EVERY SINGLE THING went wrong... stupid doser...

[ChelseaBidwell]

Where do I start? I guess when we came to the conclusion that our doser overdosed our DT with KH and lord knows what else. We're on the Triton Method and our parameters and doses had been as steady and consistent as could be. We calibrate it every 2 weeks to ensure consistent dosing amounts. We haven't recently changed doses or introduced anything into the tank besides 2 Behr-dipped shrooms (Jawbreaker/Interstellar), 1 Kole Eye Tang, 1 LMB, and 1 Tailspot Blenny (all of which were in QT for 2 months). Pretty sure those wouldn't throw my tank into this much chaos. The only thing (chemical-wise) still being ran/added is our GFO/Carbon (reactor) - both are replaced routinely. We do our husbandry every weekend like clockwork. Oh, I did lower my whites by 40% and decreased the photo period to 5 hours in hopes of limiting any potential bleaching. Could this have added to the problem?

Normal Parameters - PRE KH OD
pH: 7.8
NH3: 0 ppm
NO2: 0 ppm
NO3: 0.01-0.02 ppm
SG: 1.025
TEMP: 78.8°F
Mg: 1360 ppm
Ca: 430 ppm
KH: 9.2 dkh
PO4: 0.01-0.03 ppm

Parameters for past 3 days - POST ALK OD
pH: 8.2 - 8.4!!!! (Rising daily it seems)
NH3: 0 ppm
NO2: 0.2 ppm!!!!
NO3: 2.0 ppm!!!!
SG: 1.025
TEMP: 78.8°F
Mg: 1360 - 1400 ppm
Ca: 400 ppm (manually dosed Triton's Ca - now at 440 ppm)
KH: 10.5 - 12.5 dkh (up and down)
PO4: 0.07 - 0.14!!!!!!

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS GOING ON?! We temporarily stopped ALL element doses immediately after we discovered the increase in KH. (Excluding the Ca dose to help offset Mg/KH levels) This occured on Sunday (12/29). How in the world has Mg increased without any doses (especially since we have mainly SPS)?! How is my KH spiking to 12.5 dkh from 10.5 dkh and then dipping again and so on?! How do I have NO2 when we are well past the cycle and nothing has died?! We usually feed small amounts 2×/day, but due to the KH increase, we started feeding small amounts 3x/day to avoid any additional damages to our corals. And in doing so, we now have higher nutrients. (We already have a GHA problem; which is now out of hand - even with daily cleaning and removal). So, now I am plagued with GHA growth if I keep nutrients higher for the corals - while at the same time, doomed with more coral damage if I lower nutrients to avoid GHA growth. I was really hoping to avoid water changes since all other parameters in addition to KH are out of whack. I wanted to let the KH return to the normal range on it's own by means of the ATO and coral consumption. That way at least our Mg, Ca, and pH levels could maintain some sort of consistency or hopefully return to normal levels at a slower rate as opposed to all parameters swinging all at once with a WC.

All that being said, I am pretty sure my Stylo and Birdsnest are starting to bleach (polyps are completely closed up). Along with our Gonio that has remained retracted in itself. Our BTA is angry during all of this also. I don't want to lose any of my corals. Idk what to do. Let it fix itself and continue frequent feedings while KH is high or go ahead and do a WC? All the parameters are out of whack, regardless. I just don't want to drastically change (AGAIN) anything that I don't have to immediately after this swing. If I do a high enough WC to lower the KH, everything else is going to change as well. Which means it's going to take some time to get our doses adjusted and in check again (manual doses I expect) on top of getting and calibrating a new doser. Any advice? I may be overreacting, but I know for sure it's damaged some of my SPS. On top of that, we have these corals arriving in 3 days... Idk how I am gonna maintain these with such erratic parameters...

• 3" Rock Anemone
• PPE Mycedium Chalice
• Superman Rhodactis Shroom
• 3 head Silver Fang Torch Coral (EXPENSIVE ;Drowning)
• Firecracker Chalice

***PSA: I HATE MACHINES***

 

[Krillin it]

Are you using Kalk to add alk?

 

[Krillin it]

If you lower the photo period the corals will use less alk, mag , calcium so it will throw off your dosing

 

[ChelseaBidwell]

Are you using Kalk to add alk?

No sir. For KH, we only dose the part 3a and 3b of the Triton Core7.

 

[ChelseaBidwell]

If you lower the photo period the corals will use less alk, mag , calcium so it will throw off your dosing

Well, we haulted all dosing until the KH is back in range. Nothing has dosed at all - Mg, Ca, or KH. Which is why I don't understand how Mg has increased. Lol

 

[Skynyrd Fish]

Do you test alk daily? I have to sometimes make changes down on my dosing. Also you added new fish, increasing the bio load. This will account for the increase in no2 & 3. I am going to assume there was a small ammonia bump also. I would stop dosing until parameters are back to your range. Also with gha I would take out rocks and scrub them in the a bucket of tank water best you can. Get an urchin or two also. Post a pic. Happy new year.

 

[ChelseaBidwell]

Well, we haulted all dosing until the KH is back in range. Nothing has dosed at all - Mg, Ca, or KH. Which is why I don't understand how Mg has increased. Lol

I reduced the photo period today after reading some horror stories of spiked KH and high lighting. Should I change it back?

 

[Krillin it]

If your using 2part some contain magnesium

 

[ChelseaBidwell]

Do you test alk daily? I have to sometimes make changes down on my dosing. Also you added new fish, increasing the bio load. This will account for the increase in no2 & 3. I am going to assume there was a small ammonia bump also. I would stop dosing until parameters are back to your range. Also with gha I would take out rocks and scrub them in the a bucket of tank water best you can. Get an urchin or two also. Post a pic. Happy new year.

We usually test KH twice a day unless we're busy and forget. It was the last parameter for us to maintain consistency, so we just got into the habit. And I guess it's possible, but they were literally added the morning of the day we noticed the spike. And yea, we've done everything. We finally just decided to try and maintain it and keep the nutrients low. We started with dry rock, so it's just something we have to deal with.