Acer's build thread ( 3RMAS area)

[acer]

Been checking ALK every other day , have a pattern established now of adding about 10 ml of soda ash every other day to keep ALK at 7.3 - 7.7 . For whatever reason Ca+ is remaining stable with just weekly 15-20 gallon water changes. Haven't test Mg+ in over a week. I do think I had a huge issue if those dam tube snails that out out that stringy stuff that sticks to coral- have been killing them for over a month now. Started using additives from Korralin-Zuch = parts 1-4 and Coral Booster. I added 1/2 of recommend three days ago.

 

[kevinl]

It's been one week since you added those new corals picked up at the swap, how they looking?
Looks like you are running stable parameters, don't forget P04 & N03
It seems to me if you keep alk stable, however you do it, the Ca seems to stay stable as well.
Right now your getting the Ca from water changes, in the future you will need to up that with dosing it.
You're getting it now! Slow but sure, KISS, all those acronyms we use to keep it simple!
The days of you dosing today to fix the numbers for tomorrow are over!!!

 

[acer]

Yep - not chasing the numbers - but am aware of them. New frags from LEAR are Not doing great - that is why I started adding the Korralin- Zuch products. I also ordered a mail in test kit. New LEAR frags were having minimal polyp extension - no bleaching, so hopefully with the additional products they will make a comeback. Also had no wave lumps working due to the power outage. Great timing for that = 24 hours after introducing 10 new frags into my system!! ALK still doing well at 7.6 today. I will be testing for po4 and no3 today as well as testing new water that I mixed 1 hour before the power outage - was getting ready to do the water change - so it had to sit stagnant for 4 days in my mixing station -due to not having power Sunday thru Wednesday - reheating it and mixing for the past 24 hours.

 

[kevinl]

They will take time to adjust to your system.
Look for polyp ext at night (lights out).
A lot of my sticks don't have heavy polyp ext during the day.
Not sure what your adding now, in hopes it helps (IMO I wouldn't do that).
Don't get to down, you only got some stability 2 weeks before swap, give it more time.
Good things will not show in 2 to 3 weeks, it takes 2 to 3 months to see some results.
Post up your water test results when you get them!

 

[BIGGUN]

I still don't understand where your Alk is going. Calcium should be dropping too.

 

[acer]

Biggun- What do you mean- "where your Alk is going" - I am adding 10 ml of Soda Ash ever 2 days to keep the ALK between 7.3-7.7 . Also doing 15-20 gallon water changes weekly which keeps Ca+ up now - when I get corals to start growing again I will need to dose ( 2 part is the plan). Both my po4 = .19 and no3= 1-2 are higher than I traditionally liked - but started feeding more, including coral food in the past month. Not to mention that lately have been reading that those parameters are actually good. I have very little growth ( only Zoas are growing) - hence the issue of why I began to test and post more to figure out why Acros/sps are not thriving. Never had issues like I have had in the last 6 months. I used to just add some Kalk occasionally to my ATO to keep up PH/Alk/Ca+ to good levels. But, since I lost most my Acros/sps last fall I decided to do this "right" instead and actually use the Apex and the BRS dosers I have. First have to figure out what the heck is the reason for the poor sps/acros survival. And figure out how much I need to dose. Last fall I was using Reef crystals ( ALK of 10+) and Kalk in my ATO - which may have caused a ALK to swing too high killing most of my SPS/ACROs and I also also lost most my Macro algae in my refugium. NO idea what came first the chicken or the egg so to speak as I was not testing regularly ( bad reefer , bad). Switched to other salts that have lower ALK and now using Fritz pro - mixes to Alk of 8, ca 450, Ph of 8. Does that answer your questions?

 

[BIGGUN]

Sort of but the alk and calcium should be dropping together. So if you're water changing is keeping your Calcium up, it should also be keeping your alk up.... especially if the new water is at 8.0. That being the case controlling Alk with Kalkwasser or 2 part should keep everything balanced and lead to easier fixes if things do swing out of line.

Not sure why the Alk would drop faster than the calcium.

 

[hybridazn]

How often are you testing calcium?

 

[acer]

My understanding is that Zoas, softies, LPS use up ALK more than Calcium. That would explain the ALK being used faster than Calcium. Not testing calcium as often as ALK. Today's tests will be Ca+, Po4, No3, Alk. My Calcium test is a Hanna checker which others have said lacks good accuracy. So IDK? Since my ALK was so low I actually purchased a second test kit ( Salifert) to check the Hanna checker. Lol. It showed the Hanna ALK tester is right on the money. I also puchased from Amazon the ATI- ICP OES kit to see if that turns up something.

 

[BIGGUN]

I didn't think that was the case. I thought that was just a misunderstanding of some saying that if you have softies you only have to worry about alk because low calcium shouldn't affect them were as low alk can. But because they sort of rely on each other in balance it was determined that even in softy tanks you're better off dosing in balance to make stability easier to maintain.

dang it. Now I have something else to research.

 

[BIGGUN]

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-12/rhf/index.php

OK. So now my head hurts. But I think all processes that use up alk in our reefs use a balanced amount of calcium except for a slight amount of shift due to Mg and Strontium taking the place of calcium in skeletal structures. But for those amounts to be detectable should be months in the making.

I think I would take care of alk with 2 part until the calcium was pushing 500. Then if my alk wasn't holding steady with the calcium not climbing anymore I would have to rethink everything.

Good luck with it all. Keep posting so we can follow along.

 

[acer]

Test results today

ALK ( Salifert)= 8.0
Ca+ ( Hanna)= 434
No3 ( red Sea)= 2-4. This concerns me greatly.
PO4( Hanna ultra) = .19
Mg+= 1290

This is before my scheduled 20 gallon water change.

What the heck is going on with the No3??!! Running Gfo only, no longer running carbon or using filter socks for the past 2 months.

 

[BIGGUN]

No3 doesn't seem alarming so much as the PO4. Lots of guys running NO3 at 5-10 or higher with the PO4 approaching .2

 

[acer]

Ok , here we go. Pink Birdsnest frag purchased at LEAR,looked fine until a few days ago. Now this:

 

[golfer88]

looks like bite marks

 

[acer]

I would agree, but never see fish doing it. Possible culprits are Foxface, goldrim tank, Blue throat trigger, Regal Angel (not in tank the last time), pygmy Angel.

 

[loui]

I agree something is nipping at it.

I also agree with Kevin I wouldn't be to concerned with NO3 that high or PO4 as long as u keep up with the GFO shouldn't be an issue. The corals will tell you if they like what you are providing if they seem stress then u need to be concerned with what ever is out of whack.

 

[acer]

Well.. just because I am getting irritated I went over the Reef Gallery and had Jaime tank a look at that coral and look for bugs= none. Just tissue necrosis. They testes Alk again= 8.0, and PO4 was .27 ... Not great. So hmm.

 

[kevinl]

I thought bugs as well, could be fish nipping.
What you didn't show in those pics, the entire bottom of that coral was gone.
as, when I first looked at it, I looked at the missing patches here and there but also noticed the bottom was all white.
The bottom does not look like fish nipping.

 

[kevinl]

ur gfo must be depleted, 4 days ago u reported 1.9
gfo can be dangerous if miss used, especially sps.
Same as alk, u have to test it regularly until u get a feel what your product is doing for u.