Dream Reef Tank - Trouble in Paradise?! 

One of the main reasons why I watch your videos is the honesty you provide good or bad. Not many RU-vidrs share the bad. Sucks things like these happen but gives us opportunities to learn more about the “wildlife” we capture in an enclosure.

Bravo Zulu. Great job on showing us the reality of a successful reef tank

great video mate. so happy you show everything about your reef tank, doom and gloom. Really shows that all these issues can happen to anyone at any time! Ill keep my eye out for Aussie Stripey for ya :)

Loved the update mate and so intuitive, also so glad that you show the good and the bad in this hobby as like you say its not all sunshine and roses, and every Reefer at some point will come into issue's, flat worms are major issue's on Euphilia as you know, and can only see at night time when the coral retracts, as you say take your time. And you will get there in the end. Love the other video with my mate Lee's tank, great video 👍👍

Great advice Sam! Alot of people including myself panic when there's a situation with our tanks. Your approach and advice will be the fist thing I watch during my next reefing debacle. Be safe and have a good weekend!

Been following for a while from Maryland, USA Love your videos!!! 😊

Great video mate, very informative!

I'm sorry to hear about the problems you are having. About the Euphyllia, I had flat worms in a torch and a frogspawn , and they were receding like yours. My LFS told me to do a deep with Dettol Antiseptic Solution, 1mm in 10mm of RODI mix it well and then fill up with a litre of tank water. No more than 2 minutes and blast it with Turkey baster , the flat worms melted and was a lot of them. I repeat the same one a week for 3 or 4 weeks because of the eggs, and now they are thriving. See you at fragarama. I hope you have time for a coffee.

Ads are still rolling and I’ve already liked the video.

I m in the same boat with you and our tanks are the same age. My problems for LPS was bacteria. I know it was because as soon as I start adding bacteria, the dying process stopped. Old tank syndrome. Had a stripey and eat all my aphasia but also my red cynarina. I stopped the cve+ as well and dose bacteria. Best thing ever.

Great video and amazing tank mate 👌🏻

I hope you get it sorted out Sam best of luck . Look forward to meeting you at Fragorama

Yeah not sure if even season at the moment , I’ve got a few pieces STN’ing at the moment , parameters aren’t fine no more than normal nutrient wise , no new fish, did have an ALK spike a month ago so putting it down too that, not just one piece either, tried the fragging part on a nice piece too but like you only one has survived so far & more bits are continuing to strip slowly , I’ve been testing alk like a trident manually & keeping it as stable as possible, not sure what else mine could be…. All my LPS seem fine touch wood, I’ve got my upgrade tank in & now thinking do a full LPS system now & if any SPS survive they go with the transfer if not wasn’t meant to be unfortunately 🤷🏻‍♂️😢. Good luck your end , all the best fella.

Hey sam , nothing worse than having some dramas but your not alone as you said we all have these problems and it is very disheartening when you invest so much time and money on this hobby to have things go wrong, hopefully you will get some answers from the ICP test sounds like your on the right track to finding the cause, all the best with it👍

Finally caught up on all the dream reef tank series. Thanks for the effor that went in to making them. Was great to be able to see how everything developed over time. While you are in Canberra checking out Beyond Aquariums, will you pop around the corner to see Canberra Marine as well? Just a couple of blocks up the road and run by a nice fella who I've always found very helpful to our local aquarium community here. Either way, great to have the interest in our little neck of the woods.

hello from America! I'd suggest If you haven't checked (really checked) all your magnets lately on powerheads, impellors, skimmer, frag rack, sensors (anything magnetic) I would go through and check those. I was having similar issues recently and I found a few magnets were rusty. I luckily notice a couple of them after the magnet had dried out the rust showed up better. Anyway, sorry to hear about your issues, hope you find the cause soon.

Good luck my friend 🤞 Im sure youll figure it out 🙏

IDK how specific the bubble algae treatment is, but curious if dosing some phytoplankton afterwards [or something to ensure the system didn’t get out-of-balance] could help.

Great video as always!stn is such a pain.my miyagi was thriving and started to shed flesh.fortunatly i fragged it & have some nubs that are colouring up nicely.its gutting when you nurture a frag into a nice mini colony & have to start again 😭😂

Love the tank and videos. If I may say I know you want a natural look and let things grow but if it was me a would definitely trim back the sps and add even more powerheads.

I hope you figure it out! I'm very looking forward to hearing what the cause was!

ICP and some frequent water changes to reset the system is what I would do. To rule out other issues, a few nights after lights out of using a white colored flashlight will do wonders - can easily see bite marks or other signs of pests, can identify any critters that may be munching at night, can observe if you have polyp extension to gauge overall health. Lastly, I'd check for broken heaters, stray voltage, and all my magnets to see if anything looks off. My guess is you'll never figure out the issue and with patience and some water changes, things will rebound just fine.

I am no longer in the hobby, but was for 15 years and experienced all this. STN in my case was usually an indication of irritation and infection of the coral. Seeing your mixed reef with Euphies also experiencing problems I would of run Carbon heavy. Also check your MG and Potassium. Magnesium is critical to growith and color, along with Potassium. I would also up the feeding of the corals.

Hi Sam thanks for the footage I’m sure you will get your paradise back soon . I tackled this problem very recently by further lowering down the white spectrum keeping Kessil not more than 45% white and coral care not more than 45% white and with water temp high and low average changing due to season I lowered the intensity a bit as well . This is from an inexperienced reef keeper 😊

Tank still looking great Parker. Maybe time for a nice healthy system flush (larger volume water changes over several weeks) and blow the rock work out really well with a few power filters running. Recently did this and my pH shot through the roof and the system is running extremely well. I think blowing the rocks out opens up all the pours and lets the tank function and breathe much better. I used a MJ 1200 and went to town. Floss in the filter cups and two power filters sucks all the crap down with the pumps off.

My first thought was Heavy Metals, as what Nick said. Hopefully the test will nail it.

In part2 of your interview with Michael, How to make corals thrive!. Michael touches on low Barium . Below 5 . You can get RTN’s and STN’s. Might be worth a look. Love your tank tours !

Sorry to see and hear this mate. For the benefit of all, I’d like to share a #7th option to consider- bacterial. Fading colors, STN/RTN, melting torches/hammers are all classic signs of a bacterial problem. Consider getting some water to Eli over at AquaBiomics (or send to me and I’ll submit it for you). His 2x a month runs will give you answers quickly to know if one bacteria or group of them are causing this. If Cipro might be worth looking into (in tank or QT). Any questions mate hit me up. I can send you my AquaBiomics graphs if you’d like to see more. You got this!! Ps what’s the temp of the tank? Might also be worth cooling it down to help reduce stress. Just a thought ;)

Man that really sucks about the Euphyllia. 😢 After losing several thousand dollars in hammers and torches over the years, I finally quit keeping them. Sad because those corals are what got me into the hobby originally. I’ve always loved hammers and torches. Hope things turn around!!!!

I picked up a bit of liverock to put in my sump and guess what an aptasia. I now have little babies appearing up in the display. i need to get my hands on a stripy too. my peppermint shrimp don't touch them.

A 5L weed pressure sprayer filled with SW will help lift detritus from nooks and crannies and remove algae

Great advice mate, tank still looking awesome. Possible nutrients spike but I feel your pain, hard to pinpoint. I too have been battling aiptasia and a few months back I used Aiptasia X which may not have caused it but they just exploded after this. I've added some Bergia Nudibranches about a month ago but as yet they haven't touched it, patience is key with them I've researched. Still very annoying when Aiptisia is surrounding my hammer. Interested to see what your ICP comes back with. Still running the moonshiners?

Nice vid! I'll be curious to see your ICP results. It could very well be a few factors that have come close together. If you don't track dosing, changes in products, new things you do in the tank, observations of livestock in like an app or even in writing somewhere, recommend you do. Its helped me pin down any potential causes or problems by seeing what changes I made in the last month of a positive or negative observation on my tank. Did you use the Continuum stuff for bubble algae? I find it works well but on the 2 occasions I've used it, it's pissed off maybe LPS and SPS. Coupled with another stress like an increase in nutrients may of been enough to knock some coral over that stress threshold. I'm sure you'll get to the bottom of it either way. Hang in there ❤

For the hammers, check early in the morning way before the lights come on when the polyps are fully receeded, check for flatworm around the flesh band. I struggled with these pests for a while but that's the only thing i can think of.

Worth trying a couple of Tomentosus filefish in your system - I had one in my nano tank that cleaned up my whole aiptasia problem. They are also very small fish that can get into tight spots easier. Super cool fish to watch too! I know Williamstown aq has them for sale most of the time. Regarding your hammers, do you think they could be getting blasted with flow a little bit too much? I would personally change the position of that gold hammer and watch how it responds to lower flow.

Another very informative video Sam. Hopefully you can work out what is causing the STN issues soon. I’m following this with much interest. Always something to learn in our reefing hobby. Can I ask what fans you are running over the top of your tank? And what is making them oscillate?

The Dream Eeef is not allowed to have problems. I personally do not think your fish are the reason your sps are dying but I do think they are just finishing them off. For the aiptasia I know for you in Australia that peppermint shrimp might not be possible as you would need an army and you have some fish that might feed on them. Berghia nudibranchs do work. They are super expensive but if you get some and they start breeding one day a few months from now you will just notice they are all gone. One thing I noticed you did not mention that could be the culprit is something rusting in the system. A bad magnet a rusty fitting or a screw that fell into the sump. People tend to overlook this but is could explain why you are having issues with both sps and lps. I have heard of dipping in chemiclean to stop stn as well as bacterial infections in euphillya. Good luck. Hope you get back on track soon.

I’m no expert like you Parker. If I had to guess I would say the nitrate amount could be the issue for at least a few of those corals. Maybe the corals all have different issues, ie- not one issue is the main one.

How old is the sandbed? Given the bare spots in the front it looks like it may be collecting in some low flow hard to reach spots. That means over time there is also a detritus trap at that location with its own bacterial community that is slowly shifting the balance in the tank causing all kind of difficulties with nutrients and microelements and overall bacterial effects.

The Fox Face would be my prime suspect. They are know to nip at corals and it seems that the problems have started almost date coincident with him being added.

Learning never stops!😂

I'd say the Aiptasia is the issue. I went through similar issues and added a Stripey. Don't have Aiptasia issues anymore but lost two yellow tangs because the Stripey is so food focused and hogs it all.

I feel you with the aiptasia problem... once my CBB passed, my aiptasia population exploded. Have you kept an eye out on your filefish? I've had SO many problems with them, that I will never try them again.

Hi Parker Thanks for spreading so much of knowledge... I would suggest the following over and above what you are doing.. a flatworm treatment ( use korallen zucht Flatwork stop) along with coral booster... check on silicate in your RO water.. this causes a lot of aptesia and bubble algae in combination of nutrient spikes... and do a coral snow treatment twice a week to remove nutrients faster... for nitrate spikes use vodka and vinegar and sugar ... you may like to see how i create my RO water in my channel Reefj9 on youtube...

Hey Sam, how do you actually trouble shoot in these cases? When they're could be several reasons for the issues.

❤ I am so sorry it sounds like you have a lot going on. I hate to say it maybe tackle one thing at a time for sure. Check out the eating. Check out aptasia eating nudibronks sorry spelling driving. definitely get a external frag tank and frag out healthy corals, and then tackle other issues in the main display. You can save a lot of the corals and fix the issues and get it stable again . Plus you get to get a new system.🎉

First i would do is put polyfilter in your sump and if it changes colors then you got metal or somthing in your system the bag will tell you what you have from the color that is changed. Sec what is your ph at day and night. I have noticed the biggest rtn and stn problem is ph. Is ph is dropping at 7.4 at night and day is 8.2. Then that another problem that will cause stn and rnt. And third is stray voltage will also cause this to, but you will notice fish and corals having issues.

My sps started looking bad, I had an ICP and it showed high copper. Turns out my ro unit isnt cutting it! ive been topping up and making up my doseing with basically copper water!!!!!

Hi Sam, I've got a similar problem with Apttsia don't think I can get Australia Strippeis in the UK, do I've ordered a Aphasia eating file fish, I would like a copper band but I have an established sailing tang snd might best him up, what do you think Sam? Than you.

Would it make more sense to get Berghia nudibranchs than a stripey for those hard to reach aiptasia infestations?

Sorry to see this mate..couple of things you didn’t touch on…Source water! How old are your membranes and is your DI resin good? Is there any slime or BJD on the hammers? As someone said I might be time for a dose of cipro. I recently had something kick off in my too mate just effecting gonioporas. Hydrogen peroxide and KCI dips are also very helpful at halting bacterial infections. Hopefully you get to the bottom of it…I reckon it maybe your RODI Can’t wait for the “i found it update” All the best Wu Tang Clam

You could try a small banner fish for the aptasia, he destroyed my aptasia... but then my zoas and acans were next. So depends if you prefer coral with Aptasia or No Aptasia and healthy SPS

Do you test the water manually or do you rely on automatic testing 🤔

Morning, there was a shot in the video that had some cyano. Do you ever think there is a bacterial imbalance from using the bubble algae killer?

Following from Isle of Skye Scotland

What was the treatment for the bubble algae?

I had lemon damsels never touched anything, when they reached maturity they stripped my sps and I caught them nipping at lps

I'd pull the Chromis whether or not they're causing the corals death. You already know they fight with each other and bully other fish.

Hi adam.chromis are known to strip sps when breeding ive seen it happen hth

Even though it works and cleans up the rock when ive used in the pass "continuum clean" i have lost SPS after the short corse of using the product. 🤷

It's either something leaching in the water heavy metals, or bacterial. If nothing off with the ICP, it would be almost sure that it's bacterial.

Sam, we will be happy to run ICP test for you, hopefully that will help.

We nearly lost that 3m tank to 32ppm nitrates, we lost maybe 20% of the sps. 45 is cray cray 😅

Would it be an idea to make a video on how you film and photograph your tank? i am very interested in how to make quality video when i have my dream tank up and running.

Can you get a matted filefish? I had one of those take care of aptasia for me.

that lighting is insane the lighting must be 5k

That fimbriaphyllia might have a boring worm in it? You'd probably have to do an autopsy on the skeleton. Good luck!

Sorry you are having some troubles. Never fun. I'm not sure of any pest that would target both SPS and LPS. Have you considered flow? It looks like your SPS has become very dense with growth and perhaps some of the flow is being blocked? You really didn't mention ICP. I'm sure you are doing them for the moonshine. I'm sure you would have mentioned if anything stuck out in the ICP results. Like you said we all experience troubles from time to time. Best of luck. Tank still looks amazing despite the few problems you are facing.

In regards to your lps. Have you possibly looked into KFC (Kung Fu Corals) euphyllia dip recipe? It's supposedly life changing for flesh recision on Euphyllia.

Do the live stream. Great video and content

Heavy metals, rusting probe or equipment parts.

Maybe they got used to the high nutrients? My mixed reef is unhappy if my phosphate is under 0.10 and my nitrate is under 10! I usually run it around 10 nitrate and 0.10 phosphate, but any less and they sulk etc

Would try cipro

You don’t suspect your gold angle?

Would peppermint shrimp help your aptasia issue just a suggestion

I seen STN and RTN from my fellow reefer its sad but always happen in mature system maybe trace element is the issue with your system

Hey Buddy, aiptasia is a really annoying thing. Buy 10 wurdemanni shrimps and your problem will go away in 4-6 weeks. Greetings from Germany

Possibly stray electricity?

I came across an article that high magnesium levels cause that issue.. just an idea.

@parkers reef pls do a video on how flow is address in the dream tank

The truth is that I have been living in the cabinet

I've got lots of vermitid snails, and I can't get rid of them

Sounds like it could be a bacterial issue.

Low pH?

Pepper mint shrimp probio blast with a small dose of nitroposx my secret sauce for microbe problems

Run some antibiotics?

Just do water changes

Just get some peppermint shrimp they are cheap and love eating aptasia

Cipro time 500 mg per 100 gallon at night turn uv carbon off skimmer is ok to keep on 4 days in a row dose bacteria after

If ICP doesnt show anything funny I'd do a course of cipro.

If you add t5 lighting and remove some of the led your stn will stop. Led cast direct light and create shadows while t5 light crest true usable light with little to 0 shadows. I have had my shop 15 years t5 light will save most of this issue as the base will get the light it requires