How to nuke a 300g SPS tank

[ashr]

Note to self: "check all my levels tonight"

[jason604]

Tank crashes hurt. Expecially 1 of this magnitude.. Now back to bizz. U must of tons of corals on liquidation prices =)

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by jason604

Tank crashes hurt. Expecially 1 of this magnitude.. Now back to bizz. U must of tons of corals on liquidation prices =)

Wow! Kick a guy while he is down, you cold man. I like your style.

All jokes aside, sorry for your loses. I totally agree with you kelly. If you would've raised it slowly I don't think you would have such a traumatic experience, sure Sps would've turn brown but they should've all slowly recovered. Countless times I had my alk go from 7.5 to high 4 in the 300 and I guess because the share volume of the 300 gallon tank I would raise it by 150ppm without any issues except once when I overdosed It and alk climbed to 8 from 5.1 a few Sps pealed. I guess you live and learn.

[chef]

Our hobby is tough, especially with uber sensitive sps. I feel your pain Kelly. *§£¥€ happens. Mistakes always happen. The important thing is to keep on keeping on. A fine example is Peter in oakville (my hometown). Nicest reef in Canada, if not north America. A friggin seam splits and bam. It'll all come back for ya! Painfully slowly, but ya still have water in the tank!

[KPG007]

Originally Posted by jason604

Tank crashes hurt. Expecially 1 of this magnitude.. Now back to bizz. U must of tons of corals on liquidation prices =)

Yeah, this hurts. More then I thought actually. Luckily I have a good attitude. F you tank! I'm going to make it even better then before!!!

As for corals for sale, brown slimer and brown digi free!...to everyone except you

Joking of course. Again, if you know me, I'll keep those brown sticks until they are blue green and red, even if it takes me forever!

Originally Posted by Bblinks

Wow! Kick a guy while he is down, you cold man. I like your style.

All jokes aside, sorry for your loses. I totally agree with you kelly. If you would've raised it slowly I don't think you would have such a traumatic experience, sure Sps would've turn brown but they should've all slowly recovered. Countless times I had my alk go from 7.5 to high 4 in the 300 and I guess because the share volume of the 300 gallon tank I would raise it by 150ppm without any issues except once when I overdosed It and alk climbed to 8 from 5.1 a few Sps pealed. I guess you live and learn.

Thanks Rich. Problem was, I didn't know what the issue was. Corals were looking fine in the low alk. When I changed water, it shocked the SPS and it was too late. IF I HAD been testing, I would have figured it out and raised the Alk slowly.

Originally Posted by chef

Our hobby is tough, especially with uber sensitive sps. I feel your pain Kelly. *§£¥€ happens. Mistakes always happen. The important thing is to keep on keeping on. A fine example is Peter in oakville (my hometown). Nicest reef in Canada, if not north America. A friggin seam splits and bam. It'll all come back for ya! Painfully slowly, but ya still have water in the tank!

Compared to Peters loss, mine is nothing. I posted mainly because most people ohh and ahh over my tanks maybe not realizing the care I actually DO put into them. Even then, one 50 cent plastic connector and me being a little lax on the testing can cause big problems.

[The Guy]

Hey Kelly that news really sucks, We had a saying in our trade, " If it's mechanical, it's not if it's going to fail it's when." Sad but very true.

[jason604]

Well I just checked last night and noticed my dosing airline tube had a leak in it and it was not dosing either. Lucky that line was just for vodka/vinegar dosing. Should start doing regular checks on everyday equipment to prevent disasters from now on I guess

[asylumdown]

*sigh*, I read your post and though "wait, did I accidentally post under another canreefer's login?".

I've done exactly this. Recently. Expect some SPS to bite it, no matter what you do. Only advice I can offer is that if you've got a piece that's not recovered and sending out new growth tips in 6 weeks, you're almost better off chiselling it out and putting something new in it's place.

Yes, recovery is possible, but after something like that, SPS (acropora in particular) need to be in pristine conditions for months - like 6 months to a year - to make a full recovery. The ones that are most affected (most dramatic colour change, biggest change in PE) will be at imminent risk of RTN every time your alk wavers a few points for the next half year at least.

That said, some species of Acro seem to be able to tolerate those kinds of swings and bounce back relatively quickly. No surprise, those are the ones more common in the hobby. The rarer and more expensive they get, the less likely they'll forgive you for something like that.

It's a funny catch 22 that as your tank establishes and you feel like you've got it dialled in and get complacent, the need for you to pay attention to your tank actually increases. As you colonies grow, the water to coral ratio shifts in a dangerous way. Relatively speaking a mature, jam packed 1000 gallon reef tank can be in the same risk category as a 3 gallon pico in terms of parameter swings. One cracked hose can drop your alk to coral killing emergency levels in a day.

Anyway I feel for you. There's nothing you can do now except stay on top of equipment and parameters and remove anything that's taking more time and effort than a new, prettier coral in it's place would.

[KPG007]

Originally Posted by The Guy

Hey Kelly that news really sucks, We had a saying in our trade, " If it's mechanical, it's not if it's going to fail it's when." Sad but very true.

Yes, that's very true. Never let your guard down.

Originally Posted by jason604

Well I just checked last night and noticed my dosing airline tube had a leak in it and it was not dosing either. Lucky that line was just for vodka/vinegar dosing. Should start doing regular checks on everyday equipment to prevent disasters from now on I guess

Wow. There you go. I'm glad this post got you reviewing your system. One problem averted.

I think my new policy is to test tank parameters before every batch of NSW. That way if something is really wrong, I can fix it before I nuke it again.

Originally Posted by asylumdown

*sigh*, I read your post and though "wait, did I accidentally post under another canreefer's login?".

I've done exactly this. Recently. Expect some SPS to bite it, no matter what you do. Only advice I can offer is that if you've got a piece that's not recovered and sending out new growth tips in 6 weeks, you're almost better off chiselling it out and putting something new in it's place.

Yes, recovery is possible, but after something like that, SPS (acropora in particular) need to be in pristine conditions for months - like 6 months to a year - to make a full recovery. The ones that are most affected (most dramatic colour change, biggest change in PE) will be at imminent risk of RTN every time your alk wavers a few points for the next half year at least.

That said, some species of Acro seem to be able to tolerate those kinds of swings and bounce back relatively quickly. No surprise, those are the ones more common in the hobby. The rarer and more expensive they get, the less likely they'll forgive you for something like that.

It's a funny catch 22 that as your tank establishes and you feel like you've got it dialled in and get complacent, the need for you to pay attention to your tank actually increases. As you colonies grow, the water to coral ratio shifts in a dangerous way. Relatively speaking a mature, jam packed 1000 gallon reef tank can be in the same risk category as a 3 gallon pico in terms of parameter swings. One cracked hose can drop your alk to coral killing emergency levels in a day.

Anyway I feel for you. There's nothing you can do now except stay on top of equipment and parameters and remove anything that's taking more time and effort than a new, prettier coral in it's place would.

Thanks for your story. It looks like quite a few of us have gone through this.
Even though tank parameters are back to normal, SPS in and from that tank continue to die. Not many so far - one colony, 3 or 4 frags dead, another colony and a couple more frags on the way out. Considering how much I had in there, thats not too bad.

[KPG007]

As I go through this, I'm noticing some interesting reactions from the SPS that originated from that tank.

Days before nuke (NSW change) effected tank, it would have had an Alk of around 3 and Ca over 500. All other tanks would have been stable and within range (Alk 7-8, Ca 400-450)
- I noticed a few corals lightening up with very little polyp extension, so I moved them to one of the other tanks as a precaution. Unknowingly I moved corals from an Alk of 3 to an Alk of 7+. There has been no 'crash' with these corals. They don't look any better, but they don't look any worse.
- LPS looking a little PO'd Scoly's have pulled back about 50% and had a couple newer chalice frags die. Most of the rest is fine.
- Zoas are looking good!

Day after nuke (Alk spike) all SPS corals in effected tank have browned. Some are peeling. Again, unknowingly, I move some of the more valuable corals to other tanks.
- Corals from this time period, moved in to the good tanks, are no worse. Some that were peeling are still peeling a bit but it is a STN situation with those.
- LPS is looking even more PO'd. But I leave all of them in the tank.
- Zoas are finally looking a little PO'd. Opened about 75%

Two days after nuke, I figure out the problem and nuke it again, bringing the alk up from 3.8 to 7. My thinking here was SPS are already nuked and bring the alk up quickly into range shouldn't make it any worse.
- Some SPS in nuked tank continue to get worse. More peeling and dying.
- Again, moved a few more corals into the good tanks. A few days later and these guys don't seem to have gotten much worse.
- No change in the LPS and Zoas

The last few days (sunday - wednesday) the nuked tank has been steady as far as Alk. It settled out at 6 and has been rising slowly to 6.5 by wednesday night. Theoretically, this should be a relatively good tank now. Alk a little low, Ca a little high (I have not tested again, as it was out of range previously. I have stopped dosing until it comes into range. I'll test again tonight). With some die off, there should be a nitrite spike but it is a 300g tank and die off was minimal in the tank. Also most SPS has been moved out.
- SPS in nuked tank not improved (obviously. None of the ones in other tanks are 'improved' either), but some continue to fade including some that were brown, but holding it together the day before, are now starting to peel.
- SPS moved to other tanks - Not improved, but holding it together. A few that were peeling continue to decline, but slowly.
- LPS - Scoly's seem a bit better. It took a few days but favia has finally browned out. Torches have reduced polyp extension.
- Zoas returned to normal polyp extension.


So even though tank parameters are the same as the other tanks, there is still a lot of bad mojo still in that tank that is still causing corals to decline. Corals moved to other tanks (and effectively being nuked again) seen to be fairing better.

I'll post more updates as the weeks progress.