Reef Discussion

Susan Bates · Jun 22, 2018

Hi can anyone help me with my coral please, it is losing its flesh

slin1977 · Jun 23, 2018

KH stability is the first thing that comes to mind followed by aggressive / too efficient phosphate stripping compound media.

Is this coral a new introduction to your collection ?

Susan Bates · Jun 23, 2018

slin1977 said:
KH stability is the first thing that comes to mind followed by aggressive / too efficient phosphate stripping compound media.

Is this coral a new introduction to your collection ?

No have had it for about a year, I have 4 in the tank, 2 are like this and the other 2 are ok at the moment, KH is is around 9, phos is 0.03

slin1977 · Jun 23, 2018

Susan Bates said:
No have had it for about a year, I have 4 in the tank, 2 are like this and the other 2 are ok at the moment, KH is is around 9, phos is 0.03

What was kh 3 months ago?

Susan Bates · Jun 23, 2018

slin1977 said:
What was kh 3 months ago?

It was the same

slin1977 · Jun 24, 2018

Susan Bates said:
It was the same

Food?
Light?
Water changes?
Nutrients?
Temperature?
I could rattle off a dozen further questions, without specifying water parameters or a tank journal diary to find out what is different or perhaps where scheduled long term maintenance including hardware replacement is required it’s had to say even if natural allepothy is taking place in your tank.
What would you think caused the necrosis in this coral?

Susan Bates · Jun 24, 2018

slin1977 said:
Food?
Light?
Water changes?
Nutrients?
Temperature?
I could rattle off a dozen further questions, without specifying water parameters or a tank journal diary to find out what is different or perhaps where scheduled long term maintenance including hardware replacement is required it’s had to say even if natural allepothy is taking place in your tank.
What would you think caused the necrosis in this coral?

Water change has always been every week, same amount, so is temp,nutrients, have changed light setting but, more uv less white,sorry but what is allepothy?

slin1977 · Jun 24, 2018

The allopothy thing is the coral competing for space on the reef secreting toxins that build up in the tank. These can inhibit other types of coral from growing leaving the strongest type.

Susan Bates · Jun 25, 2018

slin1977 said:
The allopothy thing is the coral competing for space on the reef secreting toxins that build up in the tank. These can inhibit other types of coral from growing leaving the strongest type.

ok thanks, learn something new every day, They have plenty of room nothing near them, I wonder if they don't like the light setting I am using?

slin1977 · Jun 25, 2018

Susan Bates said:
ok thanks, learn something new every day, They have plenty of room nothing near them, I wonder if they don't like the light setting I am using?

Not enough light perhaps?
What LED are you using?
Ratio of colour white/ blue and visual enhancements?

Susan Bates · Jun 26, 2018

slin1977 said:
Not enough light perhaps?
What LED are you using?
Ratio of colour white/ blue and visual enhancements?

Using 2 x hydra 52, uv....90% blues........60%........white.......20% at the highest levels, got these settings of the internet , not a lot of imformation on the settings for these lights, other corals and clams seem to be doing well

slin1977 · Jun 26, 2018

Looking at the specs of this unit , running the UV and Violet at these levels is not a problem. I would be bumping up the whites as you are not making the most of the PAR and PUR that is on offer.

Interestingly would like to know the your original light cycle vs this new one that you found off the net that you now follow.

I don’t think your Lobos are suffering from light bleaching.

Further information regarding height of light fixture above tank and dimensions of tank could also help me understand the current light settings.

Susan Bates · Jun 26, 2018

slin1977 said:
Looking at the specs of this unit , running the UV and Violet at these levels is not a problem. I would be bumping up the whites as you are not making the most of the PAR and PUR that is on offer.

Interestingly would like to know the your original light cycle vs this new one that you found off the net that you now follow.

I don’t think your Lobos are suffering from light bleaching.

Further information regarding height of light fixture above tank and dimensions of tank could also help me understand the current light settings.

I was using more white and less uv and violet, tank is 4 foot Aqua one, 400lts,and the lights are around 10inches from the top

Susan Bates · Jun 26, 2018

Susan Bates said:
I was using more white and less uv and violet, tank is 4 foot Aqua one, 400lts,and the lights are around 10inches from the topView attachment 57895

This is more up to date photo

slin1977 · Jun 26, 2018

The height is perfect for those lights. I pretty much think you had the blue /white ratio right from the start. The UV and Violet channel do add some good wavelength and well within a safe ratio to run those at full without negative effect.
Have you ever tried taking photo chromatic glasses to see if they effectively darken the lenses, I bet they do.

I would hark back to adding the white channel back as previously mentioned.

Susan Bates · Jun 26, 2018

slin1977 said:
The height is perfect for those lights. I pretty much think you had the blue /white ratio right from the start. The UV and Violet channel do add some good wavelength and well within a safe ratio to run those at full without negative effect.
Have you ever tried taking photo chromatic glasses to see if they effectively darken the lenses, I bet they do.

I would hark back to adding the white channel back as previously mentioned.

Thanks for your help, again, I will make changes to the lights, I need a good setting on them as I have 4 clams in that tank

slin1977 · Jun 27, 2018

FYI - some top brand T5 lights run a almost 50/50 white blue mixture where you can’t really tell that they are blue , examples are Fluval, Red Sea and ATI aqua blue special.
Photography under such light would look very similar to that first FTS you took and not saturated blue like the second.

What are you proposing as your light cycle?

Furthermore how are your iodide levels? When last did you feed Lobo a tiny bit of prawn meat?

Susan Bates · Jun 27, 2018

slin1977 said:
FYI - some top brand T5 lights run a almost 50/50 white blue mixture where you can’t really tell that they are blue , examples are Fluval, Red Sea and ATI aqua blue special.
Photography under such light would look very similar to that first FTS you took and not saturated blue like the second.

What are you proposing as your light cycle?

Furthermore how are your iodide levels? When last did you feed Lobo a tiny bit of prawn meat?

25% white and around 50%-60%blue and violet, i feed them myis but haven't feed prawn, I haven't tested iodide for ages, test kit confuses me,I dose reef plus and reef trace 2 x a week

slin1977 · Jun 27, 2018

Susan Bates said:
25% white and around 50%-60%blue and violet, i feed them myis but haven't feed prawn, I haven't tested iodide for ages, test kit confuses me,I dose reef plus and reef trace 2 x a week

Are you reading the Salifert Iodine test kit?
Try testing your water with your Iodine kit and then at the end of the test add a drop of Reef Plus to the test solution and see what that does to the result.
Iodine has antiseptic propertys that can aid healing , hence Betadine on humans which is similar to lugols to reef aquaria.
Reef plus and Reef trace will be fine for all your tanks requirements great combination.
Anyway just food for thought.

Susan Bates · Jun 28, 2018

slin1977 said:
Are you reading the Salifert Iodine test kit?
Try testing your water with your Iodine kit and then at the end of the test add a drop of Reef Plus to the test solution and see what that does to the result.
Iodine has antiseptic propertys that can aid healing , hence Betadine on humans which is similar to lugols to reef aquaria.
Reef plus and Reef trace will be fine for all your tanks requirements great combination.
Anyway just food for thought.

Thanks very much again, I will try that today and see what happens