I am about to throw in a towel
- Thread starter Macdaddynick1
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Vaughn17
Well-Known Member
Sorry to offend you. It's frustrating to be completely ignored when my comments were valid. Growing Acropora spp. in water that is extremely low in mag isn't meeting those corals habitat needs.
this guy either has unusually low alk or a bacterial infection. clip what you can now and spread around the tank.
i dont think any of his parameters will stn or rtn coral. its something we cannot test.
in gonna assume aefw was ruled out
a 50% wc wouldnt hurt.
my .02
i dont think any of his parameters will stn or rtn coral. its something we cannot test.
in gonna assume aefw was ruled out
a 50% wc wouldnt hurt.
my .02
OP
OP
Macdaddynick1
Valuable Member
Gentlemen sorry i did not reply sooner, I sometimes get busy. I truly appreciate everyone's input. I run my magnesium very low , around 1200 for as long as i can remember, this and other corals have been grown in that magnesium level. The reason I do that is when i try to adjust my alkalinity , i sometimes tend to overdose my alk (go above 8.5) . this way it does not go too high . The problem was with the lights and nitrates. I turned down the lights and moved the coral. I did not save that particular piece, but few others seem ok for now.
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Macdaddynick1
Valuable Member
Actually I think i confused a few people , my tank suffers from constantly low nitrates, two days ago , (when i made this post) was my first time actually dosing potassium nitrates. My acropora polyp extension was insane that night. So i believe my tank can benefit from some nitrate dosing .
Vaughn17
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the explaination. I've been dosing KNO3 for six months and have seen excellent results; however, recently a few of my acros started showing less PE, so I tested and found that potassium was high. I ordered food grade sodium nitrate on Amazon and have been dosing for the past week. Acros love it even more than the potassium nitrate (until the potassium gets too high).
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Macdaddynick1
Valuable Member
Sodium nitrate? Ive never heard of anyone using it , are the mixing instructions the same ? I might just pick some up instead of getting K test kit.
I would agree with diesel. Running only white light for a month or more and then adding blue back to the tank (especially in any decent amount of par) could give some acros a good shock. Some might be fine and usually the more sensitive ones go first. I would not say nutrients are to low, people strive for thoes numbers. But nitrate dosing a few ti.es has helped people without extremely low nutrients ts as well. Magnesium can be ran that low and is by a lot of people. It's only a problem when it's low enough to mess with the ballance of calcium and alkalinity in a tank.
Let us know how the tank responds to the change OP.
Let us know how the tank responds to the change OP.
Vaughn17
Well-Known Member
Adam at Battlecorals uses it. I mixed two teaspoons in 4 cups freshwater, then tested it on a gallon of new saltwater (ie no nitrates). I've been dosing my 38 g at 4 ml a day to maintain NO3 at 2.5 ppm. I should probably raise it a little higher, but I'm chicken. The tank has eight fraggable sized colonies and lots of others of smaller stuff, plus a hammer, an elegance, a large plate, and two large Lord acans (Micromussa), so it has a relatively high nutrient demand.
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Macdaddynick1
Valuable Member
Update, so far I've reduced my lights by about 10% , dosed nitrates ( increased about 1ppm worth) , (continued dosing elo's aminos) , things seem to be OK , I saw slight darkening in my corals, nothing too serious, polyp extension is the same. My skimmate production doubled since I started dosing. I will begin increasing my lights by about 3% every 4 days .
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Macdaddynick1
Valuable Member
I have a few pieces, i will be monitoring the system for the next few days, if i see anymore casualties, I'm going to start looking into other causes, hopefully this is not bacterial .
mcarroll
10K Club member
I'm not sure I understand any of this....you seem to be creating conditions ripe for abiotic precipitation just because you "tend to overdose". (Precipitation is what's keeping it from going too high....Mg has a preventative effect on this.
Why would you want to overdose (it's not necessary) and why would you make such a concession on Mg toward that effort to overdose?
You instead need to change the way you are dosing so you put the correct amount in the tank.
You're most likely correct - I've had similar experience. The PDF's attached will give you a better idea of what's going on.
I wouldn't go so far as to disagree with the action plan, I just wished there was some way we knew that "insane polyp extension" was a good thing.
If corals could talk!
mcarroll
10K Club member
All stresses are cumulative...no single one did it.
Lighting changes like he did (due to no fault of his own) are definitely stressful....and it's made even more stressful in a low-nutrient environment. That only account for what we know about the tank.
It's very possible for a lighting change to cause mortality....check that "Long term effects..." article... (I think i was that one...too many articles!!!)
All stresses are cumulative...no single one did it.
Lighting changes like he did (due to no fault of his own) are definitely stressful....and it's made even more stressful in a low-nutrient environment. That only account for what we know about the tank.
It's very possible for a lighting change to cause mortality....check that "Long term effects..." article... (I think i was that one...too many articles!!!)
Yep LEDs will fry acros so fast.... especially 90 degree optics. I would be willing to bet that is the main cause of this. Yes acros that are burned by LED can easily RTN. RTN is due to infection of either bacteria or protozoa species. It usually doesnt occur randomly but rather there is a precipitating factor that causes damage to the coral allowing these bugs to gain a strong hold and then consume the coral in a matter of hours. Anything that "stresses" the acro can cause this such as swing in alkalinity, temp, salinity, or lighting. Magnesium will generally not cause it because SPS are stable with change in magnesium levels as well as wide ranges even on the low 1000 they will just grow slower. Low nitrates most likely will not cause RTN unless your tank has never been fed for months and has massive skimming and no livestock such as a clean up crew.
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