Question on tank problem...

[Trandall]

This is concerning my smaller tank, the 67 gallon. Just the past few days... a couple corals are starting to bleach a bit on one or two limbs < a birdsnest & an sps> and my 3 clams ( 1 Max, 1 Deresa, 1 Crocea) don't look as good as they should, mantels not fully extended, etc. Up until now, everything has thrived and looked great and grown, etc.

I do monthly water changes < at least 15 gallons> have a sump with a filter sock, protein skimmer, lots of great LR, and plenty of water movement in the display tank, not over populated at all, only 5 real small fish, perc, 6-line, Fridmani, Tailspot blenny & red spotted blenny. 250 watt MH lighting, 14,000k.

So anyway.... I mentioned before that my calcium/alk balance was way out of whack.

Yesterday...before doing a 15 gallon water change, I ran all my levels with three different test kits to try to figure out what's going on.
Here's the results of those tests...
First.... Temp was 78 and it runs pretty steady only fluxing a degree or two lower between lights out and mid day.

S.G.= 1.025
SAL. = 33

Elos test kit API Test Kit Hagen Master Test kit
PH= 8.4 8.3 8.3
NH3= 0 0 0
NO2= 0.04 ____ * no test for this* 0.1
NO3= 25ppm 80ppm 20 ppm
K.H.=6.5dkh 8.5dkh 5.8 dkh
CA= 525 m/l ppm 500 m/l ppm 560 m/l ppm
PO4= 0.01 m/l ppm 0.25 m/l ppm _______ *no test for this*


According to the graphs I downloaded from *Saltwaterfish.com* if my Calcium is running at around 500, my Alk should be 19.6 dkh or 350 ppm in order for the two to be in balance and work properly. /also.... since my Alk is only around 6 to 7 dkh, my calcium should only be between 400 t0 420 for them to be in balance.

So I guess my question is....do you think this imbalance is the cause of the bleaching etc? If not then what are your thoughts?

I've also been running a mesh bag of carbon thrown in my filter sock, but changing it frequently < both carbon and sock> so that shouldn't cause I problem I wouldn't think?

Question.... I also have some high grade GFO. Could a person run both GFO and carbon in the same mesh bag? simply layer it? I know some people put them both in together in the same reactor tube.

Thanks for any help you might give.

Terri Randall

 

[Blackhawk Fan]

I see a few things that bother me.
You nitrates are a bit high to me. I would try to get them as close to 0 as possible. When I was BB my tank was always around 10ppm, so 0 isn't necessary. Your calcium should be between 400 and 450. 500 is too high. Your alk is low. You want to get that between 7dKH and 11dKH.

I would start by getting those three in check and see if that helps stop what is going on your tank. I would also increase your water changes to 10% every other week, but every week would be even better. This would definitely get your nitrates down.

I hope things turn around for you. I've lost more then my share of livestock lately.

 

[Natclanwy]

Terri,
Your calcium is definetly too high, but I don't think that is causing any unhappiness. Bring your alk up to 7-11dkh and don't add any calcium suplements and as you do water changes your calcium should come down. Speaking of which, which supplements are you using and how often?

I am a little concerned with your test results, here is the deal with testing. If you have more than one brand how do you know which one is correct, it like have two watches you never know which one is right. I would stick with one brand and test multiple times and see if the tests repeat. Repeatability is more important than whether it matches another brand of test kit, it verifies that your testing method is good. Now if you don't like the repeatable reading that you recieved on one test kit try another of the same brand and see if you get similar results. Then if you still believe both test kits to be giving a false reading then switch to another brand and repeat the same method of testing multiple times to get a repeatable result. If it comes up with a drastically different result then I would get someone else involved and have them test the water for you and see what they come up with. Through all of this making sure your test tubes are clean is very important, I can tell you from experience that just rinsing them a couple of times under the faucet does not clean them out. I will generally fill them 2-3 times and dump them, and then fill them half way put the cap on and shake them for a few seconds and then dump them 2-3 times. Then before I test I do the same method except with tank water. I have found that by doing this my results are always repeatable and accurate, and previous to using this method sometime it would take 3-4 tests to get a repeatable result and that was generally after I rinsed the tubes like I mentioned above.

Your nitrates if they are even remotely close to 80ppm could be causing the unhappiness, I would start there with your testing and try to get a repeatable result to verify what your nitrates are.

Feel free to give me a call and shoot me an email if you have more questions or need some help.

John

 

[Trandall]

Well i have a feeling i know what happened. I started using the SeaLab 28 dissolving blocks. Supposed to only dissolve and release Calcium as needed. Everything was looking good so i got pretty lax about doing my testing and I also didn't add any buffer. I'm fairly certain that's how my calc. got so high and alk so low. In fact... I just read two other reports of the same thing happening on RC.
The reason I've been testing with all three test kits was I was trying to get at least two of them to test in the same range. At least close.
Someone else mentioned that perhaps part of my problem could be shock since i've been doing 20% water changes. and that unless I was very careful to match salinity, temp, ph, etc the shock at water change time could cause a problem.
I never really worried about it with my big tank but I can see where it could be a problem with a smaller tank.
Thanks John- appreciate your response.

 

[Natclanwy]

Unless your parameters are way out when you are doing water changes I don't think that is causing your problem. I do 20% changes on my 55g fairly often and have done as much as 50% with no issues. My salinity usually matches but the temp and Ph rarely match exactly. Usually my water is room temp (~70deg) and the Ph of newly my mixed saltwater is about 8.4 generally. Adding 10-15g of water will only drop the temp by a degree or so if that, and the Ph of my tank is generally 8.0-8.3 depending on the time of day and the water doesn't really change the Ph. The most I have seen it change is about .1. I have had way larger swings than that several times while dosing kalkwasser and using lime to kill aiptasia with no perminant effects.