jhale

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So I'm sure many of you have asked the question, what would win in a fight a 3 year old acropora colony or a tunze 6080.

If you had to place a bet what would you do? If you bet on the tunze then you made the smart bet.

I found out the hard way, and I did not get to place any bets either.
While i was away a tunze 6080 turned in it's mount. It is normally pointed at the back wall. Somehow it spun and faced a large acropora insignis colony for a few days, from about 5" away.

It was a domino effect, the insignis was killed, the tissue fell off and it took out all the surrounding colonies. two blue cali torts, a small limeade, and a couple other large old colonies of acropora.

This is the outcome of the tunze mayhem
(I took this after cutting back many dead branches)

JHL_0187.jpg

the rescue

that's what I came home to. After assessing the damage and calling the tunze a few choice words I grabbed a bucket and a small diameter hose.

This is for the benefit of new SPS keepers. Do you see the slimey dead tissue in the photo? That is what went from colony to colony and killed the corals that were no where near the flow of the tunze. As SPS dies if there is coral next to it, it will be effected by it's neighbor. The dead tissue creates havok and will cause almost all SPS within it's proximity to also begin to RTN.

The first thing I did was to use the hose to suck the dead tissue off the skeletons. You do not want any of the tissue to float off the coral and get blown aroud the tank! After i had removed as much dead tissue as possible I carefully took the rocks out of the water.

JHL_0188.jpg

I began cutting the branches off with the frag cutters and placed all the untouched coral into the frag tank. The coral that had begun to RTN I chiseled and cut away as much of the dead parts as I could. I then used IC Gel super glue and applied it to the parts of the coral that had tissue missing. This will have the effect of cauterizing the wounded part, and hopefully stopping the RTN. It's important to glue into the healthy part of the tissue. Make sure you covering the entire dead patch of tissue

the aftermath

After chopping and gluing this is most of what was lost.
Note that the top branches of the large coral are missing from the photo.
They were the first thing I removed and threw in the garbage.

JHL_0191.jpg

As of tonight all the coral that was left is alright. The tissue recession stopped, so the glue did the trick.

So would anyone like some acropora skeletons at the frag swap? :arg:
 
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jhale

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I hope it helps someone Randy. BTW the pvc coupler in the last shot is what I used to place the colonies and large frags in the frag tank. there was no room left on the racks so they are on the fittings in the sand bed.
 

jhale

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by the way, that coral is tough! I was smashing it with the hammer and screwdriver and having trouble getting through the thick parts.
 
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Sorry for your loss, Jonathan. The feeling of losing even a little of an established colony sucks. I've also been pretty surprised at the density of some of the skeletons. I know there are a lot of different parameters that can effect the density but some colonies require the rough stuff lol.
















































should have used a Vortech :sgrin:.
 

jhale

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heh , true a vortech can't turn. I have one, I just got 2 more yesterday, thanks herman ;) jk they are on loan :)

I might try the tunzes on some wavy sea's . also one thing to note is my low 20" high tank has reached it's limits. the coral is growing above the powerheads, not a good mix in hindsight . oh well time for an upgrade :Blurp: :theyareon
 

fali

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Sorry to hear your loss. Would a dremel work better to cut the skeleton rather than a hammer and chisel?
 

jhale

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a dremel would be more precise. but it makes an awful smoke and sends sps shards flying when you cut through thick skeletons. also the rock was wet and at the time you are rushing to get the living coral back in the water as quick as possible. taking the precautions needed to dremel a wet rock would have taken too much time. A hammer and cold chisel would make quicker work of it. for some reason I grabbed that skinny screwdriver.
 

gnatp2

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Sorry J, that REALLY sucks.

I think the Tunze's are fighting back. This weekend one of my Tunze 6100's turned about 30 degrees and was blasting my Blue Stag... Luckily I caught it before a disaster. Very very strange..... It thought it was just a fluke, but I"m guessing that this is more common. Time to superglue its position down.

Nate
 

jhale

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Steve, thanks :) that's the dedicated reef hammer :smash:

Al, in the tank it's all gone. I'm not sure if i have any frags of it in the frag tank.

That was one of the first acro's i got, they were little frags three years ago from steve/stingnyc. I grew three large colonies out of them, sold two kept that one.
Accidents like this show how fragile things are in a reef tank.

It also illustrates how important it is to plan all the details. Flow can kill!
 

JBNY

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That's stinks Jon. A Tunze wll make short work of a colony if it is contstantly on. I found out the hard way too a few years ago. If you set the tunze to pulse though, I have seen them right in front of acro colonies and the acro was fine.
 

jhale

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Al and Scott, thanks I think I made frags of everything before this happened.
There is so much in the frag tank now I'm having trouble picking them out.

Joe, this was a 6080 :eek: no control.

i like the tunze on a wavy sea idea
 
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