Coral waste

[ahiggins]

They are fine

All the ones that I had that were slowly acclimated to the raising of nitrates, hammer some zoas and acans, were fine. It was everything I introduced after the nitrates rose.
As for lowering it, I would get some regular salt (i.e. If using coral pro, use regular Red Sea) or if dosing just stop dosing. Or you could just let it go down normally (no water changes) if you can handle that with your nutrients.

 

[cody2cannon]

All the ones that I had that were slowly acclimated to the raising of nitrates, hammer some zoas and acans, were fine. It was everything I introduced after the nitrates rose.
As for lowering it, I would get some regular salt (i.e. If using coral pro, use regular Red Sea) or if dosing just stop dosing. Or you could just let it go down normally (no water changes) if you can handle that with your nutrients.

I use instant ocean and i only have one clown in there so i feed once a day i think I'm going to wait an extra week and see if it lowers. Now if my calcium lowers which it should can i dose small amounts of calcium? That would lower the alk correct or is that a bad idea?

 

[Tahoe61]

I use instant ocean and i only have one clown in there so i feed once a day i think I'm going to wait an extra week and see if it lowers. Now if my calcium lowers which it should can i dose small amounts of calcium? That would lower the alk correct or is that a bad idea?

If this tank is not dominated by corals just stick to regular water replacements for replenishment. Do not dose alk or calcium to lower the other value, that is just too risky. If your tank show values close to NSW with the use of IO salt mix (which it should) dosing is more problematic than helpful.

Expelling zooxanthellae can most definitely be a result of issues with water chemistry.

 

[ahiggins]

I use instant ocean and i only have one clown in there so i feed once a day i think I'm going to wait an extra week and see if it lowers. Now if my calcium lowers which it should can i dose small amounts of calcium? That would lower the alk correct or is that a bad idea?

if youre using regular instant ocean salt (not reef crystals), I would be more concerned with how your dkh got so high in the first place...

 

[mcarroll]

Corals haven't evolved a butt yet, so give them a break on whether they are releasing food poop or whatever else through their one single body opening.

And can I get a "heck yeah!" for the evolution of the butt?

If Tahoe got it right and it was expelling zooxanthellae (this looks like a cloud of brown versus a piece of poo) then I would suspect a lighting change as the real culprit, but that high alkalinity may be contributing to the effect. Even the added flow you mentioned may be contributing.

If everything else is looking good, I'm not sure I would spend too much time worrying about it. Does the torch coral also look fine aside from the pooping?

 

[cody2cannon]

If everything else is looking good, I'm not sure I would spend too much time worrying about it. Does the torch coral also look fine aside from the pooping?

Just lost my 2nd head on the torch.....

 

[mcarroll]

If it's more like oozing brown, then it could be infection...not uncommon as Euphillias are pretty easy to damage....not to mention the other random bad things than can happen and cause the same thing.

I don't know of a cure if that's what's happening.

 

[mcarroll]

Anything like this?

from Euphyllia issue

 

[mcarroll]

I would be more concerned with how your dkh got so high in the first place...

I'll third that.

@cody2cannon Do you know how it got that high or do we have a mystery?

 

[cody2cannon]

Pretty sure it was me begginer mistake calcium was at 260 and alk was around 7 so I dosed but that was 2 weeks ago and I've done a WC since then. Last WC. I did this past sunday I stirred up the sandbed really good

 

[mcarroll]

What product (or products) did you dose?

That's a pretty huge spike....I'm surprised there wasn't some more immediate fallout.

Has the brown stuff coming out looked anything like the stuff in the photo I posted a couple of posts back?

 

[ReeferBee]

Holy dkh.....
That *usually* only works in low nutrient systems (granted all tanks are different) but any nitrates when you're over 11 dkh are pushing it. I had a 15 frag order bleach in 3 hours before I knew that. Why are you so high?
Probably not the cause of the poo but are your other corals doing ok?

I believe you have it backwards. Higher nutrients allow higher alkalinity. Alk burn occurs when nutrients are undetectable and alkalinity is high. Not saying 14dkh is good either but

 

[ahiggins]

I believe you have it backwards. Higher nutrients allow higher alkalinity. Alk burn occurs when nutrients are undetectable and alkalinity is high. Not saying 14dkh is good either but

I dont believe so...ULNS allows you to run higher dkh. I mean, I could be wrong, but I dont believe so lol
I cannot give you the "science" behind what happens because I dont know, maybe @saltyfilmfolks can explain it better?
That being said, Im sure someone-somewhere-runs higher nutrients (above 2ppm) in high dkh. Its not impossible. But for those of us (myself included) who arent experts, its best not to.
Personally, I had no issues with 12 dkh when my nutrients were 0 ppm...it was when it rose to 5 ppm that I had a bleaching event. I spent weeks getting it back into check before the bleaching stopped. Another 3 months before the corals came back. Now I run 9.2 dkh and between 3-5 ppm nitrates.
Edit: I also think its relative...at 14 dkh you may burn coral with no nutrients, but at 12 probably not.

 

[mcarroll]

I cannot give you the "science" behind what happens because I dont know

Even the folks doing all the carbon dosing and complaining about "high alkalinity burn" or "burnt tips" can't explain the science...

It's related to carbon dosing which is generally a response to out of control nutrients.

Some folks (maybe most? all?) who carbon dose end up with a tank of corals that can no longer tolerate alkalinity much over 7.0 dKH....8 seems to be about their limit before they end up with physical problems on their corals. (Which end up a little disfigured and with naked zones ripe for invasion by algae, vermitid snails, etc.)

From the Nutrients section on my blog, these I think hint pretty strongly at the problem:

• Results of the 1991 United States-Israel Workshop, “Nutrient Limitations in the Symbiotic Association between Zooxanthellae and Reef-building Corals”
• Fast Growth May Impair Regeneration Capacity in the Branching Coral Acropora muricata

 

[ReeferBee]

Personally, I had no issues with 12 dkh when my nutrients were 0 ppm...it was when it rose to 5 ppm that I had a bleaching event.

Doesn't add up, although true zero nutrients can and will pale corals to the point of bleaching. That or a swing in alkalinity occurred. Again... the higher the nutrients the higher alkalinity can be. They go hand in hand

 

[ahiggins]

the higher the nutrients the higher alkalinity can be. They go hand in hand

I respectfully disagree but I dont want to argue.
Just sharing experiences

 

[cody2cannon]

Red is the waste
Green is the second head. Lost it yesterday
And the main head is no where near that thick its thin and shriveled

 

[cody2cannon]

What product (or products) did you dose?

That's a pretty huge spike....I'm surprised there wasn't some more immediate fallout.

Has the brown stuff coming out looked anything like the stuff in the photo I posted a couple of posts back?

Seachem fusion 1 and 2

 

[ReeferBee]

I respectfully disagree but I dont want to argue.
Just sharing experiences

I'm not arguing. I just like to get the facts straight. Do a little research and see for yourself, it's no secret. It's not just like my opinion, man

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/high-nutrient-high-alk.215724/

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/high-alk-with-low-nutrients-sps-death.210250/

www.reef2reef.com/threads/keeping-alk-high-benefits.286495/

 

[cody2cannon]

Is my torch dying?