Coral showing its base.

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Lastly after 8 hours of lighting, no dim.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Thanks Erin I have moved the power head so it blows behind the rock in the corner so it does not go across any coral now.
Can this damage be healed?

 

[DanyL]

Thanks Erin I have moved the power head so it blows behind the rock in the corner so it does not go across any coral now.
Can this damage be healed?

Given the amount of unstable and out of balance variables taking place here, I doubt it was flow alone, or at all.
The damage can be healed, but you need to provide a good and stable environment for it to start regrowing, and it'll take some time.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I will do a water change tomorrow, and then get my new test kits in and I will keep a journal so starting off on a better foot. Thanks everyone, there will be more.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Update: I have received my new reagent for the alkalinity, I did a test on my makeup SW and my checker was showing an error code of 20.0, so I post a thread in the chemistry section, long story short the bag of TM was sitting for way to long and everything settled, so after several checks I stirred up the salt and my read was 8.5.
So I did a one gallon water change.

New read 18.2 DHK

How fast can you draw down the ALK.?

 

[DanyL]

Check again, this must be a mistake.

If it isn't, then anything above 14dKH is a definite system crash, regardless of the huge swing that it already is.
You can use vinegar to drop alk quickly, it'll also have other side effects but if it really is this high it's better than nothing.
And obviously - get new salt, mix more water, check params and do a water change, if it really is true you should be running around doing that right now.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I just double checked and I am at 18.1
So I mixed up about 3 gallons of salt from my Tropic Marine, I guess the salt settled and my batch was reading 20.0. I was doing a 42 ounce water change daily, that raised my all to 20.0. When I finally received my new reagents, today that is when I started triple checking, I will do a 3 gallon water change right now plus I have already done a 1 gallon, that SW batch is 8.5 DHK.
I am stunned and shocked by the turn of events and again I really want to thank you and the others who have spent their time helping.

After 3 + 1 gallon today with 8.5 all water it is down to 12.5
I will make another 5 gallons of SW with new salt tonight.

I used this tonight, I will switch to this salt because I do not use much and it will be better in the long run. I cannot believe that Tropic Marine salt was that bad.

Two Little Fishies - AccuraSea 1 Synthetic Seawater Mix (50 Gallon) - Two Little Fishies$26.99SaltwaterAquarium.com

I do not have any vinegar I used it all up, but I do have Citric Acid.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

The sage continues , I just did another 3 gallon water change, the new batch of SW was 8.5. So far I have done a 100% water change. Basically now I am right back where I started from.
My new read is 11.4.
I still have 2 more gallons of mix so I will use that. I will go and buy some vinegar today.

 

[DanyL]

Alright, this is a good progress.

I would halt the water changes for now, let the corals settle from the swing itself as they probably already somewhat accustomed to an elevated dkH around 11 (it's a guess though, because we don't have records)

Do a full parameter test and see where we stand, and do this again in a couple of days to see where it trends.
We'll proceed once we have the results, and will go slowly from now on.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Salinity 1.026
Temp 76.7
Alk 12.5
Nitrate. 12
PH 8.0
Phosphate ULR .90
Magnesium 1400
Calcium tester ordered.

Thanks again,

 

[DanyL]

OK so Alk seems to be trending up.
It could be because your salinity is slightly elevated due to evaporation, although I doubt it'd increase by 1dKH solely on this. Just to make sure, you are not dosing anything right now, correct?

Your phosphates are elevated more than they originally were, could be a test error - recheck to make sure.

We do need to watch your Nitrates, it is a large decrease and will adds even more stress and we don't want to bottom them out.

The rest seems to be fine.
I would do another 35% WC and recheck everything once again.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I am not dosing anything anymore.
Both Phosphates test were doubled checked.
I already have 2 gallons of the new salt mix made up, I will use that and then make another 5 gallons with the Two Little Fishes Salt.
If the rock is exposed to the air while doing a water change would that cause the Phosphate to go up like it did?
I use this in my HOB aqua clear the nano size, I just added another one.
Chemi-Pure Blue - Boyd Enterprises

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I just did another test and it is 0.90 for the Phosphates. This is after a 2 gallon water change. I will make another 5 gallons of SW and test for phosphate in the new batch. Bummer

 

[DanyL]

Do you make your own RODI water?
If so, are you testing for TDS? It should say 0.

You might also want to cosider using a tiny bit of GFO in place of Chemi-Pure, it is a far more effective phosphate binder. But you need to be carful not to pull PO4 too fast because it'll shock the system, start with a quarter of what the instructions say and aim at 0.2-0.3 max reduction per day.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

My TDS reads 1, all of the filters to the right are brand new, does the DI looked too far gone?

 

[DanyL]

While TDS 1 may contain pretty much anything, it is unlikely to be the source of your elevated PO4.
Phosphates may also get released if you moved a rock or disturbed the sand, releasing trapped detritus.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I have watched some BRS videos and I called them, I am ordering a new reactor so there will be DI reactors.
I read my Errors and Warnings on my Hanna checker and 0.90. means that,
Maximum concentration value displayed blinking indicates the measured value is outside the limits of the method. Verify and dilute the sample.

I ordered some Phosphate sponges, I have a teaspoons of Rowa Phos in there right now.
So I guess I will be running blind until it comes within range, I will check with my Red Sea tester and see how that goes.

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

I just checked everything again
Salinity 1.025
temp 77
Alk 11.3
Nitrate 12
PH 8.0
Phosphate still reads error code 0.90
Mag 1500
Calcium 420

I made up a batch of Instant Ocean with a add of Tropic Marine will stirred
the Alk is 9.0
So the only changes are adding the calcium score, nitrate is dropping and ALK is dropping slowly.
Thanks again

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

So I have upgraded the tank from a 12" cube to a 15" IM Fusion tank AIO,
Phos. 0.46

 

[Blue Spot Octopus]

Here it is in the 3" PVC coupling