34gal Solana pipefish, goby cube

yikes!!!! .......I don't like those new orange boxes! ........sorry to hear.........good that you still got a sense of humor - - took me a few days to get mine back

there have been more fatalities. and this is the only picture i feel like taking.



i dont get it, the water quality and chemestry is perfect, the T-5 bulbs are pretty new they have only been run for a total of around 4 months, and ive increased the light over a week but now at full light a week later alot of the corals are still bleaching and dying off. it makes no sense to me..


newly updated death map.... the red X are new deaths, the orange boxes are probally dead by wednesday and the yellow orange are just not doing good at all...



i think that if everything dies except those hammers (which arent looking good ether now) or the zoanthids and palys then i will probally just tear the tank down. the clams are actually improving so i am no longer worried about them... which i find strange i wonder why they are getting better while everything else is not...

Your boxes are getting fewer and fewer tho - Here's to hoping you are on your way outta the woods. Maybe during the light outage your PH dropped too low for too long???

Originally Posted by estanoche

Your boxes are getting fewer and fewer tho - Here's to hoping you are on your way outta the woods. Maybe during the light outage your PH dropped too low for too long???

Yeah, that could be, i didnt check Ph for several days after getting light on there, so i dont know what it was out durring the period with no light.

there are actally more boxes.. the black boxes on the screen are dead as well.

That really blows. I'd be surprised if a pH drop could do that much damage. In my experience, a pH as low as 7.3 didn't cause serious damage, it just made the corals stop growing. I also doubt it was salinity related because urchins are often the first to go when that's an issue. Do you think it's cold shock from the light not heating it?

How is everything doing now Keith?

I wonder if it is from the corals getting a lack of food?

uh, everything seems to be stable as of now, the green monti cap is a super light lime instead of a whitish brown, so its on the road to recovery, that birdsnest is still the same bleached white but the polyps have a faint green tint to it, and both of those flouresce slightly under atinic light. the clams are doing well and even have new growth though how new it is i duno, they are always open when i check on them. other than that nothin new has died.

the corals should be getting enough food i am still feeding the tank some to keep the hermet crabs and that lone goby happy, and the skimmer is only run while i am at work.

Do you have any fish in it?

I have one fish, its a little goby thats an inch long awesome little guy though i have no idea what kind... i have never looked it up...

I would add something that actually poops in there and see if that may help too.

yeah, this seems like a perfect time to rethink the type of tank i want to be running.. ive never really been happy with the rockwork, and the only fish i have ever had were ether stupid hyper or always hidden....
however i probabally shouldnt redo rockwork until the corals are all happy again or that will most likely be what finally kills them...

Hang in there Keith. Sounds like you turned the corner and just need more time

UPDATES!!!! kindda...
the tank has suffered a landslide in slow motion, i took out the rock on top and moved a hammer coral up there, which it seems to like more... what survived is in the picture, the only fish that is still in there is that one tiny little one inch red goby.


so this squamosa has turned greenish ever since the halide died... but its still growing well and happy, as are the other well... everything that survived!



here we go this is the goby thats left.. one of the few pics i have of it..

Looks like the Asterina are doing quite well

So whats going on with it Keith? Is it just no time to care for it or something else?

Originally Posted by spinycheek

Looks like the Asterina are doing quite well

yeah its a asternia snowstorm everytime i clean the glass... i duno much about them but they seem to be good algae cleaners so i ignore them... dont they eat certian kinds of corals?

Originally Posted by chris&barb

So whats going on with it Keith? Is it just no time to care for it or something else?

a combination of little time, little money and when everything was dead or dying when i came home this summer i became disinterested.. kindda the F it cause i cant afford to make it nice anyway mentality. but instead of tearing it all down i just left it alone to restabilize, kept it topped up, watched and waited so i can redo it eventually without having to start entirely over.

I am not to the point of being able to redo it yet, but i am working on it in small parts.. ive decided that SPS is out of my range due to the lack of funds and time to care for the tank so i am going to stick with LPS and softies. I would really like to add more fish soon since that one goby, while nice to see makes the overall water colum rather boring from across the room.. maybe some clowns or something...

also i am highly considering GUTTING this tank to get rid of the false back since the filtration is a joke, the skimmer doesnt do anything (i dont even run it) and the return pump could easily do the same as a powerhead.. that would add another 4" to the depth of the tank(front to back) and swimming space for critters...

Originally Posted by Kerickson978

yeah its a asternia snowstorm everytime i clean the glass... i duno much about them but they seem to be good algae cleaners so i ignore them... dont they eat certian kinds of corals?

They dont eat any corals AFAIK. They will eat coralline algae though

a combination of little time, little money and when everything was dead or dying when i came home this summer i became disinterested.. kindda the F it cause i cant afford to make it nice anyway mentality. but instead of tearing it all down i just left it alone to restabilize, kept it topped up, watched and waited so i can redo it eventually without having to start entirely over.

I am not to the point of being able to redo it yet, but i am working on it in small parts.. ive decided that SPS is out of my range due to the lack of funds and time to care for the tank so i am going to stick with LPS and softies. I would really like to add more fish soon since that one goby, while nice to see makes the overall water colum rather boring from across the room.. maybe some clowns or something...

also i am highly considering GUTTING this tank to get rid of the false back since the filtration is a joke, the skimmer doesnt do anything (i dont even run it) and the return pump could easily do the same as a powerhead.. that would add another 4" to the depth of the tank(front to back) and swimming space for critters...

I understand. Letting it run as is like youve been doing was a good idea IMO. When you get the time and money to step it up again youll be ahead of the game already.