not one to dwell, but it is arse. gives me a good excuse to rearrange the rock work and start over - at least with the experience i've gained i know what not to do if there's one piece of advice i could offer right now,... keep it simple

oops, just updated the post prior while you posted. i have taken quite a few acro's out, all dead. have halides on for 3 hours a day. have actinics on for 5 hours. no progress really, can only really judge progress from lps as they are withdrawn but still alive (makes you wonder - going just a softie and lps tank wouldnt be that bad ) i have been taking some photo's, will post at some stage. alot have been taken out and chucked already. others that are dead (eg: about 3-4 at shaneo's) he might have chucked already.

damn straight bro!

i was kidding dude as of tonight, only 6 acro's survive. 1 hydnophora, 1 poccilipora (at shaneo's), 1 plate acro and possibly 1 green acro (at crackers) and 1 purple frag i got from cookie ages ago and another smaller (new and still brown) acro still in my tank. other than that, all bleached :evil:

frag it away from the recession. doesnt always work though. most of mine are way gone funny how the hydnophora is directly under the halide and is not even phased. the blue coral near it also is still happyish (although no polyps have been out for the last few weeks). a plate acro (now in crackers hands just to be safe) is the same. however two xenia at the bottom of the tank have now completely disintegrated, bits of it floating around the tank. most other lps are still withdrawn but alive. after the large water change, about a 3rd of the green star polyps came out (previously nothing for the last few weeks) even both bta's are withdrawn, one has bleached tips :-? janola??

sweet. i missed out on going there a couple of weeks ago when i was over there. going back for work in early december so hopefully should get half a day in

hmmmm, cracker has taken 2 frags of mine this morning. will let him know, wouldnt want to be responsible for ruining his tank too :-? he said he's taken frags of yours before wasp that have been worse than the couple i gave him and they came right.

direct running for about a year i guess? I dont think the inside parts will wear at all or if they do, very minimal. the drum rotates very slowly, very little friction. http://www.oceansmotions.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=41&osCsid=4283a2c71f1fee8ea9ff60ca37db220a

i got a 4-way oceans motions, awesome product. highly recommend it

hell yes! remember the large acro back right that you saw i think friday night and looked like it might survive? it's now fully bleached. seriously going to use this as an excuse to rip out half the rock work and start again! that will probably include getting rid of the centre piece "feature". would be nice to hold onto for the upgrade (when it happens ) but i think i want to minimise rock this time and create more diverse asymmetrical structures. let me guess, the increase in iron content from the zeovit has created a lunar eclipse causing extra gravititational pull on the moon making it travel out of it's usual orbit and causing it to crash into the sun which has directed a perfect ray through space and into my tank burning the acro's. and you wondered why you hadn't seen the moon lately...

shaneo has about half a doz of my acro's. he noted today that his own brown staghorn is looking a little bleached at the base. could there be something more to this than just UV? could it be possible the acro's are sending out something in the water as they expell zoox? any ideas?

seriously makes me wonder. everytime i go past the tank i have another look around to see if i can find anything that might have been dropped in there :-?

go single overflow, have return split into two as you have shown (although get the split done into correct sized piping - post size of return outlet and i'll tell you what plumbing you need) if it's in-sump skimmer (which i dont think t1000 is) then have overflow feed directly into sump, if not then T off the overflow and gravity feed the skimmer as KP mentioned, any excess water goes to the refugium. that way, maximum flow through skimmer, minimal flow through refugium, return T'd to give good random water flow at either end of the tank.

cheers. i've pretty much lost all but 4 acro's now (one of which is a hydnophora that isnt even phased by the cause) the other 3 have slight signs of bleaching but hanging in there. even a large staghorn is completely bleached. all lps are completely withdrawn. now that the big water change is done, should i have the lights off completely? should i just leave them on at 3 hours a day?

finally managed to collect some saltwater today. got around 750 litres in the 1,000 litre container i borrowed from cracker. im in the middle of "water parameter matching" between the tank and the nsw. tank is: temp: 25 salinity: 1.025 pH: 8.22 kH: 10.9 Ca: 440 Mg:1380 nsw is: temp: 18 salinity: 1.027 pH: 8.23 kH: 6.4 Ca:350 Mg: 1110 cracker also loaned me a 2.4Kw heater which i've put in to bring the temperature up. i also added around 50 litres of RODI water to drop salinity down a bit. pH is almost an exact match which is cool. for everything else, i have to add the following to bring the (800 litres) nsw figures up to match the tank (except i dont have enough mg chloride ) 264 grams calcium chloride dihydrate (minimal effect on pH) 11.3 teaspoons of baked baking soda (pH will increase) 1800 grams magnesium chloride hexahydrate not long to go now and all fingers crossed things start to recover... :-?

cracker is kindly loaning me his trailer and container tomorrow as it's high tide around lunch time. water change seems the most obvious solution to replenish what the carbon has stripped out of the water column. also several acro's are now sitting in shaneo's tank. not concerned about colours going backwards, just want them to survive! thanks again for the offer mark. i will try a 50% water change tomorrow if possible and leave the rest on standby. the 1,000 litre tank i have is only about 800 litres useable coz it sits under my house but slightly lower than the sump, maybe not a major coz all the crap should accumulate at the bottom. absolutely true, but it does make life alot easier when the knowledge is there too

cool. someone close by or driving past would be best - i got wifey and kids to look after at the mo!

thanks mate, might take you up on that offer... just incase. dont want to lose anymore than i have too!