Frank's LPS Grow Out Contest Update #1

[itz frank]

Salinity is 1.025. Temps are very consistent between water being added and display. Alk isn't always exactly the same but I do supplement to bring my new water to close.

This morning after first day of kalk, alk was 141 last night and 141 this morning.
I mixed 1 tsp for 3 gallons rodi.

Now, some sps do have alk burns but some do look ok besides being brown.

Let's see what happens tonight.

 

[itz frank]

Got home to poor polyp extension on just about everything except a few of the frags that didn't have stn to begin with. But some of the stuff like the Cali tort use to have really good extension even though tips were unhappy.

Alk was 137 when I got home today and tested. The 141 was at 9 last night. I will be adding fresh r/o and kalk to the reserve in the same amounts. I will say that my clown car has stn on its base where it didn't have it before.

 

[itz frank]

Would the carbon be effecting this? I used a half cup where as the instructions say use a half cup per 10 gallons.

 

[Miamiangler]

The corals being brown is probably the Phosphate being high .

I would do 1tsp /2gal RODI for now .1 to 3 is a little diluted If you would give all parameters it is easier to see what`s wrong . I`m no expert but I`m starting to get the hang of it . Just wish the corals would grow faster , I was in the same boat last year losing corals and went to Kalk and everything seemed to work .I could not get Monti caps to live .Now they grow like weeds .
I test almost every day , got good at it but can be a pain with 4 tanks .
whats your:
CAL
ALK
MG
Nitrate
Phosphate
SG
K

On the other forum Re eftwo RE ef I found the thread How to successfully Keep SPS helpful ( Long read )

An other thought what was the alk at from the person you got the corals from ? When I bought some corals from a vendor who had Alk at 10 while mine was around 8.5 I had one of mine stn in one day and lost the coral even after fragging a piece to save it .

 

[Miamiangler]

Would the carbon be effecting this? I used a half cup where as the instructions say use a half cup per 10 gallons.

I use 8 oz and change it once a month . My thank is 60 gals so it depends how large your tank is . Which carbon are you using . I use lignite carbon from BRS

 

[itz frank]

I'll post results in a but but my carbon is API active carbon. I have it in a media bag in the fuge section of my sump.

 

[Miamiangler]

I like the Lignite carbon the best .I have had good results with it .Not all carbons are the same . there`s a good vid on BRS TV about the different carbons .

 

[itz frank]

I checked my phos reactor. It was also clogged. Cleaned it out. Put in fresh phosban 40g.

Phosphate reading was less than .03. Calcium was 420.

 

[itz frank]

Decided to do a 8gallon water change tonight. I need a better salt. Had a hard time getting my alk and cal up. But within just a few minutes of the new water being in the tank, I saw polyps from the Cali tort. Haven't seen polyps in a few days. Kalk has been running fine with the top off.

 

[itz frank]

Ok. So, I come home and everything looks better. Granted, I have alk burn but colors seem a little better and just everything in the tank just flat out looks happier. I'm going to do a series of 10 gallon water changes over the course of the next week. I bought reef crystals from IO and I have 10 gallons aging right now. This has to be either primarily a phosphate or other substance issue. Because even on the stuff that is baked, the colors and polyps are out.

 

[Miamiangler]

Hope it works !

 

[itz frank]

Well, even if it doesn't, I don't think that much bad can come of it unless I add water that is severely off from my parameters. I am actually feeling very positive about this as the kalk in my top off has held my alk in place for the entire week.

 

[rovster]

Oh boy. More change. This will be my last post here, LOL!

All these little water changes (actually they are quite big for your system) with this frequency may not be helping. For one its "messing with the tank" in the sense you have your hand in there stirring stuff up. Secondly, it causes a fluctuation in parameters which you are trying to avoid.

Please keep in mind that both RC and IO mix at a very high alkalinity. A 30% or greater water change with a much higher alkalinity will create a little spike depending on how low you are. Consider matching you alkalinity or at least lowering the one in the salt mix so the tank does not feel the change. I do this at every water change. When I mix up my 40 gallons of water, I dump about 15mL of muriatic acid in there and it brings my alkalinity from 180+ to somewhere in the 160+. Softens the blow, and I only do 10-15 gal at a time.

If you feel your tank is in a "funk" like mine was, what worked for me was one huge water change, and then small weekly water changes and leaving the tank alone. Still test, still monitor, still observe, but keep the "audibles" to a minimum.

I hope you figure it out buddy. I was stressing for like 2 months!

 

[itz frank]

Thanks for the kind words. I was afraid of doing one huge water change because I figured I would screw things up in a big way but a few 10gal water changes would do less harm because the alk would move, if any, in smaller amounts.

After this water change. I will be doing only 5gal water changes. I'll need to look into the muriatic acid. I did test the alk and noticed a 192. I did my math on the water change and this should have raised my alk by about 7ppm. More than I want, but should be less than .5dkh move.

This may be my last post here as well. Lol.

 

[tonyyloww]

Dont give up>>>>>>> dont give up:deadhorse1:

 

[itz frank]

Ok. Well, finally some good news. The stn appears to have stopped and all my corals on the tank seem significantly happier.

A mini victory: two of the frags that didn't stn have almost covered over the super glue with a base.