Confused

[wade2185]

Ok I am confused. I have 3 tanks that are all plumbed together into the same sump for a total water volume of 250 gallons. Here is where I am confused. The montis in my 120 have bleached out in color and the acros are receeding from the base up and browning out. I have been battling acro flatworms but I do not think that is the only problem. The Acros that I have in my 90 are doing awesome! They all have full color and polyp extension and none of them are receeding like the Acros in the 120. I just recently plumbed in my third tank which is a 55 gallon. This tank is breaking out in an algae bloom! The only algae problems I have in my 90 and 120 are bubble algae problems. Now how can each tank be so different when they are all plumbed together? Could different flow rates in each tank be a factor? Could the Amino Acids I am dosing cause the algae bloom in the 55? Could the reason I see algae in the 55 but not in the 90 or 120 be because I do not have any snails or crabs in the 55 to clean it? I am very confused...

Here are some pics

Here is a bleached monti


Here is my ORA Chips Acro that is receeding from the base


Here is my Abrolhosensis Stag that is receeding from the base


And finally here are 2 images of the algae bloom in my 55

[wade2185]

Anyone?

[Orion76]

I don't know about your bleacing issues but in the case of the algae bloom, you have a very large surface area (the glass bottom) without the organisms that grow on the surface of liverocks to compete with the algae so this is to be expected if you have a high nutrient level in your water. Especially if flow is lacking.

[GTR]

I've run multi tanks systems for a while now. Whenever I hook up a new tank it seems to take a while to stabilize even though it's on the common sump. When I see drastic differnences in how similar corals are doing in different tanks you need to look a several things.
• Water flow from the sump and pump position relative to the pumps for the other tanks. You could be taking in water that may not be as well processed as the other tanks.
• Cirulation pattern in the differnt tanks. As you know you can have a high turnover and still not be getting good flow and mixing in the tank. One tank may be more prone to sediment build up.
• Quality and quantity of light. I'm real guilty on this one. With so many bulbs I tend to push them beyond what might be considered a useful life. I've had certain ballast and bulb combinations that without fail could cause an algae outbreak.
• Of course you could have a problem with some sort of pest in one tank and not the others. I've been fighting Monti nudis for over a year and though I have them for sure in one tank, three other tanks have been nudi free for at least 4 months. I know they CAN get through the sump and pump to another tank but they haven't.

SteveU

[wasp]

Well, that is certainly an interesting case Wade, it does show how complex running the tank properly can be, and how many factors involved.
I'm afraid I'm not much help here, but I would be interested to see any further developments if you could keep the thread updated.
I also have an encrusting monti that has bleached exactly like yours, for reasons I cannot figure out.

[wade2185]

Thanks for the advice. I am still stumped however. I think that I can rule out lights as the problem. I change my bulbs every 9-12 months. The return pump from the sump is the same for the 90 and the 120. The main deifference is the flow rate to each tank. The 120 has a return rate of about 5-10 times more than the amount in the 90. Could this be an issue? If I am dosing for a total water volume of 250 gallons but I am returning 75% of the water to the 120 could I be overdosing the 120? If so, would that cause my monti bleaching and Acro recession in the 120? Also, I have a big issue right now with bubble algae. Does that mean that I have excess nutrients in the water? What does bubble alge feed off of?

[wade2185]

One more thing I have noticed. The Acros that are receeding around the base in my 120 continue to receed and struggle not matter where they are located in the tank. This tells me that it is a water quality issue and not flow or light. Am I right? Any other suggestions?

[wade2185]

Hey Bob or Alexander - Any advice from you?

[Aged Salt]

Hi Wade, assuming no swings are occurring in your temperature, salinity, KH, etc[& this is a big assumption, as I just discovered another low KH batch of Oceanic] these pix's depict classical excess zeo-dosing for your system. Plz. hold all zeo-dosing for 7-14days until your corals have no further tissue recession, then begin dosing all the basic three at 50% quantities. Bob