cdw79
Well-Known Member
TLDR: my 6 month old tank with a solid amount of coral in it shows no uptake in CA or ALK and I can't figure out why
I've been experiencing a weird set of circumstances where I've had seemingly no CA or ALK uptake, despite having a decent bit of coral in my tank. I've talked to a very knowledgeable owner at an LFS and he doesn't know what the issue is.
I put in a single ML of both ALK and CA each day (minimum my Neptune Trident + DOS will let me). I consistently stay around 420 CA and about 8.6 ALK. I have verified these with Red Sea checkers for both, as well as a Hanna checker for ALK. As far as I can tell, these readings are accurate.
My Maxima clam also continues to show white edges on its shell. This clam came from my old tank and has always been a bit of a canary in the coal mine for me. What I don't understand is how this can be the case while I put next to no two part into my tank. I was using easily 10-20 ml's of each back on my old 65 gal, and that's while being a lot more consistent with water changes than I have been on this tank, as for several months I was trying to increase nutrients up from 0. I've had some corals not make it, like a few acros, a digi, etc. Admittedly these were brought in while I was still struggling with low nutrients. I've lost a few others here and there, but everything has largely been doing well over the past 2-3 months, and a few torches that were once struggling have bounced back.
I just can't make sense of this- it seems to me that if there's growth on the clam, that has to mean CA at the very least is being taken up. Why, then, do I have no clear CA uptake? Same with ALK. I have ordered an ICP test again to see if it will tell me anything different- the last one had a few trace elements off, but nothing especially concerning. Took the results to my LFS and they agreed.
I'm at a bit of a loss. Things are going reasonably well, but I've still not been as successful with coral as I was in my old tank that also started with dry rock. Part of it is definitely due to the early swings in nutrients, but as things are settling down, I can't make sense of this. Does anyone have any idea what might be happening? The tank is far from packed with coral, but I'd be shocked if water changes alone were replacing CA and ALK (especially because levels did not noticeably drop even while I went weeks without a water change back when I was trying to increase nutrients
Background:
5 foot 180 gal display, 30 gal sump
4 XR30s running at 40% on AB+ default settings
Tank has been up since November 2023 (roughly 6 months)
Used MarcoRock and live sand to start. Originally I had issue with the rock absorbing nutrients and making the tank bottom out. Nowadays I have steady nutrients (about 20-25 nitrates and about .2 phosphates, which I'm working on bringing down)
I've been experiencing a weird set of circumstances where I've had seemingly no CA or ALK uptake, despite having a decent bit of coral in my tank. I've talked to a very knowledgeable owner at an LFS and he doesn't know what the issue is.
I put in a single ML of both ALK and CA each day (minimum my Neptune Trident + DOS will let me). I consistently stay around 420 CA and about 8.6 ALK. I have verified these with Red Sea checkers for both, as well as a Hanna checker for ALK. As far as I can tell, these readings are accurate.
My Maxima clam also continues to show white edges on its shell. This clam came from my old tank and has always been a bit of a canary in the coal mine for me. What I don't understand is how this can be the case while I put next to no two part into my tank. I was using easily 10-20 ml's of each back on my old 65 gal, and that's while being a lot more consistent with water changes than I have been on this tank, as for several months I was trying to increase nutrients up from 0. I've had some corals not make it, like a few acros, a digi, etc. Admittedly these were brought in while I was still struggling with low nutrients. I've lost a few others here and there, but everything has largely been doing well over the past 2-3 months, and a few torches that were once struggling have bounced back.
I just can't make sense of this- it seems to me that if there's growth on the clam, that has to mean CA at the very least is being taken up. Why, then, do I have no clear CA uptake? Same with ALK. I have ordered an ICP test again to see if it will tell me anything different- the last one had a few trace elements off, but nothing especially concerning. Took the results to my LFS and they agreed.
I'm at a bit of a loss. Things are going reasonably well, but I've still not been as successful with coral as I was in my old tank that also started with dry rock. Part of it is definitely due to the early swings in nutrients, but as things are settling down, I can't make sense of this. Does anyone have any idea what might be happening? The tank is far from packed with coral, but I'd be shocked if water changes alone were replacing CA and ALK (especially because levels did not noticeably drop even while I went weeks without a water change back when I was trying to increase nutrients
Background:
5 foot 180 gal display, 30 gal sump
4 XR30s running at 40% on AB+ default settings
Tank has been up since November 2023 (roughly 6 months)
Used MarcoRock and live sand to start. Originally I had issue with the rock absorbing nutrients and making the tank bottom out. Nowadays I have steady nutrients (about 20-25 nitrates and about .2 phosphates, which I'm working on bringing down)
