SPS Growth

[kajhurley]

I have a 90 gal tank and 20 gal sump. I only have one tang and a small cleanup crew in the tank at the moment.
Param:
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:0
Phosphate:0

I have not gotten a mag or alk test kit as of yet. Next on the list tho. I dose kalk at 1 tsp per gal in my ato. I run a euroreef rs 135 skimmer that is pulling a lot out of the water column. I evaporate close to 1 gal a day. I recently put in a few acans, zoas, and a pink birdsnest. The pink birdnest started growing right away. Growth could be seen daily. Then all the sudden stopped. Don't know why. I did a water change and it seemed to start growing again and then stopped. I also dose essential elements every 2 days and feed every 2 days. Is the tank to clean with such a small bioload. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[icy1155]

First, get an Alk and Ca test kit. I am a big fan of the salifert ones, but as long as it's reliable it doesn't matter. Your growth probably slowed because it used up the majority of the available calcium and carbonate in the water. That is why you saw a small spike in growth after the water change and it stalled out again. From what I remember, the essential elements are trace minerals, not a Ca and Alk supplement.

 

[oldbones]

Call us back when you get your Kh and Ca results.

 

[kajhurley]

Forgot to add.... ca is at around 450

 

[nemodan]

If you only have a bird nest there are not too many SPS bioload and a 10% weekly WC will be enought for it to go, also if you do not know your Alk levels.

What the frequency of your WC ?

 

[kajhurley]

10 gallons weekly

 

[kajhurley]

Just got red sea alk/mag/ca test kit today. Parameters are as follows:
Alk: 9.2
Mag: 1240
Cal: 370

The api calcium test was way off. I tested twice with the red sea test kit and got the same numbers. I am switching my kalk ato to fully saturated. I was using 1 tbs per gallon and have changed it to 2 tbs in an effort to raise Ca. I am also gonna start dosing kent turbo calcium daily until I reach around 400. Any other thoughts?

 

[Pife]

You shouldn't change anything until you track what you use per day. Then you'll know how much to dose per day.

 

[nemodan]

10 gallons weekly

With that coral bioload your weekly ~10% WC should have to be enought to keep alk/Ca/Mg in level.

As suggested, do not dose anything if you do not know your consuption.

 

[kajhurley]

I have a rainbow pectina that is starting to lose tissue at the tips. Don't know what is going on. Tank temp swings about 3 degrees a day, and that is running a chiller on it. Goes from about 77 to 80. Should I lower temp a bit? The 250 watt metal halides put a lot of heat in the tank during the day.

 

[BrettH]

You should get your Ca inline first and not try and raise it with kalk. Once your dKh and Ca are where you want them, then use kalk to maintain them.

 

[Wiskey]

You should get your Ca inline first and not try and raise it with kalk. Once your dKh and Ca are where you want them, then use kalk to maintain them.

+1 -- Kalk adds about equal amounts of CA and ALK, but if your numbers are not in balance to start with then this situation will not improve much. I would get the CA part of a 2 part solution to boost the CA so it's around 420 (which balances more or less with alk of 9) and then use Kalk to maintain those numbers. I would also bring Mag up to 1300.

Whiskey

 

[kajhurley]

ok I will try to get my ca up. thanks for all the replies