Test Kits and STN?

[dvanacker]

Well water changes is the reason why my tank got up to 10dkh. Dang I.O.

So how fast can I safely bring down alk to 7-8. And what should I run my calcium at with these levels.

You know it could be the alk because I used to run at 8 and didnt seem to have this problem.....I'm willing to try lower it.

Also should I frag or wait.... STN for me in the past has been a hard thing to stop.

 

[clkwrk]

Change to a lower alk salt.........

I would bring things down at a rate of .5 dkh a day to be safe. Most times that can be done by stoping 2 parts ,ca reactor or kalk.

For me stn that is slowly flaking tissue needs attention and some frags should be taken . STN where you don't see tissue trying to slowly peel off usally will be fine .

 

[dvanacker]

Ok well I stoped dosing of carbonate. I stoped the doser at 3pm yesterday and checked it this morning (16hrs later) and it has droped from 10.2 to 9.2 dkh. Is this too fast or is this fine. I hope its fine because I didnt touch it this morning and Im at work. I suspect it to be around 8.5 when I get home from work.

 

[slojmn]

That is a little quick for the drop but since you are at work there is not much you can do. I never have high alk issues mine are always low alk issues and I shoot to increase by.5 a day so there is not more stress on the animals. But I have come up more than that in a day, heck in half a day and things seemed fine. Once you hit the 8.5 mark try to shoot for that on a consistant basis so you will need to probably tweak your doser. I would agree with clkwrk on checking out different salt mixes. You could try mixing a lower alk salt with your current salt. I personally use a 60-40 mix of Kent-Instant Ocean to get my params where I want them. I still need to ocassionally boost my alk with some baking soda or tweak my calcium reactor.
One question, since the alk has dropped what is your calcium reading??? 8.5 dKh and calcium right around 420 ppm is what I would shoot for, maybe even 8.0 dKh.

 

[Serioussnaps]

You are moving way too fast....first you dont even know its the alk...sounds to me like you got AEFW's or red bugs. Also, if you change salts you are only going to make it worse...you will just add stress....switch slowly..ie 3:1 IO vs new salt starting out and slowly go 2:2 and 1:3 and 0:4 for the new salt...dont just change salt...i have seen people do this dumbly and kill their ****.

DROPPING YOUR ALK THAT QUICKLY IS GONNA REALLY CAUSE YOUR CORALS TO STN/RTN.....I BET BY THE TIME YOU READ THIS POST YOUR PROBLEMS HAVE WORSENED....YOU ARE DOING STUFF WAY TO FAST DVAN BEFORE FINDING OUT THE ACTUAL PROBLEM

check for predators.....

also...what is your daily temperature swing? what is your daily ph swing? have you changed anything in the system besides letting the ALK plummet in the course of a day(not smart)?
Do you have anything nearby that may be stinging them?

 

[dvanacker]

snaps..you are in serious violation of the CAP LOCK bylaw 3.4.57 please take two tranquilizers and resume posting tomorrow.

I'm not changing salt. I managed to go home at lunch...and the carbonate doser is running half speed now. I imagine I will be around 9 dKh when I get home. Calcium is about 400 now and is very slowly rising.

as stated TEMP swing is zero.

Im not too worried, besides you can drop alk faster then you can dose to bring it up because it is a gradual thing...not one big dose. Things were fine at 12pm. Just think about all the people that dose 2 part manually and only do so once a day....give me a break.

 

[slojmn]

Glad to hear all is well .

 

[dvanacker]

All is well ....if you dont count the couple of acro's that have very slow STN. That part ****es me off.

Hey what does everyone think of DIY oyster shell and portland cement live rock. Probably half of my rock is DIY.....has anybody had issues with this?? I've done a search on it and didnt come up with much. Some of the DIY rock has been in there for a while (and looks great) and others I added a 3 of months ago.