Alk: 7.7 (Hanna)
Ca: 433 (Hanna)
Mag: 1350 (Salifert)
No3: 4-5ppm
Po4: 0-0.03? (I find it impossible to distinguish on Salifert)
Salinity: 1.026-1.027
Temp: 76.5F
I have slowly (over the past 9 days) brought my nitrates from 0ppm to 5ppm with ESV nitrate when I realized that they had bottomed out, and might be the cause of my pale corals. Things were starting to look really good, and then took a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse last night. It was so sudden, that I thought it must be some kind of contamination, so I ran poly filter, Rox 0.8 carbon for 2 hours, and did at 15% W/C. Some of the corals are looking a little better. But I am very concerned for my grafted cap frag, which had been doing SO well and doubled in size in the last month or so. The skin looks incredibly thin with skeleton partially showing through, polyps completely retracted and extremely pale. LPS corals for the most part look fine.
What could it be? I am meticulous about washing hands before working in the tank, and I don't use aerosols. I have tried to be cognizant of "going slow" while elevating my nitrates. The only thing I could think of, is that I had all the doors and windows open all day yesterday since it was so nice out, and something from outside came in. Could pollen be an issue? All the oak trees in my neighborhood are blooming right now to the point that my gray car looks green - but there is no evidence of a bacterial bloom or green haze in the tank. Anything else I can/should be doing?
Ca: 433 (Hanna)
Mag: 1350 (Salifert)
No3: 4-5ppm
Po4: 0-0.03? (I find it impossible to distinguish on Salifert)
Salinity: 1.026-1.027
Temp: 76.5F
I have slowly (over the past 9 days) brought my nitrates from 0ppm to 5ppm with ESV nitrate when I realized that they had bottomed out, and might be the cause of my pale corals. Things were starting to look really good, and then took a sudden and dramatic turn for the worse last night. It was so sudden, that I thought it must be some kind of contamination, so I ran poly filter, Rox 0.8 carbon for 2 hours, and did at 15% W/C. Some of the corals are looking a little better. But I am very concerned for my grafted cap frag, which had been doing SO well and doubled in size in the last month or so. The skin looks incredibly thin with skeleton partially showing through, polyps completely retracted and extremely pale. LPS corals for the most part look fine.
What could it be? I am meticulous about washing hands before working in the tank, and I don't use aerosols. I have tried to be cognizant of "going slow" while elevating my nitrates. The only thing I could think of, is that I had all the doors and windows open all day yesterday since it was so nice out, and something from outside came in. Could pollen be an issue? All the oak trees in my neighborhood are blooming right now to the point that my gray car looks green - but there is no evidence of a bacterial bloom or green haze in the tank. Anything else I can/should be doing?
