Tank going to hades

[cee]

0.5 meq every 2 days is fine; I wouldn't go any faster though. Don't add any more calcium until you get your alkalinity up. You really want a alkalinity supplement only (like baking soda) which the DT's product may be but I'm not familar with it. The tissue recession on your birdsnest is typical of alkalinity issues.

You state that the skimmer isn't producing; only wet skimmate and overflowing into the collection cup. This is usually an indicator that something is in the water that is increasing the surface tension of the water, usually something that is not good. I find carbon is better at removing certain undesirable chemicals than PolyFilters but I haven't used PolyFilters in ages. PolyFilters can remove all metals, including many trace elements which you may not want to do unless you know you have metal poisoning (like copper, etc.).

That'll be 2 cents.

Dave

 

[omreardon]

Is the Chemi Pure or Purigen going to act like carbon? Or do I need to just go buy a bag of activated carbon?

Olivia

 

[cee]

I'm not familar enough with either of those products to comment on what they are made of. Carbon is quite safe to add, about 1 cup per hundred gallons is what I've been using for years, but the others I really don't know. If things appear stable you may just want to raise the alkalinity slowly and monitor for several days. If for no other reason than to identify the cause of your problem (or not, but at least eliminate one possiblity). Good luck!

Dave

Dave

 

[EvilMel]

I believe that ChemiPure acts like Carbon but I'd just use carbon if I had it, for right now.

ChemiPure Elite acts like carbon and has a GFO component as well.

 

[GPhiAce]

You are not going to see a response from your tank for a while- FYI. Just stick to what you are doing (although I would use Carbon instead just because I am comfortable with it). Dave has an excellent point at raising your Alk independently so you know if that was the problem or not (although it sounds like it is). Plus your other levels are fine.

I wonder about toxins or something else added now that I read the skimmer part. And Reef Crystals has a fairly high Alk and Ca (if I remember correctly).

Question- Could it have been an increase in demand of Alk independently of Ca and Mg that caused such an issue? I am not familiar with what corals you have added or if they can do it themselves.

Oh, how are the corals from the swap? I think you got favias right?

 

[omreardon]

I just got home tonight from class so will try to get to walmart tomorrow and get some carbon. Can't hurt. I'm working on raising the alk slowly.

Today the tank looks worse. The flesh is receding fast from my sps.

I didn't get to go to the swap, I was out of town. So I haven't added anything that would suck up the alk I don't think. It's a pretty lightly stocked tank all in all. Just a couple sps, a 5 headed frogspawn, 12 or so rics, some zoas and some blue cloves.

Olivia

 

[macclellan]

I hope you get it sorted.
I 'pulled a Paul' when I got back from a 3-week vacation and dosed to much 2-part at once to catch up. Lost a few mushrooms and caused a min-cycle.

 

[cee]

Be careful, not all carbon is created equally, esp. when it is sold at Wally World.

 

[omreardon]

Oh, well dang it, good to know. PetSmart carbon better?

Olivia

 

[GPhiAce]

I used wally carbon before. Now I use some other brand. Make sure you rinse it well and change it often. I have not had any bad experiences with it, but have heard stories. And I hate pet smart- just a personal preference thing.

Thanks for the shout out joel. Glad to know that I will be remembered when I leave.

 

[GPhiAce]

I used wally carbon before. Now I use some other brand. Make sure you rinse it well and change it often. I have not had any bad experiences with it, but have heard stories. And I hate pet smart- just a personal preference thing.

Thanks for the shout out joel. Glad to know that I will be remembered when I leave.

 

[macclellan]

Thanks for the shout out joel. Glad to know that I will be remembered when I leave.

It makes me the bigger idiot for not learning from your mistake. :jester:

 

[EvilMel]

I used to use that Kent carbon. Joe gave me a TON of it a long time ago. That stuff was awesome.

 

[mkenochm]

:sad1:

 

[mkenochm]

It must be in the air. My nitrates went through the roof last week and just when I thought I had done enough water changes and things were starting to look better in my tank, my PH shot up to 8.8 sometime through the night last night. I don't know what caused either. I did a water change today (about 130 gallons on a 180) and got everything semi normal, but in the process learned my heater went out on my water I was putting in and dropped my water temp to 50 F. All my fish went into hibernation mode, but have seemed to pull through with only 2 causalties. As far as my corals, it is too soon to tell. My most expensive ones have been moved to my son's nano tank temporarily to try and save them. Oh and to beat it all my propeller on my pump cracked in the middle of all of this, and I've had to order a new one. Good thing I had a spare pump. Talk about a bad day :sad1:

 

[omreardon]

Darn, it sounds like you're having it as bad as/worse than me! I'm so sorry to hear of your troubles! I'll cross my fingers for you if you'll cross yours for me.

I put some carbon in my sump and did a major water change. The solution to pollution is dilution...

Olivia

 

[EvilMel]

Dude...talk about all the luck. I think my mantis is dying. This is a rotten week for our tank inhabitants.

ps I like our forum muuuuuch better than the mantis forum.

 

[acrodave]

Dude...talk about all the luck. I think my mantis is dying. This is a rotten week for our tank inhabitants.

ps I like our forum muuuuuch better than the mantis forum.

OT. why not like the mantis room. i go there lots.. its one of the few room where u can get a answer from a dr. that works in the field of mantis

 

[EvilMel]

Because all the posts are "look at my new mantis" or "I just got a mantis". Plus when I went there to ask about whether my mantis is dying or not everyone was like "get a bigger tank" and "you just made everything worse" and "it's not a peacock" rather than telling me if he was dying or not.

I just felt like a mistreated noobie...which I'm not used to!

It's my fault for giving a crap what those guys say though. I'm just being too sensitive about it because I never lose fish and was pretty attached to my mantis already.

 

[mkenochm]

Sorry to hear about your mantis mel. Hopefully it will pull through. It looks like I'm only going to loose one more fish, and it might pull through. All my shrooms seemed to have made it. I've lost about half my crabs and snails, and both my clams. As for the rest of the corals they aren't dead but they don't look great either. Hopefully they will pull through. Good thing it is around tax refund time, it looks like I'm going to be spending some $$$ to get my tank looking the way it was. How is your tank Olivia??