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unable to keep sps.
- Thread starter johnnyb
- Start date
OP
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johnnyb
Non-member
So if I continue doing water changes and my alk drops should I just let it go or dose back to the 10.2? If I do let it drop what should I let it drop to before dosing again?
reef87
Non-member
it's up to you on how or at what level you want to keep it. good alk can be range from 7.5 dhk to 12dkh
i see some people keeps their sps when their alk is at 7.5, some other people keep their at 8.x while some are at 10 or 12...etc and no ill affects on their sps
Alk in my tank is around 135 ppm and I do weekly water change about 5%.
i see some people keeps their sps when their alk is at 7.5, some other people keep their at 8.x while some are at 10 or 12...etc and no ill affects on their sps
Alk in my tank is around 135 ppm and I do weekly water change about 5%.
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
Well that's what I thought but everyone on this thread keeps blaming the 10.2.
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
ok what are we calling the perfect target? If I continue to do water changes and the alk drops what do you recommend I do? Do I let the number drop if so to what level? Do I keep it at the 10.2 as this isnt the ideal number but one that the corals should be good with? Do I keep it 10.2 till my coral lives then make fine tuning adjustments to alk later?
Refer to this post ^
There are safe ranges, and as long as you are within those ranges AND stable, it is very unlikely that these parameters are going to kill anything. Safe ranges would be along the lines of 8-12 alk, 400-450 ca, and 1250-1450 mg. stability is much more important than the exact values.
Bingo!
delta
Impatient Reefer
I'll say it again go back to basics. You should just shoot for mid range Alk 9Dkh, Ca 425, Mg 1400 but mainly you are going for stability your tank
Ammonia absolute 0.0
Nitrite Do not even test
Nitrate less than 10ppm
water changes should not be swinging you Alk by much if any. and a small buffer can be added to the water change before do the water change. this is your best practice to get in the habit of. but usually with a 10-20% change you are not going to make a dent in Alk/Ca/Mg
Ammonia absolute 0.0
Nitrite Do not even test
Nitrate less than 10ppm
water changes should not be swinging you Alk by much if any. and a small buffer can be added to the water change before do the water change. this is your best practice to get in the habit of. but usually with a 10-20% change you are not going to make a dent in Alk/Ca/Mg
probably completely coincidental, but I have the same return pump as you. It has been offline now for about 5 months. I took it off after the electricity rate hike to save some money and because I wasn't running my basement sump because my basement is too cold. Now I had done an upgrade to a 120 gal a little over a year ago. I always kept SPS and never really had any major issues. After the upgrade I had many SPS slowly die...I could't figure it out. Parameters were spot on and stable as they had always been my previous years in the hobby. I ended up getting new lights thinking that may be the issue. ( I BTW run my reef breeeder LEDs at 30%, 8" above tank and my colors are rocking).
Now this is where the coincidental comes in.....after I took that return pump offline 5 months ago, I haven't lost any SPS, growth and colors are great....maybe some random electric discharge in the water or something??
Now this is where the coincidental comes in.....after I took that return pump offline 5 months ago, I haven't lost any SPS, growth and colors are great....maybe some random electric discharge in the water or something??
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
I dont think that would be my issue. My son inlaw has the same pump and has no problems. I also have ground probes as stray electricity is usually a problem for anenomes.
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
hammerhead gold
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
So this morning the caps have begun dying. I'm calling the low lights a failure though the extended life was kind of odd. Maybe just a hearty cap this time. So I will set my acclimation timer and return the lights to 60 percent over a week or so. I was contemplating a new light test with the lights going to 100 percent but I'm guessing it won't help this either. I did another water change yesterday and I have add a huge amount of charcoal to my sump. I am going to add a 55 gallon tank to my system in the next week and I will be putting my leathers in that tank. I will have the over flow from that tank filled with charcoal and I will see if toxins from the leathers are causing the problem. I plan to do 10 30 gallon water changes over the next 30 days. I will then add my next test corals to the system and see if that happens. The alkhas been dropping slightly with each water change so I guess what ever was sustaining my higher alk has worn off. I will plan to allow the alk to drop to 9.0 during these future water changes. I'm going to try and dose so it will take 5 water changes to move the alk the 1.0. Almost everything I have added has died at this point so now is the time to bring the alk down to a more manageable number.
Sad to hear that caps are dying again. There has to be something very strong (toxin ?) Or bad in the full system that is doing this. Yes....sorry you already said that. I am writing my thoughts. Not adding anything new.
When I had my high nutrients issue and my SPS started to not growth, lose color and no polyp extension my CAPS started to go slowly from their strong green to a pale green then more pale and eventually almost white until they died. The ones that survived, where very .... very green pale. Once I was able to stabilize the tank, reduce Phos and Nitrates, they slowly started to get their green colo. After a couple of months those small survivors pieces were green again and started to growth.
I know this BLA, BLA, BLA, do not help you to solve your problem. But that was my experience when I had issues with my caps.
I thought they were one of the strongest SPS, but that wasn't true. They were, together with my bird nests, the first in starting to be affected in the tank.
I took a big one to Dong to see if with his water quality he could save it..... but he couldn't, was too late.
Cheers
When I had my high nutrients issue and my SPS started to not growth, lose color and no polyp extension my CAPS started to go slowly from their strong green to a pale green then more pale and eventually almost white until they died. The ones that survived, where very .... very green pale. Once I was able to stabilize the tank, reduce Phos and Nitrates, they slowly started to get their green colo. After a couple of months those small survivors pieces were green again and started to growth.
I know this BLA, BLA, BLA, do not help you to solve your problem. But that was my experience when I had issues with my caps.
I thought they were one of the strongest SPS, but that wasn't true. They were, together with my bird nests, the first in starting to be affected in the tank.
I took a big one to Dong to see if with his water quality he could save it..... but he couldn't, was too late.
Cheers
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
Yeah from everything that's being said it does almost have to be the leathers giving off a toxin. I will see if I can do the things I mentioned and may even have to get rid of them if it doesn't work. I'm just hoping this isn't something the sand bed will hold or the live rock. I had my water tested yesterday also. My levels were again confirmed though my nitrates had elevated. I may have run a mini cycle with my cleaning. The store that did the testing said it wasn't enough to kill the stuff as fast as its dying and my current plan should take care of that. But my ammonia was at 0 and my nitrite and phos was at minimal numbers
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
I will try that tonite. Though I don't think it will be there as my anemones would show issues long before the sps would and my nems look great.
OP
OP
johnnyb
Non-member
Thank you I appreciate that. I am dying to get over and see your stuff! I will get this stuff going and let everything settle before we try again
