DSC reef's 75 gallon adventure

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

Time for a little update. I think it's important to document the bad times and mistakes we can make to help other reefers out there. Since we have another little one on the way I figured I'd lower the alk in the tank a bit over the course of a couple weeks so I could change from coral pro salt to the regular blue bucket in hopes to cut a little cost. Big mistake. The tank has always thrived at an alk of 9.8-10.2 so slowly lowering it to 8dkh caused all my montis to perish. We started this tank with coral pro and it just works for us. I like to do 15 gallon water changes weekly and with that and dosing the alk stays right at 10dkh. The corals I didn't loose are recovering nicely and color has come back strong. So, if your tank is thriving and healthy, don't change anything

Here's a few pics of the damage that was done to all the montis. I fragged the SPS colonies and they have recovered nicely.

Crabs McJones · Feb 17, 2018

DSC reef said:
Time for a little update. I think it's important to document the bad times and mistakes we can make to help other reefers out there. Since we have another little one on the way I figured I'd lower the alk in the tank a bit over the course of a couple weeks so I could change from coral pro salt to the regular blue bucket in hopes to cut a little cost. Big mistake. The tank has always thrived at an alk of 9.8-10.2 so slowly lowering it to 8dkh caused all my montis to perish. We started this tank with coral pro and it just works for us. I like to do 15 gallon water changes weekly and with that and dosing the alk stays right at 10dkh. The corals I didn't loose are recovering nicely and color has come back strong. So, if your tank is thriving and healthy, don't change anything Here's a few pics of the damage that was done to all the montis. I fragged the SPS colonies and they have recovered nicely.

Sorry about the loss of your corals

But congrats on the baby!! Do you know what your having? If it's a boy "Zach" is always a strong boys name

;Hilarious;Hilarious

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

Here's some pics now to show the tank is bouncing back. Still bummed about the montis though, especially our undata. That was one of my favorites.

Crabs McJones · Feb 17, 2018

DSC reef said:
Here's some pics now to show the tank is bouncing back. Still bummed about the montis though, especially our undata. That was one of my favorites.

Where are you located? I'd be more then happy to send you a chunk of mine

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
Sorry about the loss of your corals But congrats on the baby!! Do you know what your having? If it's a boy "Zach" is always a strong boys name ;Hilarious;Hilarious

We are having a boy! Our first one in house of girls. I finally get some back up. ;Hilarious We settled on Dennis James, named after me and her grandpa. Thank Zach.

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
Where are you located? I'd be more then happy to send you a chunk of mine

We are in Brevard county Florida. That's really cool @crabs_mcjones. Maybe another month or 2 once I know the tank is stable I'll take you up on that. We will take care of shipping

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

This used to the undata in the first pic I posted

Crabs McJones · Feb 17, 2018

DSC reef said:
This used to the undata in the first pic I posted

Must be a different sub species. Mine is the Montipora Undata with red polyps

But that is in fact a beautiful coral. Oh well, if you still want a chunk my offer stands

madweazl · Feb 17, 2018

While I completely agree that it isn't wise to change a good thing, I also believe it unlikely that you cant move to a lower alkalinity like you had originally desired. Your actual water volume is likely somewhere between 65-70 gallons; if you're changing 15g a week (roughly 22%), you're introducing an alkalinity swing that may be causing the issues with the corals (it certainly isn't helping).

Going forward, you could continue to use the blue bucket to hit your desire alkalinity range and adjust the alkalinity of the water change mix to match that of the aquarium before introduction to the display. If the blue bucket is mixing up lower (highly likely) than your tank, use baking soda to increase the alkalinity so it matches the tank. Use your dosing system to regulate the tank's alkalinity by gradually lowering it until you hit your target alkalinity.

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

crabs_mcjones said:
Must be a different sub species. Mine is the Montipora Undata with red polyps

But that is in fact a beautiful coral. Oh well, if you still want a chunk my offer stands

That looks like mind trick, undata and beautiful! I lost that piece as well. The undata we had was from WWC.

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

madweazl said:
While I completely agree that it isn't wise to change a good thing, I also believe it unlikely that you cant move to a lower alkalinity like you had originally desired. Your actual water volume is likely somewhere between 65-70 gallons; if you're changing 15g a week (roughly 22%), you're introducing an alkalinity swing that may be causing the issues with the corals (it certainly isn't helping).

Going forward, you could continue to use the blue bucket to hit your desire alkalinity range and adjust the alkalinity of the water change mix to match that of the aquarium before introduction to the display. If the blue bucket is mixing up lower (highly likely) than your tank, use baking soda to increase the alkalinity so it matches the tank. Use your dosing system to regulate the tank's alkalinity by gradually lowering it until you hit your target alkalinity.

Thanks for the reply. The coral pro at 15 gallons for a water change didn't cause any spike so I don't dose on the night of the water change. Alk swings are minimal. Letting the alk come down naturally and switching to the blue bucket was something the tank and corals didn't agree with. It's just happy at 10dkh for over 7 years. I'll never switch again.

madweazl · Feb 17, 2018

DSC reef said:
Thanks for the reply. The coral pro at 15 gallons for a water change didn't cause any spike so I don't dose on the night of the water change. Alk swings are minimal. Letting the alk come down naturally and switching to the blue bucket was something the tank and corals didn't agree with. It's just happy at 10dkh for over 7 years. I'll never switch again.

You were getting at least a .5 dKh swing from the water change.

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

madweazl said:
You were getting at least a .5 dKh swing from the water change.

Not according to Hannah. My DKH is normally 9.8 at the time of a water change and after it's 10.1. I've had the same routine for over 7 years with great results until I decided to make a change. My fault. I do appreciate your response but I'm not interested in arguing semantics my friend. I wanted to post my mistake to help others, I know what happened and it won't happen again. The little swing I get from water changes has been very small and never a problem for years.

Fishfinder · Feb 17, 2018

Man I'm sorry about that. I couldn't believe the pics you sent me. I've got a big chunk of undata waiting for you. Just come get it. Among some other things you may want

Jason mack · Feb 17, 2018

Sorry to hear about your loss , I just lost half my fish ,so totally I agree , I had too much time on my hands and started messing with my tank ... big mistake ...but we learn and we move on ... wish you all the success with your tank , and your new baby !
Macky

DSC reef · Feb 17, 2018

Fishfinder said:
Man I'm sorry about that. I couldn't believe the pics you sent me. I've got a big chunk of undata waiting for you. Just come get it. Among some other things you may want

Thanks @Fishfinder You got to see those corals in person when they were glowing! I really appreciate it man.

BoomCorals · Feb 17, 2018

DSC reef said:
This used to the undata in the first pic I posted

That looks similar to the Tyree true undata. I have a big frag of it sitting in my tank. Quick iPhone pic.

jsker · Feb 17, 2018

This not good, but before you start tossing corals, give them some time to recover. When I my system went south last year. corals that I thought were gone came back and I was amazed.

madweazl · Feb 17, 2018

DSC reef said:
Not according to Hannah. My DKH is normally 9.8 at the time of a water change and after it's 10.1. I've had the same routine for over 7 years with great results until I decided to make a change. My fault. I do appreciate your response but I'm not interested in arguing semantics my friend. I wanted to post my mistake to help others, I know what happened and it won't happen again. The little swing I get from water changes has been very small and never a problem for years.

People can have a conversation without arguing, I'm not trying to slight you or argue with you. If you want something to be helpful, it at least needs to be factually accurate. Red Sea blue bucket typically has an alkalinity of 8-9 dKh (we'll call it 8.5). The measured difference you had the last seven years has no bearing because you attempted to use a different salt. Your undata didn't die because it cant tolerate something outside of 9.8-10.1 dKh. Mine has been fine all the way down to 6.4 dKh. Thousands of reefers have them in parameters all over the place.

Again, if 10 dKh is working for you, absolutely stick with it but if we're trying to be helpful to other reefers, suggesting that the change of salt or lower alkalinity was the cause is just false.