Trailermann Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Beats me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate.hobart.1 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Not equipment failure.Not nutrient swings.No fish or critters died off.Did some cleaning product end up in the tank? I'm really curious... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDoze Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 What is this? A game of guess the issue? Just tell us... 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
badxgillen Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 There are a number of things that can happen that could cause SPS bleaching. From changes in parameters, temperatures swings, or even too much light too fast...Sometimes the hobby seems so unforgiving. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JoshK Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Sunscreen Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted June 4, 2017 Author Share Posted June 4, 2017 I only started the guessing game because, like many people, when it started happening I started googling. Which is useful of course but it is also dangerous because we tend to latch on to a solution or decision that sounds good to us. Everyone does it, it's called confirmation bias. If your testing your water and the result seems off... you test it again. But if you test it and the results are what you anticipated or wanted them to be, who tests again just to be sure? So I was sure it was lack of nutrients, it all made sense and i could connect the dots. Terry was the first person to state blankly that it was not nutrients. We brain stormed.. I had new filter socks from china...maybe a voltage leak. Then I said, you know what, I thought I smelled cat pee in the basement... maybe the cat peed on my pile.of filter socks!!!It was ammonia!!!! Between 1 and 3 ppm!! I immediately dosed prime and it only took about 30 seconds to determine what happened. My color changing DI cartridge was about 40% exhausted. For those that don't know when you run chloraminated water through carbon filters it breaks the chlorine ammonia bond of chloramine. The carbon absorbs the chlorine but the DI resin is what absorbs the ammonia. I was dosing my tank WITH AMMONIA. Slowly through the top.off water and then I really hit them with water changes. And why do I have algae when I have undetectable phos and nitrates?.. AMMONIA, it's the preferred food of algae and most plans really. Well, there you have it. So if you make rodi from city water, it may be a good practice to use a simple ammonia test strip to ensure your cartridge is working properly. Thanks to everyone for the help!! Now the waiting game begins.Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nate.hobart.1 Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Diggity dang. I was actually thinking ammonia - but because of some random fish or critter die off. You could almost make this a point for using straight city water rather than rodi. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 Great share! Good luck on the recovery, keep us posted on how long it takes and how successful it is. Good stuff! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmdh Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 I always soak my filter socks in some DI along with a good dose of Prime before I put them in the sump. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoDoze Posted June 6, 2017 Share Posted June 6, 2017 I always wondered how effective Prime was? I used to dose a little in my 5 gal jugs when getting water from the lfs. I wondered if dosing into an empty jug would keep it active before adding the water? In the DT, would dosing be better after adding the water, or before? Should dosing be to the DT, or the sump? Additionally, many years ago, fish would have an outbreak of ick after every Prime dose, which is why I stopped with that tank. Perhaps I'm just making things trivial, but I'm naturally a thinker, so I may be over thinking things...? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjmdh Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 I bleach the snot out of my filter socks and rinse well but they still have that bleach smell so I Prime them. I also add a dash to my water change water, when I remember that is. I read somewhere that the organics from the salt break down and cause a little ammonia spike. Never tested it but... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 The only thing I can think of off the top of my head was we have had some hot weather lately and just like in the ocean temperature swings can cause immediate bleaching. You wrote that your temp was normal but during the day it can fluctuate quite a bit. Also I don't like using things like amino acids or acro power as I have seen bleaching and increased cyano and algae with supplements. That usually happens slowly though and a member explained to me that sometimes that can happen because you can get rapid growth and not enough nutrients to match the growth. The other her thing I would check if you added nothing new is the quality of the salt you are using as sometimes you can run into a bad batch of salt but the parameters look good so less likely. Other things to consider are there contaminants that you can't test for that was accidentally added. Rusty magnet , residue in the bucket you are using for water change. regardless glad Terry was able to help you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 How are the corals doing Brian - any sign of recovery yet? This thread brought up some really interesting points and questions - everything from the unpredictability of PDX water supply, RO/DI chemistry, relative risks of large water changes, how we monitor our water source quality (TDS vs. direct contaminant testing), routine use of a chemical water treatment (on top or in place of RO/DI). Lots of good stuff. As with most things reef, I think you will likely find people all over the spectrum on these issues but your experience definitely gives one pause as to how we might need to rethink some things about our husbandry if we want to avoid a similar fate. Hmm... where is that bottle of Prime again? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 46 minutes ago, albertareef said: How are the corals doing Brian - any sign of recovery yet? This thread brought up some really interesting points and questions - everything from the unpredictability of PDX water supply, RO/DI chemistry, relative risks of large water changes, how we monitor our water source quality (TDS vs. direct contaminant testing), routine use of a chemical water treatment (on top or in place of RO/DI). Lots of good stuff. As with most things reef, I think you will likely find people all over the spectrum on these issues but your experience definitely gives one pause as to how we might need to rethink some things about our husbandry if we want to avoid a similar fate. Hmm... where is that bottle of Prime again? Good point on the water supply as well. I know there were several skilled reefers around here that were having all sorts of issues with their sps and felt like the issue was the quality of the ro water had gone down with all the flooding and rain we had. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 10 minutes ago, Emerald525 said: Good point on the water supply as well. I know there were several skilled reefers around here that were having all sorts of issues with their sps and felt like the issue was the quality of the ro water had gone down with all the flooding and rain we had. Yeah, Holly and I were talking about this over the weekend as well - sounds like it might have impacted a lot of experienced folk on here. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 15 minutes ago, albertareef said: Yeah, Holly and I were talking about this over the weekend as well - sounds like it might have impacted a lot of experienced folk on here. SPS can definitely be a heart breaker. If you are in this hobby long enough some coral will die. I had a frag from Bert that I left overnight in the Bayer dip and it ended up Rtning after the last meeting. Fortunately the other sps I did the 12 hour dip on survived. If a reefer tells you otherwise they are lying .Curious to know what happened in Brian's situation. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted June 7, 2017 Share Posted June 7, 2017 1 minute ago, Emerald525 said: SPS can definitely be a heart breaker. If you are in this hobby long enough some coral will die. I had a frag from Bert that I left overnight in the Bayer dip and it ended up Rtning after the last meeting. Fortunately the other sps I did the 12 hour dip on survived. If a reefer tells you otherwise they are lying .Curious to know what happened in Brian's situation. It is buried in the thread but, in short, I think when PDX starting messing around with the water supply in response to the bacterial contaminants the levels of chloramine went up and overwhelmed some of the RO/DI systems out there - resulting (in Brian's case) in ammonia being introduced into the tank from the water used to mix fresh salt or top up. Apparently, the charcoal canisters breakdown the chloramine into, among other things, ammonia which would normally be scavenged by the DI resin but could overwhelm it - especially if it wasn't 100% (in Brian's case). My apologies to Brian and any chemists out there if I butchered that explanation... I haven't researched it myself. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorW Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Did your naughty kitty have to stand in the corner!? My cat was using a laundry basket for her litter box last year and come to find out she had a bladder infection. Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120AZ using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TaylorW Posted June 15, 2017 Share Posted June 15, 2017 Anyway I hope everything is doing better!Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-J120AZ using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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