Getting upset, don't know what I am missing here. Please help

[certain_code]

Not sure if it had any effect long term but I just replaced and re-plumbed my sump with a new Trigger systems Emerald sump. The amount of calcification on the old sump and my skimmer body was insane! I gave everything a bath and scrubbed it to like new.

This time around I am not going to let my sump get dirty like it was. Not dosing anything until I see the need will likely help a ton on this front.

Going to take measurements and start dosing Cal to get it back up to where it should be slowly. Will post results from testing later.

 

[certain_code]

Been busy at work so sorry for the delay in updates.

I have been slowly dosing calcium to get it up to where it should be. I have also been reading and actually trying to understand (rather than just skimming) about alk/cal relationships. So far, my biggest win was fully reading Randy's article on the relationship and ways to correct it. That article, paired with the Flash version of JDieck's calculator really gave me an understanding of what I needed to do based on my latest set of measurements.

Calcium: 345 ppm
Alkalinity: 7.7 dKH
Magnesium: 1310 ppm

According to Randy's chart, this puts me right on the line of area 3 and 2. Thus, by following Randy's guide, I am going to dose to get Calcium up to 410ppm over the next few days. Ideally, this will bring my Alk down to around 7dKH and give me the same params as sea water. From there, I will use Kalk in my ATO to maintain params in a balanced way. In the future, I may need to switch for 2-part dosing again but for now I am hoping that Kalk will be plenty on top of water changes.

Visual: So far, most coral is looking okay. My Duncans were previously the only thing that were open and thriving (and some zoas) but they have been closed up a bit for the last few days as I have been dosing. I am thinking it is likely because of the dosing of 31.5 fl ox of calcium over 3 days and hopefully once things settle a bit then they will open back up.

One huge plus is that I don't see any hair algae any more. I think it is all but gone expect for a few low flow spots. Might be because of dosing or change in lighting schedule or just that I upped my CUC 2 weeks ago but either way the tank it looking clean and the coral that was seemingly struggling by being surrounded by algae seems happier now.


So, with all that said, thoughts from everyone on my approach and observations? Any additional recommendations?

 

[certain_code]

After about a week of dosing my levels are essentially where they should be and the tank is looking pretty good.

Cal: 410ppm
Alk: 8dKH
Mag: 1440ppm (?!?!)

I am a bit confused as to why my Mag spiked essentially overnight but I am less worried since everything online seems to just say let it drop by itself over time.

For now I am in auto-pilot mode though. I leave for vacation on Sunday and will be back a week later. I have someone that is going to look after the tank from a broad level of things are dying vs. everything looks the same. I also am pre-proportioning each feeding out so nothing changes drastically for the tank.

The next problem I seem to be having is keeping some frags from getting covered by my sand bed since my Jebaos are so powerful. I think it is time to make a frag rack so I can better target feel some of the corals that were hurting for the last few weeks when parameters were off.

Once back from vacation, I will take measurements and figure out my daily consumption. Feels good to finally seem to have things under control with a plan in place. All thanks to you wonderful folks on R2R!

 

[certain_code]

Double posted so will use this post to let everyone know I have been tracking params and steps over on AquaticLog.

For anyone that is not suing AquaticLog already, I highly recommend it if you are serious about tracking everything form photos to parameters. i'm sure there are other options out there too but for me it is really the complete package.

 

[evolved]

I am a bit confused as to why my Mag spiked essentially overnight

It's testing error on one test or the other (or both); there's no way for it to physically spike like that without simultaneous dosing.

 

[DMan]

Reducing light sched., gfo, water changes have all been covered. I will add that i dont think you need to be using Reef Crystals just yet. Regular I/O should be fine until your coral demand gets higher. I do think you should just consentrate on one thing at a time. Chasing a bunch of parameters can really mess the balance up. Looking at your Aqualog the one that jumped out at me was your Alk. Specifically the stability. On one day your measured alk ( this could have been an error) was 6.7 and the next day it jumped to 8. You dont want to let your alk swing more than 0.5dkh a day, thats apx 8ppm on the Hanna alk checker. Any more of a swing tha that and corals will get stressed. Corals use up alk the most during the day, so you want to test first thing in the morning (before lights on) and test again just before lights out. Do this for 3 days straight, and lets see where you are..
I'll also add you had quite a bit of coraline growth on the back glass. This is probably where your increased consumption came from. If its dead and brittle now, start scraping it off and collecting with a net. It doesnt have to all be done at once. But I bet if you clean up that back panel and focus on your alk for a few days youll start to feel a lot better about your situation. I know I've been there as have we all.

 

[certain_code]

It's testing error on one test or the other (or both); there's no way for it to physically spike like that without simultaneous dosing.

That is what I was thinking, did two test today just to confirm the 1440ppm measurement. Must have miss measured previously but what is most odd is that I have not dosed mag since Oct 20th so I find it hard to believe that all my tests were done wrong. Either way, not super worried about it right now. I will monitor it for the next few days to make sure it doesnt go higher but for now I am happy with where things are parameter wise.

 

[ryanmell]

Your tank will probably enjoy you being gone for a week, my tank always looks better when I keep my hands off and out of it. My other advice is if you are going to change or clean anything I try to not do it the day before leaving give yourself a day to make sure everything is good before leaving...I forgot to turn my skimmer back on after a water change before leaving on vacation for a week once.

 

[certain_code]

So, back from vacation and everything still looks good with the exception of an Acan colony that is likely getting picked at and not fairing well with the param swings over the last few weeks.

Params before 11/13 before leaving for vacation:
Cal: 420ppm
Alk: 9.3dKH
Mag: 1440ppm

Params measured this morning ( ~8 days ):
Cal: 370ppm
Alk: 5.25dKH
Mag: 1440ppm

So if I take those and calculate daily rates I get:
Cal: 6.25 ppm/day
Alk: 0.50625 dKH/day - 9.0401785714286ppm/day
Mag: No change, going to monitor every few weeks and after any larger water changes

If I figure out daily dosing amounts (based on BRS calculator using their 2-part system) I get:
Cal: 2 fl oz (61.4ml) per day
Alk: 1.2 fl oz (36.1ml) per day

Given these rates, I am not sure if I should go back to 2-part of if I should go with just Kalk added to my ATO. Thoughts?

 

[certain_code]

Just as a side note. These amounts are far more than what I was previously dosing (10ml/day each) which makes this all really confusing to me.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[larangcon]

Great job man, glad you didn't give up and sounds like you're on your way to better days. Keep up the hard work and keep us posted.

 

[certain_code]

Great job man, glad you didn't give up and sounds like you're on your way to better days. Keep up the hard work and keep us posted.

Thanks! I certainly hope so.

I felt good until today when I found that my daily dosing should be apparently higher than what it was previously. Does not really make sense and I am reluctant to dose that much since it seems to be the root of the original issues. Hopefully someone can chime in with some ideas on where to go from here.

 

[certain_code]

Removed all of the old (and seemingly dead) Coraline algae from the back glass yesterday. Such a pain in the arm doing it since the tank is pretty deep but hopefully it helps me figure out actual consumption rates better. Going to attempt to set up my dosing pump again and start dosing the calculated amounts while carefully measuring levels as I go. Here is to hoping this goes better this time around.

Anyone else have insights as to why my daily dosing amount seems to high? Randy's starting points put me between mixed and high demand tanks which seems a bit high considering I have 2 colonies, no SPS, and about 5 small frags.

 

[evolved]

Start the dosing slow and keep testing; no need to jump to a high number to begin with. Start with just a little and work your way into what the system needs.

 

[trickyrich]

I wouldn't dose anything I have a mixed reef and I have never dosed I will when my demand gets to be more than what weekly water changes can replace but I have good water and corals no dosing

 

[ryanmell]

I would start with Kalk in your ato water and see how that works for you