Help me understand where I'm going wrong.

[Reefer PT]

Sorry for the misconception on the original post.
Alk has been stable at 10.6 but historically has been as low as 9.8 and as high as 11.2 over the past several months of record keeping.

B-ionic is shut down and tested at 9.2 today. hopefully will get to a better number within the next few days.

 

[Reefer PT]

Ok so this is wierd. Just tested ALk and CA in the tank. Alk stayed the same at 9.2 but calcium tanked at 250. In just 1 day of not dosing the calcium droped about 200 ppm. but the alkalinity did not budge. What the heck is going on? So I turned the calcium doser back on but do you suggest I add a larger amount of the calcium component to bring it back up quickly?
Dave

 

[sanchoy]

Help me understand where I'm going wrong.

Sps are hard to keep, from your post more then likely a parameter issue. Check mag first, then alk+calc.

Mag is prob the culprit here since your tank is unstable. Do not add alk fast or you want skeletons

 

[Peter Eichler]

Ok so this is wierd. Just tested ALk and CA in the tank. Alk stayed the same at 9.2 but calcium tanked at 250. In just 1 day of not dosing the calcium droped about 200 ppm. but the alkalinity did not budge. What the heck is going on? So I turned the calcium doser back on but do you suggest I add a larger amount of the calcium component to bring it back up quickly?
Dave

Did you test a few times, and/or confirm with another test kit?

 

[markalot]

Ok so this is wierd. Just tested ALk and CA in the tank. Alk stayed the same at 9.2 but calcium tanked at 250. In just 1 day of not dosing the calcium droped about 200 ppm. but the alkalinity did not budge. What the heck is going on? So I turned the calcium doser back on but do you suggest I add a larger amount of the calcium component to bring it back up quickly?
Dave

Get new Alk and Calcium test kits pronto, Salifert is my go to, and test everything again. IMO. Calcium can't drop that fast.

 

[cugly]

My suggestion is don't make changes all at once if it fixes the problem you wouldn't know what fixed it..carbon dosing can cause issues if not done right how long has the tank been running and are the sps rtn from the base ..just like everyone says you have so much going on ..try to keep it simple

 

[Reefer PT]

Ok will get tests double check at the LFS. The tank has been up for 10 months now and the the SPS would RTN from tips and middle. Monties would just fade away to white.

 

[Reefer PT]

Update:
ALK down to 9.0, torch coral and zoas opening up a bit more. Ca holding at 390.(bad test previously) Nitrate up to 2. phosphates are 0.08. Mag is 1360. PH has been hovering around 8 but I don't have a clue on how to bump it up without increasing alkalinity as well. One thing negative, my yellow tang has now developed a bacterial infection. My guess is that dropping the carbon dosing in half has caused this. Does this sound right? Do you think this will clear up as things stabilize or should I soak some nori in antibiotics? Removing him is not an option. Skimmer has been producing less, my guess is thats related to the carbon dosing as well.
Thanks
Dave

 

[tang daddy]

I would bet a pretty large sum of money that your carbon dosing combined with the heavy GFO and FAC use is your problem.


1.) Cut way back on the carbon dosing if not stopping altogether

2.) Run GAC only for a day or two every few weeks

3.) Cut back on the GFO use

4.) Drop your alkalinity down to closer to 8 dKH

What he said I am totally agreeing with, made the mistake off adding too much carbon which bleached my sps in less than 2 days, also done some pretty bad damage using rowaphos. I only used 1 teaspoon of rowaphos on my 75g after that and changed it out every 2 weeks....

 

[Duc1098]

Update:
ALK down to 9.0, torch coral and zoas opening up a bit more. Ca holding at 390.(bad test previously) Nitrate up to 2. phosphates are 0.08. Mag is 1360. PH has been hovering around 8 but I don't have a clue on how to bump it up without increasing alkalinity as well. One thing negative, my yellow tang has now developed a bacterial infection. My guess is that dropping the carbon dosing in half has caused this. Does this sound right? Do you think this will clear up as things stabilize or should I soak some nori in antibiotics? Removing him is not an option. Skimmer has been producing less, my guess is thats related to the carbon dosing as well.
Thanks
Dave

Your skimmate will go down with less carbon dosing. The carbon dosing actually just makes nutrients easier to either be comsumed by corals or to be skimmed out.

I am in agreement with every elses thoughts on the carbon dosing combined with the really high Alk. Natural seawater is around 7-8 meq/ml which is what you should your tank at with a low or ultra low nutrient system (ULNS). Keeping Alk/Ca stable is key for SPS to thrive, especially Alk which can wipe out a whole tank of SPS with a severe enough swing.

As for raising your ph, if you can try leaving a window near the tank cracked open.

 

[outssider]

I only used 1 teaspoon of rowaphos on my 75g after that and changed it out every 2 weeks....

I can't imagine what 1 teaspoon in a reactor would look like....I can't see how that would even work...

 

[Reefer PT]

Tank is in my office waiting room, no operable windows. Any other ideas? And what about the tang?
Thanks
Dave

 

[Reefer PT]

The yellow tang is all better. must of just been reacting to the change of parameters. God they are the canaries in the coal mine aren't they?

 

[Reefer PT]

Update:
ALK holding steady at 8.1 for the past 5 days, Ca holding at 430. MG at 1360, NO3 at 2. PO4= God Knows. My red sea kit reads .08 but it reads that on my RO/Di water, ASW, and distilled water so I got a bad test. LFS does not test for low range PO4 as he states all of the tests are useless. He states if you have to clean the glass less than 3 days a week you don't have phosphates. Poly filter pad came out light tan/brown so nothing to note there. Everything that is alive in the tank seems pretty happy so I think I will go get a cheap SPS and see what it does. Any recommendations on a species? I plan on taking pictures this time and posting it.

 

[gbru316]

Any recommendations on a species? I plan on taking pictures this time and posting it.

Montipora (either digitata or capricornis), stylophora or pocillopora. You could try a pavona decussatus as well. All of these are generally a little easier on the SPS difficulty scale.

 

[Reefer PT]

Well I'm a proud owner of a very ugly SPS. The LFS owner says this came in as a "plating motipora sp." however it looks like a cup coral to me, anyways has been living at the store for a while and was cheap cause of its lack of beauty. This picture is hour 1.

 

[Reefer PT]

sorry for the small pic. I dont know how to make it bigger. RC wont seem to upload anything bigger then 2mp so I downsized and the picture is crappy.

 

[kaserpick]

Use photobucket.com. You register, upload your pics to your account, then copy and paste image links to your post.

As far as your tank goes, I'll heartily agree with what's been said. Your carbon dosing was on the high side. Couple that with GFO, ROX GAC, and high alkalinity, and you've got a good chance of lowering your nutrients too much.

I dosed NOPOX heavily on my 60g. Even though my Alk was usually on the low side (7.0-7.5), my SPS still suffered. It's a balance with SPS. Nutrients too high, and their color and growth suffer. If it's too low, they start to recede.

 

[reefmutt]

I can't offer any new advice for your tank.. I think you have been steered in the right direction.
I can suggest you try the Elos Expert Line High Resolution Phosphate Test Kit. I find it to be the most accurate and easiest to read. I like it much better than the the electronic units..
I'll be watching to see how things turn out for you in the coming months..
Good luck!

 

[msderganc]

Tank is in my office waiting room, no operable windows. Any other ideas? And what about the tang?
Thanks
Dave

You could, if you wanted, build a CO2 scrubber (basically a 10" RODI type canister filled with Soda Lime) and use that as the input to the Skimmer. It would ensure the skimmer was pulling highly oxygenated air and raise the pH.

For your other issues, it definitely sounds like an Alkalinity swing causing the majority of the problem.