Problem with Pocillopora/montipora

[MasterBlaster]

Hello ,


I am having some sudden problems with 2 corals - first sps(Pocillopora) I added 6 months ago to my 30l pico and one new coral(think montipora). I am somewhat baffled because the pocillopora is a hardy coral and I had no problem with it in my pico which had no equipment apart from a heater and some small pumps , no automatic top of and freshwater aquarium lighting. In the new tank in which is in for 2+ months it has grown a bit.

I can't imagine a coral as hardy as Pocillopora will go down on anything except water quality or stability issues , don't think there is somehow a problem with my flow or lighting.The main params look ok and currently don't have a way of looking at the minor ones . I am having to wait until after the new year before sending a sample at a ICP. The one thing I think is bad with my aquarium is that for such a small tank (240L total) I have a huge amount of surface area for bacteria ( 2 cm thick sand bed , 25+ Kg coral rock , 4L Seachem matrix as filtration media and another 3-4 kg of coral fingers as substrate for the sump).From what I have read and understood high surface areas means micro elements get consumed very fast by the bacterial regnum. No other "bad signs" in the aquarium , no problems with animals or inverts. Also I do not dose anything currently (did some Ph buffer before adding the skimmer).



Latest tests 21/12 :
Salinity 35 ; Temperature 26 C ; PH 8.0-8.2 ; No3 2 ; Ca 400 ; Mg 1220 ; KH 8.5 ; PO 0.03 - 0.1 (i can't distinguish between the 3 levels )
Last water change : 100 l a month ago

Aquarium/Sump/Stand - Aquarium Systems L'Aquarium 250 (60x52x55 tank and 60l sump - around 250l total)
Lights - Hybrid Giesemann Stellar 60 cm + GHL Mitras LX 7204
Flow - 2 x Rossmont M7200 + Rossmont Wave Controller + 1 Jebao OW-10 and 2 x Sicce Nano 2000L(solo function is to create flow under rocks) + 1 Sicce Nano 1000L (for sump circulation)
Return Pump - Sicce Sincra 2.5 (2400 L 2.4h)
Tunze ATO /Autofeeder /JumpGuard
Skimmer Nyos 120 and Oxydator: Söchting Model A

Thanks for any input

Mihai

[tropicreef]

Hi Mihai, these are not Pocillopora, but Seriatopora caliendrum.

As i said, Oxidisers have nothing to do with seawater aquaristics. Don't use it.

[MasterBlaster]

Thanks for the clarification on the species.

From my perspective as a newcomer to the hobby I see allot of contradicting opinions and sometimes both camps show a very good history of success with reefing. Sometimes is hard for me to judge which advice I should follow and which I should not. It is easy to see how much "commercial propaganda" is out there in this hobby, especially in the US. What's why I look for information here and in other European non-english language forums.

Tropicreef you are obviously a very experience reefer with a great tank to prove it but I know people with good success in the hobby that use it. At the very least I understand it adds O2 to the water and it is good in case of prolonged power outages. It would help me to understand why it should not be used with saltwater:

What negative effects it produces in a reef tank ? Why I should not use it with saltwater? Are you saying the problems with the corals are related to the use of the oxidiser?

[MasterBlaster]

Also on the topic of gathering knowledge on saltwater aquarium without having to try and fail first, what good materials do you recommend for reading? (in English)

[tropicreef]

The oxydator produces reactive oxygen atoms by splitting hydrogen peroxide with a catalyst.

H₂0₂ -> 2 H₂O + O₂

What concentration of hydrogen peroxide you use ? 3%, 6% or 30%?
For fish tanks it can be used well, for lower animals you have to be careful, because they can react sensitive to the activated oxygen.
For stabilization, small amounts of phosphoric acid are added until the pH of the solution is below 4.

You can reach the oxygen saturation in seawater already with your skimmer.

[MasterBlaster]

What concentration of hydrogen peroxide you use ? 3%, 6% or 30%?
.

I am using 6% with one catalyst =>270 mg/day of O2. I got it "offline" for now but I will experiment a bit more with it after I establish my tank properly and make observations on how everything is doing.

Related to Oxygen
Noticed how important oxygen is to the lower animals and how easy to overlook it is when one of the montipora frags was in the process of dying but stopped and recovered when I added the skimmer(see it in image 3 added previously). I am sure it had noting to do with water chemistry and everything to do with oxygen availability.Concluded then that O is an important param in the hobby and often overlooked. So I got a O2 test from Salifert to better understand the numbers . What is surprising is that with the skimmer and with the Oxydator and with a new powerhead added to create surface water movement(to prevent biofilm) the O2 test shows only 6 mg/l. I did it multiple times as specified with patience but got the same value. This is a bit puzzling to me , related to what tropicreef was saying about O2 saturation. But maybe the test is not good trough I understand Salifert produce decent quality tests.

Probably related to the boost of O2 I have seen an explosion of filter feeder (small fan worms) both in the sump and tank. This explosion is a good thing ?

[tropicreef]

Probably related to the boost of O2 I have seen an explosion of filter feeder (small fan worms) both in the sump and tank. This explosion is a good thing ?

Yes, this is a good thing. The trigger for this is the dosing of the sangokai base system. The base system is a system that aims to develop the ability of your reef aquarium to produce its own microbes and plankton. Just like in the natural coral reef, many different micro nutrients in a small but constant amount also feed many different creatures. The result is a long-term high diversity of species and organisms that can develop and reproduce in the aquarium.

[MasterBlaster]

I haven't started dosing as items are still in transit in Germany. Probably not the best idea to order before the December holydays.

[MasterBlaster]

To give a conclusion to this topic... The problem was of water quality, after a 100L water change the corals stopped the decline and revived almost overnight. I am assuming the problem was lack of some needed trace elements and not any kind of pollution(at least not pollution with the normal culprits NO2/NO3/NH3/PO as I am testing all apart from trace elements). I have started dosing Basis system .