reef Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 because I'm tending to blame a lack of something in the ASW I doubt it will be that. Normally if you have something effecting so many corals it is normally some thing basic. Got any photos of the sick corals?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted February 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 I doubt it will be that. Normally if you have something effecting so many corals it is normally some thing basic. Got any photos of the sick corals?? I'll take some tomorrow. Don't have any right now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 One thought - every now and then a faulty batch of ASW comes out, this has been documented many times on Reef Central. Not saying it's that, but perhaps try a different salt anyway? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted February 12, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 If it was a horribly bad batch of salt wouldn't it have shown up in the 3-4 water changes beforehand? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cracker Posted February 12, 2006 Report Share Posted February 12, 2006 yeah, I would have thought so. Have you or the wife been spraying anything nearby....flyspray etc? have you checked ammonia, nitrite and nitrate? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Ammonia 0, don't have a nitrite, nitrate is 7ish. And no, we never use fly sprays or similar near the tank or in most of the house. Haven't used one in about 2 years iirc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Are you still feeding shrimp or pawn to your anemome? Your nitrate is pretty high, and you probably got high PO4 as well, why don't you cut back on your feeding for a few weeks and see if your parameters/corals improve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ira Posted February 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 I don't think 7 is a problem unless you have a tank of that ugly SPS stuff... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 7ppm nitrate is pretty good, mine runs at 20ppm , anything under 10 is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 I just read back through this post after doing some tests on my tank last night. calcium is highish at 480 (reactor needs fine tuning to pull this back slightly), mg low at 1050 (so added some mag to raise this) but mostly my alk is way low at around 4. even so, the tank is doing/looking well and nothing is looking out of the ordinary. im going to bake some baking soda tonight and add to the tank to raise this up. i think i remember reading high ca and low alk or visa versa is quite common problem. whats the best way to maintain good levels of alk other than daily/weekly dosing of something like baking soda? also remember reading something about good mg levels sustaining alk and ca at correct levels? is this right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 How do you get an alk of 4 and a CS of 480? And I see no mention of PH. PH is probably the most important reading to do, and if you ALK is 4, you know you PH is poos. Pie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 didnt do a reading last night, but about 2 weeks ago i posted that my pH is low, around 7.6 from memory? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raeh1 Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 What brand is the carbon.. sometimes on cheaper carbon the dust gets into the tank and the corals hate it. I put my carbon before my skimmer so any dust just gets skimmed out, works really well. Hope this helps Cheers Also what is KH? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 raeh - is that directed at me or ira? if me, nothing wrong with my corals, nothing wrong with carbon. Also what is KH? carbonate hardness How do you get an alk of 4 and a CS of 480? why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 ALK and CA (sorry CS is a typo) are bound to each other, Layton I am sure can explain. As I understand it to have ALK that low and CA that high it means you have large PH fluctations (effecting the test scores) as normally you can pick exactly what your ALK is by testing CA and knowing the PH or know exactly what the CA is by testing the ALK. 4 is WAY too low for ALK, and if your are experancing slow coral growth, poor colour or even death or deteriation of some corals, outbreaks of Algae you will know why. Chemical imballance. Layton - consider this an invitation to come and get all scientific on my behalf. Piezola Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 no poor colour, no slow growth, no coral death. i tested twice coz i thought i stuffed it up first time, same results both times. since kh is low, it makes sense that my post a couple of weeks ago about such a low pH is not a faulty pH monitor or reading as stated by others, but in fact a correct reading due to such a low kH (ie: little 'buffering' capacity thus larger pH swings) This is a little concerning - questions: 1. Can you use baking soda to increase kH up to normal levels in one hit or should it be done gradually? 2. Is it crucial to bake it first or can it just be added as is? 3. Is the dosing cracker posted on the first page about right? (1 heaped teaspoon for 300 litres of water to raise kH by 2) Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pies Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 Quick changes in KH have been attribrited to RTN. I'd take it slowly. Everything i've read about adding baking soda saying bake it. I'd water change my problems away, chances are you problem exists because of you CA Reactor not setup or running properly. Pie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 I'd water change my problems away Just did a 20% water change last week, and a 15% change 1 week before that. chances are you problem exists because of you CA Reactor not setup or running properly I would think so too, the CO2 ran out a few weeks ago but I left it drip feeding the tank. I think it got an excess dosing of CO2 because even after the CO2 bottle was disconnected, I shake the reactor and CO2 bubbles float up through the media. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wasp Posted February 28, 2006 Report Share Posted February 28, 2006 If you add unbaked baking soda, it will dissapate some Co2 into the water and cause a temporary drop in PH, however this only lasts until the Co2 has reached equilibrium again, with a smallish amount of baking soda it is not a great concern. Baking the baking soda rmoves this Co2 so that baked baking soda will not have this effect. Agree with Pies, you may get away with a sudden hike in KH, but gradual will be better. My non scientific approach for a tank your size would be to daily add 2 heaped teaspoons of baking soda dissolved in a liter or two of water. Add slowly, to a high flow area. After a few days, KH will be where you want it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 So how does the baking procedure go? temp, time etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 Put baking soda (NOT powder!) on an oven tray and bake for 1 hour at 150 degree's celsius. 594 grams makes 5,300dkH!!! I'll only be baking 250 grams which I bought today at lunch. http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php Thanks Pies & Wasp. Will do baking soda addition tonight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
suphew Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 Cheers chim I gota ask, your tank is looking sad, your KH is low, your reactor is out of CO2, am I missing something here? Wouldn't it be far easier to get your CO2 filled? :lol: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 This is Ira's thread, I continued it because of the discussion on low kH. My tank is looking great (even at low kH) and the CO2 bottle was refilled last week! It's only my kH thats low Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lduncan Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 Layton - consider this an invitation to come and get all scientific on my behalf. Piezola Since when have I ever needed an invitation to say what I want Ca and Alk are indirectly related through pH. Then magnesium and clacium are more closely related. Calcium is supersaturated in seawater, ready for precipitation at any small trigger. Magnesium helps prevent this precipitation by poisioning crystals of calcium carbonate to prevent runaway precipitation (or the snow storm effect) Magnesium should be 3 times the calcium level. The lower it is, the easier it is for calcium levels to drop through precipitation. pH also effect the solubility of calcium in seawater, which is linked to alkalinity in that the lower the alkalinity, the easier it is for the pH to change. Then if calcium is dropping through low calcium, it also drags down alkalinity, which makes it easier for changes in pH to occur, which just increases the precipitation of calcium out of the water. This sort of positive feedback is something to avoid! The interactions between these parameters are relatively complex. I wouldn't want to be doing any sort of quantitative analysis on it! As for how quickly you can change alkalinity, well at one point I was increasing it in one go by 2-3 dkH daily. The biggest I changed was 4 dkH in a day. I noticed at around 5 and 6dKH corals were severely affected. Layton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chimera Posted March 1, 2006 Report Share Posted March 1, 2006 cheers, in plain english would have been nicer its extremely convenient that I am going to queenstown for 5 days tomorrow morning. right when i should be dosing to get my kH back up! timing is typical of my luck. i only decided to test last night because i am going away, had no reason to believe the tank had bad water chemistry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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