TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[Scottsquatch]

That is weird. You'd think it would be going the other way for sure. if it isn't a bad test, do you have anything in your system that could be leeching into your water column? Otherwise it seems like that shouldn't be possible. Perhaps drop this in the water chemistry forum? Maybe Randy would have some theories.

 

[TheWB]

That is weird. You'd think it would be going the other way for sure. if it isn't a bad test, do you have anything in your system that could be leeching into your water column? Otherwise it seems like that shouldn't be possible. Perhaps drop this in the water chemistry forum? Maybe Randy would have some theories.

The simplest explanation would be test error. However, I did calibrate the Hanna checker recently and it read the reference solution as 5.1. The reference solution is labeled as being at 4.9 and the checkers margin of error is +/- .3 so it was within the margin. I wish there was an LFS I could trust that’s less than an hour away.

 

[jcolliii]

Corals on the way!

You are only dosing AFR when you need it, correct? So no potential dosing pump error?

The other thing it could be... CO2 absorbent media is made of calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser media). It will (so far as I know) raise both Ca and ALK. The dust from the CO2 scrubber can make its way into the skimmer line. I would check that first. If it is that, you Ca should be high as well.

 

[TheWB]

Corals on the way!

You are only dosing AFR when you need it, correct? So no potential dosing pump error?

The other thing it could be... CO2 absorbent media is made of calcium hydroxide (kalkwasser media). It will (so far as I know) raise both Ca and ALK. The dust from the CO2 scrubber can make its way into the skimmer line. I would check that first. If it is that, you Ca should be high as well.

That’s probably it. The CO2 scrubber has been hooked up since early November and the increases didn’t really become noticeable until recently. My last calcium test was higher than the previous one so what your saying makes a lot of sense. I’m going to disconnect it right now and see if I start trending back down. Thanks man, that makes a lot of sense.

 

[Calm Blue Ocean]

So riddle me this y’all. I have not done a water change or added any supplements for Alk or anything else in about a month. Normally you can count on my Alk to read between 9-10 every time. However, the last three tests have come in at 10.7 on 12/12, 11.1 on 12/18 and today it’s at 11.3. I opened a new bottle of reagent and checked it again and got 11.5? Again, I have not done a water change and not added any supplements. Anyone have any thoughts on why I have increasing Alk? I’ve added a couple of sps pieces so theoretically my tank should be using more than it was before, if only marginally. The only other thing I can think of is that the Hanna checker is bad. I’m confused. Corals seem fine except for my Duncan which is always mad lately, most likely because of flow but I’m willing to entertain other ideas.

One reason I've found mentioned is that a drop in nitrate can cause alk to rise. How are your nitrates doing?

 

[TheWB]

One reason I've found mentioned is that a drop in nitrate can cause alk to rise. How are your nitrates doing?

They have been consistently less than 10 since June. Nitrate and Phosphate tests since 6/21 in the graphs below. The reason I haven’t done a water change recently is because I’ve been trying to get Nitrates up to around 10 and stable but I guess I need to start dosing them if I want them higher. Feeding more doesn’t get the number up and it creates too much phosphate.

 

[TheWB]

I just tested Alk in fresh mixed seawater and it was at 8.3 so I think @jcolliii nailed it with the CO2 scrubber being the problem. Just tested calcium on tank water and it’s down a little from 480 to 470 since 12/18 but it was lower before, between 420-450. There’s no reason why it should be higher. I’ve taken the scrubber offline and I’m going to do a water change tonight just to get started getting back down to a normal level. The good news is that so far the corals don’t seem mad.

 

[jcolliii]

I run my CO2 scrubber dry (without the little bit of water they say you should add to the bottom of the housing). CO2 scrubbing is the best way (IMO) to keep your pH up during closed-house times. I wonder if maybe some kind of inline filter added in might help prevent any dust from getting into the system? Something like this maybe?

 

[jcolliii]

what the heck - did they make Amazon links go away?

 

[jcolliii]

try this

 

[TheWB]

try this

Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out once I get alk back under control.

 

[TheWB]

Ok, first things first, thanks a million to @jcolliii for taking the time and effort to send me a coral care package as he completes his re-scape. He did an amazing job of securing the digi and anacropora frags, and the rock with the Zoas and favites, in plastic jars and then double bagging the jars for extra safety. Unfortunately I did not take any pics of the unboxing process to document that but trust me it was epic packaging.

Now, on to the drama with the shipping.

FedEx is not my favorite right now. It’s not so much the extra day it took the shipment to arrive, that’s the chance you take when you overnight something during a high volume season and in inclement weather. I wasn’t happy but I understand. Here’s what I don’t understand. Once I became certain they were not going to meet their 1:00pm delivery deadline, despite the package being at their Seattle facility since 7:38am yesterday according to the updates on the FedEx website, I called customer service and made them aware that my shipment had live animals and could someone please help me with some follow up so I could either go to the facility and pick it up myself (45 miles away) or at least get me an update of when the package would be getting to the Tacoma terminal so I could pick it up there. I was asured that they understood and that someone would get back to me. They also told me I could not pick up at the terminal in Seattle, they don’t allow that. This was at around 11:15am. They never called me back and I followed up 3 more times, one of which they hung up on me accidentally. I was assured along the way that I could receive a delivery up until 8:00pm last night and that if the delivery wasn’t made they have climate controiled storage so it would not sit in a freezing cold warehouse all night blah, blah, blah. Very reassuring. So of course it doesn’t show up last night and there are no updates on the website other than that the shipment is delayed and there is no time set yet for delivery. So I call again and the rep, who was a real smart***, and who at one point seemed to be laughing at me ( I was not rude to her, amazingly at this point ) let me know that my package was now in the Tacoma facility. I asked her to hold it there and for the phone number of the facility so I could make sure they were not at that moment putting it on a delivery truck which would entirely defeat the purpose of me going down there. She gave me the exact same 800 number I was already talking to her on. I said I wanted to local number and she told me that the 800 number would eventually get me to the local office. I found this very frustrating as they already had many notes about how this was a live shipment and I was trying very hard to do their job for them and go get the thing myself. Finally I just said screw it and jumped in the truck and went on down there. After a short wait I was served and they went to get the package. I again asked if it was stored in a climate controlled area and the attendant couldn’t tell me. A few minutes later the box arrives and it’s very cold to the touch on the outside. Obviously it’s been sitting all night in the main warehouse with minimal heating. So I grabbed my box and came home. This entire experience from a FedEx customer service standpoint was terrible. They were unhelpful or flat out lied about how things would be handled. I understand that it’s the end of the busy season and people are stressed out and ready for a break but customer service is a choice, you can be a hero or you can not care. Nobody I encountered at that organization cared.

TLDR, here’s the good stuff, pictures of the new corals in my tank after a quickie acclimation because the water in the box was, you guessed it, freezing cold.

Green slimeball anacropora I believe.

The frag plug with the favites broke off the rock when I was removing it from the plastic shipping container so that part is just sitting on my frag rack next to the bubblegum digi.

Favites rock with some speckled krak zoas which will hopefully open soon.

So everything actually looks pretty good considering the freezing water they were trapped in unnecessarily overnight. Everything I can see so far has color and there was no dead coral smell when I opened the containers.

Again, big thanks to jcolliii who didn’t have to do this, but he did and he did an awesome job. I could not be more grateful to him for his generosity and his efforts to pack this up like a pro. You da man!!!!

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

I am to a point that i won't buy from vendors using Fed Ex, it's just too risky and Fed Ex is extremely rude. Years past i have met drivers on the road for Fed Ex and they were awesome. Now it's what you describe when i talk to them about shipments not making it on time and trying to just save critter's lives.

I had Fed Ex flat out lie to me a couple times over the phone this year alone. The drivers, unlike UPS, are not held accountable for missing delivery "guarantee" times and make less money is what a UPS driver told me.

Extreme Corals, Austin Aqua-Culture, and Battle Corals are all vendors that have told me they have switched or will switch to UPS.

 

[TheWB]

I am to a point that i won't buy from vendors using Fed Ex, it's just too risky and Fed Ex is extremely rude. Years past i have met drivers on the road for Fed Ex and they were awesome. Now it's what you describe when i talk to them about shipments not making it on time and trying to just save critter's lives.

I had Fed Ex flat out lie to me a couple times over the phone this year alone. The drivers, unlike UPS, are not held accountable for missing delivery "guarantee" times and make less money is what a UPS driver told me.

Extreme Corals, Austin Aqua-Culture, and Battle Corals are all vendors that have told me they have switched or will switch to UPS.

You know it’s funny because everyone seems to have a different opinion on who to use. FedEx appears to suck, some refer to UPS as United Package Smashers and don’t even get me started on the USPS under the current, hopefully soon to be ex, postmaster. My last shipment from Reefcleaners using usps was snail soup. From now on I’m just gonna raid your frag tank, that’s water to water in 30 minutes in normal traffic, LOL. Plus acclimation time of course, I’m not a monster.

 

[Mywifeisgunnakillme]

You know it’s funny because everyone seems to have a different opinion on who to use. FedEx appears to suck, some refer to UPS as United Package Smashers and don’t even get me started on the USPS under the current, hopefully soon to be ex, postmaster. My last shipment from Reefcleaners using usps was snail soup. From now on I’m just gonna raid your frag tank, that’s water to water in 30 minutes in normal traffic, LOL. Plus acclimation time of course, I’m not a monster.

It depends on where you're at and the circumstances to some degree. But Fed Ex is rude, not helpful if anything goes array, and drivers are apparently (per my UPS driver) paid less and face no consequence for missing delivery times. I've had no less than four packages delayed by a day or missed completely this year totally unrelated to weather from Fed Ex. I have not had a UPS deliver show up later than noon.... I ordered a butt load this year.

 

[TheWB]

I just checked and the online vendor I like to use for corals, hiddentreasurecorals.com in Colorado, uses UPS priority overnight and I got both orders from him by 10:30am next day. Makes me feel better about UPS and about buying from hidden treasures.

 

[jcolliii]

Up here, I have *never* received a live shipment that was still alive when it was shipped UPS - 0 for 3. I know bad stuff happens with all shippers, weather, etc., but 0 for 3 is why I will do FedEx every time if I have the choice. I wish DHL still did overnight across the US - that is who I would go with, given the choice!

The corals look pretty good, considering. The Anacro looks great - they have sort of Monti-like polyps, and the digitata looks like it's starting to extend. That chewed up piece on the favites is probably from the zip-tie I had to use to make sure that rock didn't tumble during transport. It should heal up quick. The Krakatoas don't look too great. Fingers crossed that they open up soon though!

 

[TheWB]

Up here, I have *never* received a live shipment that was still alive when it was shipped UPS - 0 for 3. I know bad stuff happens with all shippers, weather, etc., but 0 for 3 is why I will do FedEx every time if I have the choice. I wish DHL still did overnight across the US - that is who I would go with, given the choice!

The corals look pretty good, considering. The Anacro looks great - they have sort of Monti-like polyps, and the digitata looks like it's starting to extend. That chewed up piece on the favites is probably from the zip-tie I had to use to make sure that rock didn't tumble during transport. It should heal up quick. The Krakatoas don't look too great. Fingers crossed that they open up soon though!

Yeah, considering how cold the water was I’m pleasantly surprised. Funny enough, the heat pack you used was still warm but it just couldn’t overcome the second night in the cold warehouse. I’m sure both the favites and the kraks will be fine too. Thanks again for sending them and the rock, I was excited for the added biodiversity.

 

[jcolliii]

How are those corals doing?

 

[TheWB]

How are those corals doing?

Same as earlier. The anacropora and the digi look fine but no noticeable pe. The favites are difficult to tell but seem ok and the kraks haven’t opened. They probably just need a little time. If they aren’t showing signs of opening in the next couple of days then I’ll be more concerned. Nothing to do but wait and see.