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- Jun 10, 2019
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ok guys in my 29 gal tank I am having some issues with the parameters. I have reached out to my LFS and I think they might have become tired of me asking questions on different topics. like anything new that I get into i always want to know what is going on, how it works and what i can do about it to make it better. i want to learn and eventually teach someone about it whether it be through my mistakes or from others mistakes.
the tank currently has
1 clown
1 lawnmower blenny
1 duncan with 4 heads
1 trumpet with 4 heads (3 are splitting)
2 acans
1 war coral
1 chalice
1 plate coral?
1 torch two heads
2 hammers (one head each)
1 green bubble tip anemone
and a small sized clean up crew.
Parameters have been the following
Alk - 5
Calcium - 425
Mag - 1320
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 0-5ppm
phosphates - .019
Salinity - 1.025
Temp - 78*
i noticed a couple weeks ago that some of my acans had been looking pretty bad, i could see the skeleton coming out and i ended up losing one of them recently (one of my favorites). and i noticed this when i started testing the water, I had started testing the waters when i bought a testing kit from a member on R2R. in the 4 months of having the tank (which was already established and running for about 10 years, it was inherited) i hadn't tested, i was just doing 5-10gal WCs and kept up with the husbandry.
i was a little concerned when i compared them to ranges found on R2R, remember i was not trying to chase numbers here I was just wanting to stay within the ranges to keep it stable and safe for my livestock.
i went to the LFS with the numbers and he suggested that i start dosing because i am using IO purple bucket for mixing salt and he said that the elements are a little low after a mix and most times require dosing to keep stable.
I started dosing
Alk 2ml
Cal 2ml
Mag 2ml
and I saw my alk go up to 6 the next day and from there on out for it was stuck at 5dKH for the next 5days. i went back to the LFS and asked them what to do next and he said to go to 3mls each.
did that and i saw no change after 5 days. went back with my results and he basically told me "i don't know what to tell you....sometimes you just have to figure it out on your own...."
i am 5 - 6 months into this hobby and confused on what to do cause i see my coral getting weaker and i don't want my sons to get discouraged in the hobby cause this is something that we are doing together.
talked with another reefer and he recommended dosing 5 mls of just alk to see if there was a change in the levels since i had some calcium range to play with if it were to drop a little.
did that for 5 days and i have only seen my alk go to 5.
I even went to the extent of testing the water before a WC and the ALK was at 8 and calcium at 440....
what should i do here? should I be using a doser and not hand dosing?
thanks guys!
Barnabie
the tank currently has
1 clown
1 lawnmower blenny
1 duncan with 4 heads
1 trumpet with 4 heads (3 are splitting)
2 acans
1 war coral
1 chalice
1 plate coral?
1 torch two heads
2 hammers (one head each)
1 green bubble tip anemone
and a small sized clean up crew.
Parameters have been the following
Alk - 5
Calcium - 425
Mag - 1320
Ammonia - 0
Nitrates - 0-5ppm
phosphates - .019
Salinity - 1.025
Temp - 78*
i noticed a couple weeks ago that some of my acans had been looking pretty bad, i could see the skeleton coming out and i ended up losing one of them recently (one of my favorites). and i noticed this when i started testing the water, I had started testing the waters when i bought a testing kit from a member on R2R. in the 4 months of having the tank (which was already established and running for about 10 years, it was inherited) i hadn't tested, i was just doing 5-10gal WCs and kept up with the husbandry.
i was a little concerned when i compared them to ranges found on R2R, remember i was not trying to chase numbers here I was just wanting to stay within the ranges to keep it stable and safe for my livestock.
i went to the LFS with the numbers and he suggested that i start dosing because i am using IO purple bucket for mixing salt and he said that the elements are a little low after a mix and most times require dosing to keep stable.
I started dosing
Alk 2ml
Cal 2ml
Mag 2ml
and I saw my alk go up to 6 the next day and from there on out for it was stuck at 5dKH for the next 5days. i went back to the LFS and asked them what to do next and he said to go to 3mls each.
did that and i saw no change after 5 days. went back with my results and he basically told me "i don't know what to tell you....sometimes you just have to figure it out on your own...."
i am 5 - 6 months into this hobby and confused on what to do cause i see my coral getting weaker and i don't want my sons to get discouraged in the hobby cause this is something that we are doing together.
talked with another reefer and he recommended dosing 5 mls of just alk to see if there was a change in the levels since i had some calcium range to play with if it were to drop a little.
did that for 5 days and i have only seen my alk go to 5.
I even went to the extent of testing the water before a WC and the ALK was at 8 and calcium at 440....
what should i do here? should I be using a doser and not hand dosing?
thanks guys!
Barnabie
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