Was it biopellet?

[mrhasan]

So while people are enjoying the long weekend, I am grieving over my tank :( Started with a burnt maxi jet 1200 of the biopellet reactor to xenia getting brown jelly and releasing nasty stuffs in the tank, some of the SPS have started to fade. I did 15 gallon wc and have another 10 gallon planned for tomorrow. I have given up on biopellets (don't know whether it caused all the problems but I am being very skeptical now). Kinda downed right now :( Ran heavy dose of carbon for few hours.

Other than WC, I can't think of anything else to cure the tank. Any suggestion?

[The Grizz]

How many gallons is the tank and how many ml of pellets did you have in the reactor? Pellets will not cause brown jelly disease, anything with the brown jelly that is not SPS should be dipped in CoralRX & SPS dipped in Revive to remove any algeas, brown jelly or anything else.

[mrhasan]

How many gallons is the tank and how many ml of pellets did you have in the reactor? Pellets will not cause brown jelly disease, anything with the brown jelly that is not SPS should be dipped in CoralRX & SPS dipped in Revive to remove any algeas, brown jelly or anything else.

Has around 60 gallon of water. Around 50ml of pellets. Xenia had the brown jelly and removed it at once. None others seems to have been affected but the corals are acting funny. Closed polyps and the red planet has faded color. Even the pump wasn't totally "burnt" in the water.

[The Grizz]

Pump failure could have cause stray voltage.

[Borderjumper]

I tried bio pellets a few years ago and can't say I was impressed. I remember being told you have to start with a very small amount and work up.

Sorry to hear your having troubles.

[mrhasan]

Pump failure could have cause stray voltage.

I didn't get any shock when I put my hand in the water (possibly because of the carpet?). In case the corals did get zapped, will they recover? Or is the slimy gooy smelly chemical released by the xenia got hold of the corals?

I tried bio pellets a few years ago and can't say I was impressed. I remember being told you have to start with a very small amount and work up.

Sorry to hear your having troubles.

Generally my system should run 250ml (according to vextex) but I started with just 40-50ml. Maybe the biopellet didn't cause it? I don't know :'(

[Maverick00]

I also had no luck running bio pellets. I still have the 80$ bag sitting underneath the tank. I had issues with my sps a month or two after running biopellets, they started to STN. I also cant say what caused it "for sure" but ive stayed away from them every since. Sorry to hear about the headache, especially on the long weekend..

[Cal_stir]

Me three with the biopellets, I built a recirculating reactor and had the effluent going straight into my skimmer, tank became infested with hair algae which I could not rid (system was 2 years old with zero algae and I was trying to eliminate the use of GFO), ended up using algaefix to rid the algea and quit the pellets, algae never returned.

Keep up the carbon
Good luck!

[reefermadness]

Did my bio pellets do this?

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/110559948/200g/OLD/FTS.JPG

[Cal_stir]

Probably not

[Myka]

I doubt it was anything to do with the biopellets. Brown Jelly or other sudden "rotting" of soft or LPS corals is often due to lack of flow. What do you have for flow in the tank? Xenia need pretty good flow. I would suggest siphoning around the Xenia or turkey basting around the Xenia to dislodge any trapped detritus and revisit your flow now that your tank has filled in compared to 6 months ago.

Maybe this will help you:
Other influences, to varying degrees, on Xeniid health and polyp activities, have been recorded in the annals of reef husbandry: control of water temperatures and water quality (oxygen, pH and buffering ability). Temperature is a very straightforward issue with this family; they are more sensitive to high water temperatures than most common corals: a reality all too tragic and "fragrantly" familiar to importers forced to contend with rotting masses of mishandled Xeniids. Although they may tolerate a slow climb from comfortable tropical temperatures in the 70's F to the low 80's F, a sudden spike of more than 3 or 4 degrees F, particularly into the mid 80's or higher, can often prove to be fatal. There are several serious aspects to this. The first and most obvious concern is the decrease in dissolved oxygen at higher temps. Beyond stress to the system and other animals at large, corals suffer by the thickening of the anoxic microlayer that surrounds their body, by virtue of the nature of fluid dynamics (a relationship that is underestimated too commonly in reef aquaria with poor water flow). A coral can "suffocate" from such increases in the anoxic microlayer of water that surrounds them. The most common example of this is illustrated by the poor rates of survival for this family in shipping. In shipping bags, with no water movement aside from the rough handling of boxes in transit, the dynamic of decreasing oxygen levels and an increasing microlayer around the coral is amplified. The stress causes mucus to build and the mucus affords the proliferation of bacteria. The bacteria at first may not necessarily be pathogenic, but rather become so as they proliferate and mucus continues to increase. Note: when a sick, injured or stressed Xeniid succumbs to an infection, it is often fast progressing and highly infectious to other healthy Xeniids in the system and some other corals too. These afflictions are sometimes nicknamed a "meltdown" or "brown jelly" infection. This suffrage is mitigated by the fact that Xeniids have so very little skeletal mass or tissue by weight. Thus, a seemingly minor stress or injury can quickly become morbid or even fatal for the lack of dense and resistant tissues. The spread of an infection can be fast and thorough in aquaria. Hobbyists foolish enough to add fresh Xeniids without a proper quarantine have often suffered severe losses in their systems for the transgression and underestimating the highly infectious potential of newly acquired specimens.

[fragbox.ca]

sorry to hear
buddy crashed a tank days after adding bio pellets think you have to start out really really slow with them

[kien]

Ouch.. Sorry to hear of your issues. I don't really know anything about brown jelly disease, but if you want to get rid of your bioPellets PM me. I'll take them off your hands.

[mrhasan]

Did my bio pellets do this?


Beautiful tank :)

I doubt it was anything to do with the biopellets. Brown Jelly or other sudden "rotting" of soft or LPS corals is often due to lack of flow. What do you have for flow in the tank? Xenia need pretty good flow. I would suggest siphoning around the Xenia or turkey basting around the Xenia to dislodge any trapped detritus and revisit your flow now that your tank has filled in compared to 6 months ago.

Maybe this will help you:

I have a wp40 in my tank running at 18V so its plenty of flow. I have already disposed the xenia as soon as I saw the goos coming out. Still no clue what caused it :(

sorry to hear
buddy crashed a tank days after adding bio pellets think you have to start out really really slow with them

Yah I also started very slow. Maybe it wasn't the biopellets. But I am being very septical since I like my tank running with the least "external media" so I will stick to that. Less parameters to care about = less headache :P

[mrhasan]

I also had no luck running bio pellets. I still have the 80$ bag sitting underneath the tank. I had issues with my sps a month or two after running biopellets, they started to STN. I also cant say what caused it "for sure" but ive stayed away from them every since. Sorry to hear about the headache, especially on the long weekend..

Yah it sucks when things just don't go the way you want it to be.

Me three with the biopellets, I built a recirculating reactor and had the effluent going straight into my skimmer, tank became infested with hair algae which I could not rid (system was 2 years old with zero algae and I was trying to eliminate the use of GFO), ended up using algaefix to rid the algea and quit the pellets, algae never returned.

Keep up the carbon
Good luck!

Thanks for the info :) I doubled up the carbon for few hours and then return to the usual amount. Things are looking good today morning.

[Myka]

I have a wp40 in my tank running at 18V so its plenty of flow.

I can't find a flow chart for that powerhead, and I've never actually seen one before, but using some simple math if the flow is 1130 gph at 12V and 3400 gph at 24V then I assume it must be around 1600 gph at 18V. There is probably a bell curve, but this is my closest guess. If indeed there is only 1600 gph and that is the only powerhead in the tank then there is about 24x turnover. That is reasonable, but certainly not high enough to assume you have enough flow. "Plenty of flow" is not necessarily a number value either - observation of inhabitants is your best bet. Brown Jelly would certainly make me take a look at flow first and foremost. Another thought would be chemical warfare.

A single powerhead also creates a lot of dead spots, and certainly lots of variable flow strength within the system. It's tough to run a reef tank with only one powerhead, personally I would want two in a tank that size to better get more consistent flow throughout.

[mrhasan]

I can't find a flow chart for that powerhead, and I've never actually seen one before, but using some simple math if the flow is 1130 gph at 12V and 3400 gph at 24V then I assume it must be around 1600 gph at 18V. There is probably a bell curve, but this is my closest guess. If indeed there is only 1600 gph and that is the only powerhead in the tank then there is about 24x turnover. That is reasonable, but certainly not high enough to assume you have enough flow. "Plenty of flow" is not necessarily a number value either - observation of inhabitants is your best bet. Brown Jelly would certainly make me take a look at flow first and foremost. Another thought would be chemical warfare.

A single powerhead also creates a lot of dead spots, and certainly lots of variable flow strength within the system. It's tough to run a reef tank with only one powerhead, personally I would want two in a tank that size to better get more consistent flow throughout.

Don't really know what the flow rate is at 18v but anything above that literally blows away the corals (and the sand at the far end of the tank; even at the back). And I read somewhere that at 18v, it runs at 70% intensity but like you have mentioned, an exponential relationship won't justify that. I will post a video so that you can see and suggest whether I need more flow; I can definitely add another powerhead but that might blow away the corals :P

[11purewater]

Any heat spikes?

[mrhasan]

Any heat spikes?

Nop.

[mrhasan]

I can't find a flow chart for that powerhead, and I've never actually seen one before, but using some simple math if the flow is 1130 gph at 12V and 3400 gph at 24V then I assume it must be around 1600 gph at 18V. There is probably a bell curve, but this is my closest guess. If indeed there is only 1600 gph and that is the only powerhead in the tank then there is about 24x turnover. That is reasonable, but certainly not high enough to assume you have enough flow. "Plenty of flow" is not necessarily a number value either - observation of inhabitants is your best bet. Brown Jelly would certainly make me take a look at flow first and foremost. Another thought would be chemical warfare.

A single powerhead also creates a lot of dead spots, and certainly lots of variable flow strength within the system. It's tough to run a reef tank with only one powerhead, personally I would want two in a tank that size to better get more consistent flow throughout.

Here's a video for you to judge the flow:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVvMkrpOfgE

[11purewater]

Well I'm sure you of all people will recover from this episode.Even with all the technology and new gadgets It's still hit or miss in the best of tanks.Sometimes there is no answer or cure.Hit the reset button and go back to what worked for you.

[mrhasan]

Well I'm sure you of all people will recover from this episode.Even with all the technology and new gadgets It's still hit or miss in the best of tanks.Sometimes there is no answer or cure.Hit the reset button and go back to what worked for you.

You spoke my mind :) I am happy that things have gone back to being normal other than the colors of some SPS. No biopellet or anything; I will resort back to my old methodology of reefing.

[11purewater]

Good to hear ,Post pics ...We like pics...:lol:

[mrhasan]

Good to hear ,Post pics ...We like pics...:lol:

I am afraid I might get flamed for my way of stocking :P

[11purewater]

Flamed?By who? Everybody's building a reef in a box.

[mrhasan]

Flamed?By who? Everybody's building a reef in a box.

Ahmm...tang police :redface:

[11purewater]

Ok them,always watch for them.They don't use shampoo,easy to spot.

[mrhasan]

Ok them,always watch for them.They don't use shampoo,easy to spot.

:lol:

[11purewater]

Cheer up! make some salt water and poke a crab,always works for me.

[naesco]

You spoke my mind :) I am happy that things have gone back to being normal other than the colors of some SPS. No biopellet or anything; I will resort back to my old methodology of reefing.

Good news. Go slooooow.
Wayne

[Myka]

Here's a video for you to judge the flow

Hmm, looks like more than 1600 gph to me. It does look like it is doing quite a good job of creating flow throughout the tank since you have your rocks designed to work with the single powerhead well. Good planning.

My "official" guess then is Xenia Syndrome (my own term lol). Sometimes Xenia melts for no apparent reason, other than the tank has aged. It seems like Xenia prefers new tanks, although this is not always true. The rest of your corals should be ok with a couple waterchanges and some fresh carbon.

[mrhasan]

Hmm, looks like more than 1600 gph to me. It does look like it is doing quite a good job of creating flow throughout the tank since you have your rocks designed to work with the single powerhead well. Good planning.

My "official" guess then is Xenia Syndrome (my own term lol)...sometimes Xenia melts for no apparent reason. The rest of your corals should be ok with a couple waterchanges and some fresh carbon.

Thanks :D I planned to be less packed with LR and more open space. More fishes :D :D

Yah I guess it was just a course of nature where cure has to be deployed instead of pondering over what caused it. I did a 15 gallon wc and another 10 gallon today and have carbon in there. Things looking much better today with SPS having polyps out.