Help, magnesium melting Zoas?

[saintperez]

Just did a test tonight around 7PM using API

Nitrate: 1.5
PH: 8.0
Phosphate: 0-.25
Ammonia: 0
Calcium: 460
Alk: > 214
MAgnesium: Off the chart using Red Sea test. > 1280. Took .9ml of Reagant C to the end color.


I just did a water change (35%) on Saturday.

The only thing different in the tank is that I moved the rocks around on Saturday to catch a fish and I installed 2 new XM 10K 400w bulbs. They are sitting behind 6 layers of window screen on egg crate. I removed one layer today. Could this be part of the reason some of my Zoas recently melted due to high Magnesium?

 

[flyyyguy]

unless you were intentionally dosing magnesium, and cranked it up to a high level in a very short period of time, I dont think mag is to blame for your polyps woes

I have had tanks over 2100 mag and not noticed any ill effects, but they werent taken to that level overnight....more like over the course of weeks. Once on purpose playing with bryopsis, and once due to a careless mix of homemade that was super strong. I was just dosing my usual and doing my monthly mag est when I figured it out it was so high and after investigating a little figured it out

I dont hve an answer to what your problem could possibly be, it sounds as though you are on top of the lighting change and handling it appropriately. more information and maybe even some pics may shed some light

what kind fo window screen?? are you sure there isnt anything toxic in it? I have no experience personally, but have a couple times heard of some problems with certain screening used that was in contact with splashes

what are your other parameters?? like alk most importantly? any drstic changes with this recently??

how far and deep are the polyps form those bulbs, and what bulbs were you running before??

 

[saintperez]

I was running CoralVue 400w 20K but they were really old. About 2 year old.
I have never dosed Mag in the tank that's why I'm surprised. One edge of the screen is actually in the water. I will go and remove it immediately. THe Zoas were being terrorized by a Blue face Angel that I had put in there for about a week. I finally removed him on SAturday. The Zoas that melted did so before the angel. I know that I had one colony with yellow tentacles and orange center that looks like it's melting, it has reduced in size.
I will get pictures tomorrow during daylight.

Thanks for your input.

 

[flyyyguy]

melting isnt a typical symptom of light shock anyway.

i dont know the numbers off the top of my head...........but changing from toasted 20k bulbs to 400 w 10k xm's is quite an increase in light. I also dont knwo what screens you are using. do they block that much light(visually)??

 

[stevensun]

Alk: > 214 !?
Zoas shrinking is mostly because of sudden changes in alk or salinity. Keeping alk level constant should be the first priority over any other parameters. IME, zoas are really sensitive to alk fluctuation. Also, please do yourself a favor by getting a better test kit for mag. Red sea test kits are notoriously problematic. Besides, Max. reading of 1280 isn't adequate for reef tanks.

 

[flyyyguy]

alk of 214 is a little high, equivelant of 12 dkh. many people run their tanks this high all the time. 1280 mag is higher than natural seawater and plenty adequate

i do agree that red sea kits arent the greatest, especially for mag. even high dollar mag kits can have lots of noise and be tough to get an accurate reading on

 

[Reef Bass]

+1 for your magnesium level not being the problem. I've also accidentily run my mag up to over 1800 (Salifert test kit) without any discernable negative effects. I stopped dosing it for a while, let it drift back down to 1300ish and resumed dosing.

I am curious what the units are for an alk of 214? Certainly not meq/l or dkh.

 

[Guygettnby]

+2 problem not magnesium.

the light could be affecting your zoas but i doubt that is the issue. how old is this tank and how deep is your sand bed if you have one?

needless to say i had too remove 2 trouble some clowns a few months back and i had to remove rocks and move things around wich stired up the sand bed. i have a 2-2 1/2" sand bed and higher in some areas. when i did all this moving around and stiring up of my sand bed i released some nasty stuff in my tank wich resulted in my tank crashing. it all started with my zoas melting away. only reason i am saying this is i noticed you said you moved rocks around and such trying to catch fish. not trying to scare you, but make you aware of my situation and that the possability is there.

i would do some water changes and possibly dip the zoas if you can. dipping zoas is never a bad idea when you notice a problem. in fact the only colonies that are still alive right now are the ones i dipped when i noticed my problem early on.

 

[saintperez]

Thanks for the insight everyone. When you say Dip what do you refer to? What's the procedure and what are the ingredients. Someone once told me they dip into Iodine but not sure how. I have Iodine Plus from Natures Reef, is that what you're talking about? How often should I dip them and for how long? DO I dip them straight into the solution or should it be diluted?

THanks

 

[saintperez]

THe tank is a year old, have a 4" sand bed and recently added a silver bullet gobi and some Nasaurius snails.

 

[Guygettnby]

i use revive to dip all my corals. i add 1 capful of revive to about 4-5 cups of tank water in a container and swish the corals around for a few minutes. once done put the corals in decent flow for awhile. for iodine you would do the same thing but a different amount. i used to use iodine to dip but i ended up switching to revive wich works alot better for me.

having a 4" sand bed has its goods and bads. i would recomend you reading up on having a deep sand bed so you know what the advantages are and all the bad things that could happen if you disturb it too much. this problem you are having could very well be from you stirring up the sand bed too much. again i dont want to scare you about it all but i would again recomend doing regular water changes and use some carbon if you can.

 

[saintperez]

Thanks, who makes Revive? Is that something I can get all LFS? Also,
speaking of Carbon. Is it bad to put Carbon media bag inside my filter sock? I have the overflow tube pushed into the filter sock hanging in my sump. I change it out every 3 or 4 days. I figure it would have more direct water flow through the carbon rather than passive if just sitting in the sump. But was wondering if there are any bad things to doing it that way.

Thanks again.

 

[Guygettnby]

i buy my revive at my LFS and yours might carry it aswell. but here is a link so you know what it is and it is made by two little fishes.

http://www.marinedepot.com/Two_Litt...ents-Two_Little_Fishies-TL1671-FIADCD-vi.html

i also dot see any reason why the way your using the carbon would cause any problems. but i do recomend getting a media reactor to run carbon. they are not very expensive and are worth there weight in gold i think. this is the one i use on my tanks and they wok very well for the money.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ViaAqua_...hate_Reactors-ViaAqua-VA3311-FIFRISPR-vi.html

any other questions feel free to ask.