Xenia not doing well

[sheltonlr]

Have had Marine fish only tank 15 years and recently converted to coral with only three fish. After two months everything looked great, Xenia, Mushroom, Colt, and other corals doing well, even growing. Left on three day vacation and Son in Law was in charge. Came home and all Xenia are dying and some of other corals not happy. mushroom and colt are fine. I did a water change of 15 gallon (180Gallon with 190 lb live rock). Still nothing. After a week Did a 20 gallon water change. Worse.
Calcium reactor has been going all the time. ALK very high, ph high side, Calcium 420. Can not seem to get ALK to come down at all. My salt water mixing tank (50 Gallons) checks at very high ALK also so I assume the mix must be high.
I also added some live Photoplankton right before I left. Not sure if that has something to do with it.
I plan to leave the darn thing alone now for a week or two and see if it gets back to healthy. Muschrooms are growing as is the colt coral. Lot a stony coral though.
I have RO system and that water checks ok.

What do you think went on?

 

[Crimthann]

IMO i wouldn't worry about the high ALK too much (although how high is very high?). If it's a little high your tank will correct itself as your corals use it up. My Xenia are always the first thing to let me know that there's something wrong in my tank. They'll either close up or changing color as they did when i first switched to a skimmerless tank. I'm assuming you have a skimmer on your tank? Maybe try a a carbon sock on the intake into the sump. It cleared up for me when i installed a carbon filter on mine.

Also how are your nitrates, nitrites, and ammonia?

 

[drummereef]

Most likely a water quality issue. Can you list all of your current water params?

temp
Salinity
pH
alk
ca
mag
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate
phosphate

 

[sheltonlr]

Water conditions for Zenia

Water conditions for Zenia

temp 77
Salinity 31/1.024
pH 8.5
alk 8
ca 400
mag don't have a test for this one
ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 3
phosphate no test

As you can see the alk is twice what it should be.

 

[reefshadow]

Assuming the alk reading is accurate, turn off your reactor and use calcium chloride to supplement the calcium while you let the alk naturally fall. Once the alk is within range, dial your reactor back in. Reactors are balanced supplements, so any imbalance present when setting up a reactor or occuring during use will persist.

Get a mag kit as well to make sure this isn't effecting your calcium level, causing it to stay more depressed while the reactor is pumping in lots of alk.

I am assuming you didn't take the water sample next to the effluent? My effluent is like 26 DKH.

Assuming alk is accurate, this could very well be your problem.

GL!

 

[reefshadow]

Oh, BTW [welcome]

 

[sheltonlr]

Alk Problem

Alk Problem

Thanks so much. I suspected this as when I "dialed in" the reactor it was pumping way too much effluent into the tank, which caused the imballance. I think you are correct. I have turned it off and will suplement calcium without the reactor until it gets down. Calcium is prety high anyway. this is so much more helpful than the dealer who sold the thing.

Thanks again

 

[drummereef]

Ok, I'm confused... Is your alkalinity 8 dkh or 8 meq/l?

Typical safe ranges are:
Alkalinity 7-11dkh or 2.5-4.0 meq/l
Calcium 380-450 ppm
Magnesium 1250-1350

 

[Randall_James]

Xenia are excellent water condition indicators, the nitrate level is at 3? it should be undetectable. (most coral is pretty intolerant of nitrates)

I would make sure your Alk readings are accurate
Also, your PH is at 8.5? what are you using to force it up? (this is not a bad reading, just abnormal high unless you are using kalk)

I would probably step up on the water changes a bit

 

[reefshadow]

Ok, I'm confused... Is your alkalinity 8 dkh or 8 meq/l?

I assumed it was MEQ/L which would put it at around 22 DKH.

Shelton, if this is correct (if you're absolutely sure) you may want to hold off on starting the chloride supplementation for a few days. If you try to bump up the calcium with that high of alk you may be just on the verge of a precipitation event. Luckily alk falls pretty quickly and so in a few days you could probably start the calcium until they are balanced and you are ready to dial in the reactor again.

I would also get a mag kit in the next few days because low mag will really dampen your calcium, making it harder to push up to target.

I was also wondering if you are using RO and if so when's the last time you checked the TDS? If the membrane is shot or you are using tap you could have alot of carbonates in your water, leading to elevated alk with every W/C. You generally only get around NSW levels with most salt mixes, 7-9 DKH.

 

[reefshadow]

Oh, I see you are using RO. If the TDS checks out ok the alk isn't coming from your source water. Bad salt batch maybe? Or perhaps the imbalance was already there when you installed the reactor...

 

[sheltonlr]

ALk Problems

ALk Problems

I had the RO system recently checked and it is running like a champ. It feeds our home also and has 50 gallon pressure tank and a commercial membrane. I checked ro direct and it was fine. I think the problem came when i had reactor running too much effluent for a week before I put enough corals in to use any calcium. I turned off reactor last night and will check again today. I am holding off adding any calcium suppliments for a few days to see what it does on its own. I think it may ping pong if I start suppliments too soon. Actually xenia already look a little happier! I may hold off on the water change for a while. I do think we have some nitrate as some string algae is growing. Snails and Crags do harvest, but I may have over feed a bit for the small fish load. Getting mag test kit though. Thanks again, i will post results. leaving town for two days and son is taking care of tank....here we go again.... something to be said for just watching a tank every day. This probably would not have gone bad if we had not lost three days while the xenia were yelling at me! Help me, Help me....

thanks again