Chemical warefare of water change needed?

[Anemone]

Well, leathers are known to produce some of the most powerful chemical toxins, with especially strong effects on LPS corals, so your open brain could definitely be effected.

That said, "powerful skimming" should address these organic toxins. You might try some activated carbon to see if maybe some type of toxin is not being removed by the skimmer.

Finally, if I'm reading your message correctly, you have powerful skimming and multiple corals, but you are doing no water changes and no supplementation? Both the skimming and the corals remove elements (both trace and otherwise), and you need to have some mechanism to replace these elements. I favor frequent water changes (which might also address the build up of anything harmful in the system that might be negatively effecting your corals).

Kevin

[ October 11, 2001: Message edited by: Anemone ]

 

[suckair]

Thank you, for taking the time to read my thread. I first have listed some background on my two systems and gave some observations before asking my questions.

System 1
120 show, 54 refugium, calcium reactor, Iwasaki 250w lighting.
DSB sand bed, Jubert plenum. 1200gph water flow. Powerful skimming " A mixture of LPS, SPS, and Soft corals. Devils hand, brown leather, yellow leather, branching yellow porties, encrusting porties and a few LPS.
Established for 2 years Water testing shows normal readings "no water changes"

System 2
105 tall, no refugium, calcium reactor, Iwasaki 250w Lighting.
DSB sand bed, 2000gph water flow, Powerful Skimming
No real live stock except a few fish and mushroom anemones at time of introduction of animal.
Established for 2 months. Cycle of 100lbs of live rock complete all water testing show normal readings. "No water changes"


Problem:
Poor polyp extension on Open brain coral located in system 1 and then later when moved to system 2. I have had the animal for over a year and did not observe much growth or notice any health problems with the animal.


Observations:
When I setup system 2 I moved my open brain over to that system and was amazed at the great polyp extension. It was a 200% improvement! Later I moved over one of my brown leather colonies "basket ball size" and moved a colony-sized frag of my devils hand coral. The polyp extension of the open brain faded away and was similar to the extension it displayed when it was in system 1. Both systems run at 80deg and have similar lighting, water markup, and health. The brown leather I moved to system 2 from system 1 has showed great growth. The same rate of growth has been observed as when it was in system 1.

Questions:
Is this a sign of chemical warfare or a sign of trace element consumption requiring an additive or water change? Is it possible to mix leather corals with SPS and LPS colonies?

Thanks
Randall AKA suckair