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Retirement and forum shutdown (17 Jan 2022)

Hi,

John Howell who has managed the forum for years is getting on and wishes to retire from the role of managing it.
Over the years, he has managed the forum through good days and bad days and he has always been fair.
He has managed to bring his passion for fish keeping to the forum and keep it going for so long.

I wish to thank John for his hard work in keeping the forum going.

With John wishing to "retire" from the role of managing the forum and the forum receiving very little traffic, I think we must agree that forum has come to a natural conclusion and it's time to put it to rest.

I am proposing that the forum be made read-only from March 2022 onwards and that no new users or content be created. The website is still registered for several more years, so the content will still be accessible but no new topics or replies will be allowed.

If there is interest from the ITFS or other fish keeping clubs, we may redirect traffic to them or to a Facebook group but will not actively manage it.

I'd like to thank everyone over the years who helped with forum, posted a reply, started a new topic, ask a question and helped a newbie in fish keeping. And thank you to the sponsors who helped us along the away. Hopefully it made the hobby stronger.

I'd especially like to thank John Howell and Valerie Rousseau for all of their contributions, without them the forum would have never been has successful.

Thank you
Darragh Sherwin

sick corals

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25 May 2009 20:00 #1 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
hi lads just wondering if anyone can advise me on the following, i reacently moved a lot of my corals to a larger set up, they seemed to be doing well(possibly slightly less lighting), but i reacently got a new ro machine and done my first waterchange since i moved the corals.i think the water was heated up sufficently i added purple up and bio digest, strntiom and prime. i run a large tunze scimmer maybe to big, water reads nitrate 0 amonia 0 nitrite 0 ph 8.2-8.4.(the only tests i have at the mo) the system was used previously to house seahorses, very little food was used now there are 4 lrg cromis 2lrg clowns 2 damsels and a lrg marine betta alot more waste but as i said waterq ok. i added a huge amount of lr so maybe they cancelled each other out. i had allowed my salticity to rise through the roof so last night the salticity was 1.30 i brought it strait down to 1.24 and probabaly my biggest cock up in a while, when i was heating the ro i raised the heater up to max which is 32 and and never lowred it back down and returned it to the tank. the tank at its hottest at 27-28 this morning after 3hrs light was 31-32 and none of the corals looked healthy especially the hammers and torches, ive obviously lowered it and added some fresh water at 22degrees. its now 29d and the lights have been on for an hour. all the corals still looking crap. i know the prob could probably be any or all of the above but if anyone has any addvice or experience on the matter i would be vgreatful even the mushrooms look crap, they seem to be slightly improving now but knowere near their normal stature. please help. i have never really had any probs with my corals before so im freaking out.
paddy

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25 May 2009 20:45 #2 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
they still look terrible, im after turning lights out as the temp wont drop, still at about 30 so ive turned the lights off and added a bottle of frozen water and added reefbooster and suggestions?

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25 May 2009 20:56 #3 by lampeye (lampeye)
Replied by lampeye (lampeye) on topic Re:sick corals
all you can do is bring the water back down to 25 (slowly)..leave the lid open turn the heater off, stick a fan on facing the tank, leave the lights off, open the windows etc.
as you've said rapid changes in salinity are never good for any livestock.
they prob just got shocked by the sudden change and should recover.

lampeye

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25 May 2009 21:17 #4 by stevieg (ALAN FLYNN)
Replied by stevieg (ALAN FLYNN) on topic Re:sick corals
as lampeye said bring things back to normal slowly over the next 24hrs or so they should recover in a day or two as long they were not exposed to such extremity's for to long u'd be surprised how hardy corals can be

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25 May 2009 22:09 #5 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
thanks lads, thats the answer i was looking hear,so we all reckon it was the heat that caused the problem. just after taking the top off, still at 29 though.thanks for the help

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25 May 2009 23:30 #6 by funkychic (trish coughlan)
hope corals come back to normal for you soon . i will keep my fingers crossed for you . how are they now ?

trish

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25 May 2009 23:42 #7 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
The corals may look shabby for a few days after the temp/salinity shock. If they look like they are melting then it would be best to remove them. The chances are they wont recover if they get that bad.

The problem with the increase in temp. is it effects the single cell algae (zooxanthellae) that the corals need for oxygen and carbon. Once the temp. increases the algae gets damaged and can no longer photosynthesize. The algae is now useless to the coral and the coral will get rid of the damaged algae. This is coral bleaching.
The coral should be fine once it has some zooxanthellae but i dont think they will thrive.

I hope all works out well.

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26 May 2009 00:10 #8 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
thanks trish, the temp is down to about 27now, the lights are off so i wont know till tomorrow,
i would say the temp was only high for a bout 5 hrs. the corals dont seem bleached,as the torches still have their bright green colour as normal. is their any product which helps the zooxanthellae platty ,there is defo no molting.thanks

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26 May 2009 18:13 #9 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
You may not see the lack of zooxanthellae untill the coral gets rid of the damaged ones. This could take a good while, but i'm not sure how long. Hopefully this wont be the case.
I dont think there is a product to help the zooxanthellae. I'm sure there are plenty that claim to boost the symbiotic algae. If something did work i'm sure they would be considering using it on some of the really damaged reefs that have been exposed to rising sea temperatures.

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26 May 2009 21:01 #10 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
is it visable, are there any signs i can look for regarding "the coral getting rid of the damaged ones"i think they are well on the mend,i may have just caught it in time but im worried now that the damage isnt showing up yet. the light s have been on since 7, i have a fairly week lighting only 4 out of my 8 t8s are working (do you one know if they break are they ###### for good by water damage/condinsation)so it takes a while for the corals to reach their peak. one things for sure im a lot happier than last night.:) here is a pic now.they look so much better concidering they have been in darkness all day but still not near 100%
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26 May 2009 21:05 - 26 May 2009 21:13 #11 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
is it visable, are there any signs i can look for regarding "the coral getting rid of the damaged ones"i think they are well on the mend,i may have just caught it in time but im worried now that the damage isnt showing up yet. the light s have been on since 7, i have a fairly week lighting only 4 out of my 8 t8s are working (do you one know if they break are they ###### for good by water damage/condinsation)so it takes a while for the corals to reach their peak. one things for sure im a lot happier than last night.:) here is a pic now.they look so much better concidering they have been in darkness all day but still not near 100%
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Last edit: 26 May 2009 21:13 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly). Reason: no pic

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26 May 2009 21:19 #12 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
dono whats happening, hopefully worked this time
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26 May 2009 21:42 #13 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
They corals all look fine. I think it takes long periods of higher than normal temperatures to damage them quickly. Short term exposure may cause them to lose colour ending up a purple brown colour. This can take months to notice. if i remember correctly it only takes an increase of 2c to damage the zooxanthellae.
I'm not sure what is wrong with your lights. Did the fixtures get wet? Did they just stop working? Did you try switching the bulbs around?

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26 May 2009 22:02 #14 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
the hammers tips are a lot duller than saturday might have to get a cooler aswll as my tanks vary in temp sometimes 3 degrees although i havnt noticed any probs with them and some corals are 12months old.
water got in to the bulbsockets and then there was smoke:unsure: and obviously no light:( . is it fixable:unsure:

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30 May 2009 00:43 #15 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
Sounds like the light unit is knackered. Most T8 light units are sealed and not worth messing with once they are broke.

Paddy you had another thread going which i was supposed to get back to you on.. I just got home to late yesterday to reply.
I cant find the tread now. Can you point me in the right direction.

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30 May 2009 13:32 #16 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
uv sterilizer and lighting, n1 platty
regarding the sick corals i dare say are back to their best. no more stupid mistakes.the heat has all my tank temps all over the place latly i have 2 thermos set at 22 and still the tanks are25+, i think ill defo have to get a chiller at some stage, although the corals and fishs water in nature must fluctuate also. mind you there not doing so good latly.

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31 May 2009 00:33 - 31 May 2009 00:50 #17 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)
You can buy a fan to go on the top of the tank to try keep it cool. The only problem with these is the water evaporates quicker. So you need o top up with fresh water almost daily.
The temperature in the seas do fluctuate. but because they are deep it is usually the surface temperature the changes the most. For example the average surface temperature in the red sea fluctuates by 2c between summer and winter and the temperature is higher in the south.

I have done a search for "uv sterilizer and lighting, n1" and cant find the tread. Hopefully you got sorted out.
Last edit: 31 May 2009 00:50 by platty252 (Darren Dalton).

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31 May 2009 00:57 #18 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
thanks, i think i will get a fan
did ya get the name of the light unit
thanks paddy

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31 May 2009 09:50 #19 by platty252 (Darren Dalton)

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31 May 2009 19:40 #20 by reefpaddy (paddy kelly)
yeah defo to small,
thanks anyways
paddy

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