SALTWATERSIG
New member
Let me start with a little background
I have had my 100 gal display w/30 gal sump/refugium since June 2005, sucessful mixed reef sps/lps since late 2006.
Running Cal rx , kalkwasser rx , skimmer , cheato , carbon rx, phos rx , dosing probidio
well some time around april/may this year.....I noticed some of my larger sps colonies started to appear very dry looking towards the tips (not smooth like before ) so I tested param's and found alk / cal lower than usual 140ppm alk and 330 cal (they usually were pretty stable at around 180-190ppm alk and 420 cal ) , so no big deal ....I just would add some more of each at diff times to bring them up. The param's would be fine a couple of days and then be running lower again.
I had a brilliant Idea of running a 2 part system as to supplement the low readings. Well it seemed like for weeks I kept increasing the 2 part dosage and could barely keep the parameters as high as before.
By now its been weeks into using 2 part , have precip on tank glass every day and corals either having flesh peel overnight or burnt tips.
Finally a fellow reefer suggested that my mag was probably way off (bad test kit) since I had duplicate kits to verify cal and alk. Well I start reading up on 2 part instructions and finally I read were you have to add a certain amount of mag for each gallon of cal/alk or 1 gal alk + 1 gal cal = 20oz mag.
Fast foward another couple of months , Cal rx off line , now dosing only 2 part and mag, aso dosing vodka (cheato kept dying on me ) and parameters are pretty solid at
cal 410 alk 170ppm sal 1.026 phos undetectable nitrates 2-4 ppm and mag ? i just add 20z per gallon of each cal / alk.
my problem is that although precip is gone on glass and pumps alike......I still have issues with sps peeling flesh or showing burnt tips. Can't keep montis alive they peel faster than the others sps.
any thoughts
Sergio
I have had my 100 gal display w/30 gal sump/refugium since June 2005, sucessful mixed reef sps/lps since late 2006.
Running Cal rx , kalkwasser rx , skimmer , cheato , carbon rx, phos rx , dosing probidio
well some time around april/may this year.....I noticed some of my larger sps colonies started to appear very dry looking towards the tips (not smooth like before ) so I tested param's and found alk / cal lower than usual 140ppm alk and 330 cal (they usually were pretty stable at around 180-190ppm alk and 420 cal ) , so no big deal ....I just would add some more of each at diff times to bring them up. The param's would be fine a couple of days and then be running lower again.
I had a brilliant Idea of running a 2 part system as to supplement the low readings. Well it seemed like for weeks I kept increasing the 2 part dosage and could barely keep the parameters as high as before.
By now its been weeks into using 2 part , have precip on tank glass every day and corals either having flesh peel overnight or burnt tips.
Finally a fellow reefer suggested that my mag was probably way off (bad test kit) since I had duplicate kits to verify cal and alk. Well I start reading up on 2 part instructions and finally I read were you have to add a certain amount of mag for each gallon of cal/alk or 1 gal alk + 1 gal cal = 20oz mag.
Fast foward another couple of months , Cal rx off line , now dosing only 2 part and mag, aso dosing vodka (cheato kept dying on me ) and parameters are pretty solid at
cal 410 alk 170ppm sal 1.026 phos undetectable nitrates 2-4 ppm and mag ? i just add 20z per gallon of each cal / alk.
my problem is that although precip is gone on glass and pumps alike......I still have issues with sps peeling flesh or showing burnt tips. Can't keep montis alive they peel faster than the others sps.
any thoughts
Sergio
