Helping a friend diagnose his tank problem

[tttony]

Helping a friend diagnose his tank problem,
My buddy has 1000 gallon aquarium fully stocked with LPS and lots of large fish.
thousand gallons with adequate filtration set up for a year. He recently added 300 pounds of Florida dry purple painted rock and immediately noticed the LPS coral starting to die or recede his Apex says the pH is fine anyone have any thoughts, I was over there tonight three months since the rock addition very few of the torch and hammer and Duncan corals have partial signs of life but no extension of polyps

 

[Payedjay]

Added new rock there your problem probably has a huge ammonia spike

 

[Jaydontlag_]

Perhaps the rock started leeching something in the water column. Agree could be a big ammonia spike, or high nitrate/phosphates.

 

[tttony]

Perhaps the rock started leeching something in the water column. Agree could be a big ammonia spike, or high nitrate/phosphates.

Yes perhaps, it was dry Florida rock , he lost a hundred lps heads, the next week


and after 3-6 months the few remaining heads have no tissue or just a little, no fish problems whatsoever

After 3-6 months you would think his 6 foot sump and the 700 lbs of rock would have rebalanced itself?

 

[piranhapat]

Added new rock there your problem probably has a huge ammonia spike

Yes, totally agree if your tank is crashing..Are you losing fish.? Test ammonia, Not sure if ammonia will kill coral. You want to keep the PH low so ammonia goes to ammonium which is less dangerous. Don't do a water change until ammonia goes down.Thats if your reading high ammonia. Water change will raise Alk which will raise PH which will raise ammonium to ammonia. Remove the rocks if that was the cause of spike ..

 

[tttony]

Yes, totally agree if your tank is crashing..Are you losing fish.? Test ammonia, Not sure if ammonia will kill coral. You want to keep the PH low so ammonia goes to ammonium which is less dangerous. Don't do a water change until ammonia goes down.Thats if your reading high ammonia. Water change will raise Alk which will raise PH which will raise ammonium to ammonia. Remove the rocks if that was the cause of spike ..

No fish were lost, huge unicorns, healthy fat blue tangs , eating and growing,
Is there anything else, several reputable shops have tested his water, says fine ,

But the lps are in major recession

 

[Timfish]

What are the other parameters? What's being dosed? How frequent are water changes before adding the rock? What is the time frame, how long ago did this happen? What specifically is "Florida Purple" rock? If it's CaribSea's purple "Life Rock" it wouldn't have that effect. If it's al knock off of CribSeas's it's anybody's guess as to what's on it.

 

[polywise]

rock is "painted" ?

 

[tttony]

What are the other parameters? What's being dosed? How frequent are water changes before adding the rock? What is the time frame, how long ago did this happen? What specifically is "Florida Purple" rock? If it's CaribSea's purple "Life Rock" it wouldn't have that effect. If it's al knock off of CribSeas's it's anybody's guess as to what's on it.

Here are the northern Atlanta area there’s several high-end Aquarium shops that tested the water that’s all I know , secondhand information. There is a 500 gallon mixing station and he does religious water changes. He does have a French angel , two porcupine puffers , Picasso triggerfish etc. and several large tangs , he said the corals in the hundreds LPS we’re doing fine until the addition of the rock. It’s manufactured and sold by a company called addictive Reef company that gets some calcified coral rock and paints it with a polymer supposedly reef safe

 

[tttony]

rock is "painted" ?

The rock is painted with some kind of polymer supposedly it’s Reef safe he sells it on eBay and has a thriving Aquarium sales company. And supposedly in other tanks the corals are fine that have the rock, the question is the addition did something suddenly and has not rebounded?

 

[Timfish]

Regarding the supposed results of the "painted" rock in other system by the manufacterer, there's a few questions. What are the various applications it supposedly worked in? Was it a new ssytem where the cycling prcess eleminated any toxins released? If added to an existing system what was the time between manufacture and installation for the systems it didn't cause problems and your freinds? What is the cure time needed for the paint? What VOCs are released duing cure time? Are there any other customers that have had similar problems?

As far as the system what's being dosed? Labile dissolved organic carbon additions (DOC), aka carbon dosing, can cause issues with corals. Is there any synergestic effect between what's being dosed and the new "painted" rock. Nuisance algae will release DOCs into the water that are detrimental to corals, one scenario I've seen is a few corals die and buisance algae starts to proliferate which has a negative impact on the remaining corals and a feedback loop is created slowly killing off the hardier corals. Cryptic sponges which ubiquitous and are essential recyclers in reef systems unfortunately will reinforce this feedback loop once it's started.

 

[homegrowncichlid]

The rock is painted with some kind of polymer supposedly it’s Reef safe he sells it on eBay and has a thriving Aquarium sales company. And supposedly in other tanks the corals are fine that have the rock, the question is the addition did something suddenly and has not rebounded?

Strange product. I'm assuming the paint is not permeable and has prevented leaching of internal nutrients?, since they are sealed in, but once you crack them open, scratch the surface, there may be release. Regardless, I'm just guessing, since water must be entering the rock as it hydrates? any dry rock should be cycled before use. I pick up dry rock from Florida every time I visit, they are just lying around everywhere. I have pieces with old paint or what looks like road paint on them. I cycled them fine. As for your specific case, it's possible there is a dead animal encased inside the rock and the old burrow opening has been painted over. Many possibilities could be hiding under the paint.

 

[Potacka]

Remove the new rock from the system?

 

[tttony]

Strange product. I'm assuming the paint is not permeable and has prevented leaching of internal nutrients?, since they are sealed in, but once you crack them open, scratch the surface, there may be release. Regardless, I'm just guessing, since water must be entering the rock as it hydrates? any dry rock should be cycled before use. I pick up dry rock from Florida every time I visit, they are just lying around everywhere. I have pieces with old paint or what looks like road paint on them. I cycled them fine. As for your specific case, it's possible there is a dead animal encased inside the rock and the old burrow opening has been painted over. Many possibilities could be hiding under the paint.

There are quite a few people who have this rock, painted and unpainted.
The question was a friend who had 1000 gallon tank fully stocked with Cora‘ls doing well recently added a few hundred pounds of dry rock to his tank
and noticed most of all his corals LPS torch and Hammerhead‘s receding
that’s the only question
the product is well used and known in my area painted and unpainted
It’s dry Florida rock