So what is alk burn and is it causeing my dead tips?

[PowermanKW]

So I was reading other threads about tip STN, didn't sound like what I'm doing, but maybe something common. I read about alk burn, but didn't know I could do that.

I have a Purple Plasma with tisse loss at the tips. Just happened slowly over the last few days.

I used to run ROX and GFO in the same reactor, but not at the same time... i alternated. Well I got another reactor and now run both. That was 3-4 weeks ago.

I dose BRS recipe 1... My alk and Ca was stable for about 6 months at 9.6 dkh and 430. My stuff was growing well and took off and my alk/cas didn't keep up. So at 8.6 dkh and 400 I decided to take care of it. Over 3 days I got Ca up to 450 and increased dose. In one shot (only needed 45 ml) I raised Alk to 9.9 and icreased dose. Before I did that I got my MG up from 1250 to 1400.

Now my number have been very stable with the increased time and as off yesterday I was at:

SG 1.025
Alk at 9.9 DKH (salifert new)
Cal 450 (Salifert new)
Mg 1400 (Seachem)
Nitrates <.2 (Seachem new)
PO4 .008 (Merck)

So what gives? Those are the only changes I've made. Feed Reef nutrition, marine snow and aminos 2-3-4 times a week. Turn skimmer off for 3 hours for feeding. All my other Acros look great.

 

[PowermanKW]

So can anyone help me out with this? Does it sound like bringing my alk up is the problem. what should I do about it, let it stay or lower it?

 

[saltygeek]

Jumping your alk up probably did it. Changes in alk should be done very slowly. Just let it slowly fall into whatever range you want it to be in.

 

[PowermanKW]

Jumping your alk up probably did it. Changes in alk should be done very slowly. Just let it slowly fall into whatever range you want it to be in.

I was just going by what I knew from BRS and don't change Alk more than .2 in PH at a time...ect. The dose I needed to bring it up was like a days worth so I didn't think it was too much.

So.... if I need to raise Alk, what is a good rate to raise it without adverse effects?

 

[PowermanKW]

Anyone? If Alk needs rto be adjusted, what is a safe rise in alk?

 

[saltygeek]

I would just raise it over several days like you did your calcium. IMO they seem to handle changes in calcium and mag pretty easily but not alk.

 

[johnanddawn]

many people find "ALK" burn to be associated with changing GFO out
there seems to be a corelation between GFO, phosphate and alkalinity
most people who run GFO or ULNS tend to have to keep their ALK lower to avoid such problems

 

[PowermanKW]

many people find "ALK" burn to be associated with changing GFO out
there seems to be a corelation between GFO, phosphate and alkalinity
most people who run GFO or ULNS tend to have to keep their ALK lower to avoid such problems

Could you elaborate a bit? I recently got another reactor instead of switching back and forth for carbon and GFO. So I changed and added GFO and carbon recently and run 24/7. I use 1.5 cups of GfO on my 90g with 110g actually volume. Should I cut the GFO back or turn it off for a bit?

I have also decided to let my levels fall back to more reasonable levels.... 9 dkh and 430 calcium. Is that good or should it be even more conservative?

 

[saltygeek]

Could you elaborate a bit? I recently got another reactor instead of switching back and forth for carbon and GFO. So I changed and added GFO and carbon recently and run 24/7. I use 1.5 cups of GfO on my 90g with 110g actually volume. Should I cut the GFO back or turn it off for a bit?

I have also decided to let my levels fall back to more reasonable levels.... 9 dkh and 430 calcium. Is that good or should it be even more conservative?

Thats a good level to stay at. Did you put more GFO or carbon than usual? Could be a combination of all these things. A lot of changes in short order.

 

[PowermanKW]

Thats a good level to stay at. Did you put more GFO or carbon than usual? Could be a combination of all these things. A lot of changes in short order.

No.... no more than I was using normally.

I only had one reactor so I would run GFO for 2-3 weeks and then carbon for 2 weeks. Since I was changing more often I tried using a little less. Now that I have two reactors both are going all the time. That was 4 weeks ago. So 1.5 cups of GFO and 100 ml of ROX... the measuring cup full. Perhaps there was a little ramp up in GFO since now it is continuous and I was using at the least one cup of GFO.

 

[PowermanKW]

Well calcium crept up to 460, so I didn't dose today, now a solid 450, so I will go another day... get it down to 430.

My Alk was steady at 9.9, but yesterday and today it was 9.6. So...I dose 10x a night for 6 minutes, so I knocked two intervals off... 12 minutes. I'll test daily till it's at 9.0 and then put the timer back.

Hopefully that is not too drastic.

 

[PowermanKW]

many people find "ALK" burn to be associated with changing GFO out
there seems to be a corelation between GFO, phosphate and alkalinity
most people who run GFO or ULNS tend to have to keep their ALK lower to avoid such problems

Could you elaborate a bit? I recently got another reactor instead of switching back and forth for carbon and GFO. So I changed and added GFO and carbon recently and run 24/7. I use 1.5 cups of GfO on my 90g with 110g actually volume. Should I cut the GFO back or turn it off for a bit?

I have read about bacteria driven systems and alk and GFO.... but do I need lower Alk levels running GFO. I have not seen this.

Well calcium crept up to 460, so I didn't dose today, now a solid 450, so I will go another day... get it down to 430.

My Alk was steady at 9.9, but yesterday and today it was 9.6. So...I dose 10x a night for 6 minutes, so I knocked two intervals off... 12 minutes. I'll test daily till it's at 9.0 and then put the timer back.

Hopefully that is not too drastic.

So what is a good rate of change if I need to adjust Alk up or down?

Before I have chased tests and made too many changes.... then if I go slow it just keeps dropping. This has only been a couple of times, but I can't find the sweet spot when making adjustment. Before this episode my stuff was stable for about 6 months.... then all my Montis started growing and here I am.

 

[PowermanKW]

bump

 

[saltygeek]

Well calcium crept up to 460, so I didn't dose today, now a solid 450, so I will go another day... get it down to 430.

My Alk was steady at 9.9, but yesterday and today it was 9.6. So...I dose 10x a night for 6 minutes, so I knocked two intervals off... 12 minutes. I'll test daily till it's at 9.0 and then put the timer back.

Hopefully that is not too drastic.

That sounds good. Once you zero in on it you'll only have to test weekly to keep it steady and adjust for growth.

You dont need a lower level of alk to run GFO, only if your running a low nutrient system by dosing a carbon source.

 

[luvdiving]

I wouldn't recommend more than 1 dkh in a 24hr period..

 

[PowermanKW]

Cool.

 

[PowermanKW]

So anything I can do to save my Plasma. My alk is down to 9.5 dkh. I'g going to change 12g on my 110g system today. Ca is down to 430 and Mg is at 1350.

It is slow but not really stopping. The PE is nothing compared to what it used to be. Been trying to get it healthy with Aminos, Snow, oyster eggs and fish poop.

Anything else I can do? At what point do I have to start sacrificing branches?

 

[PowermanKW]

bump

 

[cmm1970]

I believe all you can do is stabilize your tank parameters and wait it out. You could, of course, trim off behind the necrosis and try to arrest the progress. I have had this action produce contrary results so I don't think arresting the process is a sure thing with fragging/trimming. Stay on top of tank chemistry regardless. I recently had an alk spike that set my tank back easily four weeks, maybe even six. My Ca reactor got ahead of the tank and caused the spike. I was asleep at the wheel due to a massive remodeling project we are doing in my home. Turned around one afternoon and noticed white tips about 4-6mm down the branches of my millieporas and realized something was amiss. I let the tank drift down from kH 11 over the next week by turning off the calcium reactor completely. Color is slowly coming back to my tips. Tough break!

Mike

 

[PowermanKW]

Thank you. I'll just wait. It's looking pretty hammered. My orange Monti cap seems to be browning too.

But overall... got my numbers down to 9/430. Mg is at 1350. Changed 10% and carbon. Been feeding and now I'll just leave it alone and get it back steady. New frags look stable, not good not bad. Going to work at being a lot more consistent and much smaller changes.