Accidental chemistry experiment while traveling

[scoopsthedog]

Was gone for 9 days and had my nephew feed / care for my tank. I have been feeding coral daily while managing PHO with GFO Reactor and NO3 with Bacto Balls. Mixed reef with mostly Zoas and, Softies and LPS. includes:
Chalice
Mushrooms
Leathers
Acans
Hammer
Torch
Duncan
Brain
Green Slimer
Greens Birdnest
Xenia

Parameters for 3 months were consistent and I was changing around 10% water weekly.
NO3 - 0
Pho- .16-.10 (after adding GFO was higher before that)
Alk 10-12
PH 8.2
CA 480
MG 1400
1.025

So as I left (of course) the GFO got clogged and the material hardened to a rock. At the same time nephew keeps on the feeding schedule. Also apparently the protein skimmer started acting funky.

I come home to a pretty gnarly algae take over and the Green Slimer bleached. The hammer and torch weren't not looking to hot.

The acans were fine and the Zoas and Xenia had exploded in growth. Everything else had maintained.

I did a test and found that my Alk dropped to 7.3 and my Pho bounced up to.63 along with NO3 at 10.

I did a 20% water change and am seeing now it looks tomorrow.

Overall no surprise I lost the SPS although the birdnest is holding on. The Zoas def responded to lower Alk and higher Pho while everything else seemed to be ok but not look great.

I'll keep this thread updated.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Yeouch!!

Sounds like bullet dodged. Crazy the slimer went. Hope it all goes well!

 

[Myka]

Are you using tap water? Just wondering why Ca and KH are so high? If you keep Ca and KH lower you will not have GFO clump so badly. I hope it works out ok for you!

FYI, "pho" is a Vietnamese noodle soup, the chemical formula you're looking for is "PO4". ;Bookworm

 

[scoopsthedog]

Use RODI. I use Red Sea Pro mixed into RODI with my local LFS. I keep the tank at 1.025 which provides 480PPM on CA. My KH was always a little high and I've posted about it but never had an issue. I'm going to try and keep it around 8.5-9.0 at the highest and see how the coral respond. Thanks for the positive feedback will use PO4 going forward [emoji23]

 

[Myka]

I'm not familiar with Red Sea Pro salt mix. Is it always super high? Maybe double check the calibration on your refractometer. Maybe yours is off or maybe the LFS is. Buy your own calibration solution. The Sybon solution is a seawater solution and accurate on brine refractometers (which is what most of us use).

Fwiw, I do aquarium maintenance and I just left a tank (just checking up on it while he's away) where the guy thought the tank was at 1.025, but his refractometer was way off. His tank was actually at 1.019. He was wondering why his corals haven't been doing well. Haha! You may have the opposite problem.

 

[scoopsthedog]

I have a Milwaukee refractometer plus the LFS mixes the water (and I have an ATO) so my levels there have been consistent

 

[ndrwater]

RSCP is ALWAYS high in ALK. I think it says right on the package it mixes to something like 11.5

Why I stopped using it...

 

[Myka]

Ok. Yeah I wouldn't use that salt either unless it was going in a tank where there was Ca and KH demand and no doser.

 

[scoopsthedog]

RSCP is ALWAYS high in ALK. I think it says right on the package it mixes to something like 11.5

Why I stopped using it...

Agreed they have two salt mixes I think I'll move to the mix with the lower KH. Again my tank has done fine on high KH but only when I was a: feeding it daily and b: controlled PO4.

 

[scoopsthedog]

My GFO reactor kicked in and dropped PO4 to .04 so I am going to start feeding the coral daily again. NO3 dropped from 10 to 5 which is fine - my skimmer is off line until tomorrow which will help drop that. Torch and Hammer already responding. I'll continue to monitor and update this thread. Esp interested in the Zoas which doubled in number with the high PO4 and NO3.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Esp interested in the Zoas which doubled in number with the high PO4 and NO3.

funny what good thing happen when we accidentally "break the rules". It kinda let me to understand they're not rules but just general recommendations.

 

[scoopsthedog]

funny what good thing happen when we accidentally "break the rules". It kinda let me to understand they're not rules but just general recommendations.

Indeed. ESP with mixed reef tanks. From my experience there is truth to the dirty water method for Zoas and some softies while SPS clearly are more sensitive.