Unusual tank problem
- Thread starter ChickReef
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VintageReefer
2500 Club Member
I will be honest, maybe blunt, opinionated, I’m a problem solver / troubleshooter by nature, it’s not personal. It’s advice you are free to take it or skip over it.
Ok. So. In my opinion some of your key parameters are drastically off. Alkalinity is super low, and I don’t believe you have the coral load to consume all that alk. Same for calcium, on the low side but not terrible. But out of the suggested range esp for lps
Phosphate .5
This is a controversial area, people are successful with both low and high phosphate. That said, this is 25 times higher than what I keep my phosphate at.
My suggestion/ plan if this was my tank
1) I would take a few cups of this water to the LFS and have them check alk, calcium, and phosphate - and verify your at home test results. Your test kits might be inaccurate, and then we are gonna go down the wrong path. So yea. I would have them test your water and confirm your numbers.
2) if these numbers are correct, I would buy 20 gallons of saltwater. I have a ton of 5g buckets and bottles, so I can do that. They might sell these for a few bucks a piece. I would buy 20 gallons of premade water from them. I would have them test it and give you the values. I would bring my kit and test it and confirm it. If your tests are wrong then you need new kits unfortunately.
3) I would change out 10g on day 1, 5g on day 3 and 5 g on day 5
4) on day 7 I would retrst my tank and see what everything’s new level is.
It should be much better by then! But might need a second round of steps 2, 3 and 4
Further advise: if I have test kits that I know are accurate I would suggest making your own saltwater. For me I use instant ocean reef crystals, and I know, 1/2 cup per gallon, brings me right around 1.024-1.025. I take a 5g bucket and fill with water, add in 2.5 cups of saltwater, a power head, put the lid on and come back every few hours to move the power head around to get rid of any dead spots where undissolved salt builds up in a mound. By end of the day, it’s ready. Or you could just leave the power head on overnight and it’s ready next day
Making your own salt puts you in control. What if LFS water (or prepackaged water) had a parasite or sickness or what if they have a test kit that’s expired ? I don’t trust anyone making my water tbh. But I get it, it’s convenient.
Anyway that is how I would handle it. Confirm test kits are accurate. Come home with lots of water. Real quick I would do a large water change. Followed by some smaller ones over the next few days
Ok. So. In my opinion some of your key parameters are drastically off. Alkalinity is super low, and I don’t believe you have the coral load to consume all that alk. Same for calcium, on the low side but not terrible. But out of the suggested range esp for lps
Phosphate .5
This is a controversial area, people are successful with both low and high phosphate. That said, this is 25 times higher than what I keep my phosphate at.
My suggestion/ plan if this was my tank
1) I would take a few cups of this water to the LFS and have them check alk, calcium, and phosphate - and verify your at home test results. Your test kits might be inaccurate, and then we are gonna go down the wrong path. So yea. I would have them test your water and confirm your numbers.
2) if these numbers are correct, I would buy 20 gallons of saltwater. I have a ton of 5g buckets and bottles, so I can do that. They might sell these for a few bucks a piece. I would buy 20 gallons of premade water from them. I would have them test it and give you the values. I would bring my kit and test it and confirm it. If your tests are wrong then you need new kits unfortunately.
3) I would change out 10g on day 1, 5g on day 3 and 5 g on day 5
4) on day 7 I would retrst my tank and see what everything’s new level is.
It should be much better by then! But might need a second round of steps 2, 3 and 4
Further advise: if I have test kits that I know are accurate I would suggest making your own saltwater. For me I use instant ocean reef crystals, and I know, 1/2 cup per gallon, brings me right around 1.024-1.025. I take a 5g bucket and fill with water, add in 2.5 cups of saltwater, a power head, put the lid on and come back every few hours to move the power head around to get rid of any dead spots where undissolved salt builds up in a mound. By end of the day, it’s ready. Or you could just leave the power head on overnight and it’s ready next day
Making your own salt puts you in control. What if LFS water (or prepackaged water) had a parasite or sickness or what if they have a test kit that’s expired ? I don’t trust anyone making my water tbh. But I get it, it’s convenient.
Anyway that is how I would handle it. Confirm test kits are accurate. Come home with lots of water. Real quick I would do a large water change. Followed by some smaller ones over the next few days
Uncle99
7500 Club Member
Actually very nice for a softies tank.I think a lot of the invasive corals got out of control. This is a whole picture if it helps
But will be hard to go mixed.
Softies have excellent and varied defense, GSP walks over everthing, leathers can use chemical warfare.
VintageReefer
2500 Club Member
Xenia is consuming all your nitrates and starving out the other corals. I would scrape all that off the glass, throw it out, before the massive water change plan
Some people use Xenia in place of macro algae for nitrate control.
Some people use Xenia in place of macro algae for nitrate control.
OP
OP
ChickReef
Active Member
Thanks for the advice. I’ll follow this plan. I have 3 buckets but I’ll pick up a couple more. I’m taking some water too so they can test it too. Should I take new water after the water change or the original water?
VintageReefer
2500 Club Member
I would take the water that gave you the results you posted and ask them if they can test alk, ca, and phosphate and confirm the numbers you got at home. There will be some variance but it should be close if your reagents and kits are good. You might get 380 calcium and they get 400. That’s fine. If you get 360 and they get 450…one of those kits is bad
VintageReefer
2500 Club Member
I wouldn’t even try to correct these numbers individually, assuming the are correct. Everything should be balanced. If you increase one thing, it reduces another. If you replace a large amount of water with a large amount of correct water, it’s a quick fix and it’s balanced. Your corals will be a little stressed but not as bad as dragging this out trying to individually correct parameters and possibly affecting other parameters.
It is definitely better to make your own water. Gives you control and a better understanding of what you’re putting in your tank.
Also, you don’t want to fix your parameters instantaneously or you’ll just further stress your corals. Especially given the size of the tank, small water changes with the properly balanced water is best. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby.
Also, you don’t want to fix your parameters instantaneously or you’ll just further stress your corals. Especially given the size of the tank, small water changes with the properly balanced water is best. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby.
VintageReefer
2500 Club Member
I understand your perspective but i disagree here. Her parameters could be killing her coral and fixing them 75% over night would be stressful but less stressful fixing them 5% a day for the next 7-14 days, and taking risk of creating new problems.
Again, my opinion only. I’m not some coral reef dictator lol. Just offering advice and perspective. Look at my tank thread if you want my credentials. I don’t know everything, but I’ve been doing this over 23 years, successfully. Add on some more years if you want to include the time I was learning and making the same mistakes that many new people post about here every day. I would get ALL numbers in healthy ranges ASAP
If she wasnt drastically off for some things my advice would be different.
I don’t entirely disagree. I just tend to be more conservative. Her tank is 13g so it would be harder to change slowly. I have done any calculations but a 15-20% water change with a proper reef balanced water might even do it. Unfortunately I fear her water source is off so doing water changes with it would only propagate the issue.
VintageReefer
2500 Club Member
Not sure where this issue is stemming from…incorrect test kits, poor quality water from LFS, who knows. Step 1 before panic mode should be confirm the OP’s test results. And test the store bought water. And if their water is correct parameters, bring a bunch home and decide a plan to replace / dilute as much bad water with good water
I imagine scraping off all the Xenia from the walls will cause small pieces of it, and chemicals to be released into the water, further increasing chances of spikes, so a very large water change after the Xenia removal would further be justified in this situation
Agree. Excellent point.
OP
OP
ChickReef
Active Member
Okay so I went to my LFS and I purchased a lot more premade salt water. They use instant ocean reef salt. I don’t know if it’s a good quality. They recalibrated my salt checker. They told me to buy flourish nitrogen to help with the nitrate levels. They tested their salt water and say it was good and the water was good. I’ll be scrapping off the coral off the glass then water changing. Anyone know how to use the flourish nitrogen or if it’s a good idea.
VintageReefer
2500 Club Member
Ok I would retest these at home. Last time you got
Okay so I ran some test.
salinity is 1.26
6.1 Alk dkh
.50 ppm phosphate
0 ppm Nitrates
340 Calcium
Write that on paper and bring in your water and tell them you aren’t sure if your test kits are accurate and give them the water and paper and ask them to test the water and write down the values they get so you can see compared to yours
Okay so I ran some test.
salinity is 1.26
6.1 Alk dkh
.50 ppm phosphate
0 ppm Nitrates
340 Calcium
Write that on paper and bring in your water and tell them you aren’t sure if your test kits are accurate and give them the water and paper and ask them to test the water and write down the values they get so you can see compared to yours
Wooooooooow! How old is the tank to have that much "invasive" growth!?I think a lot of the invasive corals got out of control. This is a whole picture if it helps
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