No Coral Growth & Continuous Monti Bleaching...…...Is it my lighting?

[AllSignsPointToFish]

Alk i test for, tested this morning actually. Not everything is suffering as you can see from the pic

I note that only the softies seem to be doing okay, and they tend to be hardier than some of the stony corals.

Also, if you have a milligram scale (I highly recommend getting one off of Amazon for dosing medications), you can make your own calibration fluid. I made a 35 ppt calibration fluid with an SG of 1.0264 to test my Milwaukee refractometer periodically. You calibrate with deionized water, but you can check the drift with a calibration fluid. FYI.

 

[Eike]

Call it a hunch, and should be seriously considered to eliminate as a possibility for you struggling to grow corals.

The Red sea refractometer is not known to be the most accurate of refractometers, lots of people have good ones, there are more than a few people that have ones that are less than adequate. You are also calibrating with a single point at the very end of the scale, which means if your refractometer is imperfectly manufactured that the farther away from that point of calibration equals a magnified error. Please read: “Imperfect Refractometer Calibration: Slope Miscalibration” In randy’s article http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-12/rhf/

Now suggesting you use a 35 ppt solution to calibrate with would improve that error and probably give you a closer reading to the truth the only true way to see if your refractometer is giving you a false reading is to compare it to a known one that works properly.

fair point, I will get my Lfs to test, and I will get some solution so i can compare results

 

[intricate_reefer]

I’ve had problems with zoas in the past. Tried just about every commercial dip out there. I had a lot of luck with a hydrogen peroxide dip. 5 parts tank water to 1 part 3% hydrogen peroxide for 3-4 minutes. Might be worth shot. If your going to do multiple dips give them like 5 days to recover in between.

 

[clffthmps]

I guess my question which I don’t quite understand is dosing NOPOX and red sea AB+ which is coral nutrition.

 

[SMSREEF]

Ok......so recalibrated and retested salinity with distilled water instead of RODI. Its sitting pretty at a solid 1.025. So my salinity isn't the issue!

RODI and Distilled are basically the same thing.
if you want to make 35 ppm water. Calibrate to 35ppm water.
I write this because I made this mistake and was wondering why I was having problems. I took water to LFS and found out my salinity was too high because my calibration was off.

 

[Riphter]

Hanna makes a reliable salinity tester for 70$. Worth the price and you calibrate it with 35ppt solution. I dont trust refractometers. Bad eyesight maybe.

 

[AllSignsPointToFish]

I guess my question which I don’t quite understand is dosing NOPOX and red sea AB+ which is coral nutrition.

I do the same. What, exactly, is the question?

 

[Eike]

That's good. In my experience, as long as the salinity is between 1.024-1.028 and is consistent, the corals don't seem to mind. I suppose that makes sense since the salinity in the ocean can vary greatly depending on how much rain a particular area sees at any given time.

Ahhhhhhh jeez!!!! I have just discovered to my horror I have been doing my kH test wrong!!!! So instead of a stable KH of 11 it is actually 12, when I experienced KH spikes it was up at 13!! I have been doing this for months!!

 

[homer1475]

....And theres the solution to whats going on.

 

[Eike]

....And theres the solution to whats going on.

dangit!! just to be sure, I will go to lfs tomorrow morning to get salinity checked and get a different salt with lower values. Probably do 2 x 20% water changes over the next week to get the kH down. i have postponed delivery of my monti digitata and stylo until end of next week so i can get parameters in check

 

[homer1475]

What salt are you using?

I wouldn't necessarily change salt, just let it fall naturally.

 

[Eike]

What salt are you using?

I wouldn't necessarily change salt, just let it fall naturally.

red sea Coral Pro. At 1.025 salinity the values of kh are too high, KH will mix at 11. Using this salt bi weekly will give me no hope of maintaining kh at 8

 

[homer1475]

Red sea blue bucket I believe mixes up to around 7 or 8.

 

[Eike]

Red sea blue bucket I believe mixes up to around 7 or 8.

Yes exactly, that's what i was going to switch to

 

[homer1475]

High alk isn't necessarily an issue depending on what your nutrients are.

With your nutrient levels(6ppm, and .06 I think I remember reading?) those are on the lower side. So lowering your ALK might fix the issue.

Low nutrients = low ALK
High nutrients = higher ALK

What typically happens with low nutrients and high alk is your coral will grow skeleton(bare white "bone"), but without the nutrients they cannot grow "skin" over the skeleton. As the "skin" gros the "bone" continues to grow and the process is just exacerbated every day you keep ALK high and nutrients low.

It's really just a balancing act between nutrients and ALK. I have found regardless of what my nutrient levels are, my corals seem the happiest with my ALK in the lower range of 6.5 to 7.5(NO3 around 2, and PO4 around .03). Even if my nutrients creep up, I still keep my ALK in that range as in my tank it's what I have found to be the best solution.

 

[Eike]

High alk isn't necessarily an issue depending on what your nutrients are.

With your nutrient levels(6ppm, and .06 I think I remember reading?) those are on the lower side. So lowering your ALK might fix the issue.

Low nutrients = low ALK
High nutrients = higher ALK

What typically happens with low nutrients and high alk is your coral will grow skeleton(bare white "bone"), but without the nutrients they cannot grow "skin" over the skeleton. As the "skin" gros the "bone" continues to grow and the process is just exacerbated every day you keep ALK high and nutrients low.

It's really just a balancing act between nutrients and ALK. I have found regardless of what my nutrient levels are, my corals seem the happiest with my ALK in the lower range of 6.5 to 7.5(NO3 around 2, and PO4 around .03). Even if my nutrients creep up, I still keep my ALK in that range as in my tank it's what I have found to be the best solution.

interesting, I didn't realise there was a correlation between Alk and nutrients

 

[homer1475]

Let me see if I can find a certain thread for you that describes it better......

 

[Eike]

Let me see if I can find a certain thread for you that describes it better......

great thanks!

 

[homer1475]

This isn't the thread I was thinking of(can't seem to find that thread!), but it explains it a bit better then I can.

The worst paradigm to hit the hobby and more specifically the SPS world

The worst paradigm to hit the hobby is getting your nutrient levels as low as possible? Is trying to get your nutrients as low as possible the worst paradigm to hit the hobby? Is it me, or is every other "corals" struggling/dying post always seem to come with either nitrates, phosphate, or...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Eike]

This isn't the thread I was thinking of(can't seem to find that thread!), but it explains it a bit better then I can.

The worst paradigm to hit the hobby and more specifically the SPS world

The worst paradigm to hit the hobby is getting your nutrient levels as low as possible? Is trying to get your nutrients as low as possible the worst paradigm to hit the hobby? Is it me, or is every other "corals" struggling/dying post always seem to come with either nitrates, phosphate, or...

www.reef2reef.com

Interesting discussion! I have always freaked out about my nutrient levels since I have had elevated levels before which nuisance algae outbreaks that have been a nightmare to resolve. ideally I would prefer my levels to be a little higher, maybe 10-15ppm N03, 0.08 to 0.1 P04