Hola fellow fish s,

My xenia have all up and died on me. I pulled them out as soon as I saw they were dead, but the tank water STINKS! I did a 20% water change.....still stinks.

Suggestions? Are my other corals in danger?

Do you run carbon? If not get some in there. Also, I would have done a little bigger water change if the water was that bad off. How much xenia did you have!??!

Just a couple small pieces actually (2-3" each). They were larger when I got them, but they all shrivel up and darken under my lights, but they normally live that way indefinitely. I had one die and they all seemed to follow suit.

Carbon is only a couple weeks old, should I change it out already?

What lighting do you have??  I agree that carbon usally only seems to last about a week or so.  I would change it out and test for nitrates.

Mark Peterson wrote: IMO Carbon only lasts about a week.

Improdigal, congradulations on finding a way to get rid of your xenia! How did you do it, I want to know!  Honestly, sorry that happened. I suggest running activated carbon (do you know where to place it for the best results?) and doing a couple more water changes if needed. But how much was really in there? My tank will stink a bit when I propogate my xenia (I call it weeding my reef) and it will clear in a couple of hours. And I have alot of xenia!

Hi Carl,

I had very little xenia actually.

I'm curious about proper placement of the carbon. The person I bought it from just had a mesh bag full of carbon floating in the sump, so I've just done the same, I just refill the bag with new carbon. Any probs with that?

To extend the life of the media you can backflush it or simply rinse it out in fresh water.

Carl, does the backflush only work on organics & in-organics that are adsorbed??  or both adsorbed/ absorbed??  It is my understanding after AC has absorbed all it can there is no way to clean and re-use it. 

At any rate I agree it's impossible to tell someone else how long their carbon will last in their system but I have found in my systems that after a week or so the carbon does not seem to be doing as much... or at least I don't have the clear water associated with running carbon.  A lot also depends on the quality of carbon you purchase. 

Personally I have gone from running carbon 24/7 and changing it out monthly to running it around once a month for a week and it seems to be working.

improdigal wrote: I'm curious about proper placement of the carbon.

Travis wrote:  Carl, does the backflush only work on organics & in-organics that are adsorbed??  or both adsorbed/ absorbed??

You pretty much have it Travis. The media has these tiny little cracks all over it which does two things. It increases the surface area for what can be absorbed (metals with most AC) and creates these little caverns that trap (ADsorb) particulate. Larger debris will get trapped or ADsorbed in between particles of media also.

Backflushing media by either reversing flow through it or running fresh water over it removes particulate contaminants. How this extends the life of the media is because it opens more surface area for contaminants to be ABsorbed as well as room for additional particulate to be ADsorbed.

I really think that there is a misconception of what Activated Carbon really does. It is not a cure-all and is generally "designed" to remove a target set of contaminants. Particulate is best removed by a seperate media, such as filter paper, mesh screen, cellular plastics or other material, etc. Anything to remove particulate to a desired particle size without saturating the media too quickly.

I agree with Shane though, I wouldn't worry about too much residual contamination with just a small population. They just stink for a bit, do some water changes and it shall be completely satisfactory. (for the kids... It's all good).

acerob wrote: Q. Why is it that every time I stick my hands in my tank I knock something over??

How come everytime I do ANYTHING to my tank all hell breaks loose (today's catastrophe thanks to a dead Xenia and a water change).

improdigal wrote: How come everytime I do ANYTHING to my tank all hell breaks loose (today's catastrophe thanks to a dead Xenia and a water change).

 Welcome to one of the joys of the hobby. I learned not too long ago that it may be best to do less. We cannot control Mother Nature. Sure, we can influence her, we can establish and maintain certain parameters within our reefs. But, we must realize that we actually have less control over what happens in our systems than we think. Just do your best, but don't overdo it. Sit back and enjoy your tank more than work in it. Changes in nature are a progression generally so the animals have time to adjust. And when they are sudden, it is usually catastrauphic. With the limited amount of volume in even the largest aquariums, small changes can be felt large scale. So even when you think that something is drastically wrong, it usually may be best to not panic and make small adjustments. But, that's just my opinion.