New coral dying in a matter of hours.

[Gareth elliott]

I wasn't aware of a link btwn salinity and alkalinity. Explains my phantom Alk drop last week. ty

Its not really a link per say but but both being functions of dilution.

Your salt mix roughly contains is made up of several compounds NaCl being the most numerous but the other compounds are roughly proportional(settling can throw this out of whack a little) to the NaCl dilution.

Easier to understand if use metric units
As an example if your salt mix is 8 dkh at 1.026 SG.

Your solution will contain 35 ppt NaCl and .143ppt Ca(HCO3)2 in respect to the water present.

So if mix to only 30ppt or 15% less salty
You will also have 15% less alkalinity.

Hopefully that makes sense [emoji23]

 

[Aidanwolf]

Wow that was an explosion of alerts lol. I calibrated the refractometer with disteled water. I have not tested the mixed water but once I get the new testing kit I will.

 

[BeejReef]

Its not really a link per say but but both being functions of dilution.

Your salt mix roughly contains is made up of several compounds NaCl being the most numerous but the other compounds are roughly proportional(settling can throw this out of whack a little) to the NaCl dilution.

Easier to understand if use metric units
As an example if your salt mix is 8 dkh at 1.026 SG.

Your solution will contain 35 ppt NaCl and .143ppt Ca(HCO3)2 in respect to the water present.

So if mix to only 30ppt or 15% less salty
You will also have 15% less alkalinity.

Hopefully that makes sense [emoji23]

It does, ty. I was just stumped when my alkalinity made an apparent 1dkh swing, down and then back, over a 24 hour period with no dosing of any kind. I had attributed it to testing error. In hindsight though, I remember struggling with my salinity once at roughly the same time during a big water change. My refractometer got soaking wet and was giving wildly disparate readings.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

Wow that was an explosion of alerts lol. I calibrated the refractometer with disteled water. I have not tested the mixed water but once I get the new testing kit I will.

You aren't suppose to calibrate with distilled water. You should use a solution that is calibrated to 35 ppt.

 

[Aidanwolf]

You aren't suppose to calibrate with distilled water. You should use a solution that is calibrated to 35 ppt.

I have read that distilled water can calibrate a refractometer is that not true?

 

[Gareth elliott]

I have read that distilled water can calibrate a refractometer is that not true?

You should use calibration fluid. You wabt something as close as possible to where you want to keep your tank.

There is an article by randy to describes why very well. But to sum up using a pint far away can increase slope errors many magnitude.

 

[Aidanwolf]

You should use calibration fluid. You wabt something as close as possible to where you want to keep your tank.

There is an article by randy to describes why very well. But to sum up using a pint far away can increase slope errors many magnitude.

I will look into getting some thanks.

 

[ReeferBean]

How did they look when you first put the frags in? They could be stressed from shipping. Cold weather, no heat pack etc.

Good advice though above.

 

[Aidanwolf]

How did they look when you first put the frags in? They could be stressed from shipping. Cold weather, no heat pack etc.

Good advice though above.

I got them from a local reefer 45mins away from me and they looked good when I got them. And they where only out of a tank for the trip back and when I was acclimating them.

 

[Dburr1014]

It 7 drops to reach blue to yellow and that translates to 125ppm.

That's 7 dkh, that's a good number.

 

[Dburr1014]

This is crazy to lose a frag in hours.
I float for 15 minutes, dip with a coral dip, and in the tank they go.

Can you explain exactly how you floated to in the tank? All steps and were they in a bag or container.

 

[vetteguy53081]

CA a little high. What is salinity and temperature also?

I would recommend taking a water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test as a comparison and verification of your readings

 

[Aidanwolf]

CA a little high. What is salinity and temperature also?

I would recommend taking a water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test as a comparison and verification of your readings

So I just did a magnesium test with a Salifert testing kit and the magnesium is above 1500. I used the whole syringe and it didnt turn blue. The salinity is around 1.026 and temp is around 80.

 

[Mjrenz]

So I just did a magnesium test with a Salifert testing kit and the magnesium is above 1500. I used the whole syringe and it didnt turn blue. The salinity is around 1.026 and temp is around 80.

Try filling the syringe a second time and drip it until it changes, you can do a little math to see how high it is. Have you been dosing anything?

 

[Aidanwolf]

Try filling the syringe a second time and drip it until it changes, you can do a little math to see how high it is. Have you been dosing anything?

I tried doing that and it only took a few drops to change the color. No I am not dosing anything.

 

[Aidanwolf]

CA a little high. What is salinity and temperature also?

I would recommend taking a water sample to a trusted LFS and have them test as a comparison and verification of your readings

Also the closest LFS is about an hour and a half away so it will be a while before I can get over there to test it.

 

[Mjrenz]

That is high. I assume that your salifert kits just arrived, what were the other results?

 

[Aidanwolf]

That is high. I assume that your salifert kits just arrived, what were the other results?

I am about to test them now.

 

[Mjrenz]

Also, how is the coral doing?

 

[Macdaddynick1]

You should use calibration fluid. You wabt something as close as possible to where you want to keep your tank.

There is an article by randy to describes why very well. But to sum up using a pint far away can increase slope errors many magnitude.

My guess is 1) you dipped Corals too much, 2) your salinity isn’t 1.025 3) you have rock/tank from someone who used copper.

Salinity is probably the winner.
I was reading all the other posts and I was thinking to myself this guy is probably not measuring the salinity right. Calibrating with Fresh water can give you a 5-6 point discrepancy that is more than enough to kill Corals within short time. Nothing else except may be copper in your system (if you had someone else’s rocks from flowlr who used copper) can kill/bleach Corals as fast low salinity. You can have 2200 mag, it will kill Corals slowly, if you dumped a bunch of alk into the tank, that can kill Corals, but other than that not many things will kill Corals that fast. My tank is stocked with acros and I run it up to 83 degrees so the temp is not a big deal.