Tank going down hill real fast!!

if you are adding 190ml/day i hope you're using a dosing pump and not just poor it right in.

I am using a dosing pump. It's the litermeter 3 and it doses 150 times a day. About the 190 ml it's actually 180 but yeah it seems like a lot but my Alk is 140ppm which converts to 8.0dkh and Cal is around 440. My mag is 1200 so those are good parameters. I ordered new test kits so I will match these up and see if I have a bad kit which I doubt because Lamotte alk kit suppose to be very good. Anyway last night I had to throw away my pearlberry because my STN issue became a RTN thing. I fragged and dipped the rest of the corals in revive and added plugs and put the frags on the bottom. I didn't see any bugs just a pod or 2 when I dipped. I must say this since I added my overpowered skimmer my water has been a lot more clear so my light has been penatrating the tank more. It seems like all the corals on the top are the ones showing STN and dieing. I have a macricultured milli on the bottom of the tank that I received from DD a little more than a month ago and is doing well. It actually colored up pretty well. I also have montis and on Acro near the bottom and they have not showed any RTN/STN yet. I wonder if the the corals are now getting to much light due to the better water clarity. I know it's a reach but I'm grasping for straws. It's a terrible feeling when things are dieing and you have no clue why.
 
Another thing I changed not to long ago was the containers that I hold my two part solution in. I was using the 1 gallon bottles that the B-ionic came in but they are not clear so I couldn't see when I was running out. I bought clear jugs from Walmart and washed them out well. They had that plastic odor to them so I washed them again, but is it possible that even with the washing there is still a chemical in the jugs that is being dosed in my tank along with the Alk and cal? Maybe just enough to kill the acros. I now it's another reach but I feel like this issue started around the same time I changed the jugs. I think I'm going to ditch them anyway because they still have that horrible odor to them.

Thanks
 
What did the plastic jugs contain before you rinsed them out? If you need some clear jugs. Try some that vinegar was in and rinse them well.
 
What did the plastic jugs contain before you rinsed them out? If you need some clear jugs. Try some that vinegar was in and rinse them well.

I bought them from Walmart for the purpose of dosing. I didn't store anything in them. I took them home and rinsed them out and added my B-ionic to the containers.
 
Ok I don't think that the jugs were the problem. It does seem like you are using a lot of the 2 part additives.
I would try to get the alk up to 9.0 slowly. And raise the mag to at least 1400. I would not add anything else, and start doing weekly water changes. I would let the tank fully recover before dosing any carbon sources.
 
Yep, stop random dosing ideas (Probidio etc) and concentrate on stable Alk Ca and Mg. Stable parameters, skimming, flow and lighting are the most important to successful sps.

If algae becomes a problem run some Rowaphos etc and or Act. Carbon in a FBF.
 
For those who said I was dosing to much!! Thank you because I was.....No thanks to my Lamotte Alk test kit. This thing was way off. I was testing at 8.0 wile dosing at 180ml per day. I bought a brand new alk sailfiert test kit and it read 11.2 and rising. So on Saturday I dropped the dosage to 90ml per day and I tested again on Sunday night and my Alk was down to 9.8. I 'm going to get it slowy down to 9.0 and keep it there. It seems since I bought the dosgae down the STN has stopped. Man I'm so mad at this test kit it suppose to be really good but it failed me and lost a few corals in the process, blue iris, Pearberry :mad2: But I think I was able to save the rest. Well I'm hoping. Thanks for all your help.....

Mike
 
For those who said I was dosing to much!! Thank you because I was.....No thanks to my Lamotte Alk test kit. This thing was way off. I was testing at 8.0 wile dosing at 180ml per day. I bought a brand new alk sailfiert test kit and it read 11.2 and rising. So on Saturday I dropped the dosage to 90ml per day and I tested again on Sunday night and my Alk was down to 9.8. I 'm going to get it slowy down to 9.0 and keep it there. It seems since I bought the dosgae down the STN has stopped. Man I'm so mad at this test kit it suppose to be really good but it failed me and lost a few corals in the process, blue iris, Pearberry :mad2: But I think I was able to save the rest. Well I'm hoping. Thanks for all your help.....

Mike

Not sure where you are located but cases like this are one of the many reasons it is good to have a relationship with a good LFS. I was having a few issues and instead of spending the money on new kits I had them double check my results, guess what same issue bad test kit!
 
thats good that you have found the problem but i think 90ml day is still to high. I have a 90g with 100+ sps and even more to come n i oly dose 15-20ml/day. Just keep testing ur water and adjust dosing if u have 2
 
thats good that you have found the problem but i think 90ml day is still to high. I have a 90g with 100+ sps and even more to come n i oly dose 15-20ml/day. Just keep testing ur water and adjust dosing if u have 2

Thanks for the info. I didn't want to decrease it to fast. I actually dropped the dosage to 70 ml last night and did a water change. I will test again tonight and keep adjusting until I get around 8.5- 9. So far the stn has looked like it's stopping and some of the cyano is going away as well. I wonder where everyone stores their test kits? I want to make sure this never happens again so maybe their is some special way to store these kits so don't won't go bad after a month or so.

Thanks
 
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