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FAQs on Marine Water Quality involving Iron

Related Articles: Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, PhosphateDiatomsWater Purification Using Reverse Osmosis, Water ChangesWater QualitySynthetic or Natural Seawater, Nitrates

Related FAQs: Nitrates, NitritesAmmonia, PhosphateChemical FiltrantsDiatom Control 1RO/DI & Distilled Water 1,

red Goniopora question   4/2/12
<... our guidelines call for maximum file sizes of a few hundred Kbytes... yours is 5.5 megs... WHY?>
Greetings WWM crew,
I've been having a problem with my established red ORA Goniopora,
<... misplaced. And you haven't searched, read ahead of writing us. Do so:

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/poritidhlthfaqs.htm
and the linked files above. Follow directions or go elsewhere. Bob Fenner>>
 which has not opened in about ten days.  It's been thriving in my 90 gallon reef tank for about 15 months, growing from  the size of a golf ball (when closed) to tennis ball size now.  It has not been moved, T5 lighting hasn't changed (bulbs around 6 months old), I'm still using the same salt mix (salinity) and my own RO/DI water.  Everything else in the tank looks great; all fish are happy and eating well, and all other corals are wide open and growing quickly (including a green Goniopora that's been in the tank for about 6 months).  I did recently add a small yellow mimic tang and pencil wrasse, but I've never seen either mess with the red goni and they were together for about 2 weeks before the coral closed up shop.  Also, the red goni shows no signs of tissue degeneration: the polyps aren't pulled in super tight, but are not extending at all.  For the first few days I thought that maybe it just wasn't hungry, but now am starting to worry.
All the tank parameters look good, except that the ph has been a little low, 7.9-8.1 (which is typical in my aquarium).  Readings are as follows: sg 1.026; calcium 420, alkalinity 13.4 dKH, ammonia and nitrite 0, phosphates .36ppm (also typical in my tank).  I run carbon and phosphate reactors (using SeaChem matrix carbon and Brightwell extrax Phos), and switched out all media a few days ago.  Also, I have extra carbon and poly filter pads between sump chambers that all tank water passes through.  I regularly supplement with coral color, vitamin C and Iodine.  I have not checked Magnesium or Iodine lately but will tonight.  Also have plentiful macro algae and copepods in refugium lit with T5's This tank receives weekly 10-15% water changes, and the critters inside get a varied diet of frozen, pellet, and (targeted) liquid foods daily (with the return off for about 45 minutes).
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.  This coral is the star of my tank and would be a devastating loss.  2 pictures attached, 1 close-up of goni, 1 full tank
Thanks much for your ever invaluable assistance,
Eric

Re: red Goniopora question   4/2/12
Sorry Bob
<Eric! Our rinky dink webmail program has too limited a storage/size... ALL has to be expediently processed or the mail starts getting kicked back>
I didn't even think about the size of the attachments.  As for reading ahead: I did read ahead but couldn't find the answer
<READ please re the genus on WWM... HAS to be set on the substrate (sand, mud ideally), ALL polyps have to be individually fed... NEEDs high nutrient levels... B>

Goniopora update, Fe saves   4/14/12
Greetings Crew
<Eric>
I emailed about ten days ago about a declining red ORA Goniopora that had stopped opening for over two weeks.  Bob chastised me for sending in pictures that were larger than allowed,
<Sounds about right>
and referred me to the FAQ pages; however, the only info I found there indicated that I should not have the animal in the rockwork but in the sand bed (I have two in my tank, both about 4 inches off the sand on rock ledges, that have been doing great for 6 months (a green one), and 15 months (a red one)).
I moved the red one to the sand, and while its condition did not improve, several of the polyps along the base of the coral died.  Thus, I moved it back to its earlier spot.  I recently bought the Coral Color Pro kits which provide a test for Iron, and which showed that my iron had indeed reached a very low level.  I upped it with the coral color C product, and voila, within 24 hours the Goniopora began to open up, and in 72 hours it had returned to its normal, healthy condition.
<Ahh!>
I hope this information can help others who have declining Goni's, so thought I would share.
<I thank you>
As always, much appreciation for your site and helpful assistance.
Eric
<Cheers, BobF>

Rust  ~ 01/12/09 Thanks for all you guys do, its so nice to have this resource. <Thank you!> I hope this is a simple yes or no question, but what is in this hobby... Will small amounts of rust in a reef or fish only tank contribute to nuisance algae outbreaks? <Not without other fueling factors, really the least of your worries when it comes to algae.> Like a small wire rusting above the tank, and particles falling in over time? ( Bet you could guess I have a small rusting wire over my tank with an algae outbreak going on.) I have previously written you guys about the algae, and am systematically following your previous advice trying to track down the source. I realize there is lots more that can contribute, but for this email, I'm only interested in the rusty wire. <Not a big factor in the big picture. But by all means, remove or replace the rusty wire! If it is not in use you can certainly get rid of the thing. If it is in use, well, rusty wires are not a good thing!> Thanks, Ken. <Welcome, Scott V.>

URGENT: Staple fell into tank!  12/11/08 Hey, guys. I email quite frequently but haven't had a problem this urgent in a long time. <Jon> I have a 39G tank. I accidentally dropped a staple into the back chamber. Tried everything to remove it (mainly because I have no idea where it went). Tried using a long car magnet to try and recover it but nothing. <Good... better to use something a bit stronger... an algae scrubbing one...> Just wondering, will this have seriously deleterious effects on the tank or should doing a few decently large water changes over the next few months (along with weekly 10% changes) help the situation? - Jonathan <Mmm, thirty nine gallons... with the use of some decent (fresh) chemical filtrant that removes metals (PolyFilter, Activated Carbon), you should be fine here. Iron (Fe) is a sort of medium necessary element in most the life found on reefs. Bob Fenner>

Re: URGENT: Staple fell into tank!  -12/11/08
I think I will stop dosing Iron as I have been doing as well. All that extra Iron for free now (sarcasm)!
<Heeee!>
Thanks a lot, Bob. Was freaking out quite bad since there is a lot of money invested in the tank now via inverts.
- Jon
<This bit of added ferrous ion will not do any harm Jon... I've seen "downstream" the effects of large rusting ship hulks stuck on reefs... they're often more vibrant... BobF>

 



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