Id say you were using too much gfo imo but it also depends on your bioload etc. I've never liked the kalk in ato's I like the dosing pump like bubble magus or vertex etc and do everything individual just my 2 cents. It all depends on your tank though all in all. When in doubt, do a water change.
skimming and water change experiment. effects ive noticed
- Thread starter mos90
- Start date
Piper27
I love bengals
I am having a similar experience, I would love to see pics of how your corals look. I started dosing vinegar and a few months in now and I have been getting rtn and lost a few pieces. I weened off the gfo around the first month of vinegar dosing. Mixed in with some funny tips (could be the angels though). my alk has been steady for 3 weeks without dosing so something is not normal. I have even been having certain acros that show rtn or Stn, change colors (looks like they take a neon green pigment) very noticeably before they rtn. I just lowered my dose by 1/4 3 days ago and did a 50 gal waterchange (almost 300gal system). My alk has jumped to 8.5 during this and the corals didn't react well. It's back that high now after the waterchange so hopefully the corals look better from decreasing the vinegar.
I find it very odd and scary that none of my acros have consumed any alk or calcium for around 3 weeks, did this happy to you?
I have a thread in my local forum where people helped me carbon dose, but no one seemed to think my alk was too high for vinegar dosing and no one recommended decreasing my dose.
mos90
New member
that sounds the same.
as soon as you see that light green your in trouble. i bet when i get home tonight ill be throwing 3 or 4 corals in the trash.
i had the same alk problem. i used to keep alk at 9. all of a sudden it shot up to 10.5. i had to back off the my doser from 150ml to 100ml per day. it seemed to be i used a lot less alk but calcium was not effected.
as soon as you see that light green your in trouble. i bet when i get home tonight ill be throwing 3 or 4 corals in the trash.
i had the same alk problem. i used to keep alk at 9. all of a sudden it shot up to 10.5. i had to back off the my doser from 150ml to 100ml per day. it seemed to be i used a lot less alk but calcium was not effected.
mr.maroonsalty
New member
First thing I would worry about is weakening sg; you are replacing skimmate with plain water. I th
Piper27
I love bengals
Wow so some of your corals turned a green color before they rtned also?
Piper27
I love bengals
I did a 80 gallon waterchange and didn't see much change in my corals. It's been 5 days, I just lowered my vinegar dose yesterday, hopefully things turn around. Best of luck to you, hopefully things turn around for you too.
Also I wonder why the corals take a neon green pigment before they start to rtn, or if that is even normal? I have never heard of it.
Thanks for posting because I have been trying to figure out what's wrong with my corals for a few months!
Also I wonder why the corals take a neon green pigment before they start to rtn, or if that is even normal? I have never heard of it.
Thanks for posting because I have been trying to figure out what's wrong with my corals for a few months!
Zero Nitrates
New member
Interesting!
dkeller_nc
New member
By the way - dosing kalk through an ATO and adding the same amount of alkalinity through the carbonate side of 2-part solutions isn't equivalent. Yes, one can measure/calculate the alkalinity added by the kalkwasser (it's fairly low), but this is not all that kalkwasser is doing. Because of its very high pH, you get localized abiotic precipitation of phosphate as calcium phosphate where the kalk is dripped into your sump/tank.
Calcium phosphate is a little like calcium carbonate in that once it is formed, it doesn't easily re-dissolve at common tank pHs. It is for that reason that kalkwasser helps greatly with nutrient management in a reef tank, whether the "extra" calcium/alkalinity is added via 2-part or a calcium reactor.
Calcium phosphate is a little like calcium carbonate in that once it is formed, it doesn't easily re-dissolve at common tank pHs. It is for that reason that kalkwasser helps greatly with nutrient management in a reef tank, whether the "extra" calcium/alkalinity is added via 2-part or a calcium reactor.
mos90
New member
ok . so to sum it up. the combination of no waterchanges, wet skimming and vinegar dosing was not a good idea. im not sure if it was just the vinegar that caused the problem, or the amount of vinegar was just too much.
even though i did have some hair algae before and some diatoms the corals were healthy, a little brown,but healthy.
i find it hard to believe that stopping my weekly waterchanges and wet skimming would cause 5 corals to rtn in a week. so we know for the most part what to blame. i did have a slight alk swing from 9-10.2 over a few weeks but that is not extreme.
another issue is ive learned that when you are doing carbon dosing it is very important to keep alk between 6.5-8 dkh.
even though i did have some hair algae before and some diatoms the corals were healthy, a little brown,but healthy.
i find it hard to believe that stopping my weekly waterchanges and wet skimming would cause 5 corals to rtn in a week. so we know for the most part what to blame. i did have a slight alk swing from 9-10.2 over a few weeks but that is not extreme.
another issue is ive learned that when you are doing carbon dosing it is very important to keep alk between 6.5-8 dkh.
