Par meter help

[Renato]

Hey guys I wonder if anyone here could help me.
My sps's are not really happy latelly, and Im not sure why.
All parameters are where is supost to be.
I run an ATI 6x24 in a 24inches deep tank.
My question is:
Can I rent or borrow a par meter from someone here? I went to ebay and they are very pricey $200+ I dint want to spend that money to use it once.
If I can borrow or rent it. It will be very helpfull, just so I know where Im at in terms of lighting.
Thank you so much!

 

[wolffman1992]

What are your params and what symptoms make you believe they are not happy?

 

[PSU4ME]

If you're a club member you can use the par meter they have. Works great.

 

[Renato]

What are your params and what symptoms make you believe they are not happy?

They are not open as they use too, one of the is starting to bleach

 

[Renato]

If you're a club member you can use the par meter they have. Works great.

I use to be a member. Not anymore. How can I became a member again?

 

[wolffman1992]

I feel like your lights are not the problem unless you don't change the bulbs regularly. Maybe low Mag, high temps (common this time of the year), or calcium and alk levels out of wack

 

[wolffman1992]

Also could provide amino acids to help i perfer Fuel or Acropower helps with PE but I have acros that will only extend polyps at night

 

[Renato]

I feel like your lights are not the problem unless you don't change the bulbs regularly. Maybe low Mag, high temps (common this time of the year), or calcium and alk levels out of wack

Also could provide amino acids to help i perfer Fuel or Acropower helps with PE but I have acros that will only extend polyps at night

I dose 2ml three times a week of amino acid.. Mag is at 1600 now. I did change the salt three weeks ago from reef crystal to red sea... Mag was much lower before. Bulbs are 7 months old. Temp around 78 to 80. Alk between 9/10
Calcium was around 480 but I lowered to 420ppm

 

[wolffman1992]

It could be the change in salt as sps really do best when params are stable. And the bulbs are old they should be changed every six months., but most likely the sudden change in calcium l, mag, and salt is what is causing all this.

 

[Renato]

Since I change the salt my MAG at 1600.
Could that be the reason?
My tyree leather coral doesnt open for 3 days

 

[wolffman1992]

Yes, most perfer to keep these levels at 1450 to 1500. 1600 is quite high but not deadly. Mag requires little dosing as it is slowly up taken by corals. It serves to keep calcium and alk available to corals. That is another change that could have stressed out the corals. If the leather coral that is not good. If you are adding mag stop and try doing a water change.

 

[Renato]

Yes, most perfer to keep these levels at 1450 to 1500. 1600 is quite high but not deadly. Mag requires little dosing as it is slowly up taken by corals. It serves to keep calcium and alk available to corals. That is another change that could have stressed out the corals. If the leather coral that is not good. If you are adding mag stop and try doing a water change.

I never dosed MAG. I did a water change Saturday, and before I added to the tank the mag was at 1600. I think I got a bad batch of salt or maybe the red sea has high maf mixed already. I had no problem when I was using reef crystals.

 

[wolffman1992]

What makes Red Sea pro salt great salt is it contains calcium, mag, and alk, so unless you have a large tank or a ton of sps you don't always have to dose. Red Sea salt pro has a mag level of 1450 I believe. If you think it's a freak batch of salt mix up a small amount using fresh rodi water and text the mag levels and see. Also could be that the test kit is not reading correctly

 

[daves-reef]

What test kit are you using for Mag? Be careful about chasing a specific number for Mag. I have made that mistake. I seen different manufacture test kits produce one number that will say mag is low and one that says high. Both using same water sample. In my case red sea reads low while elos reads high. IMHO just shoot for stability on ALK, Ca. Using same test kit and keeping them in recommended range. Mag being the least likely of an issue as long as you do regular water changes. I would not worry about mag. Red Sea salt is higher in mag. The only time Mag is an issue is when you can't stabilize Alk, Ca from what I have read.

Are you using GFO? That was an issue for me especially the bulk version and if you recently changed GFO when problems started.

 

[Renato]

What test kit are you using for Mag? Be careful about chasing a specific number for Mag. I have made that mistake. I seen different manufacture test kits produce one number that will say mag is low and one that says high. Both using same water sample. In my case red sea reads low while elos reads high. IMHO just shoot for stability on ALK, Ca. Using same test kit and keeping them in recommended range. Mag being the least likely of an issue as long as you do regular water changes. I would not worry about mag. Red Sea salt is higher in mag. The only time Mag is an issue is when you can't stabilize Alk, Ca from what I have read.

Are you using GFO? That was an issue for me especially the bulk version and if you recently changed GFO when problems started.

All my test kits are Red Sea except ALK that I use Salifert because its easier to read.
I do use GFO from bulkreef supply. I changed last week. I usually change once a month. I dont really check MAG in 8 months I probably checked 3/4 times. The reason I checked again was because I changed the salt brand. I am a bit concerned because its over 1600ppm. I dont think that would be the reason of coral bleaching. But what is? All parameters are where is supost to be. Nothing else was changed.

 

[daves-reef]

Did you prep the GFO before you changed it. I have learned that if not prepped right before use GFO can cause big problems. Bulk GFO changes caused me a lot of issues including bleached SPS and huge LPS problems at same time. LPS I have had for years and in this setup for months started to die. I have since learned that GFO can cause rapid ALK swings. Which is a very bad thing. Not sure if my problem was just improper use of GFO, there has also been speculation that GFO was contaminated some how. especially since my use was a new batch of bulk GFO I just opened when things really went down hill fast. I have heard of someone else recently experiencing the same and believing the cause was contaminated GFO poisoning coral. I ended up running carbon and changing it twice after 48 hours along with several water changes just to be sure it was not bad GFO contaminating things.

I have since removed using any GFO at all in my system. I bought a HANNA Phosphorus low range checker along with doing the math to check for Phosphates. Phosphates running between .09 and .03 when checking it with that test. I only removed GFO and added a cheep led to my frag tank to grow extra red Macro in addition to refugium with cheato that has always been running. Coral has never looked better.

I have made other changes to though over last couple of months. New LED T5 lighting is one of them. Lights part of the change but nixing GFO has been a plus IMHO.

Always thought I had too much light over display and the last reefer who stopped by and saw my MH T5 setup told me looked like too much light.
But it was GFO and not lighting that caused my big SPS and LPS issues most recently. I had the same light fixture for 5 years before recent display lighting change.

 

[Renato]

Did you prep the GFO before you changed it. I have learned that if not prepped right before use GFO can cause big problems. Bulk GFO changes caused me a lot of issues including bleached SPS and huge LPS problems at same time. LPS I have had for years and in this setup for months started to die. I have since learned that GFO can cause rapid ALK swings. Which is a very bad thing. Not sure if my problem was just improper use of GFO, there has also been speculation that GFO was contaminated some how. especially since my use was a new batch of bulk GFO I just opened when things really went down hill fast. I have heard of someone else recently experiencing the same and believing the cause was contaminated GFO poisoning coral. I ended up running carbon and changing it twice after 48 hours along with several water changes just to be sure it was not bad GFO contaminating things.

I have since removed using any GFO at all in my system. I bought a HANNA Phosphorus low range checker along with doing the math to check for Phosphates. Phosphates running between .09 and .03 when checking it with that test. I only removed GFO and added a cheep led to my frag tank to grow extra red Macro in addition to refugium with cheato that has always been running. Coral has never looked better.

I have made other changes to though over last couple of months. New LED T5 lighting is one of them. Lights part of the change but nixing GFO has been a plus IMHO.

Always thought I had too much light over display and the last reefer who stopped by and saw my MH T5 setup told me looked like too much light.
But it was GFO and not lighting that caused my big SPS and LPS issues most recently. I had the same light fixture for 5 years before recent display lighting change.

I did rinse it with rodi water. Im not sure with the lighting. I raised the light a little... I hope it works... Too many corals to lose now.

 

[daves-reef]

I have heard just rinsing GFO is not sufficient . You need to run the GFO for 24 hours in a reactor with separate water. Otherwise it can cause Rapid ALK swing and other bad stuff. This is what I am told. Also was it from a new container.

I stopped using GFO all together. The GFO could be your issue.

 

[Renato]

I have heard just rinsing GFO is not sufficient . You need to run the GFO for 24 hours in a reactor with separate water. Otherwise it can cause Rapid ALK swing and other bad stuff. This is what I am told. Also was it from a new container.

I stopped using GFO all together. The GFO could be your issue.

Believe or not it was a new container!
I

 

[daves-reef]

That's the third person myself included reporting a bulk GFO problem. It could be you just did not prepare it for 24 hours in fresh salt water. Or it could be bad GFO. I recommend running carbon for 24 to 48 hours and then replace the carbon? Do some water changes and pull the GFO. See if things respond better.