Hi to all the names I still recognize on TRT as I logged back in this morning. It has been quite a while since getting online and lurking in the threads. I have to say that I just dont seem to have the time I used to these days, and that has certainly seemed to have a very negative impact on my reef tank. As I write this post, I dont have any pics, but I plan of taking a few so that some of you who have some input can see what I am dealing with.
I still have the same 90 gallon display with 30 gallon sump and although have not been quite as religious at my maintenance schedule, I have not tested positive for any nitrite, nitrate, ammonia or had any bad pH swings. My KH and calcium could always seem to be a bit better. As such, I do use some Kalkwasser, but that has been somewhat intermittent because I dont keep refreshing the supply on that if I miss a water test. (worry about pH). Now to the meat.....
Somewhere or another, I ended up getting Vermited snails in the tank. There were just a few at first, but they exploded over the past few months dispite my attempts to break them off the rocks when able. There are now so many, all of the "management" ideas I have researched are like bringing a knife to a gunfight. They are growing all over my coral skeletons and they irritated my Frogspawn and Hammers so much that they stopped extending their polyps and have all but died. I had been having terrific success with them until the Vermited snails showed up. Now I am rapidly losing my open brain coral and dont know what to do about it. To say the least, I am pretty deflated. This tank is over 4 years old now, and I had always prided myself on how well things were going....not anymore.
My last water change was three days ago and I just did a water test this am. Here were the results:
S.G. 1.024
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
kH 7
Calcium 380
Mg. 1290
I am presently using Reef Crystals and mix to S.G. of 1.025
Present livestock consists of approx. 50 snails of varied types from most recent clean up crew, 1 occelaris clown, 1 blue Fiji Damsel and 1 yellow tang. The occelaris has been in the tank since 4/12/16, the yellow tang since 12/23/15, and the Fiji Damsel since 3/22/17.
Corals are 1 apparently deceased frogspawn (initially introduced 10/28/14), two dead or nearly so purple hammers (initially one added 1/17/15 that I fragged into two about 1.5 years ago), a couple of different types of zooanthids that are doing ok introduced at varied dates in 2015, two leather toadstools (initially introduced 3/29/14), 1 nearly dead neon green trumpet coral (introduced 3/16/14), two red/blue candy cane corals (also started as one but piece broke off during cleaning and prospered (introduced 10/28/14), two Kenya trees that are growing well (introduced 3/4/15) and my open brain that is now starting to die (introduced 6/15/15).
I run a reef octopus NWB150 skimmer (4/20/13), Reef Breeders LED photon 48 at 60% peak with ramp up starting at 14:00 and off at 23:30, two fishies reactor with GFO, passive carbon in bag in sump. Circulation is from returns from Mag12 and two HKoralia evos one 1050/hr and one 1400/hr. Always use RO/DI for mix and auto topoff.
I know this is a horribly long read, but thought I should give all the info I can up front. Thanks to all who read and double thanks to all who chime in.
I still have the same 90 gallon display with 30 gallon sump and although have not been quite as religious at my maintenance schedule, I have not tested positive for any nitrite, nitrate, ammonia or had any bad pH swings. My KH and calcium could always seem to be a bit better. As such, I do use some Kalkwasser, but that has been somewhat intermittent because I dont keep refreshing the supply on that if I miss a water test. (worry about pH). Now to the meat.....
Somewhere or another, I ended up getting Vermited snails in the tank. There were just a few at first, but they exploded over the past few months dispite my attempts to break them off the rocks when able. There are now so many, all of the "management" ideas I have researched are like bringing a knife to a gunfight. They are growing all over my coral skeletons and they irritated my Frogspawn and Hammers so much that they stopped extending their polyps and have all but died. I had been having terrific success with them until the Vermited snails showed up. Now I am rapidly losing my open brain coral and dont know what to do about it. To say the least, I am pretty deflated. This tank is over 4 years old now, and I had always prided myself on how well things were going....not anymore.
My last water change was three days ago and I just did a water test this am. Here were the results:
S.G. 1.024
pH 8.2
Ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 0
kH 7
Calcium 380
Mg. 1290
I am presently using Reef Crystals and mix to S.G. of 1.025
Present livestock consists of approx. 50 snails of varied types from most recent clean up crew, 1 occelaris clown, 1 blue Fiji Damsel and 1 yellow tang. The occelaris has been in the tank since 4/12/16, the yellow tang since 12/23/15, and the Fiji Damsel since 3/22/17.
Corals are 1 apparently deceased frogspawn (initially introduced 10/28/14), two dead or nearly so purple hammers (initially one added 1/17/15 that I fragged into two about 1.5 years ago), a couple of different types of zooanthids that are doing ok introduced at varied dates in 2015, two leather toadstools (initially introduced 3/29/14), 1 nearly dead neon green trumpet coral (introduced 3/16/14), two red/blue candy cane corals (also started as one but piece broke off during cleaning and prospered (introduced 10/28/14), two Kenya trees that are growing well (introduced 3/4/15) and my open brain that is now starting to die (introduced 6/15/15).
I run a reef octopus NWB150 skimmer (4/20/13), Reef Breeders LED photon 48 at 60% peak with ramp up starting at 14:00 and off at 23:30, two fishies reactor with GFO, passive carbon in bag in sump. Circulation is from returns from Mag12 and two HKoralia evos one 1050/hr and one 1400/hr. Always use RO/DI for mix and auto topoff.
I know this is a horribly long read, but thought I should give all the info I can up front. Thanks to all who read and double thanks to all who chime in.
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