Montipora Looks like its bleaching?

[Spare time]

Oof, noted. I'll keep an eye on them.

I just removed the lense and used a 3D printed diffuser instead lol.

 

[Shirak]

Calcium carbonate will not bring your Alk up. Use baking soda. The TM salt may be fine. I suspect your Ca testing is off and possibly your salinity. What are you using to measure salinity and how are you calibrating?

As for light. I used 3 AI hydra 32 on a 55g tank and it was enough for acros around the middle of the tank. 2 AI prime will not produce the par you are seeing on a 75g tank. And as noted your light schedule is also way short for peak light period

 

[Bannanabread04]

I would dose amino acids to help supplement the low nitrate.


As for the calcium and alk, see if a fish store near you can double check. Are you using distilled water for the Hanna calcium test?

Unfortunately I don't have a fish store that I trust within 3 hours of me. I was thinking about sending a sample in to somewhere but I'm not sure where to start with that.

I'm using RO/DI for the checker.

 

[Spare time]

Unfortunately I don't have a fish store that I trust within 3 hours of me. I was thinking about sending a sample in to somewhere but I'm not sure where to start with that.

I'm using RO/DI for the checker.

I would try it with distilled water and see what happens. Hanna says to used distilled and not rodi. Afterwards, maybe buy a cheap salifert calcium test to compare.

 

[braaap]

I’d be using salifert kits for Alk and calcium. They are more accurate than the Hanna tests. They are also cheap at $12-15.

 

[Bannanabread04]

Calcium carbonate will not bring your Alk up. Use baking soda. The TM salt may be fine. I suspect your Ca testing is off and possibly your salinity. What are you using to measure salinity and how are you calibrating?

As for light. I used 3 AI hydra 32 on a 55g tank and it was enough for acros around the middle of the tank. 2 AI prime will not produce the par you are seeing on a 75g tank. And as noted your light schedule is also way short for peak light period

Sorry, I am using baking soda. Sodium bicarbonate. Not sure why I wrote calcium carbonate.

As for the salt. I'm using a refrac with drops as calibration

 

[Bannanabread04]

I’d be using salifert kits for Alk and calcium. They are more accurate than the Hanna tests. They are also cheap at $12-15.

Alright. I have a API kit coming as well to check with that too.

 

[Shirak]

Alright. I have a API kit coming as well to check with that too.

Cancel the Api kit...

Hanna for Alk, Ultralowphosphate, and High range nitrate

Salifert for Ca and alk if you prefer.

As for testing Ca there really isn't much need with so low a bioload in your tank. Alk, NO3 and PO4 should be all you need.

What drops are you using to calibrate your refractometer? Other reefers have had issues with purchased calibration fluid or are using distilled water which will give an incorrect reading. Do you have a decent digital scale? Easy to make your own calibration fluid.

Scroll down to refractometer standard: https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/reef-aquarium-salinity-diy-calibration-standards.956/

 

[Bannanabread04]

Hey everyone, I've been meaning to reply to this for quite some time now and share what I found...

The whole high calcium debacle was... my fault 100%. I was actually testing the calcium incorrectly. For the .1mL sample size I was pushing down the button all the way when grabbing the sample not knowing that it was a two step pipette.

(Sigh... I felt so dumb when I discovered that)

The latest reading was a 446 (yay)

I never was able to get my ALK up without dosing soda ash. ALK now sits at about 8 - 8.5. Which makes sense now that I read the parameters of the box (tropic marin pro) alk is supposed to be 7-8 with a fresh batch. looking into changing salt to keep it easy. But its hard to change because this salt mixes and is clear so fast. Thought about switching to the Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salt. unsure if that's the right move yet. looks like it has the parameters I'm looking for.

Ph swings from about 8.2 to 8 at night.

I also started running GFO to keep the Phosphates down.

Just didnt want to leave this thread hanging, thanks again for all the help!