[CaseyH]

Well, I found a fresh/saltwater Calcium test kit (Hagen/Nutrafin $8 online @ Dr FosterSmith) and will order it and test my fresh source water. Living in the desert (SoCal) I bet the clacium is high. The good news is my LFS sells ocean water collected by a boating company miles off shore from Catalina Island... nothing better than Mother Nature's own mix (I just wish I could just pipe it in from Hawaii)! It is pretty inexpensive as well.

Bad news is I was told my delicate corals, clams and anemones may have been destroyed by Bristleworms! :eek: I bought a trap and may add a Six Line Wrasse to take care of the problem. NO MERCY! We will see what happens when I check the trap in the morning. I did a water change tonight and removed the skeleton of my last Fungia coral and found a sand worm tube attached to the center of the bottom.

Come to think of it, just about every coral that has not made it has had a similar tube attached to its base, directly in the center of the coral on the bottom. Do Bristleworms make sand tubes, like other Annelids???? I heard they like to live in live rock instead. To think I have been thinking it was a high calcium/SG problem (which is an issue) but it was down to 550ppm tonight with my recent efforts to gradually reduce the SG from 32 to 30.

We shall see what happens...

[CaseyH]

Well no luck with the trap, and I did a midnight flashlight check and no sign of any bristle worms. Will try again for a few nights. I did figure out the sand tubes are small tube worms, and I guess even if they are attched to the bottom of a coral, they should be harmless. Maybe the elevated calcium level is the problem????

[RyanG]

I doubt that sand tubes are a result of high calcium levels, they usually come from hitchhiking from your live rock.

[CaseyH]

I did a little research and I think the sand tubes are harmless tube worms that come with the live sand I use. At night you can see little tiny white flagella sticking up from the sand and waving around in the current, just simple filter feeders and I guess not harmful to coral. The bristle worm trap has caught nothing in two nights and I think that is not the problem.

So it is back to the high calcium issue as the probable cause of not being able to keep corals very long. I wondered (when I get the calcium under control) what is the best reef supplement I could be dosing my tank with?

Really enjoying this site and thanks again for the help!

[RyanG]

I use kalwasser to dose my tank with, using the auto top off water, this gets me consistent results.

[Brians125]

C-Ballance is a good 2 part supplement............... if your calcium is over 500 that would make your whole tank white like a snow storm.....are you sure the calcium is over 500?

[bspstang]

What is your PH? You can have calcium over 500 if your PH was off.