Coral Acclimation in Tank Switch

[fluidimagery]

Hey Guys, some of you may have been following my tank thread. The tank is doing great, have it running as good as it can right now.

To my problem... my switch was going from a 25g to a 100g. The 100g went in the same spot as the 25 so I took all the contents out and added them to a 54g Rubbermade tub with my 150w HQI 13k AquaMedic Reef bulb from my 25. After letting the new 100g settle for about a week with the initial base rock I switched the corals and live rock over from the rubbermade to the tank. I placed / glued all of the corals in the spots I'd like them and fired the tank up. The lighting in the new tank is 2 x 175 Single Ended Reeflux Bulbs 12k.

The corals, mostly the sps / lps aren't really opening close to what they used to during the day. I've also noticed the LPS (mostly acans) aren't as colorful as they used to... I don't want to use the term bleaced but I can see some skeleton and they're not puffy. I'm assuming it's the light and am wondering if I should just let them be and they'll adjust on their own or if there should be some sort of intervention. At night everything is wide open and I've been feeding them to try to get some nutrition.

Pics

 

[Henrye]

Just a few questions.
1. Where did most of your livestock go that's seen in pic#1, which I assume is the 25g tank?

2. Are you now relying solely on the LR from the 25 for your biofilter in the 100g now, and all the rest is dead rock, or is there additional LR in there, other than the dead rock?

3. Was the rubbermaid tall like a garbage can, or more like a foot locker? Did ail the corals have access to light levels the same as in your 25g, or was everything more spaced out so the 150W MH (I assume from the 25g) now had a larger footprint to light.

4. Was the circulation in the rubbermaid tub about the same as you original tank, and the same question for filtration, including whether or not you skimmed your 25g and placed that skimmer on the rubbermaid for the week?

5. Did you design and glue together your aquascaped rock outside the tank, and how long was the LR from the original tank played with before replacing it in water?

6. Finally, what are your current parameters, and did you check the parameters of the tub prior to the reaquascaping transfer?

Also, going from 250W MH on a 25g tank to only 350W on a 100g tank would mean you are significantly reducing the light delivered because of the larger footprint of the tank, as well as the areas illuminated by the new bulb/reflectors.

It's big jump in size, and the increase in volume going from 25g to 50g tub with the same lighting, along with a second move with a light delivery ratio lower than your old tank, along with relying on the same amount of LR and waiting until the base rock is seeded, will all increase the stress on the entire system. That's why knowing your current water test results, and maybe if you have them, the water test results during the transition, might be very helpful in figuring out the next steps.

Good luck,

Henry

 

[fluidimagery]

Just a few questions.
1. Where did most of your livestock go that's seen in pic#1, which I assume is the 25g tank?

Fish: One clown is gone because he was getting a bit agressive with the original clown. Arabian Dottyback went postal and killed the sixline when they were both introduced in the new tank at the same time. The Dottyback had been fine for a year and 1/2 in the same 25g with the sixline before... fish are strange.

Coral: All are in the 100g except for the Toadstool which stands out in the 25. I wound up donating it to Atlantis Marine World since it grew to about 12"... this was before I decided to upgrade the 25 to 100g

2. Are you now relying solely on the LR from the 25 for your biofilter in the 100g now, and all the rest is dead rock, or is there additional LR in there, other than the dead rock?

There are about 60lbs of dead rock(base) and about 50lbs of Live Rock from my 25 in the 100. Skimming is being done by a MRC MR-2 on a blueline 55 full blast and a phosban reactor

3. Was the rubbermaid tall like a garbage can, or more like a foot locker? Did ail the corals have access to light levels the same as in your 25g, or was everything more spaced out so the 150W MH (I assume from the 25g) now had a larger footprint to light.

The rubbermade tub was a long one and I positioned the rocks strategically via light requirements... all was fine in the rubbermade... one SPS started to RTN but I saved it. And to answer your question it was the 150w from the 25g I used to light

4. Was the circulation in the rubbermaid tub about the same as you original tank, and the same question for filtration, including whether or not you skimmed your 25g and placed that skimmer on the rubbermaid for the week?

Circulation was roughly the same in the rubbermade as it was in the 25 although it was a different pump. I also used the same skimmer as was on my 25 (Deltec MC500)

5. Did you design and glue together your aquascaped rock outside the tank, and how long was the LR from the original tank played with before replacing it in water?

The dead rock was aquascaped dry... and the existing live rock always stayed wet and up to temp minus moving it about 10ft from a bathroom to the tank. I had to tear the tank apart to get the dottyback out and I re-aquascaped using all of the rock... still remained wet from the same 54g rubbermade to the tank.

6. Finally, what are your current parameters, and did you check the parameters of the tub prior to the reaquascaping transfer?

PH: 8.3 - 8.4
Calc: 440
Alk: 9
Ammonia: undetected
Nitrite: undetected
Nitrate: .03
Phosphate: undetected

Like I mentioned, all of the coral are out at night which would lead me to believe it's a lighting thing.

Also, going from 250W MH on a 25g tank to only 350W on a 100g tank would mean you are significantly reducing the light delivered because of the larger footprint of the tank, as well as the areas illuminated by the new bulb/reflectors.

Although the watt to gallon ratio is much less as compared to my 25g the intensity is greater since the corals have the potential of being under 350w as compared to 150w. I think we need to look at the par values being much greater in the 100g even though the ratio is off.

Just as a side note I've always had an open brain out in the sand of my 25 so I did the same with the 100g and it would only open at night... like most of the corals... yesterday before posting this question I moved the brain under a ledge in the 100g where it doesnt' get direct light and it opened right up and has been nice an puffy since.


I think more of what I'm asking is that... should I leave the corals where they are in the tank or move the ones that are being effected to a less lit area? Or should I lessen the amount of time the lights are on (12hrs currently) or something else?



Thanks for your help.

 

[aaron23]

where did you buy the base rock? and did you cure the dried base rock?

 

[fluidimagery]

I bought the base rock from reeferrocks.com (collectors series) Completely dry fiji. Not to promote a non MR sponsor but they were excellent.

 

[aaron23]

the base rock needs to be cycled. i purchased marco rocks and that stuff stank during the cycle. hm... reeferrocks says "Ready to add right into your tank. No special curing or exotic procedures like some base rock / hand made rocks being sold."
i would not just dump it in.... what makes their dry rock special that it doesnt need a cycle?

 

[fluidimagery]

What needs to be cycled? If there's nothing to die... what needs to be denitrified? I let the rock sit in the tank running without anything in it for about a week... but that was to just get the dust out.

 

[aaron23]

i would have thought that deep in the porous holes of the live rock once lived organic matter, when dried and rehydrated i would think it would need to be cured. the dried base fiji rock i purchased from marcorocks when put into a new batch of saltwater gave a yellow tint in the water... anybody have any suggestions?

 

[Will]

Scott,
From what AARON is saying ,I guess it's possible you could be going thru a "mini" cycle from the base rock but I would think that being the case you should detect some ammonia present. It happened to me when I went to a larger tank and added a sand bed , I went thru a small cycle . Even if that's the case, what you said about the Brain Coral leads me to believe you also have something going on with the lights.I might move some of the corals around and see if anything looks better.Thinking in terms of lighting going from the 150w to 350w is quite a jump and unless the tank is quite a bit deeper , maybe there is some shock from the light eh' just a thought...

 

[fluidimagery]

Not sure about the cycle... it's hard to believe anything was alive on those rocks... There is a little cycle going on with the exisiting live rock as there is some film on the glass / sand etc but the parameters of the water are fine.

I'm almost positive the problem is with the light. I'm just wondering if I should leave the corals where they are and they'll adjust on their own... or if I should keep moving them.

 

[Will]

As far as I know ,as soon as you take live rock out of the water , there will be some die off. The longer it is out , the more die off there will be. So just taking live rock from one tank and putting it in another can cause a small cycle.I have changed tanks many times and always noticed I had a small cycle. But if you're quick about transferring the rock the chances of it being noticable is slight I think. But I think that is the algae you're seeing.
As far as the corals I would leave them unless they start looking worse or bleaching in any way... Once I had corals bleaching just going from a 14K to 10K HQI bulb.
Keep me posted as to how the corals are doin'as I have just gotten my 58 RR Oceanic , so I will be doing the same thing as you just did except I 'm going to use 30 or so Lbs of Marcos dry rock.