Will my tank ever recover ?

Discussion in 'General Reef Topics' started by cjrudy, Aug 18, 2013.

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  1. cjrudy

    cjrudy Coral Banded Shrimp

    Joined:
    Jun 12, 2010
    Messages:
    364
    Three weeks ago my tank experienced an event its still struggling to recover from. On Saturday July 27th I was gone for the day, the day was a hot one and I did not have the AC on. My tank normally runs 78-79 but got up to 84 that afternoon. I had recently changed bulbs and had screens covering the tank which also helped to hold in that heat. I got home later that evening, the tank was still 84 but I was not overly concerned. Unfortunately that was just the beginning.

    I woke up Sunday morning to find all three pumps not working. My external pump had seized up, my MP40 seized and errored out and my MP10 wetside was laying on the sand bed with a broken propeller. My tank had just gone 6-8 hours with no flow at 84 degrees.

    Needless to say I went into panic mode. I swapped out the external pump with a back up and got the MP10 running with a broken propeller, but it took a few more days before I got both vortechs running properly. Unfortunately the damage had already been done, I immediately noticed the corals turning pale and bleaching from the base.

    So could it get any worse.........YES. On Friday August 2th I checked the alkalinity to find it had plummeted to 6.7dkh even though I have a doser running. I had to add daily manual doses for almost a week to get the alkalinity to stabilize. During that week on August 5th another twist, the timer for my calcium doser went haywire and overdosed calcium which skyrocketed to over 600.

    I have been able to finally stabilize all my parameters over the past week

    Alk 7.8
    Ca 475
    MG 1300
    PO4 .03
    NO3 1.0
    PH 8.0
    Salinity 1.026

    Unfortunately I now have STN/RTN in addition to the bleaching and browning.


    So in the past month my SPS have experience new bulbs, high temp with no flow, low alkalinity and very high calcium which has caused most of my SPS to experience stn, rtn, bleaching, turning pale or brown. Because I am literally experiencing everything its hard not know what exactly to address.

    While my LPS, Zoas and leathers have been fine I really hope my SPS can recover.

    Any advice is welcomed.
     
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  3. Kevin_E

    Kevin_E Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Apr 30, 2009
    Messages:
    4,551
    Location:
    Florida
    I made several changes myself. Its been over 4 months and color/growth has returned. Stability, time and patience is my advice.
     
  4. oldfishkeeper

    oldfishkeeper Giant Squid

    Joined:
    Aug 13, 2012
    Messages:
    7,660
    Location:
    Cincinnati
    I'm not experienced with SPS, but this seems to be the answer for you. It will take time to recover. Good husbandry, parameters, and TLC hopefully will bring everything back around. Here's some karma to you!