SteveG_inDC
Active Member
Trigger warning: dying coral
Birdsnest colony on Feb. 11
Same colony on March 9 (today)
I assume this is because I had a big alk swing, but curious if there is anything I can do and whether I should expect my other corals to die. All my other corals are frags, including several healthy-looking frags from the same mother colony are looking ok so far. Two other frags in other parts of the tank also look good with healthy polyp extension.
Sorry for the blurry iphone pic
I do have one frag of "purple" tort that's not looking great.
And a green slimer that turned white on one side despite getting even light and flow. That happened way earlier and there has been no change over about 4 weeks (but no growth either).
The rest of these frags were introduced after I stabilized the Alk (but still low, at 7.2-7.4) and look ok to me after a week. The other corals in the tank (porites, GSP and xenia, not pictured) look fine.
Tank is 3.5 months old, 240g display, lit by T5 hybrid fixture with 3x Kessil 360 we
NO3 = 1-2, have been that way for several weeks
PO4 = .01 now, has been bouncing around between .04 and .19
Temp 77-79 stable
pH 8.1 to 8.2 very stable
I trace the problems to a bad refractometer discovered about a month ago. After I replaced it with a new, calibrated one, I found I was running Salinity around 45 (!!) with really high Ca, Alk, Mg according to Red Sea kits. Over a week and a half I lowered salinity to 37 which crashed Alk, Ca, and Mg. Have run ATO through a kalk stirrer to gradually raise them but I don't trust the Red Sea kits. Salifert kits on the way. Alk has now been testing around 7.2 to 7.4 using Hanna checker.
Lights have been on an acclimation schedule due to new frags, but never were that high. I am on the last day of my PAR meter rental today and looks like I barely got above 100 PAR.
Flow is provided by a Tunze 6255 and dual return pumps probably adding ~1000 gph (I took one offline because everything was blowing around).
Anything I should do? Is the colony toast? What about the rest of the inhabitants? Thanks in advance.
Birdsnest colony on Feb. 11
Same colony on March 9 (today)
I assume this is because I had a big alk swing, but curious if there is anything I can do and whether I should expect my other corals to die. All my other corals are frags, including several healthy-looking frags from the same mother colony are looking ok so far. Two other frags in other parts of the tank also look good with healthy polyp extension.
Sorry for the blurry iphone pic
I do have one frag of "purple" tort that's not looking great.
And a green slimer that turned white on one side despite getting even light and flow. That happened way earlier and there has been no change over about 4 weeks (but no growth either).
The rest of these frags were introduced after I stabilized the Alk (but still low, at 7.2-7.4) and look ok to me after a week. The other corals in the tank (porites, GSP and xenia, not pictured) look fine.
Tank is 3.5 months old, 240g display, lit by T5 hybrid fixture with 3x Kessil 360 we
NO3 = 1-2, have been that way for several weeks
PO4 = .01 now, has been bouncing around between .04 and .19
Temp 77-79 stable
pH 8.1 to 8.2 very stable
I trace the problems to a bad refractometer discovered about a month ago. After I replaced it with a new, calibrated one, I found I was running Salinity around 45 (!!) with really high Ca, Alk, Mg according to Red Sea kits. Over a week and a half I lowered salinity to 37 which crashed Alk, Ca, and Mg. Have run ATO through a kalk stirrer to gradually raise them but I don't trust the Red Sea kits. Salifert kits on the way. Alk has now been testing around 7.2 to 7.4 using Hanna checker.
Lights have been on an acclimation schedule due to new frags, but never were that high. I am on the last day of my PAR meter rental today and looks like I barely got above 100 PAR.
Flow is provided by a Tunze 6255 and dual return pumps probably adding ~1000 gph (I took one offline because everything was blowing around).
Anything I should do? Is the colony toast? What about the rest of the inhabitants? Thanks in advance.
