Acro nana acting odd

[ReeferRyan]

Just curious if anyone knows why all of a sudden my acro nana has pulled its polyps in and will not come out. This first happened about 5 days ago, and it has not come out since. I have several other SPS that are all fine, but the nana is the one acting funny. I changed salt (to Instant Ocean from Seachem) and did a 5 gallon water change on sunday but I wouldn't think that would make a huge difference in ~90g TWV.

Param's
Amm: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: <20
Alk: 9.1 dKh
Calcium: 480
pH: 8.3
Temp: 78

 

[twon8]

your calcium is higher than normal and nitrates are a bit higher than optimal.
how long have you had it?

 

[kahunakatz]

Although there is less than in the past, Sea Chem salt uses a lot of Borate to buffer the pH. Instant Ocean salt uses a higher percentage of bi/carbonate to buffer the water.

I had trouble raising the pH when I used a different brand of salt that was also principally Borate buffered. I am not sure, but their may just be an incompatibility between the two salts buffering system. Future water changes may resolve the issue.

Best Wishes,
Barry

 

[ReeferRyan]

I have had it for about 5 months. It had been growing very well until Sunday. Just curious, but I thought anything between 400 and 500 was an optimum level, am I wrong?

Sounds like a solid idea, kahuna, I am going to watch my Alk closely, and I plan to do a couple of pretty good sized water changes over time. Thanks for the help.

 

[Rav-65]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7351349#post7351349 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kahunakatz
Although there is less than in the past, Sea Chem salt uses a lot of Borate to buffer the pH. Instant Ocean salt uses a higher percentage of bi/carbonate to buffer the water.

I had trouble raising the pH when I used a different brand of salt that was also principally Borate buffered. I am not sure, but their may just be an incompatibility between the two salts buffering system. Future water changes may resolve the issue.

Best Wishes,
Barry

Hi Barry,

thanks for enlightening... any idea if there's any difference betweem a borate buffered and a bi-carbonate buffered pH salt?? What impact does it have on the reef??

 

[kahunakatz]

I am far from a chemist, but my own experience with Borate buffered salt was an inability to maintain proper pH. I could not get my pH above 7.9-8.0. Even adding traditional carbonate based buffers did little to raise my pH. Corals continued to looked bad until I did several sizable water changes with a carbonate based salt, I believe it was IO.

In your case you are not reporting that pH is a problem. I have no reason to doubt your results on the pH kit except that many brands are inaccurate and you are using a borate buffered salt. It MAY be worth testing pH with another brand just to be sure. It sounds like you just started using SeaChem so your pH may be fine or close to it but you may still see some incompatibilities between the two salts. Once I figured out the problem and started to do water changes with another salt my problems continued for some weeks. Was it because of the still low pH or some incompatibility between Borate and Carbonate, I do not know. I have worked retail in the aquarium industry for over a decade and I can say that almost everyone who used a Borate buffered salt had trouble with reef tanks, especially hard corals. I will also say that many people have good experience with Sea Chem Salt although the only person whom I personally know who has used it had poor results with SPS. In short I do not trust Borate buffered salts. Sorry for the long and windy post.

Best Wishes,
Barry

 

[Testhead1313]

look for red bugs... a possible reason for poor PE

 

[ReeferRyan]

No red bugs.

This is really weird. All of my acros are acting very strange. I have tested every parameter I know of, and ALL of my other corals are thriving, but the acros have no polyp extension. Any other ideas? I have not made any changes to my tank recently as far as lights, skimmer, etc.

 

[MiddletonMark]

IMO, don't switch salts unless something is seriously problematic as-is.

If that's the only change you've made on your tank, I'd really wonder whether I'd continue changing to that salt.

When you mixed it, did you test it?
That would be the first step to ruling it out, I'd run the Ca/Alk/Mag + others you got to test it. Enough salts have had enough variability bag to bag that IMO it's a good precaution to test each new bucket if you can ... sorta the same way I QT new fish/coral, I try to test each new salt bucket. [for me that's 4 or 5 tests all year .... worth being safe]

 

[ReeferRyan]

Good advice. Thank you