SeanS

Coralpocolypse continues. Acros are fading fast, montis and birdsnest are hurting:( Zoas and LPS look amazing right now, so at least there is that:( Current tank conditions: Temp 80, Alk 9, Cal 510 (whoops!), No3 4ppm, PO4 .04. Skimmer is on, carbon dosing is off, pumps are clean... I just dunno anymore. At this point my SPS doesn't have much fight left, and I am just feeling defeated.

I did some math and set the doser so the alk should drop a full point by Monday. It was already down to 10 post water change, so with any luck this might just work out.

I'm just using a tiny bit of vinegar, 1ml every other day diluted to 1/3 strength. At this point it is astonishing that it is doing anything, but I have had some weird experiences with bacterial cultures behaving oddly in this tank before. I can shut it off if nitrates don't go up over the weekend, next time I see the tank is Monday. The heat spikes were just from the hot summer weather. Specifically on a nice day, ac gets turned off to open the windows, then left off over the weekend... Oh the perils of an oft unsupervised tank...

Sigh. Not out of the woods yet. PE is back down, slight tissue loss evident. It appears that with diminished growth comes less alk demand, and I wasn't perhaps monitoring it quite well enough... NO3 is at .5, PO4 .04, Alk 11 dkh, normally at 9... Let's get this alk down a bit and see if it helps:(

A little Monti vs Monti action: The setosa could pick another direction to grow, but no....

Thanks again, dilution makes a ton of sense.

Good point on the skimmer. It's absence doesn't seem to have bothered anything yet, so I think I will risk it for a couple more days. I have dropped vinegar from the 3ml I was running when the nitrates started plummeting, first down to 1ml and now down to 1ml every other day. I'm worried that if I drop it further I might starve the bacteria in the tank. Though I suppose if nitrates don't rise soon, I may do just that. My Cali Tort has a single polyp left, and it is starting to extend. The prognosis isn't good, but this is the same coral that I blew nearly all the tissue off of only 6 months ago. If it makes it, I nominate it for toughest frag.

Update time: Today is day 4 of double feeding with no skimmer, and some results are in. To Lexinverts, next time I bump into you at Moloko, I owe you a beer:) My M. Setosa no longer looks spotty, and signs of tissue loss around the base have disappeared. Joe the Coral has mostly recovered from slight tissue loss on the tips. Valida suffered 25% tissue loss, now is starting to show PE. I think it will recover. Awesome bronze milli from C&C suffered 30% tissue loss, STN has slowed or stopped. I hope it will recover. Blue Tort is certainly a goner, Cali Tort has very little hope left. Green Slimer suffered 5% tissue loss, I think it will be fine soon. Mandinga's mystery milli has less than optimal PE, but is the nicest color it has ever been. Figures, right? My zoas look absolutely phenomenal... Oh yeah, and nitrates have dropped to 0. Not a single hint of color in the vial. I'm not sure quite what is going on yet, but it is clear that I am adding nutrients and they are being consumed.

I'll keep that in mind. Right now I'm just looking for the tissue damage to stop. A couple months of crummy looking corals is fine with me, as long as I'm not actively pulling skeletons from the tank.

Ok, I turned off the skimmer and have been feeding heavily. It is still a bit early to tell, but I think PE and color is improved. With any luck, death will be contained to 2 torts. Come on corals!

If Lexinverts suggestion isn't showing any improvement by the next time I get to my tank, I will certainly try this too. Thanks.

Thanks, I'll try raising them and see what happens.

STNing that is. Monti Setosa doesn't look very good either. Current levels have been stable for a couple weeks and look good: alk 9, cal 425, mag 1500ish, po4 .04, no3 1ppm. However, my tank has overheated a number of times recently, nitrates bounced between 8ppm and 0 a couple weeks ago (carbon dosing can be a bit unpredictable it seems) and I fragged a bunch of zoas in tank. So the questions: would a string of small stresses cause stn to start days after the fact? Or should I be looking for a bigger culprit? And the follow up question, is there anything I can do, or is the standard response (water changes, charcoal, polyfilter, monitoring levels) the best I can do at this point?

Thanks, and no worries, I already am planning an additional tank:)

Thanks guys, it has been fun.

Happy first birthday to my tank!

It is looking like 5 and 25 for me.

Where are you located?

4 palys, 22 zoas

Where do you live? I'm in SE Portland.

Is there some way to tell beforehand? Any markings on the housing perhaps?

As the title says, I need the clear bottom part for an RO canister. If you have a spare, I have cash or possibly frags.

I still run MH, and have no reason to change. The tank only requires a single 250w fixture, and I run it as a pendant, so the cost and heat aren't really factors for me. LEDs may be more practical for most applications, but nothing looks as nice as a Radium or Phoenix IMO.

Finally got an ID on the zoas, they are twizzlers! Which means the price I paid at C&C was criminally low, but I'm not complaining:)

Fortunately/unfortunately I'm pretty much out of room for frags right now. It is neat seeing the same coral in your tank. My frag got kind of blah for a while, but is picking up a mint green base now, for a sort of mint chocolate effect.