Did I tick off my corals?

[jkelly6357]

Hey all,

Earlier today, I decided to try and mess around with placement of my powerhead because it looked like my torch was getting a little too much flow, I moved it in several different spots on the right side of the tank, shortly after that I dosed Alk and calcium because both were a bit on the low side, about 10 mins later, one by one, starting with my hammer every softie and LPS completely retracted, in fear that I overdosed I retested parameters and there was no major swings or spikes. My hammer coral also released mucus, this was about 5 hours ago and they’re still retracted, could changing the powerhead placement a few times really have stressed them out that much?

 

[BaliReefBox]

I did the same thing and they didnt like the move. I put them into the original position and all is good. My torches and gonies get smashed by flow and they appear to love it, super extension and growing.

 

[jkelly6357]

Update:
This morning I woke up to a dead red monti cap frag and browned out mushroom and cyphastrea and slightly cloudy water, I removed the monti cap and did a water change, I left the mushroom and monti in the tank with hopes that they will make a recovery, my GSP is totally normal again but the rest of the corals are still retracted, could I have caused a mini crash when I dosed Alk, Calcium and Mg? I use Salifert kits at home and after I dosed yesterday the Salifert test had alkalinity at 9.6, I dosed based off the test results I got from my LFS who uses a Lamotte aquaspin and was at 7.7. Yesterday after all corals started retracting I went back to my LFS to have them test my water again and Alk was at 7.3, Calcium at 418. This morning after I found that things got worse overnight I had them retest my water and Alk was now at 6.8 and Calcium at 430. Does anyone know what could’ve possibly happened?

 

[Lavey29]

Did you dose alk and cal at the same time? They need to be at least 30 mins apart.

 

[jkelly6357]

Did you dose alk and cal at the same time? They need to be at least 30 mins apart.

I dosed them about 20 mins apart, but I dosed Alk first before Calcium. Idk if that makes a difference or not

 

[jkelly6357]

This is currently what everything looks like

 

[Lavey29]

I dosed them about 20 mins apart, but I dosed Alk first before Calcium. Idk if that makes a difference or not

It can because they will cause precipitation in your tank when dosed to close together.

 

[jkelly6357]

It can because they will cause precipitation in your tank when dosed to close together.

I thought maybe thats what was happening. And probably what caused the death of my monti cap. Is there anything that can be done at this point but just wait it out? All the other corals besides the mushroom and cyphastrea look healthy, just ticked off

 

[Lavey29]

I thought maybe thats what was happening. And probably what caused the death of my monti cap. Is there anything that can be done at this point but just wait it out? All the other corals besides the mushroom and cyphastrea look healthy, just ticked off

Not really, when things happen unexpectedly a water change is always a first option.

 

[jkelly6357]

Not really, when things happen unexpectedly a water change is always a first option.

I did a 50% water change this morning. I’m just praying everything makes a recovery, although I don’t have high hopes for that mushroom, its just odd that the GSP is thriving right now, even the guys at the coral store I go to were stumped

 

[MaxTremors]

TBH, I would trust the Salifert over the Aquaspin, especially if you can test the same sample twice and get the same result. It doesn’t really look like you have enough stony corals to even need to be dosing a two part, just a few small frags might drop your alk 0.2dkh a week and calcium 2-3ppm. Of the two options, I would suspect it’s the 2 part that caused this and not the change in flow, but are you sure nothing else made it into the tank, all other parameters are stable, nothing else changed?

 

[jkelly6357]

TBH, I would trust the Salifert over the Aquaspin, especially if you can test the same sample twice and get the same result. It doesn’t really look like you have enough stony corals to even need to be dosing a two part, just a few small frags might drop your alk 0.2dkh a week and calcium 2-3ppm. Of the two options, I would suspect it’s the 2 part that caused this and not the change in flow, but are you sure nothing else made it into the tank, all other parameters are stable, nothing else changed?

Interesting, I just assumed to go with the aquaspin result, since its like a $1200 machine lol, but I did think it was odd that the salifert and aquaspin results were so far apart. And for something else getting in the tank, not that I can think of, everything started retracting shortly after I dosed. All other parameters seem fine, salinity is 1.026, Temp 79, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate 12, phosphate 0

 

[BaliReefBox]

with the aquaforest it advises not to raise alk more than 0.5dkh per day. Did you take it from 7.7 to 9.3?

 

[jkelly6357]

with the aquaforest it advises not to raise alk more than 0.5dkh per day. Did you take it from 7.7 to 9.3?

I tried to dose it to 8.3, I dosed it with 6ml of Red Sea foundation B, using a dosing calculator, one thing I do know I messed up on was in the calculator app I put 20 gallons of water to calculate the dose, I have a 20 gallon tank, but didn’t subtract for rocks and sand, so I probably should dosed based off 16 gallons or so. The 7.7 measurement I got was from the aquaspin at my LFS, and tested again with Salifert after I dosed, so I’m not sure what my salifert result would’ve been before I dosed, I guess I just put too much faith in the aquaspin test result

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hey all,

Earlier today, I decided to try and mess around with placement of my powerhead because it looked like my torch was getting a little too much flow, I moved it in several different spots on the right side of the tank, shortly after that I dosed Alk and calcium because both were a bit on the low side, about 10 mins later, one by one, starting with my hammer every softie and LPS completely retracted, in fear that I overdosed I retested parameters and there was no major swings or spikes. My hammer coral also released mucus, this was about 5 hours ago and they’re still retracted, could changing the powerhead placement a few times really have stressed them out that much?

I think the issues are unrelated.

nothing you did would cause severe coral retraction.

What else may have possibly happened even coincidentally?

Walk back and think through what else changed that day,

Bug spray? Scented candles?

Seriously, there is another issue here

 

[jkelly6357]

I think the issues are unrelated.

nothing you did would cause severe coral retraction.

What else may have possibly happened even coincidentally?

Walk back and think through what else changed that day,

Bug spray? Scented candles?

Seriously, there is another issue here

Nothing that I can think of, we don’t keep any candles near the tank or spray any fragrances or chemicals near it, I’ve been trying to think of what else it could be but nothing different happened that day, everything was happy that day, I dosed and then suddenly everything retracted shortly after, which is what made me originally think it had to do with that

 

[gbroadbridge]

Nothing that I can think of, we don’t keep any candles near the tank or spray any fragrances or chemicals near it, I’ve been trying to think of what else it could be but nothing different happened that day, everything was happy that day, I dosed and then suddenly everything retracted shortly after, which is what made me originally think it had to do with that

At the end of the day, water changes are your expensive friend.

compare test results from the new water and the old water.

you only need to test salinity and alkalinity, nothing else could be so far off to cause coral retraction. Oh temperature check too.

 

[vetteguy53081]

While you can do two part dosing, I tend to dose alk first if low and see where CA is 8-12 hrs later before adding as alk has impact on Calcium.
I would do a 40% water change and recheck your numbers assuming youre not getting false readings. Like API kits, my confidence in spin machine also low. If unsure on readings, take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does NOT use Api anything and see what readings they come up with and to compare with those of the spin machine

 

[gbroadbridge]

While you can do two part dosing, I tend to dose alk first if low and see where CA is 8-12 hrs later before adding as alk has impact on Calcium.
I would do a 40% water change and recheck your numbers assuming youre not getting false readings. Like API kits, my confidence in spin machine also low. If unsure on readings, take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does NOT use Api anything and see what readings they come up with and to compare with those of the spin machine

Surely if you are using a balanced two part there is no reason to measure Ca, just add equal parts of Alk and Ca as both are pretty much tied together.

 

[jkelly6357]

While you can do two part dosing, I tend to dose alk first if low and see where CA is 8-12 hrs later before adding as alk has impact on Calcium.
I would do a 40% water change and recheck your numbers assuming youre not getting false readings. Like API kits, my confidence in spin machine also low. If unsure on readings, take a water sample to a trusted LFS that does NOT use Api anything and see what readings they come up with and to compare with those of the spin machine

At the end of the day, water changes are your expensive friend.

compare test results from the new water and the old water.

you only need to test salinity and alkalinity, nothing else could be so far off to cause coral retraction. Oh temperature check too.

I just rechecked Alk, salinity and temp, Alk is 8.3, salinity 1.026, Temp 79. A 50% water change was done with morning. Is there a good chance everyone will recover? One of my zoas along with the gsp were out today, and it looks like the frogspawn and torch have extended a little bit. But my RFA decided to wedge himself further between the rock and sand bed, but he was already in there before this happened, got him a week ago