Hello! Thanks in advance for looking at this post!
I have a tank that has been running for about 18 months. 65g display, 15g sump, mostly soft corals.
It seems like something is off, but I cant really tell what it is. I have a candy cane coral that looks really good right after water changes, but looks pretty sad right before them (pictures attached).
Yesterday/today I finally had time to:
1. Test everything I have kits for, take a before picture
2. Do a 10g water change (coral pro salt at the same temp as the tank)
3. Wait 24hrs, test everything again, take an after picture
So the parameters didn't really change, but the candy cane (and maybe everything else in the tank looks better, I cant really tell, but zoas seem to open more, other corals look happier).
I am running GFO, carbon, dosing alk, ca, carbon. Nothing seems different except the new water (which wasn't even that much), but it makes a visible difference!
Does anyone have any ideas of what could be going on? Any advice on what to try next? The corals will look good for a few days and then start getting mad until the next WC. I understand that is the point of a WC, but I would like to find out what it is that I am replacing/replenishing that is making that much of a difference!!
Here is the data:
Note: I am not dosing magnesium, so I suspect that the delta between the 2 is variance in the tests, but maybe not, can that be an issue?
Before:
After:
I have a tank that has been running for about 18 months. 65g display, 15g sump, mostly soft corals.
It seems like something is off, but I cant really tell what it is. I have a candy cane coral that looks really good right after water changes, but looks pretty sad right before them (pictures attached).
Yesterday/today I finally had time to:
1. Test everything I have kits for, take a before picture
2. Do a 10g water change (coral pro salt at the same temp as the tank)
3. Wait 24hrs, test everything again, take an after picture
So the parameters didn't really change, but the candy cane (and maybe everything else in the tank looks better, I cant really tell, but zoas seem to open more, other corals look happier).
I am running GFO, carbon, dosing alk, ca, carbon. Nothing seems different except the new water (which wasn't even that much), but it makes a visible difference!
Does anyone have any ideas of what could be going on? Any advice on what to try next? The corals will look good for a few days and then start getting mad until the next WC. I understand that is the point of a WC, but I would like to find out what it is that I am replacing/replenishing that is making that much of a difference!!
Here is the data:
Temperature F | Salinity ppt | Nitrate ppm | PH | Alkalinity 9dkh | Phosphate | Calcium 420 | Magnesium 1350 | |
Before 10% WC | 78.4 | 1.024 | 1.1 | 8.2 | 10.1 | 0.04 | 410 | 1520 |
24hrs later, same test kits, process, etc | 78.5 | 1.024 | 1 | 8.2 | 10.2 | 0.05 | 400 | 1400 |
Note: I am not dosing magnesium, so I suspect that the delta between the 2 is variance in the tests, but maybe not, can that be an issue?
Before:
After: