Total Loss...Almost

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Lost all of my Acropora colonies due to a low pH situation precipitated by a bad pH probe. Of course it has to be the equipment....not the user. Just like my golf clubs.

Anyway, my large heteactis anemone (over 10 years in my tank), my few LPS colonies, and my fish are fine. For some reason one SPS survived...the cyphastrea decadia....which is supposed to be a delicate species....go figure. Cypastrea Ocellina (meteor shower) totally gone.

So my question is can I drastically reduce my calcium reactor output to keep pH at a high level? I want to use this opportunity (or misfortunate mishap) to finally get rid of the dreaded dinos. I probably will cut the light cycle as well to help with this. I plan on removing all the skeletons and going fallow until I get my water quality back to optimum. Then I will have to go visit Greg Hiller to stock up again

 

[Flame Angel]

WOW! that is a bummer Chuck. You must be beside yourself at the moment.

Hope things work out and your back up in no time.

Good Luck! As Red Green says, "Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." .

 

[JohnK]

That's terrible, sorry.

How low did the PH get? Where is/was the alk at?

 

[Jim Tansey]

Hi Chuck,

Maybe I don't follow you 100% but I would think turning down your reactor would only bring the Ph to a more normal level. I think I would turn it off for a while, dose Cal for existing corals, and adjust the Ph independently.

Jim

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Thanks!

WOW! that is a bummer Chuck. You must be beside yourself at the moment.

Hope things work out and your back up in no time.

Good Luck! As Red Green says, "Remember, I'm pulling for you. We're all in this together." .

 

[downreef]

Sorry to hear this Chuck it always stinks when this stuff happens, I lost mine this summer so I totally know the feeling, hang in there.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Not sure how low, but probably in the low 7 range during the night time hours and mid 7 range during the day.
It was really my fault since I had not recalibrated my probe for a while. By the time I started noticing a little white here and a little white there...it was too late.
I installed a new probe, calibrated it and refilled my Kalk reactor and brought things back to normal slowly since I did not want to do any more damage, if that was possible! LOL!

Right now I lowered the drip from my Calcium reactor and the pH is running around 8.3. I noticed the pH is more stable without all the normal photosynthesis going on. Hopefully tonight I will be home early enough to measure Alk, Ca and Mg. Too busy with other things these days which is another reason I am going to wait before reintroducing corals. I am at least thankful that my anemone is fine and my fish are all still thriving except for my Mystery Wrasse.

That's terrible, sorry.

How low did the PH get? Where is/was the alk at?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Downreef -> Yeah it does suck but now it will be a lot easier to get rid of the dinos that I have been battling for a while now. I may try chemicals as a last resort. I tried everything else and now I have nothing to lose. I want to be sure that my tank is really clean before introducing anything else. I may also try shutting off lights for a while except the one directly above the anemone. But first....the removal of dead bodies must be completed.....hmmm just in time for Halloween! LOL!

 

[BrianMac]

Sorry to hear. That sucks

 

[dz6t]

Sorry to hear that, calcium reactor can kill...

 

[delta]

Why lower your calcium supply? Doesn't make sense run the effluent through your skimmer or air rate it another way. I run mine through the emergency drain that goes from my skimmer sump to my Main sump it is 99% air over 3 feet.

There is a very good possibility that Dino's could have been the culprit, I am very skeptical the Low PH was the problem.

 

[dz6t]

I just let the effluent drip into the sump directly. Is there a reason to run it into skimmer?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Hi Greg. I figure that since all the SPS are gone that less additive calcium is required by my system. The calcium level should remain the same with less calcium added by my reactor since the usage will now be lower with no corals to use it. The reason I believe it was the pH is that the one change I made right before this happened was to NOT refill my kalkreacter that counteracts the low pH that is caused by my Calcium Reactor. Since it appeared that the pH was high (as measured by the faulty probe) I did not refill the reactor with kalk. The pH may have been even lower than I posted...just not sure.

Why lower your calcium supply? Doesn't make sense run the effluent through your skimmer or air rate it another way. I run mine through the emergency drain that goes from my skimmer sump to my Main sump it is 99% air over 3 feet.

There is a very good possibility that Dino's could have been the culprit, I am very skeptical the Low PH was the problem.

 

[RichardinMA]

It is impossible to say at this point but I am also not 100% convinced it would be the pH either. I have had swings of pH (due to stupid errors) from mid 7s up to over 9 in a matter of less than an hour and still had PE on my SPS. What I have had cause the most issues with my SPS, and especially Acropora, is alkalinity fluctuation, especially drops. Obviously, we are not there and can't be sure but I would not expect a massive die off from a drop on pH.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Alkalinity could well have been the culprit.

As of this morning I am getting strange (low)pH readings again.:: These readings cannot be real. After I installed and calibrated a brand new probe my tank had been running around 8.3 for the last few days. Then this morning when I checked the pH, it was 6.5! I shook the probe in the water to see if something was caught on it and then the pH started to rise rapidly to more normal values around 8.1. Then I checked the Neptune Apex data log on my phone a few minutes ago and the pH is reading 4.3!!!!! Perhaps I have a ground loop issue, or stray current somewhere in my system. I have never had this issue in the past with the Apex or my old Octopus controller over the last 10 years. Seems strange that all of a sudden this would happen. The only change I can think of is that I am running the APEX base unit off of an Energy Bar for power. Previously I ran it off of an external separate DC power supply plugged directly into the base unit. Tonight I will recalibrate the probe and run the APEX off of the external power supply to see if this is the problem.

 

[RichardinMA]

I have had issues with my pH probe when it is placed too close to an electrical field. If it is near a pump or under a certain part of one of my lights it will quickly flip through random readings, i.e. 4.3, 9.7, 5.8, etc... in a matter of seconds. As soon as it is moved to it's "safe spot" it behaves and reads correctly. I am only using it to monitor and not control so it is not a problem for me. I have had massive RTN issues with Alk drops however and always suspect that if I start to see any kind of tip recession.

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

pH dropped out early in the morning. Then after I unplugged the base unit and plugged it in again, still running it off of Energy Bar power. pH readings look normal. I looked at the rest of my log and nothing turned on/off at the time when the pH went crazy. So I plugged in an old titanium ground probe. Let's see what the next few days of data shows.

 

[RichardinMA]

What is your Alk at now?

 

[Chuck Spyropulos]

Not sure...I am glued to the World Series!

 

[dcforester1]

I run two probes in my tank, one in the DT, and one in the reactor. I took the one out of the reactor due to a small drip, and it is sitting in my sump. I have not changed/calibrated them in over a year and a half. I use to watch them faithfully, but it drove me crazy. I have heard people say don't chase your PH, and others go crazy over a small increase/decrease. I never understood the logic. Other than something dreadful happening, kalk reactor dumping a ton in, or putting to much alk in while dosing I dont know why it would drop or go up, and what you would do to correct it? I know the causes for the swings, but if you are not suppose to do anything to correct it, why go nuts over it. I have a controller as well, and when I look back at my graphs I would see 3-4 point drops, and I would unplug and plug in my probe and it would be back to normal. I watch my coral, and see what they are doing before I get to worried. I run a calcium reactor, and I have a kalk reactor. I dont run the kalk reactor, and sometimes I think of putting it online, but I dont need another headache. I lost a ton of SPS at the beginning of this year due to something contaminating my water. It is a lousy feeling, and the worse part is no one understands the feeling unless they have a tank.

Good Luck Derek