High calcium and struggling/closed goniopora

[annaaaa_095]

Hi everyone!

I am Anna, I am Swiss saltwater enthusiast.

After years of freshwater, I started a small reef tank in September 2022. My tank is appoximatly 120 litres (so 32 gallons), I currently have soft and started LPS few months ago.

My two candy canes and plerogyra diabolotus are doing well. My goniopora is struggling because my hermit crab contiously attacked it. I also recently discovered that my calcium is skyrocketing:

Water parametres:

Density: 1.025
KH: 7
NO2: 0.3
NO3: 15
PO4: 0
Calcium: 650
Magnesium: 1'250

My LFS told me to not dose anymore alkalinity (because each time the calcium went up) and told me to slowly raise the Magnesium to 1'400 by adding 1ml each day. I change weekly 1kg of zeolite and every 4 weeks carbon and AL99 from Triton.

They also told me to not do waterchanges and to dip the goniopora in water from the tank and betadine when I see it losing tissue.

Any tips on how to lower calcium and save my goniopora are very appreciated.

Thank you in advance and happy reefing


Anna

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board! hello from PA!

performing a water change where the new water has less CA will help lower it in your tank. not sure why they told you not to do a WC. perhaps not to shock the goni any further. is your PO4 is undetectable, or just low (example 0.03)? 0 po4 could be a reason why it is upset/not doing good.

 

[annaaaa_095]

welcome aboard the r2r board! hello from PA!

performing a water change where the new water has less CA will help lower it in your tank. not sure why they told you not to do a WC. perhaps not to shock the goni any further. is your PO4 is undetectable, or just low (example 0.03)? 0 po4 could be a reason why it is upset/not doing good.

Hi from Switzerland!

My PO4 is exactly 0 and the test is brand new.

I rescued my current tank from someone who needed to get rid of it, so the tank partially matured with livestock in it and at the beginning I had lots of issues with PO4. In fact I used to dose 120 gr/weekly of AL99 from Triton, when it started to lower my LFS told me to just use dose 50 gr and when PO4 started to rise to change it.
Do you suggest to stop dosing it? I think it's been 8 months with 0 PO4 (I change the AL99 monthly).

 

[SPR1968]

Assuming your using individual elements for each part you can treat each separately

Your alkalinity is on the borderline of being to low, so I would initially try and get that up to 8-8.5 and then you have some wiggle room

Same with magnesium get it up as again it’s borderline to low. 1350-1400 or thereabouts is fine

As for the calcium, you can either just let it drop back naturally with uptake, or if you have few corals, do a few water changes, but I wouldn’t worry to much to be honest

If the goni is being attacked by crabs that’s probably the cause, but they can be very fussy depending on water flow, lights etc.

 

[kevgib67]

I agree that you need to get your phosphate up in the.05-.1 range. Water changes will decrease your calcium. O have no experience with gonies but I have read many threads where very experienced reefers struggle keeping them. Oh, welcome, glad you are here!

 

[1112-425XL]

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world Anna. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

 

[WalkerLoves_TheOcean]

Welcome to reef2reef! We are glad to have you here!

 

[zheka757]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome Anna!

 

[CO2TLEY]

 

[annaaaa_095]

Assuming your using individual elements for each part you can treat each separately

Your alkalinity is on the borderline of being to low, so I would initially try and get that up to 8-8.5 and then you have some wiggle room

Same with magnesium get it up as again it’s borderline to low. 1350-1400 or thereabouts is fine

As for the calcium, you can either just let it drop back naturally with uptake, or if you have few corals, do a few water changes, but I wouldn’t worry to much to be honest

If the goni is being attacked by crabs that’s probably the cause, but they can be very fussy depending on water flow, lights etc.

Hi Shaun,

thank you for the help!

The goni was doing beautifully for like 4.5 months, even my LFS told me that it seemed like I found a very good spot. I think the main "culpabe" was the hermit crab, he was becoming too big so I gave him to a friend with a larger tank, I am guessing the high calcium isn't helping the coral to extend

 

[annaaaa_095]

I agree that you need to get your phosphate up in the.05-.1 range. Water changes will decrease your calcium. O have no experience with gonies but I have read many threads where very experienced reefers struggle keeping them. Oh, welcome, glad you are her

Hi,

thank you, yesterday I took out the PO4 remover so hopefully that will help the goni to recover

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

 

[Billyreef-ita]

Welcome Anna!
I had the same problem with the goni and after increasing the PO4 that were at zero, it started to recover

 

[annaaaa_095]

Thank you everyone for the warm welcome!

1112-425XL​

Jimbhoy13​

WalkerLoves_TheOcean​

zheka757​

Ocean_Queenie​

CO2TLEY​

Gumbies R Us​

[B]Billyreef-ita[/B]

[IMG alt="Welsh Corgi Thank You GIF by Lazy Corgi"]https://media0.giphy.com/media/nnZZfXUevHdz27aH7u/200.gif[/IMG]​

 

[ShepherdReefer]

Hey there, welcome to the group.

 

[Hitokiri]

Welcome.

 

[steveschuerger]

Yeah, calcium waaay high. Mag needs upping. I’ve found you can be pretty generous with mag increases. I dose 2 capfuls of ESV mag 4-5 times at least a week. My Gonis and other lps love having it at the 1500 or so that I run. I also feed the tank pretty heavy with frozen food daily so the nutrient levels stay higher which Gonis and other lps like. And…