Aquarium health

[sturgisjasonc]

I currently have a 125g tank, am relatively new to the aquarium world, but came across a fully mature tank about 18 months after getting into the hobby.

I have an 8yrs mature carpet anenome that is starting to show signs of shriveled tentacles, similar to a Duncan that I have that was once really full and looked amazing. It also looks like the tips of my blood Orange anenome are changing colors.

I just recently purchased a trident and found out that my alkalinity was a bit high so I’m bringing that down little by little. Alkalinity was at 14.58, did a water change, and brought it down to 13.44 I plan to do 2 more by Sunday to bring it down sub 12.

the only other variable that has changed lately was my lighting. However when I changed the lighting profile I opted to go with a 45 day acclimation period in an effort to not make any drastic changes too fast.

I’m currently running the AB+ profile through Möbius on 3 older XR15’s.

 

[wculver]

I currently have a 125g tank, am relatively new to the aquarium world, but came across a fully mature tank about 18 months after getting into the hobby.

I have an 8yrs mature carpet anenome that is starting to show signs of shriveled tentacles, similar to a Duncan that I have that was once really full and looked amazing. It also looks like the tips of my blood Orange anenome are changing colors.

I just recently purchased a trident and found out that my alkalinity was a bit high so I’m bringing that down little by little. Alkalinity was at 14.58, did a water change, and brought it down to 13.44 I plan to do 2 more by Sunday to bring it down sub 12.

the only other variable that has changed lately was my lighting. However when I changed the lighting profile I opted to go with a 45 day acclimation period in an effort to not make any drastic changes too fast.

I’m currently running the AB+ profile through Möbius on 3 older XR15’s.

Just a comment here that you are running 2 part and usually you wouldn't expect that alkalinity would get that out of alignment. Where is your Nitrate and Phosphate at? What I'm after is to see if you have ultra low Nitrate and/or Phosphate that is contributing to your Alkalinity shooting up. You didn't mention and SPS Coral but if Nitrate goes to zero they actually bleach and die pretty quickly.

 

[sturgisjasonc]

Just a comment here that you are running 2 part and usually you wouldn't expect that alkalinity would get that out of alignment. Where is your Nitrate and Phosphate at? What I'm after is to see if you have ultra low Nitrate and/or Phosphate that is contributing to your Alkalinity shooting up. You didn't mention and SPS Coral but if Nitrate goes to zero they actually bleach and die pretty quickly.

So I think part of the problem is that I wasn’t test alk and was only monitoring PH. When OH was low, I would add the PH buffer by AquaVitro called 8.4. Talking through it with a guy it sounds like by reacting to the PH I was driving up the Alkalinity, unknowingly.

As of 5 minutes ago:
Marine Nitrate HR (ppm) 60.9
Phosphate Ultra Low Range (Hannah) 0.90

 

[NanoJHB]

Temp at 20.7° ?! Is there a reason you're running the tank that cool ?


I'd check that your heaters are working and slowly bring it up to at least 24°...

 

[sturgisjasonc]

Temp at 20.7° ?! Is there a reason you're running the tank that cool ?


I'd check that your heaters are working and slowly bring it up to at least 24°...

That’s a secondary probe that is in my saltwater reservoir to monitor temp for water changes. That would be frigid! Lol

 

[MaxTremors]

So I think part of the problem is that I wasn’t test alk and was only monitoring PH. When OH was low, I would add the PH buffer by AquaVitro called 8.4. Talking through it with a guy it sounds like by reacting to the PH I was driving up the Alkalinity, unknowingly.

As of 5 minutes ago:
Marine Nitrate HR (ppm) 60.9
Phosphate Ultra Low Range (Hannah) 0.90

Okay, so your alk is super high, which you already are fixing, but your magnesium is super low, it needs to be at least 1290 (this is why your calcium is low, calcium can’t stay in range when magnesium is low), but 1350-1450 is the range I like to stay in. Your nitrates are pretty high, I usually shoot for 5-15ppm, and your phosphate are also super high, I shoot for 0.03-0.08 (so you’re over ten times that). What are you doing for nutrient export? I would also stop dosing anything until you have a need for it (PH buffer is not a long term solution to low PH, the effect it has on PH only lasts a few hours).

 

[NanoJHB]

That’s a secondary probe that is in my saltwater reservoir to monitor temp for water changes. That would be frigid! Lol

Ahh I see sorry, skipped over that first reading

 

[sturgisjasonc]

Okay, so your alk is super high, which you already are fixing, but your magnesium is super low, it needs to be at least 1290 (this is why your calcium is low, calcium can’t stay in range when magnesium is low), but 1350-1450 is the range I like to stay in. Your nitrates are pretty high, I usually shoot for 5-15ppm, and your phosphate are also super high, I shoot for 0.03-0.08 (so you’re over ten times that). What are you doing for nutrient export? I would also stop dosing anything until you have a need for it (PH buffer is not a long term solution to low PH, the effect it has on PH only lasts a few hours).

Thanks for taking the time to explain. If you were me right now, what would your plan of action look like over the next week or two?

I feel like I need to act quite swiftly due to my carpet anenome showing signs of declining health.

 

[MaxTremors]

Thanks for taking the time to explain. If you were me right now, what would your plan of action look like over the next week or two?

I feel like I need to act quite swiftly due to my carpet anenome showing signs of declining health.

I would do a 25% water change weekly, this will help lower alk, PO4, and NO3, you need to get your alk down to 11-12dkh . I would supplement some Magnesium and get it up to the 1350-1450 range, raise it by ~10ppm per day (it will be quite a bit, in my 28g, it takes around 15ml of Brightwell’s magnesium supplement to raise it 10ppm). Once it’s past 1290, you can then supplement some calcium (part one of a two part, don’t dose any of part two as that will increase alk), you want to get your calcium up to 400-450ppm. And lastly, I would add some GFO, Chemi-pur blue/elite, or some Rowaphos to lower your phosphates. You’ll want to be testing every few day until everything balances out, you don’t want your phosphates to bottom out.