A good vid on all that can and will go wrong for reef keepers.

[Stan510]

I've dealt with all this back in the 1995-2005 and then stopped with the die offs,the melts, and the adding of more and more equipment. That whole thing where a reef is thriving..then diving? Too much headache. All those great Xenia's melting overnight...Caulerpa bleaching overnight. Yes the good times were great- A Sarcophyton I had dominated the whole middle of a 55 gallon. Then,it went into decline The same everything no longer worked.
Plants can melt and die away in freshwater too. Right now my Tiger Lotus..just floated free with no roots. The stem looked liked I had dipped it in liquid iron- a very strong rust color. But overall..none of the larger plants has done a reef on me. Or the fish. Fish die and when its over three years old,maybe its just the odds of some don't
live six years like they say. like that.
Anyways here's the truth and honest history of a well known Reefer.

 

[StevenF]

The primary reason or plants to die is lack of nutrients in the water. there are 14 nutrients that must be in the water for plants to live and grow. No nutrients,no plants. And many fertilizers are designed with the assumption that your tap water will provide some or most of the nutrients plants need. I use RO water (which is as clean as rain water in my tanks and I couldn't keep plants alive even with a fertilizer. I never found a fertilizer that worked for me until I made my own. it wasn't easy and and I have made a number of mistakes but Now I get reliable growth.

The same thing has been observed with coral. coral like plants needs nutrients and the primary source is the sea salt in the tank. Some real keepers use lab tests to measure the numeral content in the water. And they have found that over time some minerals will be depleted from the wate. Mostly it is calcium and magneisum depletion but others have reported iodine and silicon. No one quick solution to the issue is to do a water change new sea salt. Others use the lab test and then just addd the middomh nutrient.

 

[Stan510]

Like he said ,as time goes by you can get sloppy or not pay attention to tests..not made. The result is a one day wipeout. The worst case I know of was a president of the New York area salt water club I guess you could call it. He had a custom aquarium of 3,000 gallons..it went through two rooms of his large house. He had paid employees to keep it up. One whole room was the filter and all the rest. One day..something happened that kill everything..all the fish,all the corals. He just stopped. Told me that he had collected corals intensely for five years and wasn't going to do that again.
He converted to a freshwater plant aquarium. His worries are over.
He even deleted the video of the marine aquarium. What I would do.

 

[Stan510]

Also- you have any idea why my Tiger Lotus- that was getting large..just stopped growing roots ? and the stem looks rust red..half of it broke off just examining it. Its the only plant in the whole 240 gallon that isnt doing well. Just it.
Can you over iron a TL?

 

[SomethingsFishy24]

Also- you have any idea why my Tiger Lotus- that was getting large..just stopped growing roots ? and the stem looks rust red..half of it broke off just examining it. Its the only plant in the whole 240 gallon that isnt doing well. Just it.
Can you over iron a TL?

Tiger lotus are nutrient sinks. They are greedy, if you haven't given it a root tab, I would.

At times Tiger lotus can also go into a state of dormancy. It will be drawing nutrients back into the bulb from the leaves. Not %100 on what triggers it, but it can last weeks to months. As long as bulb if firm, leave it be, it will begin to sprout again when it "wakes up"

 

[PheonixKingZ]

Like he said ,as time goes by you can get sloppy or not pay attention to tests..not made. The result is a one day wipeout. The worst case I know of was a president of the New York area salt water club I guess you could call it. He had a custom aquarium of 3,000 gallons..it went through two rooms of his large house. He had paid employees to keep it up. One whole room was the filter and all the rest. One day..something happened that kill everything..all the fish,all the corals. He just stopped. Told me that he had collected corals intensely for five years and wasn't going to do that again.
He converted to a freshwater plant aquarium. His worries are over.
He even deleted the video of the marine aquarium. What I would do.

I honestly don’t blame him. People don’t realize that reefing isn’t a hobby, it’s a lifestyle. It takes so much time to master and maintain and you worry half the time about all your coral dying.