Update - Dying Hammer Coral... help!

[Trex420]

Hey all. I thought I would update you on what I think was the culprit in the debacle that occured in my tank about a month ago. I had tested my water the other day and filled one to many vials with water for testing. I tested my PH and the test color was yellow indicating a PH of roughly 7.4! I must admit I was a little confused how it could happen for a second then I figured I would test the unused vial that I had pulled at the same time. This time I shook the PH test solution bottle. The test came out a nice purple indicating 8.2-8.3 as it was supposed to. Looking back I think I added buffer as a result of a bad test. I took a picture of the two vials.

Old thread:
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=784316

 

[stugray]

A similar thing happened to me... my wife ran a few tests that showed huge #s for amm & Nit. I asked her to show me how she filled the vials...

She was using the same eye-dropper as we use for feeding & it was comtaminated with old decaying food!

Be sure to always use a dedicated dropper for testing.

I also always rinse my vials 15 times ( yeah I konw a bit An&l ) with tap water.

In addition.. if you do the test and wait a week or two with the solution in the tube, then the remaining chemicals dont rinse out too well.


Stu

 

[ktani]

thank you for the follow up on your thread. It is nice to help narrow down culprits for tank failures.

Stu? Anal? Shcocked I am, cannot believe it.

Kip

 

[stugray]

Misquoted I am.... 'a bit An&l' it was... clearly.

As for nailing certain common problems: Some of the problems I have stumbled across would have meant - 'I Quit!!' if it hadnt been for Reef Central and forums like it.

This hobby would be a disaster if it wasnt for the quick responses possible with the internet.

Stu

 

[ktani]

no worse than my spelling Stu. lol

Quite true on the quick response and help.

Kip