Back in the hobby and having trouble

[Jekyl]

@Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Rarnold]

Yup, most likely. What is the new water alk?

Honestly didn't think to check it. I have some left I can check in the AM. It's RC at 35ppt, so probably high

 

[Rarnold]

New water tested to 15dkh using the red sea kit

 

[Michael E.]

I had the same problem, except my alk was always around 8, which it still is. The biggest change for me was live rock. I personally chose KP aquatics, but the point being real live rock. I think some of us, including myself forget the value of it. Once i added that, my tank, corals, fish and everything has never looked better. IME. If you use live rock already, ignore me.

 

[Rarnold]

Today's testing

Salinity 35.5ppt (topped off w/rodi to 35ppt)
Ph- 7.97
Alk- 14dkh
Ca- >600ppm w/api test
Po4- 0.04ppm
No3- 8.0ppm

Done only 2 water changes of about 4gal each since original post. I only top off with ro/di or distilled, depending what we have on hand.

Finally think nutrients are closer to where they should be but alk and ca seem way off. I know the API test are iffy at best, it was all i had on hand. And where I had almost no algae, I'm now scrubbing the tank daily, sometimes twice, candy cane and acan skeletons are starting to cover in algae and I can't get then clean. Zoa frags are melting bc they're covered in brown algae. 7 Mushrooms have all disappeared, clove polyps melted away and still no sign of gsp opening. Candy canes got better and worse again, where theyre losing flesh. This feels like a total crap shoot.

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

If you’re having to clean the glass daily then I suspect your po4 is much higher than noted. That alk needs to come down as well, 14dkh is Way too high. I would switch to a different salt mix. Are you using rodi? If so how old are your filters?

 

[Rarnold]

If you’re having to clean the glass daily then I suspect your po4 is much higher than noted. That alk needs to come down as well, 14dkh is Way too high. I would switch to a different salt mix. Are you using rodi? If so how old are your filters?

It's not the glass, it's the rocks that I'm scrubbing. I have coraline growing on the front glass I don't clean it but maybe once per week. I tested today, I'm positive I tested correctly, bc I did it twice thanks to a spill i blamed on my wife. I use the red sea Pro kit and always run the high and low range together, at least for now since I don't want to test twice individually if the test is our of range. I have always used distilled out of convenience and availability compared to buying and maintaining an rodi system. Thanks to shortages of distilled water in Indiana, I've had to buy a few gallons of rodi from the lfs, checked TDS at home before using it. As for the mix I've been using rc, at the recommendation of ALMOST everyone. My first go round I only used nutri-seawater and had amazing success. Got a recommendation for salt? Lfs always has rc and io, I could switch to just io or red sea coral Pro but that's not always in stock

 

[Ultra Aquatics]

It's not the glass, it's the rocks that I'm scrubbing. I have coraline growing on the front glass I don't clean it but maybe once per week. I tested today, I'm positive I tested correctly, bc I did it twice thanks to a spill i blamed on my wife. I use the red sea Pro kit and always run the high and low range together, at least for now since I don't want to test twice individually if the test is our of range. I have always used distilled out of convenience and availability compared to buying and maintaining an rodi system. Thanks to shortages of distilled water in Indiana, I've had to buy a few gallons of rodi from the lfs, checked TDS at home before using it. As for the mix I've been using rc, at the recommendation of ALMOST everyone. My first go round I only used nutri-seawater and had amazing success. Got a recommendation for salt? Lfs always has rc and io, I could switch to just io or red sea coral Pro but that's not always in stock

Ok that makes more sense. Regular IO should get you down to a more reasonable level, usually mixes between 9-9.5 for me.

 

[Rarnold]

Ok that makes more sense. Regular IO should get you down to a more reasonable level, usually mixes between 9-9.5 for me.

Ok yea I'll def make the switch

 

[Rarnold]

Any suggestions for the dying corals? Everything is declining, even my rfa's are looking faded. How do I remove the algae from the corals safely?

 

[Rarnold]

RFAs are shrinking and "pooping" ling brown strings. Every zoa frag and the acan are completely covered in hair algae. I've changed salts, followed the advice and it keeps getting worse. Alk is still high around 13, can't test Mg or Ca. Should I do a large 75% wc to try to correct the parameters or should I work to relocate animals before they completely die?

 

[Michael E.]

Do you have an update on parameters ? Also what kind of light are you using? Have you ever measured PAR? Was all you rock and sand live or dry?

 

[Dburr1014]

RFAs are shrinking and "pooping" ling brown strings. Every zoa frag and the acan are completely covered in hair algae. I've changed salts, followed the advice and it keeps getting worse. Alk is still high around 13, can't test Mg or Ca. Should I do a large 75% wc to try to correct the parameters or should I work to relocate animals before they completely die?

Oh sorry this is happening.
Yes, parameters and pics of algae under white light.
What is the new mixed water testing to for alk?

 

[Rarnold]

Do you have an update on parameters ? Also what kind of light are you using? Have you ever measured PAR? Was all you rock and sand live or dry?

I don't have new parameters yet, I'll test again sometime tomorrow afternoon. It's a Nicrew 50w, no PAR readings. It's set at 5% White, 40% blue. Seems dimmer than before but it's on/off only atm. Rock was live from the LFS I frequent, has some decent coraline growth, sand was also bagged "live" sand but it seems to have alot of rubble and shells, honestly I hate it.

 

[ClownSchool]

Ok so 10 years ago i set up a 10gal reef tank and had great success, mostly on accident. Fast forward to scoring a free biocube 32 led a year ago. When I started the tank everything seemed normal. Now about 10 months in I have decent coraline growth but corals won't open. GSP, cloves, acans, palys, zoas are all closed and my candy cane has been losing flesh. Only my RFAs are thriving it seems. Yesterday's parameters were:

PH- 8
Alk- 11.5
No3- .25ppm
Po4- .04ppm
Temp- 79.5-80°

Tank is lit by a Nicrew 50w Hyper Reef white at 5% blue at 20% on at 8am off at 7pm, this is new to the tank. Having a low PH issue, tank usually test around 7.6-7.8. Using reef ab+ and NoPox as advised, feed pellets daily, feed frozen reef plankton and coral gumbo 1-2 times per week and reef roads 1 time weekly. I attached pics of the corals.

Your Alk is a little high for the types of corals you have. Keeping it around 8.5 is best for zoas, and the like.
Also, when I had my biocube 16, the lights were pretty weak. They’re only one watt bulbs. I compensated by overlapping the light schedule.
Set the sunrise/sunset on both ends of your intended window (each is 30 minutes), then schedule the day and night setting on the same 9 to 11 hour window, between your sunrise/sunset window.
I hope that helps.

 

[Rarnold]

Oh sorry this is happening.
Yes, parameters and pics of algae under white light.
What is the new mixed water testing to for

Your Alk is a little high for the types of corals you have. Keeping it around 8.5 is best for zoas, and the like.
Also, when I had my biocube 16, the lights were pretty weak. They’re only one watt bulbs. I compensated by overlapping the light schedule.
Set the sunrise/sunset on both ends of your intended window (each is 30 minutes), then schedule the day and night setting on the same 9 to 11 hour window, between your sunrise/sunset window.
I hope that helps.

Don't have the stock hood on, running the nicrew 50w, but without a timer/dimmer, it's just on/off

 

[Rarnold]

SG- 35 ppt
PH- 7.81
ALK- 14
PO4- 0.04 ppm
NO3- 4.00 ppm

 

[ClownSchool]

SG- 35 ppt
PH- 7.81
ALK- 14
PO4- 0.04 ppm
NO3- 4.00 ppm

Your Alk is still very high. For the types of corals you have, it should be between 8 to 9.5. Over 10, and your zoas will start to stress. Your pH target is 8.3

 

[Rarnold]

Your Alk is still very high. For the types of corals you have, it should be between 8 to 9.5. Over 10, and your zoas will start to stress. Your pH target is 8.3

Yup I know but this is my trouble, I cank get PH up past 7.8-7.9 most days and that's with the skimmer on and TONS of surface agitation. DKH won't come down, did a small wc with water at around 9dkh and it's still high. The only thing I can think to do is a massive wc to bring those levels way down, is there anything I can add to drop the dkh?

 

[Dburr1014]

Yup I know but this is my trouble, I cank get PH up past 7.8-7.9 most days and that's with the skimmer on and TONS of surface agitation. DKH won't come down, did a small wc with water at around 9dkh and it's still high. The only thing I can think to do is a massive wc to bring those levels way down, is there anything I can add to drop the dkh?

Muratic acid will bring it down.
Make some new salt water, add the acid and airate for a while. Do the wc.
Search here on how much to add per gallon and times to airate. You can probably bring the nsw down to 6ish if doing a 25% wc. That should get you down to about 12 DKH. Do that every couple days for 3 water changes.

As far as the ph, is your skimmer drawing outside air? Can you if not? Ambiant air has a lot to do with your ph in the house.