Cale W's 250L SPS Coral Cube (pic int.)

[priscacara]

Corals look stunning! Bummer on the losses though,

[Cale W]

Thanks mate. Things have settled out.

[DanMang]

Those anthias are stunning

[jayellul]

Looking good!

[Cale W]

Thanks.

I am currently thousands of km away from the tank in Vietnam, but i thought i would make quick update. Going away always makes me nervous, especially after returning from Fiji in 2009 to find my nano had suffered a 2 day power outage . That was only 12 days and this time round im away for a month

The tank is doing its typical cyclic thing - was unfortunately in a bit of a trough before i left. I haven't added anything for approx 3-4months as i was just letting it settle and have been spending a bit on my fishing kayak. I lost 3 small SPS frags - a pink histrix, blue stylo and dallas (which has been struggling for a long time) and all of my other SPS blanched out a fair bit in the month before leaving (got to love the timing). The only changes were that i switched 4 of 8 T5 globes over (had been running for approx 12months) and was forced to change salt mixes as i couldn't get the Redsea Pro locally. However, the decline, coincidental or not, commenced approx 4-7 days following hmmm...

On the plus side, one of my female Ventralis Anthia finished a 4 week change to a male , having had it for approx a year it was a slower process than i expected. What i found really interesting was that it started about 3-4weeks after she (at that time) began eating Spectrum pellet mix veraciously.

I will post some pictures when i get back in a week.

Well, i hope to return to a healthy tank .

[Cale W]

I would like to start by saying that my mum did a fantastic job looking after the tank. She fed the fish 2-3 times every day and tested the calcium, alkalinity and magnesium weekly. She even managed to adjust the profilux dosing pumps as the levels were a little high. Unfortunately though, on my return this morning, the tank is certainly not healthy. Although the fish look healthy, all of my acros have moderate amounts of tissue necrosis and i have already lost one blue polyp encrusting montipora, my favorite tort acro frag, a plating green montipora and dallas frag amoung others. I am in the process of doing a 60L water change (about 20%) and will do another tomorrow. Fingers crossed . I seem to pay the price for going on holidays . Theses pictures should give you an idea.

[Rod the Reefer]

Old Murphy turned up while you were away then?

Welcome back, I'm sure you'll have it back on track in no time.

Have to catch up soon.

Rod.

[Cale W]

Old Murphy turned up while you were away then?

Indeed, though he is never welcome..in fact its against the law in my home for murphy to visit.

Welcome back, I'm sure you'll have it back on track in no time.

I hope so. I have 10 frags coming from Al in Queensland tomorrow so I'm a little nervous.

[Cale W]

Well things sadly havnt started improving yet despite changing approximately 60% of the water in 20% changes over the last week and a half. I have lost 3 more frags which have been growing amazingly for 15months - two of my absolute favorites and have another 2 tinkering on the edge. The larger colonies tips have lost their tissue and despite all the testing i am unable to find the inciting cause. The water is clear. The fish, acro crabs, snails and shrimp are happy. Only SPS have been affected with all LPS and softies also well. There have been no significant changes in caclium, alkalinity, magnesium, potassium, salinity nor temperature in months with weekly testing. PH has been stable as always. Temperature has fluctuated between 24.2 and 26 over the last month off the profilux. Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate have been undetectable. GFO and activated carbon have been changed as per normal. The RO/DI cartridges are relatively new. There have been no significant stock changes nor deaths prior. There have been no changes in feeding regime nor brands of food.

There have been only 3 changes to the system in the last 2 months - 4 of 8 globe changes (3 the same and one different), forced change of salt brand and mass snail reproduction (i have 100s-1000s of turbo snails) and I did have to remove the closed loop pump about 3 months ago because it was continuously causing noise pollution and after a leaking seal i have simply had enough of it, which has reduced intank flow by approx 30%.

I am seriously thinking about getting the water chemically tested through the laboratory we use at work to try to determine heavy metal contamination or other toxic trace element levels. Really dampens your day and makes you consider where all the effort goes

[kirsto71]

Would it be worth dipping one of the SPS corals to check for pests. Is it possible it could be AEFW?