Emergency measure to save corals? Help!

[Greentree]

Hi guys,

I'm struggling with high alk in my 65 gallon SPS. I lost a large colony of Red Dragon, my Hawkins Echinata is on it's way out, and a few others RTN'd as well. The edges of a few others are looking white.

My Alk is still at 9.2 witch isn't terrible, but I have no nutrients at all. I added three fish this week to help with that and I've been feeding lots of frozen. Might shut off my skimmer. My Alk isn't dropping any more because the corals aren't using any at this point.

I'm wondering if I should do a huge water change with water from a friend's tank, and some new water too, or if I should set up a temp frag tank and use seeded water? (I would ask my friend to take my corals for a bit but I don't think she'd be excited about that). Any advice is much appreciated, thank you!

 

[Myka]

What is calcium at? If you increase calcium to say 440 or so that will drop alkalinity a little bit. You could also do waterchanges using a low alkalinity salt mix like Aquaforest.

 

[Greentree]

Calcium is at 400. I will raise it, thank you!

I've been using Tropic Marin which has almost the same (7-8) dKh as Aquaforest, I believe.

 

[Greentree]

Good news! When I tested this morning I had 5ppm nitrates, .16 phosphates! It's a Christmas miracle! I was considering pulling the remaining corals and putting them in a frag tank with good seeded water, or doing a huge water change, but I think I just need to accept that the damage is done - whatever lives is what I haven't doomed already. Ugh!

Edit - Alk is at 9 too, which is good-ish.

 

[Myka]

Sounds good. Though PO4 is now higher than I would be wanting.

 

[Greentree]

Sounds good. Though PO4 is now higher than I would be wanting.

Ah - that was a typo, it is .12. What should I aim for? What nitrates should I aim for? I'll cut back on feeding a bit, too. Thank you so much!

 

[kevlow]

I have cheap pieces of Ponape and Pink Birdsnests. Both are very quick to show burned tips if there is an Alk swing or if Alk is high with low nutients. They act a a good indicator of problems before they get to far. Kind of a canary in a coal mine. Only problem is that they grow fast and take up space and must be fragged.

I too, tried to keep mine at 9 dkh. Did not work to well with lower nutrients. Gradually I kept lowering it. Found a happy spot at about 7.3 Now it is more often then not 6.7-7.0. That way if I do get upward movement it never goes into the 8s.

Good Luck with all.

 

[Logzor]

Detectable nitrates isn't a bad thing unless you have excess visible algae growth. So your 5ppm could be OK. PO4 around .03 but you'll see pictures on this forum of amazing SPS tanks with much higher levels! For alkalinity I don't think 9 dKH is bad. I commonly run well over 10 dKH but prefer it to be lower.

 

[mikeatjac]

I would still try and get your alk down. Not really worried about your increased nutrient levels right now. You can fix that in a few days.

 

[Myka]

Ah - that was a typo, it is .12. What should I aim for? What nitrates should I aim for? I'll cut back on feeding a bit, too. Thank you so much!

In my experience, fluctuating PO4 can cause as much grief as fluctuating alkalinity, so try to keep it steady. It will probably fall back down once you cut feeding a bit. I aim for 0.04-0.08 ppm for PO4 and 1-5 ppm NO3.

If I would you, I'd focus completely on getting things stable and consistent.

 

[Scorpius]

in my experience, fluctuating po4 can cause as much grief as fluctuating alkalinity, so try to keep it steady. It will probably fall back down once you cut feeding a bit. I aim for 0.04-0.08 ppm for po4 and 1-5 ppm no3.

If i would you, i'd focus completely on getting things stable and consistent.

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[Greentree]

Thanks guys - that is all so helpful! I told myself that I can't even think about adding anything new until I've had completely stable alk and P04 for an entire month. I'm going to continue to let things drop and keep close track of everything for awhile.

 

[milsaltnewbie07]

Keep letting that alk drop to below 8 and you will see how stable that tank becomes.

 

[Greentree]

Keep letting that alk drop to below 8 and you will see how stable that tank becomes.

I'm still plugging away! 8.4 today! My friend pointed out that I run my tank higher than most, at 80 degrees F, and this could be part of my problem too lowering that as well... he also recommended a controller to monitor these things. I'm going to do some research and hopefully order one tonight during cyber Monday sales - any advice?

 

[Chris Lakies]

I recommend Neptune Apex JR. It does everything i need it too. Never had any problems with it. I control Temp and also monitor PH.

 

[Ucantwin]

I'm glad things are turning up for you but 80 degrees isn't really high. It should cause you no issues at that temperature.

 

[Greentree]

I'm glad things are turning up for you but 80 degrees isn't really high. It should cause you no issues at that temperature.

Yeah, it really isn't but it doesn't hurt to try. I might have sounded too optimistic - things are still dying, but the ask has come down at least.

 

[Greentree]

I recommend Neptune Apex JR. It does everything i need it too. Never had any problems with it. I control Temp and also monitor PH.

That looks great, I think it's a winner! Ordering right now...

 

[Greentree]

I have cheap pieces of Ponape and Pink Birdsnests. Both are very quick to show burned tips if there is an Alk swing or if Alk is high with low nutients. They act a a good indicator of problems before they get to far. Kind of a canary in a coal mine. Only problem is that they grow fast and take up space and must be fragged.

I've heard this - the odd thing is that the only things that seem to be ok in my tank are the birdsnests. So frustrating! Ugh!