Myka's 69 SPS Tank 2015

[Myka]

So I've been playing around with pH a bit. I have a CO2 scrubber on my skimmer during the winter months. I started using sodium carbonate instead of bicarbonate (I baked the AF KH Buffer before mixing up DIY AF balling). I also bought a kalk stirrer to dose at night to help with the diurnal fluctuation, but realized it won't do what I want it to, so I'll have to figure out something else. Maybe dose kalk on my 4th doser pump. Anyway...my tank was finally staying at 8.0 overnight instead of dropping to 7.8 and I actually saw 8.2 during the day, so I was pretty happy.

I decided I should probably calibrate my pH meter because it's been awhile. I set up the 7.0 and 10.0 pH fluids. I always check the meter before calibrating. I put it in the 7.0 and it reads 7.4 - uh oh. I put it in the 10.0 and it reads 10.5. So I finish recalibrating. I go test my tank... 7.6!!! WHAT? :facepalm: So this past week I've been testing first thing in the morning before the lights come on and last thing in the evening before the peak lighting turns off. I'm getting 7.4 - 7.6. WHAT??? :uhoh2:

So I'm thinking, well I guess I'll go back to storing the pH meter and forget about it. Good plan, right? :lolspin: Then it dawns on me this morning...I haven't tested parameters in the tank in awhile, and I've been noticing less polyp extension in the last couple weeks. I check the book - last test, Jan 25th. Hrm. Here are today's parameters:

SG 35 ppt
Ca 430 (Salifert)
Alk 5.85 dKH (Salifert)
Alk 5.7 dKH (Hanna)
Mg 1320 ppm (Red Sea Pro)
K 400 ppm (Salifert...this kit may be reading 50 ppm high)

So, in case you didn't see it, I highlighted the problem. :lolspin:

So I'll be adding 1/2 tsp of sodium bicarb every morning for the next 2 weeks in order to get alk back up to where it needs to be. :facepalm: The drop was about 0.5 dKH per week, so that's not horrible. My addition of 1/2 tsp bicarb will increase alk by about 0.15 dKH per day. I'm crossing my fingers I won't see any damage. Thank goodness it was down 2 dKH and not up 2 dKH. :hammer:

I tested a brand new 400 Radium combo. Using a Galaxy ballast and a Lumenmax Elite reflector I got 2000 at 12" in the hot spot.

Thanks for the info! Regardless, the single 400w in that particular reflector doesn't give enough spread for my tank. Not even close.

 

[AkoAung]

Alk 5.85 dKH (Salifert)
Alk 5.7 dKH (Hanna)

Woa! you didn't lose anything?

 

[Myka]

Woa! you didn't lose anything?

Not yet. Everyone looks fine so far. Even the little bits of flubber in there are ok. Currently at 6.1 dKH, and will continue upward more slowly from here. For Acros in low nutrients, low alk is definitely less of an issue than high alk.

 

[kevlow]

Not yet. Everyone looks fine so far. Even the little bits of flubber in there are ok. Currently at 6.1 dKH, and will continue upward more slowly from here. For Acros in low nutrients, low alk is definitely less of an issue than high alk.

I agree with you and try to stay in the 6.7-7.3 range. This seems to be a forgiving range to be in yet still has growth.

My problem has happened when I had quick drops down to 5 or so. My Ponape is affected first. Loses color and skin from center out. Affects other pieces to a lesser degree.

I am not sure if it is the low alk itself or the rapid drop that causes the damage. Or maybe the problem was I brought it back up too quickly. Regardless, the damage becomes visible about a week or so later.

Maybe you have some helpful thoughts on this?

 

[Myka]

I agree with you and try to stay in the 6.7-7.3 range. This seems to be a forgiving range to be in yet still has growth.

My problem has happened when I had quick drops down to 5 or so. My Ponape is affected first. Loses color and skin from center out. Affects other pieces to a lesser degree.

I am not sure if it is the low alk itself or the rapid drop that causes the damage. Or maybe the problem was I brought it back up too quickly. Regardless, the damage becomes visible about a week or so later.

Maybe you have some helpful thoughts on this?

I do think that the speed of the alk shift is more of a problem than the final number - within reason. People have a tendency to panic and try to get alk back where it should be too quickly too. I think your alk at 5.0 dKH is much more significant than mine at 5.7-5.85 dKH. I also think that fast up is worse than fast down, so I'll be bringing alk back up slowly. I added less than 0.01 dKH for 4 doses so I could get over 6.0 dKH within about 36 hours, once over 6.0 I'm in no hurry as I don't see 60 as a problem. I imagine there is a correlation with nutrients too. One last thing, any time I have an alk issue - either high or low, I turn the lights down by 25% until I know the window of damage has passed (2-3 weeks). I think this helps to prevent peeling.

 

[Myka]

So my tank has gone through a dosing fiasco...

As reported above, I tested alk at 5.85 dKH on Feb 23. Everything else tested fine. I assumed some wacky increase in consumption, so I started adding 1/4 tsp bicarb morning and night. I got alk up to 6.1 and wanted to sit there for awhile. I tested a couple days later and it's back at 5.9! So I start dosing a bit more, and a bit more. Eventually I'm dosing 1/2 tsp morning and night. Two days ago I test alk at 6.4 dKH. What the heck??? Where is it all going??? So I decide I must have mixed up the "mix yourself" Components 1+2+3+ improperly. So this morning I'm baking the bicarb to make it carb, redoing it all, and thinking that I'm mixing up the same amount of bicarb that I remember from last time...so I am looking at the dosing containers to swap one out and notice that they are still very full. THE DOSER WAS SWITCHED OFF!!!

I use "DJ powerbars" and the switch for the doser was right beside the sump lights switch. I must have hit it on the last water change (way back Feb 19). The way my doser is positioned I can't see the face of it very well, so I didn't notice that it was off. I moved it to a different switch now. Wow. So anyway, this morning alk is sitting at 7.0 dKH after I added 1/2 tsp earlier. The doser is back on, so alk should maintain. I'm going to leave it there and hope for the best. I lost a small frag that I just picked up a week ago, no surprise there. There are a few Acros that have paled for sure. Otherwise things look ok for now...

YIKES!

 

[DiscusHeckel]

So my tank has gone through a dosing fiasco...

As reported above, I tested alk at 5.85 dKH on Feb 23. Everything else tested fine. I assumed some wacky increase in consumption, so I started adding 1/4 tsp bicarb morning and night. I got alk up to 6.1 and wanted to sit there for awhile. I tested a couple days later and it's back at 5.9! So I start dosing a bit more, and a bit more. Eventually I'm dosing 1/2 tsp morning and night. Two days ago I test alk at 6.4 dKH. What the heck??? Where is it all going??? So I decide I must have mixed up the "mix yourself" Components 1+2+3+ improperly. So this morning I'm baking the bicarb to make it carb, redoing it all, and thinking that I'm mixing up the same amount of bicarb that I remember from last time...so I am looking at the dosing containers to swap one out and notice that they are still very full. THE DOSER WAS SWITCHED OFF!!!

I use "DJ powerbars" and the switch for the doser was right beside the sump lights switch. I must have hit it on the last water change (way back Feb 19). The way my doser is positioned I can't see the face of it very well, so I didn't notice that it was off. I moved it to a different switch now. Wow. So anyway, this morning alk is sitting at 7.0 dKH after I added 1/2 tsp earlier. The doser is back on, so alk should maintain. I'm going to leave it there and hope for the best. I lost a small frag that I just picked up a week ago, no surprise there. There are a few Acros that have paled for sure. Otherwise things look ok for now...

YIKES!

Been there and done that, more worringly more than once.

I hope no harm will come to your remaining corals.

 

[kevlow]

Thank goodness that it was not something worse, it is easily explained and remedied. Your good husbandry caught the symptoms and manual dosing kept it from getting worse. I am happy you were on your game otherwise it could have been a disaster.

Good save!

 

[Myka]

GUESS WHAT??!!!! I just tested alkalinity at 7.0 dKH. Yesterday morning it was 7.0 dKH. I did not add any alk manually. AMAZING what an operating doser can do! :celeb1:

Been there and done that, more worringly more than once.

I hope no harm will come to your remaining corals.

Ha! Thank you! So far so good. All the frags I bought in the middle of this fiasco (6) are all doing fine, except for the one that RTN'd. It was really browned out to begin with, so wasn't to healthy.

Thank goodness that it was not something worse, it is easily explained and remedied. Your good husbandry caught the symptoms and manual dosing kept it from getting worse. I am happy you were on your game otherwise it could have been a disaster.

Good save!

Don't give me too much credit - remember, I had the freaking doser switched off! :headwally:

However, I do have a valid excuse. :spin3: I had a friend come over and prettify my sump area. Really, I just needed some drive to get it done, and he was all like, "OMG, we have to do something about that mess!". So that happened. Since I own a maintenance company, I have a certain order I normally put plugs in so that's it's easy for me to spot something amiss. When my friend prettied it all up the plugs were in a much different order than I would have put them. I said, "Self, that will mess you up one day, you should rearrange that." Then I went back to reefin'... :beachbum::fish2:

An old boss of mine had a phrase he used when us employees were outsmarted by machines (cut a board too short, etc), he would say, "You gotta be smarter than the tool." Yep, I failed that exam. :hmm3:

 

[adtravels]

Temporarily dripping some Kalk will also raise you alk and Ph as a bonus. Without impacting Calcium massively. just a thought

 

[Myka]

Temporarily dripping some Kalk will also raise you alk and Ph as a bonus. Without impacting Calcium massively. just a thought

Thanks for the tip. I do have kalk on hand, and have used it before. This tank was started on kalk. Funny thing though, calcium always slowly increased when kalk dosing this tank. I searched and searched, and found a few people saying the same, though most would say calcium slowly dropped while using kalk. Meh. It's all over anyway, doser is plugged in. Works well in that fashion! :thumbsup:

 

[biggles]

So my tank has gone through a dosing fiasco...

THE DOSER WAS SWITCHED OFF!!!

YIKES!

Lol you dag Mindy, that's the sorta thing i do routinely......... the heaters were off for 4 days a few weeks ago when i forgot to turn them back on after a water change...

Really glad you caught the problem before things went too far. Was the camera charger also turned off.......... don't see any pics........:twitch:

 

[Myka]

Lol you dag Mindy, that's the sorta thing i do routinely......... the heaters were off for 4 days a few weeks ago when i forgot to turn them back on after a water change...

Really glad you caught the problem before things went too far. Was the camera charger also turned off.......... don't see any pics........:twitch:

Hahahaha! Yeah the camera is off too because it doesn't like to photograph damaged Acros. :worried:

I been thinking about it for awhile too. Well, about 3 weeks of thinking about it, and beating myself up over it. I've come to the conclusion that I don't think the doser was off for the full 4 weeks since the last waterchange/test or the alkalinity would have been way lower. Since the doser switch was right beside the sump lighting switch, chances are I switched off the doser 3 days before I caught it because that was the last time I switched the sump lights on before I caught it. SO, the updated information is that the alkalinity likely dropped from 7.5 dKH to 5.7-5.85 dKH in a matter of only a few days - maybe even quicker. Then it bounced around between that number and 7.0 for about 10 days while I was trying to figure out what was going on. Now, 3 weeks later I am seeing the damage. Alk has been rock steady at 7.0 dKH now for about 10 days.

I guess I'll figure out the camera and show off the amazing results of alkalinity fail. :uzi:

 

[reefmutt]

I feel your pain, Mindy! Steady as she goes. Gotta wait it out. They come back.. often in surprising ways.

 

[drawman]

Oh that sucks about the doser! Glad you caught it early enough. I once forgot to turn off my NP Pro Doser after purging the lines. Thankfully I caught it after dumping a S ton into my dump :/.

I posted this in another thread but how are you liking the component C in sodium carbonate (not bicarbonate)? I assume you didn't get any weird precipitate or unexpected results? I've been meaning to try this for sometime with my BRS sodium carbonate (AFs use of sodium bicarbonate has kept me from switching to their KH Buffer).

 

[slin1977]

Would hope by now the camera would be charged.... it's Friday in Australia, we demand some acro porn for the weekend.

 

[Scythanith]

Would hope by now the camera would be charged.... it's Friday in Australia, we demand some acro porn for the weekend.

Lol!

 

[Myka]

I feel your pain, Mindy! Steady as she goes. Gotta wait it out. They come back.. often in surprising ways.

Slowly does it. If I could fit some new ones in I would just so I could look at something pretty. :lol:

Oh that sucks about the doser! Glad you caught it early enough. I once forgot to turn off my NP Pro Doser after purging the lines. Thankfully I caught it after dumping a S ton into my dump :/.

I posted this in another thread but how are you liking the component C in sodium carbonate (not bicarbonate)? I assume you didn't get any weird precipitate or unexpected results? I've been meaning to try this for sometime with my BRS sodium carbonate (AFs use of sodium bicarbonate has kept me from switching to their KH Buffer).

I actually haven't noticed any difference at all using sodium carbonate. Hasn't affected pH at all. Maybe no results simply because the KH issue is masking it...??

Would hope by now the camera would be charged.... it's Friday in Australia, we demand some acro porn for the weekend.

Well yeah, but I've been sooo busy!!! My to do list is sooo long right now!!!

 

[Myka]

Thanks to Scythanith for giving me some Potassium phosphate! I also have my own Sodium nitrate. Lastnight I dosed 0.02 ppm PO4 and 1.5 ppm NO3.

Since removing all the fish for minor Ich treatment just after Christmas, and only putting 4 back into the tank, nutrients have totally bottomed out. Before removing the fish NO3 and PO4 were undetectable, but thanks to Pohl'z Xtra dosing, colors were looking pretty good. Now the tank is in bad shape (nutrient stripped) even though I'm feeding the 4 fish about 5 times a day all they can eat. Hopefully the NO3 and PO4 additions will help.

I have 3 fish in QT right now too. Another 2 weeks before adding them.

 

[DiscusHeckel]

Are you still using you CO2 scrubber Mindy? Do you have a picture of its set up please?

Thanks

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