Will a rise in Alk cause hammer to die? And AFR dosing question.

[dnprall]

Got home from work and noticed that my hammer, which is an OG from starting my tank in December 2022, is showing skeleton (see picture). It was a happy guy all week. I did lose another hammer on 6/10/23 (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/whats-happening-to-my-hammer.990379/) and was recommended to increase my magnesium (which I have done). Could whatever is happening to this hammer be due to the rise in Alk? There isn't anything slimy on the base of the skeleton. I would think that if the volume of exposed skeleton continues to increase, I'll just need to remove the hammer.



I checked my parameters:


The rise in Alk is from dosing AFR. I've been doing 10 mL/day (my tank is 52 gallons including sump) which adds 0.56 dKH. Looks like my Alk goes up by 0.4 dKH every 3-4 days with this dosing. So total dosing over 3 days is 1.68 dKH from AFR and the dKH still rises by 0.4 dKH so my tank appears to be using 1.28 dKH over 3 days (1.68 dKH - 0.4 dKH extra = 1.28 dKH) which equates to about 0.43 dKH daily (1.28 dKH / 3 days). Therefore, my maintenance dose should be around 7.6 mL/day (0.43 dKH / 0.56 dKH then multiply by 10 mL).

Is my math and thought process correct on this?

Thanks for looking.

 

[BriansBrain]

I wouldn’t think alkalinity rising to be the issue, especially since you lost one before the rise my. A rise of 1.5 over two weeks is nothing to really sweat. Hammers are relatively hardy in that regard.

I would think more likely a bacterial infection. Euphyllia is susceptible to infection and can spread to others. Probably from the last one you lost

 

[BriansBrain]

If you want your alk stop rising cut back on dosing. Id test and I’d cut your dose by 1/3 and test Alk the next day at the same time. If it’s still rising, cut your original dose in half and test at the same time the following day. If it drops, add a couple ml and if it stays the same you got it. Just have to test daily during tweaking

 

[jhadaway]

Afr can sneak up on you because it takes a few days to show with alk. Once you prg in the dosage its the best thing since sliced bread.

 

[dnprall]

And if it's a bacterial infection, what can/should I do about it?

 

[dnprall]

I did a dip in Revive and one of the three heads immediately released. I put it back in. Will see how it does overnight.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

Get that phosphate up man!

Got any Neophos? Dose it daily and get it up to a minimum of .04 at the least.

Also the ALK is good imho. Most will shoot for 9dkh so I can't see that an issue. Calcium is a bit low but seriously get that phosphate up.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Got home from work and noticed that my hammer, which is an OG from starting my tank in December 2022, is showing skeleton (see picture). It was a happy guy all week. I did lose another hammer on 6/10/23 (https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/whats-happening-to-my-hammer.990379/) and was recommended to increase my magnesium (which I have done). Could whatever is happening to this hammer be due to the rise in Alk? There isn't anything slimy on the base of the skeleton. I would think that if the volume of exposed skeleton continues to increase, I'll just need to remove the hammer.



I checked my parameters:


The rise in Alk is from dosing AFR. I've been doing 10 mL/day (my tank is 52 gallons including sump) which adds 0.56 dKH. Looks like my Alk goes up by 0.4 dKH every 3-4 days with this dosing. So total dosing over 3 days is 1.68 dKH from AFR and the dKH still rises by 0.4 dKH so my tank appears to be using 1.28 dKH over 3 days (1.68 dKH - 0.4 dKH extra = 1.28 dKH) which equates to about 0.43 dKH daily (1.28 dKH / 3 days). Therefore, my maintenance dose should be around 7.6 mL/day (0.43 dKH / 0.56 dKH then multiply by 10 mL).

Is my math and thought process correct on this?

Thanks for looking.

Your problem has nothing to do with your water chemistry shown - it is all fine.

It's more likely to be lighting or flow changes - which can take months to manifest.

I would increase Ca as if accurate it is a little low - but that is unrelated to the problem you have.

I find Euphillia to be very tricky and difficult to keep happy - and also subject to random retraction.

 

[dnprall]

Get that phosphate up man!

Got any Neophos? Dose it daily and get it up to a minimum of .04 at the least.

Also the ALK is good imho. Most will shoot for 9dkh so I can't see that an issue. Calcium is a bit low but seriously get that phosphate up.

I do dose with Neophos 4.5 mL daily. Usually it’s around 0.04 so don’t know why it’s 0.01 today.

 

[dnprall]

Your problem has nothing to do with your water chemistry shown - it is all fine.

It's more likely to be lighting or flow changes - which can take months to manifest.

I would increase Ca as if accurate it is a little low - but that is unrelated to the problem you have.

I find Euphillia to be very tricky and difficult to keep happy - and also subject to random retraction.

I was hoping that AFR would bring the Ca up too. I dose Mg daily too.

Thanks for reply.

 

[Salty_Northerner]

I do dose with Neophos 4.5 mL daily. Usually it’s around 0.04 so don’t know why it’s 0.01 today.

Yeah good question, I was dealing with the same issues. Phosphorus zeroed out and sticks were not happy along with my softies. I've traded off on Neophos for TM plus-np but I'm just at the start of the dosing and really can't comment right now. From my understanding it'll basically feed the corals without and issues.

My system used to run around 15 nitrates and phosphate at .02-.07 and for some reason the nitrate flipped down to 4 and po4 hit rock bottom. I really don't understand why but I've been adding microbactor7 and now the TM plus-np. Neophos just didn't keep up and hoping the TM stuff will hold its own. I know time isn't on your side and I'd love to share more but it's to new ATM and won't have any feasible data for a couple days :/