Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I have tried keeping acros several times in the 3.5 years I have had my tank. I was finally doing good the last 4 months. The other day I came home to water all over the floor around the reef. I found the ring that holds my barb fitting to the outlet of the return cracked and was acting as a sprinkler inside my stand. Must have happened just before I got home, thankfully, but lost about a gallon of water. No big deal I thought, I know I had a replacement ring. Dug thru boxes of spare stuff and found the ring. I removed the pump but had to remove from the T that splits off to feed my ATS so I could slid the new ring around the hose. This is where it went bad, I had used stainless steel hose clamps and when I unscrewed the clamp I realized it was rusty on the threads. I used a damp paper towel under the clamp but I know some rust fell in the sump. The next day my stylo started to RTN. By that afternoon both of my acros began to RTN as well. Only acro still alive today, 3 days later is a garf bonsi that I had just introduced about a month and half ago and was just starting to color up, but it is suffering from STN now. Im running extra carbon and have done 2, 20% water changes. What else can I do besides water changes and running carbon? All other corals, including my monties seem fine, except for my paly grandis which has been closed up, all other zoas and palys happy as can be. Im so frustrated because I was finally able to not only keep my acros alive but I was getting growth, and they were all becoming so vibrant in color. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Also I need to remove all 3 stainless hose clamps and replace with the barbed plastic type. Thinking of covering the sump with cling wrap before removing, any other ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Sps specifically acropora are the great heartbreaker. It happens to the best. Pretty much all the reef masters I know have had some sort of crash happen. You can almost count on it which is why many people coral bank meaning you give away some of your fellow reefers with the understanding when you lose one because you looked at it funny you can get a new one. You could also consider moving some of the ones that appear to have stn but that has risks as well. Good luck and sorry to hear this happened and welcome to the I flooded the floor club. You’re in good company! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Krux Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Seachem Cuprisorb removes heavy metals, I would suggest that if you can find it locally. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Flooded the floor club 🤣. I never flooded the rental home we lived in for over 3 years. Buy a home with hardwood floors and in less then 3 months flood the living room 🤦🏻♂️🤣 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 minute ago, Krux said: Seachem Cuprisorb removes heavy metals, I would suggest that if you can find it locally. Awesome, if I cant find it tomorrow I will have to 2 day ship some. Thank you Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emerald525 Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 23 minutes ago, Oregonic said: Flooded the floor club 🤣. I never flooded the rental home we lived in for over 3 years. Buy a home with hardwood floors and in less then 3 months flood the living room 🤦🏻♂️🤣 You can count on it. That’s why u refused to have a tank upstairs. If it has 100 gallons of water , it can leak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumby Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Try to keep some fans continuously running on the floors and cabinet for days for air movement to dry everything. Sorry to hear. Which stylo did you loose? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 (edited) 15 minutes ago, Gumby said: Try to keep some fans continuously running on the floors and cabinet for days for air movement to dry everything. Sorry to hear. Which stylo did you loose? Floor seems ok, I cleaned up as much as I could, mopped a few times and ran a fan for 2 days. The stylo was a purple/yellowish with green polyps. A few of the very tips look ok but Im sure they will be dead by tomorrow. Maybe I will get lucky and a small piece will survive. heres a pic from September. Edited January 3, 2020 by Oregonic Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gumby Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Stylos are pretty hardy. I have had them come back almost all white with a hint of brown on them. Here's to hoping. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oasisreefling Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 hour ago, Oregonic said: any other ideas? Shop vac the water out of that portion of the sump afterwards? 1 hour ago, Oregonic said: Flooded the floor club 🤣. I never flooded the rental home we lived in for over 3 years. Buy a home with hardwood floors and in less then 3 months flood the living room 🤦🏻♂️🤣 My overflow siphon failed while I was backpacking and drained about 15 gallons onto my floor while I was gone. In my second floor apartment. Maintenance guys saw the tank was full and assumed it was the dishwasher and replaced it with a brand new one! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 7 minutes ago, Oasisreefling said: Shop vac the water out of that portion of the sump afterwards? My overflow siphon failed while I was backpacking and drained about 15 gallons onto my floor while I was gone. In my second floor apartment. Maintenance guys saw the tank was full and assumed it was the dishwasher and replaced it with a brand new one! Shop vac, great idea. It would be a good excuse to do a complete clean on the sump anyway. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxicurls Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 Metal contamination from a steel hose clamp is likely not the issue here, in my estimation. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 16 minutes ago, maxicurls said: Metal contamination from a steel hose clamp is likely not the issue here, in my estimation. What do you think it is? It is the only thing that changed in the tank. The only other thing I could think of would be I had something from work on my hands. I manage an auto body shop, but I am usually in the office. I always wash my hands after spending anytime in the shop or handling any dirty parts. I had tested water two days before this happened. Tested day it happened same stable parameters alk 8.1 - 8.4, cal 410-425, nitrates 2-5, phosphate .02 - .05. O guess there could have been a slight change in salinity but I only lost about a gallon of water to the floor. My ATO has actually been down since I moved so I have been daily topping off, about 1/3 of a gallon a day on a 50ish gallon system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Tavan Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 (edited) I still have acropora RTN/STN PTSD. It’s a real disease Edited January 3, 2020 by Manny Tavan 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 12 hours ago, maxicurls said: Metal contamination from a steel hose clamp is likely not the issue here, in my estimation. Tell albertareef that. A tiny rusting screw in his calcium reactor? was killing things in his tank. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 1 hour ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: Tell albertareef that. A tiny rusting screw in his calcium reactor? was killing things in his tank. Well, it wasn't actually a man made piece of metal but rather a metal containing (magnetic) piece of rock but the point remains... it was deadly 😂 I have also recently discovered the equally deadly effect of Lithium leaching out of man-made rock. Last year and a half have been brutal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 12 minutes ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: Tell albertareef that. A tiny rusting screw in his calcium reactor? was killing things in his tank. Im pretty sure rust is what did it. Especially since it was just flaking small chunks/dust off the treads of the clamp as I loosened it. I would have been more doubtful if it were just a chunk of rust, but I think it ended up being a fine dust it just entered the water column instantly. I wonder how long it will take to get enough out of the system to be acro safe again. Im also nervous it may end up in the sand bed and laying dormant till something stirs it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 50 minutes ago, Oregonic said: Im pretty sure rust is what did it. Especially since it was just flaking small chunks/dust off the treads of the clamp as I loosened it. I would have been more doubtful if it were just a chunk of rust, but I think it ended up being a fine dust it just entered the water column instantly. I wonder how long it will take to get enough out of the system to be acro safe again. Im also nervous it may end up in the sand bed and laying dormant till something stirs it up. I ended up using the Triton heavy metal treatment (couple of rounds) with their recommended water treatment and it seemed to have done the trick. Granted, mine was being dissolved and released in the reactor effluent so might not be fully analogous. Now if I could just get rid of the &#@%!*% Lithium! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maxicurls Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 I could be wrong, of course! I’m wrong with such frequency that I’ve learned to be sure & add “in my estimation” to most declarative statements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pdxmonkeyboy Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 No worries @maxicurls . I will say that "most" things that start making an SPS disintegrate happen two weeks or so before you actually see the signs. Pollutants however.. metals, ammonia, etc can have an immediate affect on almost everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 8 minutes ago, maxicurls said: I could be wrong, of course! I’m wrong with such frequency that I’ve learned to be sure & add “in my estimation” to most declarative statements. 6 minutes ago, pdxmonkeyboy said: No worries @maxicurls . I will say that "most" things that start making an SPS disintegrate happen two weeks or so before you actually see the signs. Pollutants however.. metals, ammonia, etc can have an immediate affect on almost everything. Yeah - the timeline is a bit surprising to me as well but my contamination was of the slow release variety so that may have contributed. Things deteriorated noticeably over the period of a couple months or so but several of the SPS were the first to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 5 minutes ago, albertareef said: Yeah - the timeline is a bit surprising to me as well but my contamination was of the slow release variety so that may have contributed. Things deteriorated noticeably over the period of a couple months or so but several of the SPS were the first to go. Im not ruling out it could be something else but it sure would be a weird coincidence of events. This morning I looked at the garf bonsai and possibly it may survive, polyps still green, just the skin around them has bleached. Got my fingers crossed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertareef Posted January 3, 2020 Share Posted January 3, 2020 17 minutes ago, Oregonic said: Im not ruling out it could be something else but it sure would be a weird coincidence of events. This morning I looked at the garf bonsai and possibly it may survive, polyps still green, just the skin around them has bleached. Got my fingers crossed. Hope it pulls through - one of my favorites along with the other tri-color variants. I used to have several 😞 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oregonic Posted January 3, 2020 Author Share Posted January 3, 2020 Well if it pulls thru and grows to a point where I can frag it, the first frag has your name on it 😉 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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