Quote:
Originally Posted by Leah
Kien
Is that a little mad scientist going on or exotic chef?  |
both? Muahahahahha! My wife keeps accusing me of making up meth
Well, things are look like they are back on track with the SPS colonies. It was definitely the carbon, or rather the lack of carbon. So ya, I had forgotten to run my carbon for two weeks and that's all it took for the really sensitive colonies to go south. They started to bleach pretty bad. Looks like I caught it in time. Carbon has been back online now for about two weeks and the bleached bits have started to regenerate. Luckily I did not loose any colonies.
Out of this I have gained a new appreciation for carbon and its benefits in an SPS reef. As we all know SPS (and other corals) like to conduct chemical warfare. Our reef tanks are literally filled with chemicals that we can neither see nor test for. How do we keep that in check? In the ocean dilution keeps this in check but we don't have that benefit in our tanks unless we do a lot of water changes. It is my belief that carbon aids us in this department. It helps to trap and clean up those nasty chemicals. Some corals are robust and are able to deal with these chemicals but more sensitive corals are not. I think this is why when these sorts of things occur we'll see some corals react while others are unscathed. I think the quality of the carbon is very important too. I've read a few cases now where bad carbon has been suspected to be the cause of mass SPS decline. I don't necessarily think that this is due to the impurities in the carbon, but perhaps more so the fact that the cheap-o carbon just does not have adequate absorption capabilities. That is, not all carbons are created equal. Some cheap ones may only last a week while it seems the general consensus is to change carbon out once a month.
Anyway, these are my theories based on my recent experience :-)