Symptoms for running MH too long?

[amheck]

hey guys,

I've been struggling with losing a lot of corals lately. I've tested my parameters and have had the LFS double check, but everything seems to be right where it needs to be.

One thing they asked me, when trying to determine the cause, is how long I run my MH lights. I have a 34g Solana with the 150w disco ball fixture and had been running them for 9 hours a day. They thought that some of the problems might be attributed to UV problems, so I've shortened the photo period down to 6 hours.

I'm just curious if anyone else had run into this and what problems you've seen in your tanks for having the MH lights on too long.

Thanks in advance!

[Sisterlimonpot]

Have you ruled out any thing that may be eating the corals? like AEFW or nudi...etc? Yeah, lighting can play a big part in bleached corals. have you seen any improvement with the new lighting schedule? Or is it still too early to tell.

[mutateddogbone]

do you run single end or double end bulbs? what kinds of corals are you losing? what do you dose in your tank? do you have softies in your tank? what animals do you have in your system? any recent changes to the tank? need a lot more info

[ReeferChris]

What types of corals do you have? Are you only loosing one type of coral?(i.e LPS, SPS, softie) this could help in determining what type of pest to look for. Also how old are the bulbs?

[ReeferChris]

somebody beat me to it while typing. didn't mean to ask the same questions twice. But good luck with you aquarium.

[aykim2188]

This should be very helpful melevsreef. c o m/mandarin_diner.html

[amheck]

Hey guys, thanks for the responses. I've had the tank since Feb/March, and previous to that, it was set up for a year and a half. The bulb is a DE 150W Phoenix 14k bulb and I have the UV protector installed in the fixture.

I have a mix of sps and lps frags, and even some softies like ricordia, mushrooms and zoas. I had been able to keep several frags that seemed to be doing well for a month or so, like undata and rainbow montipora, but those have suddently started to bleach from the base. The last set of frags I got, green slimer, jedi mindtrick, and orange digitata, all bleached out and were gone within a day or two. I've always seemed to have a problem with the zoanthids. I have probably 6-7 frags and all look great in the owners tank, yet when I get them home, they never, ever open up.

I believe I'm acclimating ok. I float the bags and then slowly add tank water over the course of the next 2 hours before I put them in. Some of the recent frags, the green slimer and such, came from a tank that had 400w radiums, so I don't believe it's a problem with too much light, although I really don't know at this point. I'm at a loss and every frag I have seem to be dead or on its way out. I just turned down the lighting to 6 hours per day last Friday, so I don't know what effect that'd had on the tank yet.

The only other inhabitants are a pair of clowns, a blood shrimp, and the regular assortment of snails and crabs. I do have a nice RBTA which was nice and big, but slowly seems to be shrinking. I'm also worried I'm going to lose that.

I was doing 25%-30% water changes weekly, but the LFS suggested I might want to cut that down and just do 5g changes for a while. I tested by Alk and CA and they didn't seem to drop too much daily. I was dosing 2-part Alk and CA, but I don't think the tank usage is enough, so I've just been adding a little every couple days.

Any other ideas would be appreciated. I do still need to test for stray voltage, but other than that, I'm out of ideas, as to why I can't get any zoas to open and why I seem to be losing corals left and right.

Edit to add - I am battling some hair algae and a little cyano now. My nitrate and phos measurements are 2.2 and .05, verified by the LFS. Not sure if that matters or not to this situation.

[aykim2188]

sorry i posted the previous link incorrectly..meant for another thread -_______-

[Metal Man 1221]

doubtful its your level in nitrates and phosphates, my levels are alot higher and my corals are thriving

have you noticed any other inverts dying off? could be copper, all it takes is a penny

good luck

[HippieSmell]

I was going to say copper as well. If it was UV, your fish would be blind. Are they blind?

[Bill Nye]

I doubt its your MH light. Alot people run their MH about 10 hours a day.

[amheck]

i don't think the fish are blind. What do you look for for that? Bumping into the glass?

I have kids.....I hope one of them wouldn't put a penny in the tank, but you never know. Can carbon take that out? Are the copper test kits reliable? I do notice astrea snails on their sides every once in a while, but my blood shrimp and the other snails and crabs seems to be ok.

[amheck]

Just walked up to the tank and both fish saw me and got all excited. So yeah, I don't think they are blind.

[HippieSmell]

I don't think carbon will take it out, but there are test kits to see if you're contaminated. Or see if a LFS can test it for you.

[Lyfey]

amheck, I think possibly your tank is going through a mini cycle. This happened to me around the 5 month mark and I lost 50% of my SPS. Our tanks constantly cycle throughout their lifetimes.

What are your params?

Temp swings?

alk swings?

Salinity swings?

[NYCBOB]

u said u inherited this setup? could be old bulb. u mentioned u hv nitrate and phosphate. r u using ro water? hair algae could be a sign of bad bulb or water quality issue. if ur other hardy corals like zoas and shrooms r doing ok, then its water quality since sps need better water parameters. r u running any fuge with macroalgae? and skimmer?

[amheck]

Bulb was new in Feb, assuming the guy who I got the tank from wrote it down corectly. He did say the bulb was almost brand new when I picked up the system.

Yep, using RODI for all top off and water changes. All new DI, RO and sediment filters, too.

Funny you mention zoas and shrooms. I have a bunch of ricordia and shrooms and for the most part those were doing well until a few weeks ago and now they are all shriveled up. And the worst part, I have about 7-8 frags of zoas and none of them ever open. I go get them from people, and they look awesome. Then they go in this tank and never ever open again. It's so frustrating. I think I'm doing everything right, just seems to be fighting a losing battle.

Temp seems to go from 80 to 81.5 or there abouts. I measured Alk for a week last month and over 5-6 days, it was going from 2.9-3.3 meg/l.

[rsaha]

Have you checked magnesium? If you are using a salt deficient in magnesium you might be dragging your levels down. I am going through this right now with Seachem Reef.

[amheck]

I'll check it again and see. I have some Mg additive from BRS, so hopefully it shouldn't be too hard to get up to where it needs to be. Mg is that important, huh?

I'm using Reef Crystals for my waters changes, FWIW.