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Like I said, you have plenty of PO4 and NO3. It's being soaked up by the Algae.Photos above. I’m in the dirty stage that comes after the tank cycles. So please don’t judge me on it!
So would most people do a big water change?
Given my low nitrates I worry that a really big water change is a bad idea. But maybe a 20% might be ok?Nothing good happens quickly in a tank.
A 20% water change is fine and can help for particular situations.
If you are just having algae issues, less inport (food) and more output (refuge, mechanical and biological filtration). A CUC is great for keeping surfaces clean.
Just to confirm again.... you had inverts in your tank prior to the new cuc additions that also died. This would rule out acclimation issues.
If youre pouring this coraline stuff frequently to try and speed the process, your calcium and possibly alk has skyrocketed.Just to clarify, I thought all the snails were dead. All of them including the ones that have been in for a while are just very lethargic. I’m going to try testing the alkaline next.
One thing that has changed in the tank is that coraline algae seems to have suddenly taken hold. I’d been dosing with Red Seas Coraline algae for a while but nothing seemed to come of it. All of a sudden it’s there and so now I’m wondering if the alkaline plunged...
Given my low nitrates I worry that a really big water change is a bad idea. But maybe a 20% might be ok?
More I think about this I’m wondering if it’s done just this. It’s happened so quickly I’m a bit surprised. I’ll let you know what I findIf youre pouring this coraline stuff frequently to try and speed the process, your calcium and possibly alk has skyrocketed.
You will need to test or have it tested to confirm.
Thing is I’m not really sure what to do at this point. I’ve been using Red Sea For the salt and note it has a high alkalinity that when independently tested comes out at 14? I was planning to switch to something with a much lower alkalinity in the 8-10 range. I think this has convinced me. Should I now go for a 50% water change spread over 2 days? And use the new salt? Will that help my high magnesium issue and low calcium problem?I believe most target 8-12 alk so that high for most. Your magnesium is also high, again for most. While most bash the API tests I think most would say this testing schedule and these parameters are smart targets.
ah ha! Magnesium is reading 2000 ppm, so very high, Alkalinity is 15.4 and calcium is very low (so low it barely registers). What causes that? If it’s low salinity I’m really confused. I have a hanna digital salinity stick and that tells me salinity is 1.024. I’m wondering if it’s faulty? I’m really careful when mixing salt so wondering if it’s really that. Can it be something else?
This is exactly what I had in mind to try, thanks.A couple of thoughts here. You either have gotten your tank out of balance through additives or dosing or your testing is not accurate.
If all you have ever done is water changes for the tank, then I would suspect testing. If otherwise, you need to slowly get your parameters back to normal.
All salt mixes are fine and can support a tank whether they use elevated parameters or not.
I would recommend 3 x 20% water changes over the next 3 weeks.
I would also recommend going to your LFS to get your parameters checked.
A word of warning. If you quickly change your parameters, even out of sync ones, it could have a negative impact on your tank inhabitants.
I struggled with similar invert and coral loss for a year and went through a crazy number of tests. Ended up sending an ICP and saw that my system had copper in it. There was a brass valve on the overflow and before the UV sterilizer.This is exactly what I had in mind to try, thanks.
I’m never doing dry rocks again or bio pellets route again. Dry Rocks sent me down the additive route and it’s driving me crazy. Bio Pellets are too dang effective