Acro help!

[Dowtish]

Iiluisii is right. Par meters have a tough time with LEDs. The issue I see with people that switch from MH to LEDs is that they want the tank to look the same as it did with halides so they over light it. SPS react differently to LEDs than MH and don't require as much light as you see with you eyes or a par meter. I had the same issue. Over lit my tank and had no growth or color. Par meter said I didn't have enough light so I added more and just exasperated the problem. Now I run about 50% and have great growth and color. Reduce your photo period and turn your lights down for a couple days and see what happens. Stop chasing a meter. Your corals will tell you what they like.

That definitely isn't the problem. If anything he nerds to turn the lights up. He hss been running the pretty low to acclimate for a while now.

 

[cee]

I should clarify: kalk won't directly raise alkalinity but when it reacts with CO2 in the atmosphere it will form carbonates which do raise alkalinity. Search for Randy Holmes-Farley's articles on alkalinity for a better explanation.

 

[Dowtish]

I should clarify: kalk won't directly raise alkalinity but when it reacts with CO2 in the atmosphere it will form carbonates which do raise alkalinity. Search for Randy Holmes-Farley's articles on alkalinity for a better explanation.

But however you want to look at it, It can raise it whether directly or indirectly doesn't really matter.
More times than not I have seen my calcium levels rise much more from kalk than my alk but if thrre is too much evaporation in my tank then it can raise my alk as well.

 

[greg0385]

Just so that im clear, it reallys boils down to with the proper amount of dosing:
KALK Pros
-Kalk will keep my levels in check + potenially raise my PH
(good to dose at nite to check PH stable)
KALK Cons
-have to dose a larger amount of fluid than 2part
-alk/cal are in the same solution so -no way to raise one level without raising the other

2part Pros
-can dose seperate solution amount for alk & cal to raise each independantly.
-concentrated solution so it takes less to dose to check levels up.

2part Cons:
-PH swings from day and nite


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[Dowtish]

With your current amount of demand which is very minimal, you can maintain all your levels with with kalk. Kalk is much cheaper than 2 part, and its like crack for SPS. I'm telling you, once I added the kalk to my system my acros exploded with growth. If you ever saw Bart's 185 at its peak you know he had some amazing colonies, and all he ever did is what Luis described. He dumped a cup of kalk into a brute and let it top off and just set his controller to stop dosing it once his ph was above 8.5. He swears by this method.

 

[poolkeeper1]

None of your demand makes sense to me, After seeing your tank that has been set up for quite some time and is stocked with more coral than my new tank is (just over 2 months) yet you have very little demand to maintain them while i am already using 50ml of 2 part daily to keep my Alk@ 8KH with around 20 or so small SPS Pcs and a total of 50 different mushrooms,zoas,chalices,sps Etc.
My Current levels
PH 8.0- 8.2
Alk 8
Ca 450
Po4 0.00
Nitrate Undetectable
Are you sure your test kits are accurate and your procedures correct in the way you are testing ? Are they outdated ? What brands ? How Often you Test ?
Just seems odd that you have so little demand in your system and IMO something in your testing is amiss.
Not anything more than trying to help not criticize
Bill!!

 

[greg0385]

I agree Bill, something doesnt add up to the demand vs the amount of acros i have. They arent using alk/cal so they arent growing.

Test kits- i think im using them correctly but maybe not.
Alk-hannah checker, brand new reagent
Cal-salifert, bought new 2months ago
Mag-salifert, bought new 2 months ago
Phosphate- hannah checker ppm, new reagent i should get today
PH- pinpoint monitor- new probe and calibrated with 7 &10 solution

I dont have the room or the quality of house(rent) to have a club meeting, but once i get the par meter. I will pay for a small group of people(mtrc members) gas and buy them lunch if needed to come down and do a 100% check of my system. From testing all the params, adjusting flow, testing par, EVERYTHING!!
I really truly dont understand what the issue is, so im asking for all the help i can get.

ONCE AGAIN I REALLY DO APRRECIATE ALL THE ADIVCE EVERYBODY HAS GIVEN.

PLEASE DONT STOP WITH SUGGESTIONS!!
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[Dowtish]

Greg-

It might be possible that what you are dosing is precipitating out.

How were you dosing the 2 part? Separately or at the same time?

 

[greg0385]

Greg-

It might be possible that what you are dosing is precipitating out.

How were you dosing the 2 part? Separately or at the same time?

2-brs1.1ml/min doser
Cal-10am-8pm 1min on 59 off
Alk-10pm-8am 1 min on 59 off

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[greg0385]

Then i went to the same dosing schedule but only on for 10secs and off for 59min and 50seconds

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[greg0385]

I will know more about my demand this afternoon when i test my alk/cal this afternoon

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[greg0385]

I have found a few small problems that may be the reason for no growth.
I just test all params
Alk-138/7.72dkh(was 149/8.34dkh on the 9/30/13)
Cal-440
Phosphate-.08ppm
Mag-1290
PH-8.2

-I need to get Alk up,but thats alot more demand than i was getting.
-Mag is low so i will bump it up to 1350-1400
-Phosphate is a little high, will try to get it down to .03




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[bknapp]

Remember to watch you calcium when you up your alkalinity and it's best to dose up your magnesium before dosing the others.

The Hanna could be off as much as. 02 if I remember correctly.

 

[greg0385]

Which hanna are you reffering

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[bknapp]

Which hanna are you reffering

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Guess I should of said the phosphate Hanna.

 

[greg0385]

I will get some MAG sometime this week to get that back up and i bump the alk doser to 30seconds of each hour for 10hours(5ml). BRS calculator says i need 30ml a day but i will test again tomorrow to see how much it dropped again.
Cal doser is still at 10sec dose for 10hours(1ml).

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[bknapp]

You may want to wait on dosing until you have the magnesium. The problem with low magnesium is the tanks inability to sustain higher alkalinity and calcium.