Halide deterioration vs. SPS health

[captexas]

I have had some issues with my SPS corals lately with some of them having their polyps retracting and now I noticed a tip of one seems to have turned grey like it has died. I thought this might be water conditions so I have done more water changes than what I normally do and have replaced the filters, DI, and the RO membrane on my RO/DI unit. I then thought it might be the water flow in the tank as I had one of my Sea Swirls out for repair for awhile, but now it's back on. I don't see any red mites anywhere, but I've never been good as spotting them. If it's not bugs, then I am wondering if it could be my 10k XM halides shifting in spectrum as they are getting old? Will SPS respond this way to old bulbs?

PS - for the conspiracy theorists out there, I am using Oceanic Salt :)

[GaryP]

Do you run carbon in your tank Chris?

[don-n-sa]

PS - for the conspiracy theorists out there, I am using Oceanic Salt :)

What about a sandbed? :D

[captexas]

Gary - No I don't. I was going to do it when I first started noticing things, but I found out my Eheim canister filter wouldn't work. I have a smaller hang-on filter, but would have to remove my canopy and lights to hang it on the edge of the tank.

Don - What about my sand bed? :blink

Another thing I wonder about is my Dolphin AM2100 return pump. I replaced the seals on it once and it's already gotten worse. The shaft on the pump has gotten rusted. Could this rust be leaching into the water going through the impeller? If so that could explain the problems.

[captexas]

Josh - hmmm . . .I can't remember when I got them, can't find my Discount Aquatics receipt either! lol :P I run them 9 hours a day.

[JimD]

I dont think a little rust will adversly affect sps in the long run, best to eliminate it to be sure. I question the bulb theory also, if the piece was healthy to begin with and the lamp simply lost intensity or shifted spectrum due to age, typicly, the the coral will brown out and or stunted growth. You say the tips are mostly the effected areas, I suspect too much flow in that area causing stress to the coral and literaly blowing off the live tissue. Keep an eye on the gray areas to see if algae begins to grow, usually a form of brown algae, if you see this, that area is for sure dead. Something to consider anyways...

[captexas]

Jim - Yeah, I figured that the corals would just brown up if it were the bulbs, but right now I don't know anything for sure. As far as the flow goes, everything has been set in my tank for many months with no increase in flow, no changes in flow directions, and now change in coral placement. So, as they were all doing well in the past I would have to rule that out. The polyps have retracted on a few colonies, not all which is weird. And it's not just the tips, but the entire corals.

I don't know, but other than the rust from the pump I am running out of ideas here. I do appreciate everyone's input :)

[JimD]

What is the proximity of the serviced seaswirl to the effected corals? Is it possible that the seaswirl was not functioning at 100% before service and now it is? Reaching here... Usually when I have a problem like the one youre experiencing, 99% of the time its been flow related. Can you get a pic up?

[captexas]

The SS sits in one corner and rotates 90 degrees along with another SS in the other corner. The affected corals are on both sides of the tank and at different levels from top to bottom as well.

I will try to take a pic or two, but I haven't had much luck posting pics here lately.

[JimD]

hmmm, yeah, see if you can get a close-up or two and maybe a shot of the affected corals in relation to the SS's... Are any corals affected in the middle of the tank?

[CD]

cap - Has your skimmer been working efficiently lately? Reason I ask, is that the skimmer in our 75G hasn't been producing well at all lately (the higher quality skimmer we have is now in the 210G). I've noticed that reduced polyp extention and some actual recession had been taking place over the last few weeks...on *some* of the SPS - not all. I moved the one SPS colony that looked the worst over to the 210G last night, and it looks MUCH better today (as far as polyp extention). This may not be the case with your set up, but I thought I would mention it as a possibility.

Wendy

[NaCl_H2O]

If it was a light issue, chances are you would also have increased algae and diatom growth.

I have noticed more posts than normal recently about SPS "problems" - My theory is they don't like loud Spurs playoff games in the same room as the tank :P

Seriously though, our weather is changing, temps higher, AC running, evaporation rates are higher, Tank temps fluctuate more ... is this a seasonal thing? A few of my SPS have some die off too, and I seem to remember a similar pattern this time last year?

[captexas]

Steve - interesting theories, especially the Spurs one! lol. I have a chiller on my tank and keep my house temp the same so I don't think temp is an issue. Maybe there is something with the humidity or time of year, I don't know.

Wendy - skimming is a possiblity along with the running carbon to remove any toxins as Gary has mentioned. I've had a Lifereef skimmer on this tank the entire time (over a year or so) and have never really been happy with it's performance. Maybe with my now heavy SPS population and fish bioload it is finally past it's capability.

If I didn't need to save all my money for the new tank I would spring for one of those fancy Off-the-Reef skimmers to try out :P

[GaryP]

Chris,

Check the carbon thread that is going now. We talked about building a real simple carbon canister from PVC that can go into the sump.