A SIMPLE MISTAKE THAT CAN WIPE OUT YOUR REEF
By: Andy Morris
I'm relatively new to the reefkeeping hobby, much as many of you are I imagine. I researched for months before I decided on a system. I read books, monitored lists on the internet, talked at length to many of the apparently more knowledgeable folks on those lists. Even though I had successfully kept salt water fish only tanks for a few years, it was quickly apparent that this was a "whole other ballgame."
My approach has been, I think, a very cautious and well thought out one.When I set my system up, most of the water parameters came in-line quickly. The only struggle I experienced was with salinity. I had a heck of a time getting the salinity up to the desired level of 1.024. I didn't really think much of this since I had never worked with one hundred gallons of sea water before. In retrospect, this was the first indicator of something not right, and it blew right by me.
At 6 months, my tank was progressing very well. I had experienced none of the usual nuisance algae or water chemistry problems. I had 8 fish and 15 corals all in excellent health. In fact, I had become the proud papa of a baby Goniopora and a baby Frogspawn! I tested my water parameters often and logged them each time. Everything was textbook perfect....so I thought. I was about to find out differently, and in a big way.
I noticed a few small slime algae patches on a couple of rocks near the bottom. There was also a bit on the substrate in that area. I decided to get some Redox to get rid of them before they became a
problem. About the time I started the Redox treatments, some of the corals started looking a bit distressed. This was especially true of the Goniopora and the Leather corals. A quick call to Ron Hunsicker confirmed that this sometimes happens initially with the Redox, and that the corals would be fine in a day or two. There was probably no cause to be alarmed. Most of the corals did look a bit better after a few days of the Redox but none really returned to their usual state. I simply attributed this to a temporary reaction to the Redox. But I know now that it wasn't, it was actually the second indication that something was not right.
On a Thursday morning I went down to the basement to perform my daily maintenance. This was to empty the skimmer, add Iodine, VG, KSM, and visually check that all was working correctly. I turned on the RO/DI unit to generate some makeup water and noticed that the red light on the water quality meter was lit. Time to replace the DI cartridge. A call to Reefers and a new DI cartridge was on the way. I had gotten a bit more algae growth than normal over the last few days and this was most likely the reason.
Because of this, I decided not to add any additional water until the DI cartridge came. This decision turned out to be the catalyst which would cost me dearly, but bring to light a problem which had existed for months undetected.
The following Wednesday I had still not received the cartridge. Reefers had shipped it, but it had not made it to me. The water level in the sump had steadily dropped from lack of make-up addition and
was now just barely above the return pump input. The salinity had been checked regularly and had only risen from 1.022 to 1.024. I had to add water now. The pump would be sucking air before the end of the day. So I added a gallon to hold me for the day until I could see if the DI cartridge came.
I check the tank everyday at noon when I come home for lunch. On this day I got a surprise. I walked in the door to see every fish in the tank dead! No outward signs of distress, no disease,
no parasites, their color wasn't even faded! There they all laid in full living color! It was as if they all had heart attacks while swimming about and just keeled over right there, on the spot.
Yet, none of the inverts were dead. All the shrimp and starfish were fine. Corals looked like crap but were alive. My first thoughtswere oxygen deprivation or toxin, based on how they looked.
But how? I started to search for an answer.
It took 3 days to find the answer. We found it almost by accident. A casual question asked during a conversation with Ron Hunsicker led me to find out that salinity meters (the floating arm type..
like the SeaChem units) should be replaced every 6 months or so. WHAT? I ran to the local Petco and picked up a new one. Home I ran to see if this might be it. Reaching, I thought, after all
I had had no trouble with mine in 2 years! One dip in the tank and, to my horror, the new meter pegged! I double checked with my trusty old one....1.023. Oh my god! I diluted a sample from the tank 50% with fresh water. It still pegged! I did the same with my old one ....1.017. In the end, I wound up putting 50 gallons of straight RO water in a 120gal system to get the salinity back to 1.023. I had somewhere around TWICE the correct salinity level !!!!
Keep in mind that I never read about this in any of the books I have read. I never have seen this discussed on any of the reef lists. I never have had this topic come up in conversation with any of the people I have sought advice from. In fact, I looked at the packaging for the new gage and even THAT doesn't tell you to replace the thing frequently!
We should always learn from our mistakes. This situation was unfortunate and distressing, but a few lessons come out of this that I wanted to share. Especially for the newer among us in the hobby,
I hope this might save someone from one of the mistakes I wound up making.
1) Replace your salinity meter at least twice per year. In the future, I will always use two. Use one for regular testing and one for confirmation testing only. After 6 months, discard the everyday one , use the backup for everyday, and buy a new backup. This way you always have a new backup
available.
2) If something does not seem right, it most likely isn't. Corals don't change their behavior for no reason. Don't easily dismiss even small changes in your tank. Question them from every
perspective until you are sure of the answer. Be careful about attributing multiple things happening at the same time to each other..this is not always the case.
3) Do not allow yourself to get so comfortable with your system that you start to take more mundane things for granted. Check, Check, Check...Verify, Verify, Verify.
By: Andy Morris
I'm relatively new to the reefkeeping hobby, much as many of you are I imagine. I researched for months before I decided on a system. I read books, monitored lists on the internet, talked at length to many of the apparently more knowledgeable folks on those lists. Even though I had successfully kept salt water fish only tanks for a few years, it was quickly apparent that this was a "whole other ballgame."
My approach has been, I think, a very cautious and well thought out one.When I set my system up, most of the water parameters came in-line quickly. The only struggle I experienced was with salinity. I had a heck of a time getting the salinity up to the desired level of 1.024. I didn't really think much of this since I had never worked with one hundred gallons of sea water before. In retrospect, this was the first indicator of something not right, and it blew right by me.
At 6 months, my tank was progressing very well. I had experienced none of the usual nuisance algae or water chemistry problems. I had 8 fish and 15 corals all in excellent health. In fact, I had become the proud papa of a baby Goniopora and a baby Frogspawn! I tested my water parameters often and logged them each time. Everything was textbook perfect....so I thought. I was about to find out differently, and in a big way.
I noticed a few small slime algae patches on a couple of rocks near the bottom. There was also a bit on the substrate in that area. I decided to get some Redox to get rid of them before they became a
problem. About the time I started the Redox treatments, some of the corals started looking a bit distressed. This was especially true of the Goniopora and the Leather corals. A quick call to Ron Hunsicker confirmed that this sometimes happens initially with the Redox, and that the corals would be fine in a day or two. There was probably no cause to be alarmed. Most of the corals did look a bit better after a few days of the Redox but none really returned to their usual state. I simply attributed this to a temporary reaction to the Redox. But I know now that it wasn't, it was actually the second indication that something was not right.
On a Thursday morning I went down to the basement to perform my daily maintenance. This was to empty the skimmer, add Iodine, VG, KSM, and visually check that all was working correctly. I turned on the RO/DI unit to generate some makeup water and noticed that the red light on the water quality meter was lit. Time to replace the DI cartridge. A call to Reefers and a new DI cartridge was on the way. I had gotten a bit more algae growth than normal over the last few days and this was most likely the reason.
Because of this, I decided not to add any additional water until the DI cartridge came. This decision turned out to be the catalyst which would cost me dearly, but bring to light a problem which had existed for months undetected.
The following Wednesday I had still not received the cartridge. Reefers had shipped it, but it had not made it to me. The water level in the sump had steadily dropped from lack of make-up addition and
was now just barely above the return pump input. The salinity had been checked regularly and had only risen from 1.022 to 1.024. I had to add water now. The pump would be sucking air before the end of the day. So I added a gallon to hold me for the day until I could see if the DI cartridge came.
I check the tank everyday at noon when I come home for lunch. On this day I got a surprise. I walked in the door to see every fish in the tank dead! No outward signs of distress, no disease,
no parasites, their color wasn't even faded! There they all laid in full living color! It was as if they all had heart attacks while swimming about and just keeled over right there, on the spot.
Yet, none of the inverts were dead. All the shrimp and starfish were fine. Corals looked like crap but were alive. My first thoughtswere oxygen deprivation or toxin, based on how they looked.
But how? I started to search for an answer.
It took 3 days to find the answer. We found it almost by accident. A casual question asked during a conversation with Ron Hunsicker led me to find out that salinity meters (the floating arm type..
like the SeaChem units) should be replaced every 6 months or so. WHAT? I ran to the local Petco and picked up a new one. Home I ran to see if this might be it. Reaching, I thought, after all
I had had no trouble with mine in 2 years! One dip in the tank and, to my horror, the new meter pegged! I double checked with my trusty old one....1.023. Oh my god! I diluted a sample from the tank 50% with fresh water. It still pegged! I did the same with my old one ....1.017. In the end, I wound up putting 50 gallons of straight RO water in a 120gal system to get the salinity back to 1.023. I had somewhere around TWICE the correct salinity level !!!!
Keep in mind that I never read about this in any of the books I have read. I never have seen this discussed on any of the reef lists. I never have had this topic come up in conversation with any of the people I have sought advice from. In fact, I looked at the packaging for the new gage and even THAT doesn't tell you to replace the thing frequently!
We should always learn from our mistakes. This situation was unfortunate and distressing, but a few lessons come out of this that I wanted to share. Especially for the newer among us in the hobby,
I hope this might save someone from one of the mistakes I wound up making.
1) Replace your salinity meter at least twice per year. In the future, I will always use two. Use one for regular testing and one for confirmation testing only. After 6 months, discard the everyday one , use the backup for everyday, and buy a new backup. This way you always have a new backup
available.
2) If something does not seem right, it most likely isn't. Corals don't change their behavior for no reason. Don't easily dismiss even small changes in your tank. Question them from every
perspective until you are sure of the answer. Be careful about attributing multiple things happening at the same time to each other..this is not always the case.
3) Do not allow yourself to get so comfortable with your system that you start to take more mundane things for granted. Check, Check, Check...Verify, Verify, Verify.