Acro browning

[Ernie C]

So the one frag that has been a champ through my Dino drama has started to brown. While I was dealing with Dino’s and trying all sorts of things since February, it was fine. Now that things have stabilized and Dino’s are gone or at least undetectable visually, this guy isnt happy. I recently turned the wave makers back on, extended the lights an additional three hours and set the acclimation setting form 75% reduction to 25% reduction on the lights. No3 and po4 have been stable at 4ppm and .08 I had set up a hospital tank for some frags that were almost gone and they are now back in the tank and look like they are recovering but this guy is just not happy. Any suggestions other than just keep things stable and watch him? Here are some before and after pics.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Dried up looking??? Usually tissue necrosis follows when this has happened to me. I recently had a frag doing this and I tried a new treatment. I can’t say it worked or didn’t because I just tried it yesterday, but I can say that the frag is still alive.

 

[SeaDweller]

Dried up looking??? Usually tissue necrosis follows when this has happened to me. I recently had a frag doing this and I tried a new treatment. I can’t say it worked or didn’t because I just tried it yesterday, but I can say that the frag is still alive.

Well, witch hazel is awesome for the skin, so it’d be cool to see if it works well as a dip.

 

[CoralWealth]

Dried up looking??? Usually tissue necrosis follows when this has happened to me. I recently had a frag doing this and I tried a new treatment. I can’t say it worked or didn’t because I just tried it yesterday, but I can say that the frag is still alive.

I would like an update on how your frag is doing today whenever you get a chance to look at it, very interesting

 

[Ernie C]

I would like an update on how your frag is doing today whenever you get a chance to look at it, very interesting

I don't think there is any change, however i will inspect it tonight and post an update although hopefully its just browning and if thats the case i don't expect to see much of a change overnight. Let me just add some more details, the original pic was taken 3/19 so it happened over a period of 3 weeks. My alk has increased 9.1 to 11 over the last three weeks, so has calcium 425 - 450. I think that might be the main change. I have done one water change of 10 gallons. Been dosing Kalk over night to stabalize ph as mine tends to be on the very low end and just noticed the uptick in alk when looking at my logs.

 

[SeaDweller]

I don't think there is any change, however i will inspect it tonight and post an update although hopefully its just browning and if thats the case i don't expect to see much of a change overnight. Let me just add some more details, the original pic was taken 3/19 so it happened over a period of 3 weeks. My alk has increased 9.1 to 11 over the last three weeks, so has calcium 425 - 450. I think that might be the main change. I have done one water change of 10 gallons. Been dosing Kalk over night to stabalize ph as mine tends to be on the very low end and just noticed the uptick in alk when looking at my logs.

Yeah it’s probably the alk. How low is your pH though?

 

[Ernie C]

Yeah it’s probably the alk. How low is your pH though?

Right now it is 8.08. With Kalk dosing at night i keep it between 7.9 and 8.1 but if I don't dose kalk it will slowly keep dropping over time, every day lower and lower and eventually gets to like 7.7 over night and ranges between 7.7 and 7.9. Not sure why my ph wants to be so low, tried to eliminate indoor CO2 as the culprit so I've aired out the house and run outside air into the skimmer but doesn't seem to make much of a difference and i can't keep the lines going outside as i had them running across my living room lol. I have a neptune apex ph probe that was originally calibrated in January, bought some calibration fluid to re-calibrate just in case. Would hate to have to buy a secondary probe to make sure my primary is accurate. ;Woot

 

[Auto-pilot]

Right now it is 8.08. With Kalk dosing at night i keep it between 7.9 and 8.1 but if I don't dose kalk it will slowly keep dropping over time, every day lower and lower and eventually gets to like 7.7 over night and ranges between 7.7 and 7.9. Not sure why my ph wants to be so low, tried to eliminate indoor CO2 as the culprit so I've aired out the house and run outside air into the skimmer but doesn't seem to make much of a difference and i can't keep the lines going outside as i had them running across my living room lol. I have a neptune apex ph probe that was originally calibrated in January, bought some calibration fluid to re-calibrate just in case. Would hate to have to buy a secondary probe to make sure my primary is accurate. ;Woot

I would also think its the alkalinity. I had a Ph probe and it is worthless to me!! the crazy readings it gave me was so annoying. Some are better than others but if I were you I would get a salefert ph test for a backup, something that doesen't go out of calibration that you can use as a reference

 

[SeaDweller]

Right now it is 8.08. With Kalk dosing at night i keep it between 7.9 and 8.1 but if I don't dose kalk it will slowly keep dropping over time, every day lower and lower and eventually gets to like 7.7 over night and ranges between 7.7 and 7.9. Not sure why my ph wants to be so low, tried to eliminate indoor CO2 as the culprit so I've aired out the house and run outside air into the skimmer but doesn't seem to make much of a difference and i can't keep the lines going outside as i had them running across my living room lol. I have a neptune apex ph probe that was originally calibrated in January, bought some calibration fluid to re-calibrate just in case. Would hate to have to buy a secondary probe to make sure my primary is accurate. ;Woot

Have you tried a CO2 scrubber? I don’t ever check my ph at night, it’s not a number I chase anyway, but day time I think I top at 8.1? I’d stop chasing ph if I were you unless it’s dipping into super low (ie 7.4) ranges, are you noticing any effects in your tank with slightly lower ph? I think you’re still within normal ranges; have you tried aerating your DT a bit more? More surface agitation?

 

[Ernie C]

I would also think its the alkalinity. I had a Ph probe and it is worthless to me!! the crazy readings it gave me was so annoying. Some are better than others but if I were you I would get a salefert ph test for a backup, something that doesen't go out of calibration that you can use as a reference

With as much as these things cost you’d think they would work. Is salifert a reliable test? Is it accurate or the color matching kind that you can only guess at?

 

[Auto-pilot]

With as much as these things cost you’d think they would work. Is salifert a reliable test? Is it accurate or the color matching kind that you can only guess at?

I don't have a problem with the color matching on it, some tests can be really hard to match but this one is easyer than most, my ph stays at 8.3 day or night. I would agree with titan, if your alkalinity is all over the place you will have this problem for sure

 

[Ernie C]

Have you tried a CO2 scrubber? I don’t ever check my ph at night, it’s not a number I chase anyway, but day time I think I top at 8.1? I’d stop chasing ph if I were you unless it’s dipping into super low (ie 7.4) ranges, are you noticing any effects in your tank with slightly lower ph? I think you’re still within normal ranges; have you tried aerating your DT a bit more? More surface agitation?

I've looked at CO2 scrubbers but the media can get expensive. I'm not necessarily chasing ph but use kalk to maintain calcium and alk and dial it back if alk starts to climb but i just did a water change using red sea coral pro salt which might have bumped it up. I guess I'm under the impression corals thrive/grow better with a ph around 8.3. I can't say that i have noticed anything that i can tie to lower ph but not sure what i'd be looking for. I have alternating wavemakers pointing at the surface and the return also agitates the surface. I have a red sea reefer so the tank is rimless/open. I also have my skimmer 24/7 and feed it tubbing lines run outside of the cabinet but just can't get them all the way outdoors. I'll see about getting the salifert test just to check on the ph probe. I think all this new monitoring and setting technology messes with techy ocd types like myself. I've had better luck when i just gauged the tank by how the corals looked. Thanks all for the input and advice.

 

[SeaDweller]

I've looked at CO2 scrubbers but the media can get expensive. I'm not necessarily chasing ph but use kalk to maintain calcium and alk and dial it back if alk starts to climb but i just did a water change using red sea coral pro salt which might have bumped it up. I guess I'm under the impression corals thrive/grow better with a ph around 8.3. I can't say that i have noticed anything that i can tie to lower ph but not sure what i'd be looking for. I have alternating wavemakers pointing at the surface and the return also agitates the surface. I have a red sea reefer so the tank is rimless/open. I also have my skimmer 24/7 and feed it tubbing lines run outside of the cabinet but just can't get them all the way outdoors. I'll see about getting the salifert test just to check on the ph probe. I think all this new monitoring and setting technology messes with techy ocd types like myself. I've had better luck when i just gauged the tank by how the corals looked. Thanks all for the input and advice.

Yeah, if you used RSCP and didn’t match the alk, you probably spiked it with a water change, but it depends on how much of a water change you did

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

I would like an update on how your frag is doing today whenever you get a chance to look at it, very interesting

It’s still hanging there with polyp extension. It doesn’t look any better or worse than it did before the witch hazel bath. It’s a HW that didn’t look great out of the bag and was looking worse and worse everyday. I have right next to another HW frag from a R2R that looks amazing. Hopefully it’ll recover but I wouldn’t place any bets that it will. The PE is the only silver lining as of today.

 

[CoralWealth]

It’s still hanging there with polyp extension. It doesn’t look any better or worse than it did before the witch hazel bath. It’s a HW that didn’t look great out of the bag and was looking worse and worse everyday. I have right next to another HW frag from a R2R that looks amazing. Hopefully it’ll recover but I wouldn’t place any bets that it will. The PE is the only silver lining as of today.

Did it have PE before?

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Did it have PE before?

Yes. About the same as it does now.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Yes. About the same as it does now.

Like I said I don’t know if this method provided anything beneficial but I’ve tried revive, coral rx, Bayer etc in the past and rtn/death would follow the next day. I’ve even had frags rtn right after dipping with bayer after being delivered. At least the witch hazel didn’t kill it immediately.

 

[Ernie C]

Yeah, if you used RSCP and didn’t match the alk, you probably spiked it with a water change, but it depends on how much of a water change you did

How do you match alk with new water from a salt mix? Buffer?

 

[Ernie C]

Not sure if anyone is still following this but looks like the little guy is bouncing back. I had adjusted lights so brought them back up slowly. Guess I had dialed them back to much.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Looking good.