Acro Problem

[alexwolf]

lol :-D i already told you that you can have the first!!! I checked this morning, and everything seemed fine. Tim, they were the pink zoos that you brought for that guy, they melted away. I havent had any fish die, and all the other acros seem fine. My torts are actually showing growth. The 2 colonies that died were right next to each other, so maybe it just spread? They went the same day i put the new lights on. I havent had any fish die, i dont have a huge amount of softies. I have been running carbon for some time, i think i will change it out though. I just cant think of anything else that I have changed. Arg, frustrating.

[Tim Marvin]

Hmmm, well wierd things happen.. I doubt if the light change RTN'd the acropora.... Carbon is usually exhausted after 5-10 days of continuous use depending on the water flow through it.

[Instar]

There is an infinite puzzle brought up here that revolves around lighting. The reason I say infinite, is that there are infinite combinations of bulb brands vs age vs life vs ballast brands. The same bulb on different ballasts is driven in different fasions to produce sometimes a really bad spectrum of light. Old bulbs are a guarenteed recipe for disaster. You don't have any idea if they are intensly ultraviolet or way up in the 4,000k range on a used ballast unless you have the technology to test all that. Handling, the way the bulb was used, orientation (verticle vs horizontal vs ratings) fans blowing right at the bulbs, all cause undesired shifts in the spectrum. Most often we assume the wave length is what the bulb is rated for under all conditions and that is just simply not true. If you knew where a bulb came from, who used it and for how long, then a bulb that is a little used can be worth buying. Otherwise, its best not to use such a thing. A day or even a couple of no MH days with only some actinics on should not hurt anything.

[GaryP]

Alex,

Did you set up a routine schedule for cleaning your skimmer like I suggested? If the gunk in the skimmer isn't cleaned out routinely it can be degraded and it becomes more water soluble and go back into the bulk water.

Gary

[NaCl_H2O]

Alex, I put the acros I picked up Tuesday in my small frag tank - running on the same system as my new setup which is getting fairly stable, nitrogen cycle wise, so I don't consider this an ideal environment, to say the least. They are under a 175W 10K MH and are starting to color back up and are looking better.

How's your tank looking?

You need to checkout parms on your tank, or switch back to the old lighting to see if that helps. Something must be out of whack there?

[alexwolf]

They were starting to color back up when you picked them up.

[StephenA]

I agree with Tim. The only time I've ever had issues with lighting is when I've gone up in wattage. I'd go with dead zoos, too much lugol's, GaryP's Skimmer theory, etc. My son added to much Lugols one time and it killed several things overnight.

[Tim Marvin]

Lugols is medical grade iodine solution, antiseptic......

[StephenA]

Tim
Isn't an overdose bad on most animals?

[Tim Marvin]

very lethal, use caution when you use any iodine, but especially Lugol's. It has been said numerous times on this board, "don't dose what you can't test", great advice. Iodine will even burn some patients skin if it isn't washed off after surgery, and you definately don't want to get any in your eyes, mouth or nose. With that said, it is also useful to the reef. Lots of reef critters use it to aid the metabolism, but in tiny TRACE amounts. If you use a good grade salt the addition of iodine should not be an issue.