Some SPS not doing well

[fish_collector]

In for the money then once that's matured

Only time will tell what I will do with it. There was actually a considerable sum of money involved with obtaining it.

 

[kratosxxl]

just to steer everyone away from Live rock vs Dead rock debate
Any explanation how my LAk going up during day when im not dosing anything ?
ANything can leach alk back in to the water ?
disregard dosing part Aquawiz thinks im dosing something

 

[James CNM]

This one for the techy guys. That graph looks really complicated! ... Maintain ph 8/9 do weekly water change and sleep
It isnt so hard keeping a reef

 

[kratosxxl]

This one for the techy guys. That graph looks really complicated! ... Maintain ph 8/9 do weekly water change and sleep
It isnt so hard keeping a reef

I love the positivity. And keep buying corals lol
But agree thats the plan and if cant keep sps ill go lps. Cant do that ill go fish only :)there is always solution.

 

[James CNM]

I love the positivity.

Ph! keep it above 8! Below 7 that is the issue re stripping

 

[fish_collector]

Ph! keep it above 8! Below 7 that is the issue re stripping

I dont believe one can get their pH below 7, the calcium carbonate would disolve and buffer it before it got that far. Randy discussed it in another thread a while back.

 

[James CNM]

I dont believe one can get their pH below 7

So you have learned something, Many don't ..natural seawater levels. 7/8 forget the numbers

 

[fish_collector]

I love the positivity. And keep buying corals lol
But agree thats the plan and if cant keep sps ill go lps. Cant do that ill go fish only :)there is always solution.

You’ll be fine with SPS it just takes some time that’s all.
Are you in an area that has an active reefing club? My local club has coral auctions every month, almost all of my acropora came from other members via the club auction, for very little money. I wouldn’t keep acropora if I had to buy them retail.

 

[fish_collector]

Nothing can leach alk into the tank at the pH we keep it at. Hobbyists sometimes like to dose their alk at night to balance out nighttime pH drops. I can’t help you there as I dont dose kalk, I use 2 part and it doses 24/7. If you are dosing kalk and there are no corals consuming it your alk will rise. I can sometimes tell if there is something going on in my tank if the alk rises, that tells me the corals have stopped calcifying and are angry with something. Or if you are dosing kalk (or 2 part) and there are not enough corals that use it, your alk will rise.

Regarding nighttime pH drops, if you don’t have a huge number of corals and you don’t have a healthy population of algae on the rocks, your pH may not drop significantly at night. It is for sure a thing when you have a refugium with a lot of macro algae, you have to counter it somehow so dosing your kalk at night will help to level out the pH. I don’t believe pH or alk is what’s keeping your corals from thriving though. At 3 months your tank is still trying to find its groove.

 

[James CNM]

I dont believe one can get their pH below 7, the calcium carbonate would disolve and buffer it before it got that far. Randy discussed it in another thread a while back.

rEaD AgaiN..wEre NoT KEepinG guPpIEs

 

[fish_collector]

rEaD AgaiN..wEre NoT KEepinG guPpIEs

Just say what’s on your mind, this is an open forum.

And if you want to call someone out for something you think is incorrect, stop editing your posts after the fact. I’ve seen exactly what your original post said. You told me, and you used the term “for the record” calcium carbonate wouldn’t raise pH. And for the record I never said that it would. I was referring to your comment about keeping the pH above 8, and don’t let it go below 7. My response was that I didn’t believe it would get down to 7 because the calcium carbonate would disolve and buffer it from going lower. Then you wrote in cute words for me to reread as we weren’t keeping guppies.

So alright man, you’ve got the floor tell us all what’s on your mind. Why don’t you post some pics of your tank and tell us about it. How about offering the OP some advice, I have.

 

[kratosxxl]

Ph! keep it above 8! Below 7 that is the issue re stripping

Im trying but its hard , ambient co2 is 400-450 but it still never goes above 8 , ill be trying co2 scrubber soon but 450 is good enough(it is in a picture lol )

 

[kratosxxl]

You’ll be fine with SPS it just takes some time that’s all.
Are you in an area that has an active reefing club? My local club has coral auctions every month, almost all of my acropora came from other members via the club auction, for very little money. I wouldn’t keep acropora if I had to buy them retail.

Im in LA Valley area , i know there is a once a year sale in CHatsworth area

 

[kratosxxl]

rEaD AgaiN..wEre NoT KEepinG guPpIEs

Wait i cant have guppies ? :(

 

[kratosxxl]

Im assuming this requires retesting ? Only thing im dosing is 720 ml Kalk.

 

[fish_collector]

Im in LA Valley area , i know there is a once a year sale in CHatsworth area

I’m from OC and there were some good clubs back in the early 2000s . In LA you should be able to find a good club to buy corals from, at least in my mind.

 

[kratosxxl]

Nothing can leach alk into the tank at the pH we keep it at. Hobbyists sometimes like to dose their alk at night to balance out nighttime pH drops. I can’t help you there as I dont dose kalk, I use 2 part and it doses 24/7. If you are dosing kalk and there are no corals consuming it your alk will rise. I can sometimes tell if there is something going on in my tank if the alk rises, that tells me the corals have stopped calcifying and are angry with something. Or if you are dosing kalk (or 2 part) and there are not enough corals that use it, your alk will rise.

Regarding nighttime pH drops, if you don’t have a huge number of corals and you don’t have a healthy population of algae on the rocks, your pH may not drop significantly at night. It is for sure a thing when you have a refugium with a lot of macro algae, you have to counter it somehow so dosing your kalk at night will help to level out the pH. I don’t believe pH or alk is what’s keeping your corals from thriving though. At 3 months your tank is still trying to find its groove.

Yeah i paused Kalk dosing , want to see what changes in a week

 

[kratosxxl]

Will alk affect ph ? After my alk climbed to 8.7 my ph is 8.02

 

[mcarroll]

Hey folks, I’m having a hard time figuring out what’s going on with my tank. It all started with the birdsnest corals—two of them started bleaching and losing tissue from the bottom up. Now I’ve noticed that my blue Acro is starting to bleach in the middle as well.

Here are my current parameters. I’m planning to run an ATI ICP test to see if it can help identify any potential issues.

Has anyone experienced something similar or have any ideas about what might be causing this?
Im dosing 720 ml kalk (avast stirrer) overnight in 12 doses. WCH 20 % every 2 weeks (tank is IM EXT 200)
Filtration is 2x N-Clear M roller
Deltec 1500i skimmer
Wave 2x Maxsepect f350

Ill add some coral pics in a bit

Tank is too young, and you've been dinking with pH for some reason. Those two things alone can be enough to cause what you're experiencing. Good that you've stopped kalk.

I would also consider taking the roller out of service, and any other extras you have for filtration.

Get it down to just the skimmer and live rock. Let pH settle where it wants to be. Unless your house has really bad (stale) air, the tank's pH will settle to an acceptable range for your corals. If you find pH going under 7.6 and your flow and aeration in the tank is excellent (as it should be) that indicates a CO2 problem with the air in the room....maybe in the whole house. Chances are you won't have this issue tho.

Also, consider putting off water changes for a little while...each one causes your nutrient levels to dip, and neither N or P is all that high to begin with. If you must do a water change, you can alternately either siphon into a low micron (eg 5µ) filter sock, then return the water to your tank OR do a regular water change, but dose the new saltwater with your target levels of NO3 and PO4....either way the tank's stability won't get thrown off.

These changes will give your corals a better shot at having some food available (vs being filtered out) as well as limiting some of the variability you have been introducing to the chemistry.

It's worth reviewing your flow and lighting while you're at it. Don't overdo it on PAR, but do have good coverage with adequate lighting...around 200-300 PAR should be a fair target. Flow is harder to quantify, but make sure you have at least two correctly sized pumps for your tank and no perceptible dead zones. Some flake food in the tank can give you somewhat of a visual representation of your flow to help with troubleshooting.

 

[kratosxxl]

Tank is too young, and you've been dinking with pH for some reason. Those two things alone can be enough to cause what you're experiencing. Good that you've stopped kalk.

I would also consider taking the roller out of service, and any other extras you have for filtration.

Get it down to just the skimmer and live rock. Let pH settle where it wants to be. Unless your house has really bad (stale) air, the tank's pH will settle to an acceptable range for your corals. If you find pH going under 7.6 and your flow and aeration in the tank is excellent (as it should be) that indicates a CO2 problem with the air in the room....maybe in the whole house. Chances are you won't have this issue tho.

Also, consider putting off water changes for a little while...each one causes your nutrient levels to dip, and neither N or P is all that high to begin with. If you must do a water change, you can alternately either siphon into a low micron (eg 5µ) filter sock, then return the water to your tank OR do a regular water change, but dose the new saltwater with your target levels of NO3 and PO4....either way the tank's stability won't get thrown off.

These changes will give your corals a better shot at having some food available (vs being filtered out) as well as limiting some of the variability you have been introducing to the chemistry.

It's worth reviewing your flow and lighting while you're at it. Don't overdo it on PAR, but do have good coverage with adequate lighting...around 200-300 PAR should be a fair target. Flow is harder to quantify, but make sure you have at least two correctly sized pumps for your tank and no perceptible dead zones. Some flake food in the tank can give you somewhat of a visual representation of your flow to help with troubleshooting.

Thank you for the reply, I really appreciate it!

I’ve added another wavemaker for extra flow in addition to my two XF350s. I’ll try removing the fleece rollers, but I have 14 fish, including three tangs that are 4–5 inches, and they produce a lot of waste! Would you recommend using filter floss and replacing it once a week, or running no mechanical filtration at all?
I also noticed some residue on the bottom of my sump that looked like dusty sand. I vacuumed it all out, but as you suggested, I siphoned the water through a filter and returned it to the sump without doing a water change.
I just ordered some Smartwater steam-distilled water to double-check my calcium test results because my calcium is reading over 500 ppm. My RODI system has a new DI cartridge and reads 0 TDS, but I want to be on the safe side.
I completely agree that the tank is still too new to have stable conditions for SPS corals. I thought all the gadgets would help me get there faster, but apparently not!