Someone help me understand this chemistry stuff

[LuizW13]

Are these water parameters okay?

Alk: 9.0 dkh
Nitrate: 2.5
Phosphate: 0.017
Salinity: 1.025

Innovative marine lagoon
1 small fish
Several inverts (hermits and trochous snails)
2 soft corals
3 LPS corals
14 SPS corals

The reason I ask is that ever since coming back from christmas break my corals (mostly my SPS) don't seem to be happy- the birdsnests have been completely closed up since.

I'm aware of the correlation between nutrient and ALK levels. Are my nutrient and alk levels okay? The table that Randy put together suggest that Nitrate should be < 0.2 ppm, Phosphate <0.03 ppm. Are my levels similar to that, i'm not sure what unit the Salifert Nitrate kits are using. For low range it says to divide the result (25) by 10 to get the value. I'm using the Hannah Alk(Dkh) and Hannah Phosphorous checkers.

A little background, before the holidays, those parameters were just about in that same range except for Alk- my corals looked great at around 7-8. When i got back(corals were already kind of closed), i did a large water change (5 gallons in a 17 gallon system). I have also gotten a several SPS frags since then. when i dip my corals, i also do a small water change. I'll get 4 cups from my fresh saltwater bucket, put it in the display tank and take out the same amount to use for the dip. I'll repeat that a second time so i have water to rinse the frags in before placing them in the display.

The corals I had in the display for some time now are growing; they are starting to encrust the plugs they came but one in particular, the Green Mile acro from WWC is no longer green. It's kind of brownish/tannish color- excess nutrients? Not enough light?

I appreciate the help.

Thanks in advanced!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

yes, those parameters all look good. Any closed up coral is not from those parameters.

 

[LuizW13]

yes, those parameters all look good. Any closed up coral is not from those parameters.

Thank you for the reply. That's a good thing but also a bad thing because now i have no idea what it could be! is it possible to use too much carbon, because i do have a bag of carbon in the sump- maybe a cup or so.

I'm also dosing Red Sea Energy A and B .5ml each every night.

So, i should try to maintain the parameters where they're at now?

 

[ajhudson15]

could be lighting or flow as well

 

[LuizW13]

could be lighting or flow as well

Man, I initially starting to bleach a Poci frag a while back- it's finally getting some color back. But i suppose you might be right. I'm currently on a wait list for a PAR meter from the local reef club.

 

[ajhudson15]

I believe lighting a flow to be the main factors to a healthy looking sps. Im not big on sps yet but from what ive read if all your levels are fine then this is usally the culprit

 

[LuizW13]

I believe lighting a flow to be the main factors to a healthy looking sps. Im not big on sps yet but from what ive read if all your levels are fine then this is usally the culprit

You're right, i've also read that a lot here and there.

Hopefully other more experienced folks can chime in.

 

[LuizW13]

So, the reason those SPS frags are closed up for long periods of time is because their all going through STN; all the birdsnests are pretty much on their way out even though they were growing pretty rapidly.

Other things i noticed is that my LPS corals, the micromussa, acan, and galaxea have also been closed up for nearly a week. To me, if both the SPS and LPS corals are not doing well, and the pineapple sponges i had are no longer, then it could suggest a nutrient swing?

The only corals that seem to be doing okay is the Torch coral and a few Acros i got about a week ago. All of the 'original' frags with the exception of two montis look to be in bad health or stressed.

I changed out nearly a third of my water last night( i saved a cup to test later).

I'll report back with some parameters for anyone interested.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How are you preparing top off water?

 

[LuizW13]

How are you preparing top off water?

I have the 5 stage BRS RO/DI, I actually just replaced the filters on it a couple of weeks ago. My ATO reservoir is a 5 gal food safe bucket.

I'm thinking maybe my water mixing trash can could be leaching things? I don't have a brute (i forgot the name); I'll check when i get home.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'm thinking maybe my water mixing trash can could be leaching things? I don't have a brute (i forgot the name); I'll check when i get home.

Possible, but I think that outcome is quite unusual if true. I'm not sure what you can test for without something like Triton. TDS won't tell anything useful.

 

[LuizW13]

Possible, but I think that outcome is quite unusual if true. I'm not sure what you can test for without something like Triton. TDS won't tell anything useful.

That's what i was thinking! I'm just trying to cover all bases.

Another thing that i'm suspecting right now is the amount of carbon i had. I have since removed the carbon and added fresh carbon in the amount suggested by BRS- i had like a cup and a half before, now just a tablespoon and a half. I read some things in the forums but nothing confirmed- some people say too much carbon can remove nutrients and minerals, while others say they don't think you can over-dose carbon.

 

[LuizW13]

for anyone interested- i did about a 20% water change monday evening, yesterday night when i got home from work, it looked like it had made things worse, a couple of acros started to RTN.

I wondered why a water change would make things worse- so i tested my fresh saltwarter (HW reefer):
Alk: 10.8
Ca: 420/30
Mg: 900

Tested the water in the reef tank:

Alk: 9.8
Ca: 420ish
Mg: 1220

If i remember correctly I added some fresh HW salwater into my mixing jug that had a few gallons of Tropic Marin pro water to do a water change before going away for christmas- that's when everything started going downhill. A couple of weeks leading to do that i started feeding pretty heavily to bring nutrient levels up. With Tropic Marin pro, my alk levels were in 7-8 range.

Could that have been the reason for all this trouble?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I’m not sure what you are suggesting might be the reason?

 

[LuizW13]

I’m not sure what you are suggesting might be the reason?

I don't know man, this thing is driving me crazy ;Blackeye

I thought that maybe changing salts (to one with skew levels other than advertised) while also trying to bring up my nutrients through feeding, might have caused this - because it's not just the acros that are dying, the LPS are too.

I'm going to take some water samples to the store this weekend so i can double check my parameters.

Also, thanks a lot for your input. I really appreciate it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Too low of nutrients with high alk can cause issues for some SPS, but usually that means burnt tips, not STN or RTN.

Just starving the corals for nutrients might be an issue...

 

[LuizW13]

I don't think the corals were starved of nutrients because i now have more algae growth than i ever had and even a bit of cyano.

I guess i'm just not experienced enough to keep my water stable?