Acropora losing color
- Thread starter Tdoan
- Start date
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I think you should be fine lowering it 0.5 dKh a day
Let the alk lower naturally. You will be fine.
Kalk is a balanced input source - it does both carbonate and calcium at the same time. If you need one or the other, then baking/washing soda and calcium carbonate is what you need.
Vibrant is basically an algaecide and some organic carbon (ethanol). The issue with organic carbon is that it strips the water column of available nitrogen in the form of ammonia/ammonium and corals basically are deprived. This is what people worry about with lower levels of residual nitrate, but this does not happen. To understand this, you have to step back a bit... corals get most of their nitrogen from ammonia/ammonium, not nitrate. The few that can use nitrate have to spend/waste energy converting it back to ammonia, which is not ideal... and not even all corals can do this. ...so the important thing is to have ammonia/ammonium available for corals to have. Enter Vibrant and other forms of organic carbon which cause waterborne bacteria to multiply - these bacteria will also consume ammonia and outcompete the corals. Whatever happens to the residual no3 levels is of no consequence. In the end, you want high availability through lots of fish feeding combined with lots of export to keep the residual levels from getting out of control. Without available nitrogen, it does not really matter what your no3 tests levels are.
Kalk is a balanced input source - it does both carbonate and calcium at the same time. If you need one or the other, then baking/washing soda and calcium carbonate is what you need.
Vibrant is basically an algaecide and some organic carbon (ethanol). The issue with organic carbon is that it strips the water column of available nitrogen in the form of ammonia/ammonium and corals basically are deprived. This is what people worry about with lower levels of residual nitrate, but this does not happen. To understand this, you have to step back a bit... corals get most of their nitrogen from ammonia/ammonium, not nitrate. The few that can use nitrate have to spend/waste energy converting it back to ammonia, which is not ideal... and not even all corals can do this. ...so the important thing is to have ammonia/ammonium available for corals to have. Enter Vibrant and other forms of organic carbon which cause waterborne bacteria to multiply - these bacteria will also consume ammonia and outcompete the corals. Whatever happens to the residual no3 levels is of no consequence. In the end, you want high availability through lots of fish feeding combined with lots of export to keep the residual levels from getting out of control. Without available nitrogen, it does not really matter what your no3 tests levels are.
Thank for the formation, I am feeding a combination of pellets and flake 2 times each day in small amounts. And Sunday and Wednesday I feed frozen food and reef roids.
I have been slowly increasing my lights intensity and am almost up to 90%. I can see one of the acros starting to gain color.
it Is all learning for me, the entire reason for this tank is to learn as much as possible before I invest in a large tank as a focal point of the house.
thanks for the information.
Update
So my acros have made a turn around. They have gained the color back and are doing much better. The only thing I did was to add carbon to the sump and increase the intensity of my lights.
all other parameters are the same.
So my acros have made a turn around. They have gained the color back and are doing much better. The only thing I did was to add carbon to the sump and increase the intensity of my lights.
all other parameters are the same.
