Clowns got a water change last night as scheduled. No ammonia, just time to do it. They still look great! While they go after brine shrimp, mysis is hit or miss. NLS pellets are well received but they seem to have a preference for flake food! Today marks 3 weeks total QT for them. It's also our youngest sons golden birthday... I got to chat with him on the phone for almost 3 hours last night. Absolutely made my day. (He's stationed across the country, haven't seen him for 6 months, or talked to him for ... almost that long.)
Anyway. Corals are looking much happier now. Duncans opened back up, though still not quite fully... they're a little finicky as it is. Their color is fantastic though - nice dark green and purple. Best I've ever seen them since I got them. Birdsnest also has more PE. The rest of the corals didn't seem too affected by the Alk change, though candycanes were curiously closed and darkened last night. Not sure what that was about; they look good now.
Alk in the DT has gone down to 8.6 as of tonight, though curiously Ca has not changed from 430. I suspect a testing error days ago, as it should have reduced by 20 ppm given the Alk reduction. Regardless, not dosing yet. BRS calculator shows that a rate of .65 per day would indicate a need to add 1oz solution, while the current average for the past few days is twice that. However, the 1oz addition this past weekend raised Alk way too high, way too fast!
So my plan is to test Alk again tomorrow night. If the current rate of consumption continues, that will put it below 8.0 - and I'll dose maybe half an ounce... with another test an hour or so later to verify the change. Then repeat that procedure for the following nights until I am comfortable with the adjustments being made (i.e., the calculator and my tank agree).
If anyone happens across this and has a better suggestion, please share!
Must have been a testing error Saturday. No dose last night.
