Losing battle with hair algae, thinking of throwing in the towel.

rtparty

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11dkh is not too high. Up to 12dkh has been shown to be plenty safe.

Regular IO mixes between 10-11dkh. It’s supposed to. Reef Crystals should mix around 12dkh
 
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peterat33rpm

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Nope regular IO. this thread suggests people also get higher values with IO salt https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/instant-ocean-alkalinity-variance.657312/

As for killing the corals, I’m not sure but it could be. Like I said I’ve been dosing the same amount and using the same salt for months, and my torch had been doing great, until it unfortunately wasn’t. I still have a trachy that I’m hoping turns it around, a hammer thats doing great, candy canes that are…ok…and zoas that are doing well. when I finally get a handle on algae/nitrates/phosphates then I plan to turn my attention to a more ideal alk. In the meantime I’m cutting back on all for reef
 

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11dkh is not too high. Up to 12dkh has been shown to be plenty safe.

Regular IO mixes between 10-11dkh. It’s supposed to. Reef Crystals should mix around 12dkh
Man, you are argumentative as hell. 11dkh IS NOT normal and IS high for more Stoney corals than not. Regardless what you say.

I have been using reg IO for 10 years and it has NEVER mixed above 9.
 

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Nope regular IO. this thread suggests people also get higher values with IO salt https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/instant-ocean-alkalinity-variance.657312/

As for killing the corals, I’m not sure but it could be. Like I said I’ve been dosing the same amount and using the same salt for months, and my torch had been doing great, until it unfortunately wasn’t. I still have a trachy that I’m hoping turns it around, a hammer thats doing great, candy canes that are…ok…and zoas that are doing well. when I finally get a handle on algae/nitrates/phosphates then I plan to turn my attention to a more ideal alk. In the meantime I’m cutting back on all for reef
How are you getting your salinity numbers? Refractometer?
 

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Man, you are argumentative as hell. 11dkh IS NOT normal and IS high for more Stoney corals than not. Regardless what you say.

I have been using reg IO for 10 years and it has NEVER mixed above 9.

Then your salinity isn’t correct or you have found the stock of low alkalinity IO salt.

It mixes between 10-11dkh by design. This has been established and known for decades.
 

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Then your salinity isn’t correct or you have found the stock of low alkalinity IO salt.

It mixes between 10-11dkh by design. This has been established and known for decades.
Quit assuming you know anything about me and my equipment or my abilities. My salinity is perfect….always.
I use a Tropic Marin precision hydrometer. Incredibly accurate salinity device.
Reef Crystals most definitely mixes in the 11-13dkh range. I have never had IO regular mix that high and I go thru a 160g bucket a month, for 10 years. So quit trying to bash everything I suggest.

OP, I would be suspect of your refractometer calibration fluid. It is notorious for going bad and giving false readings. That is the exact reason I went with the TM Hydrometer. I’m wondering if you’re salinity may be higher than you think. Also, what is “all for reef” used for?
 

rtparty

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Quit assuming you know anything about me and my equipment or my abilities. My salinity is perfect….always.
I use a Tropic Marin precision hydrometer. Incredibly accurate salinity device.
Reef Crystals most definitely mixes in the 11-13dkh range. I have never had IO regular mix that high and I go thru a 160g bucket a month, for 10 years. So quit trying to bash everything I suggest.

OP, I would be suspect of your refractometer calibration fluid. It is notorious for going bad and giving false readings. That is the exact reason I went with the TM Hydrometer. I’m wondering if you’re salinity may be higher than you think. Also, what is “all for reef” used for?

I haven’t assumed anything. It is well established and known that IO salts mix high for alkalinity. Regular IO is 10-11dkh and RC is 11-12dkh

Of course, their QC is low so alkalinity jumps all over the place for them. According to Instant Ocean, their regular salt should mix around 10dkh, 400ppm calcium, and 1320ppm magnesium. A quick Google will confirm that if you feel the need.

All For Reef is a one additive solution that adds alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, and trace elements. Hence why the OP’s alkalinity and calcium stay at the upper end
 

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Then your salinity isn’t correct or you have found the stock of low alkalinity IO salt.
You assumed my salinity is incorrect. You assumed I haven’t been using it for the last 10 years and “just found the low alkalinity stock”.

I haven’t assumed anything. It is well established and known that IO salts mix high for alkalinity. Regular IO is 10-11dkh and RC is 11-12dkh

Of course, their QC is low so alkalinity jumps all over the place for them. According to Instant Ocean, their regular salt should mix around 10dkh, 400ppm calcium, and 1320ppm magnesium. A quick Google will confirm that if you feel the need.

All For Reef is a one additive solution that adds alkalinity, calcium, magnesium, and trace elements. Hence why the OP’s alkalinity and calcium stay at the upper end
It is not well established in a Google search as you suggest. You can’t find the Alk from the IO site or from the bucket. There are only links to discussions that are all over the place. From 7-8 Alk to 10-12 Alk. So no, it’s not clear, nor well established.

OP, if All for Reef has alkalinity in it I would definitely quit using that as well. Don’t know how much you’re dosing but could the high Alk be from that?
 

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I'm gonna have to agree with @Mels_Reef here. I think your salinity could be testing wrong. And while maybe one single parameter may not be the problem you are testing on the high range of acceptable on Calc alk and mag. Say your corals were sitting in the low to mid range before a large or frequent water change schedule then I would believe this swing could cause a die off.
So I spent two hours cleaning and doing a 5G water change today, and now my back hurts. I tested everything today and salinity .026, ca 450, alk 11.2, mg 1440, nitrate somewhere 5-12 (nyos), and phos 0. Remaining corals look except for a trachy that has a part of flesh thats receding. If I dose phos, will that not just feed the algae? Or should I be doing that to feed the corals.
 

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Man, you are argumentative as hell. 11dkh IS NOT normal and IS high for more Stoney corals than not. Regardless what you say.

I have been using reg IO for 10 years and it has NEVER mixed above 9.
Been using IO for quite some time, always mixes above 10 and usually around 11. Just mixed up 2 new bags that I mix together, 11.4 dkh. I always drop mine down with muratic acid,, some folks run higher alk but usually they have higher nutrient tanks.

Imho its still a young tank, keep things stable and keep scrubbing...things usually at some point will click and get better... usually just takes time.

Here is one of the spreadsheet postings of salt mixes, you can find IO in there and always mixed above 10... - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/saltmix-parameters-bring-on-the-test-results.233233/

Thats been my experience also but ymmv
 
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Appreciate all the input. I was/am keeping mag and Ca that high for the euphyllia I have/had (now just a hammer, but it is doing surprisingly well). And to my knowledge there hasn’t really been a huge swing of alk, always has run high. But yea I’ll look into dropping it once I get algae under control and other things stabilized. As for salinity, I’ll get new calibration fluid but it was 1.025 when I brought my water to the LFS the day my shrimp died
 

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Appreciate all the input. I was/am keeping mag and Ca that high for the euphyllia I have/had (now just a hammer, but it is doing surprisingly well). And to my knowledge there hasn’t really been a huge swing of alk, always has run high. But yea I’ll look into dropping it once I get algae under control and other things stabilized. As for salinity, I’ll get new calibration fluid but it was 1.025 when I brought my water to the LFS the day my shrimp died
Dialing back AFR seems to be a good plan then.

Correct me if I'm wrong but salt mixes have higher levels as they are replenishing what was lost. AFR is doing this for you already (like a salt mix without the salt) so frequent water changes are not necessary unless you have a high nutrient (phosphate/nitrate) system and are having trouble exporting them.
 
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peterat33rpm

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Dialing back AFR seems to be a good plan then.

Correct me if I'm wrong but salt mixes have higher levels as they are replenishing what was lost. AFR is doing this for you already (like a salt mix without the salt) so frequent water changes are not necessary unless you have a high nutrient (phosphate/nitrate) system and are having trouble exporting them.
Yea that makes sense. I’m gonna be doing more water changes in this little stretch to try to get a handle on this algae so I’m cutting afr in half
 

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Dialing back AFR seems to be a good plan then.

Correct me if I'm wrong but salt mixes have higher levels as they are replenishing what was lost. AFR is doing this for you already (like a salt mix without the salt) so frequent water changes are not necessary unless you have a high nutrient (phosphate/nitrate) system and are having trouble exporting them.
Eh, salt mixes are all over the map. Some run high and some run low for alk, ca and mg. Ideally you want a salt mix that matches what you are running your tank at if dosing. People go for the higher trace salts when NOT dosing so they can bring things back up with a water change. Since I am dosing I want my salt to match my tank or close to it so it doesn't affect my dosing.

It really just depends on how you want to do things, no wrong answer. The critical part is to decide what numbers you want to run your tank with and just try to keep it in a general range. You'll read about folks talking about stability and it sounds easy but once I figured out what that really mean things got easier for me. Stability is about doing the same things to your tank, how often you feed, how much, how often you do a water change and how much, on and on. You need to find a rhythm that you can keep up with the tank and just do the same thing over and over and your tank will at some point, hopefully soon hit its stride.
 

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Eh, salt mixes are all over the map. Some run high and some run low for alk, ca and mg. Ideally you want a salt mix that matches what you are running your tank at if dosing. People go for the higher trace salts when NOT dosing so they can bring things back up with a water change. Since I am dosing I want my salt to match my tank or close to it so it doesn't affect my dosing.

It really just depends on how you want to do things, no wrong answer. The critical part is to decide what numbers you want to run your tank with and just try to keep it in a general range. You'll read about folks talking about stability and it sounds easy but once I figured out what that really mean things got easier for me. Stability is about doing the same things to your tank, how often you feed, how much, how often you do a water change and how much, on and on. You need to find a rhythm that you can keep up with the tank and just do the same thing over and over and your tank will at some point, hopefully soon hit its stride.
My thoughts too. I think I have heard blue bucket mixes low for such endeavors. Since you do water changes and dose what brand of salt do you use? Does salt replenish more trace elements than AFR/ dosing? If not what's the point other than nutrient export.
 

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Standard 10-20% water changes won’t replenish elements on most tanks. A full softy tank will likely be just fine with water changes only but a mixed tank or SPS tank will not.

When you have a tank using 3dkh per day, no salt or water change will replenish that. At least it’s not worth it. No salt is specifically designed to replenish elements with simple 10% water changes.

Water changes have a multitude of reasons to do them. Ionic balance, removing organic and inorganic compounds we can’t test for or remove any other way, salinity corrections, clean out detritus, etc
 

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My thoughts too. I think I have heard blue bucket mixes low for such endeavors. Since you do water changes and dose what brand of salt do you use? Does salt replenish more trace elements than AFR/ dosing? If not what's the point other than nutrient export.
Blue bucket usually mixes around 8 for alk..
 

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Dialing back AFR seems to be a good plan then.

Correct me if I'm wrong but salt mixes have higher levels as they are replenishing what was lost. AFR is doing this for you already (like a salt mix without the salt) so frequent water changes are not necessary unless you have a high nutrient (phosphate/nitrate) system and are having trouble exporting them.
WC do, correct much more than AFR can do, many reasons why WC are important beyond lowering nutrients too. Frequent WC are the single most important thing you can do for your aquarium. I did the “no WC” system many years ago, imo, reef tank benefit from WC.
 

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