I'm new and need advice

[Wackzood1]

My tank has been up for almost 2 months now with fish in it for about a month. But my lfs said that my pH was too low at 8.1 and gave me an additive pictured below to raise my pH. They did the water test so I figured that they had taken all parameters into account before offering me a solution. Long story short I woke up today to find my open brain coral looking very bad(not sure it's salvageable) so I tested all the parameters I have the ability to and they came back as such.

Salinity 1.024
PH 8.4
Alkalinity 14 dkh
Calcium was over 600 or out of range for my checker
phosphate was at 0.34 ppm
Temp 79.0

I don't know whether I should trust the guy at my local fish store none of their fish seem to be super-healthy and a lot of the advice I've gotten from him has been bad. So does anybody have any suggestions for how to correct this other than just water changes?

 

[Crabs McJones]

If I'm not mistaken 8.1 is fine for PH. Your alk is really high, closer to 8 to 10 is ideal. And your phosphates are up as well. You can also raise your salinity up to 1.026, your corals will like that better. I wouldnt add any of the ph buffer. And unless a coral is completely dead, they're always salvageable with a little hard work


Oh and WELCOME TO R2R!

 

[bdwarrior52]

Your PH was fine at 8.1. Anything above 7.8 is no issue, if it gets below 7.8 its time to start thinking about a way to raise it.

That supplement he sold you raises your alk, cal, and ph. He should have never have told you to raise your ph in the first place/with that.

Find a new store and do a few water changes. hard to tell if its salvageable or not... Trachys can be difficult to bring back

 

[Coralfuture]

So your LFS sounds to be after the money your willing to spend with them now and doesn't seem to want you to enjoy the hobby very long before you give up and get out. The brain coral is pretty far gone I'd say...did that happen overnight? I ask cuz it looks like some cuc like a peppermint shrimp went to town on it as well. Beyond that everyone keeps different paramaters but 14dkh is really high in my experience. I keep mine between 7.9-8.1 dkh and my SPS tank is doing great! A lot of your parameters are pretty high tho for a brand new system. I REALLY want to help you as much as possible and I believe so does the rest of R2R so please give us as much info as you can.
How big is your system?
How often are your water changes?
How large are they?
How much do you feed and what?
How's algae growth?
How many fish and corals and CUC (Clean up Crew) and what are they?
What's your lighting and the cycle for it?
Do you use RO/DI water?
Where are your nitrates?
Did you add live rock or dry rock for cycling the tank?

All of these and I'm sure a few more will be able to make this much easier and faster for us to help you and maybe no just tell you to do tons of water changes.

 

[DLHDesign]

Agreed on the above; 8.1pH should be fine. Alk at 14 is a bit high; any idea what it was when your pH was still at 8.1?

What salt do you use when doing a water change? Some salts will have Alk levels that are close to what you've got (Red Sea Coral Pro runs between 11.8-12.2 dKH, for example), so if you use something like that, then a large water change (25%+) or two should bring the pH back down a bit without undo stress on the coral. If you use a salt that falls into a more "normal" range, then you'll want to do a series of smaller water changes (10-20%) spread out over a few days to bring it down. Basically; changing anything quickly could just shock the inhabitants in your system more than they already have been.

If you are dosing in any kind of 3-part (Alk, Cal, Mg), I would pause those as well until the numbers are back under control.

 

[Wackzood1]

So your LFS sounds to be after the money your willing to spend with them now and doesn't seem to want you to enjoy the hobby very long before you give up and get out. The brain coral is pretty far gone I'd say...did that happen overnight? I ask cuz it looks like some cuc like a peppermint shrimp went to town on it as well. Beyond that everyone keeps different paramaters but 14dkh is really high in my experience. I keep mine between 7.9-8.1 dkh and my SPS tank is doing great! A lot of your parameters are pretty high tho for a brand new system. I REALLY want to help you as much as possible and I believe so does the rest of R2R so please give us as much info as you can.
How big is your system?
How often are your water changes?
How large are they?
How much do you feed and what?
How's algae growth?
How many fish and corals and CUC (Clean up Crew) and what are they?
What's your lighting and the cycle for it?
Do you use RO/DI water?
Where are your nitrates?
Did you add live rock or dry rock for cycling the tank?

All of these and I'm sure a few more will be able to make this much easier and faster for us to help you and maybe no just tell you to do tons of water changes.

system is 90 gal. total

water change of 10 gal. every Friday

I feed a small amount of Mysis and krill 2 times a day

no algae problem so far a small amount of Diatoms last week but they ran there coarse and have 99% cleared up

2 clown fish
2 small zoa colony's
1 Duncan frag
1 small hammer
1 small acan frag
(took the brain out ... it didn't survive ...)
3 very small red hermits
2 large electric blue hermits
3 turban snails
1 conch

1 kessil a360we (getting a second at some point)
runs 50% on color and intensity from 8am - 8pm ish

My ATO is RO/DI water
I use premixed saltwater from my LFS I believe it is Catalina water

I cycled with live rock

 

[Coralfuture]

Ok, so from what you've told me I'd say your system sounds like you're doing everything great. So I feel like there is something missing. I was surprised to not see a peppermint shrimp on that list of livestock BTW. Is the water from the LFS the only thing your adding to the water right now or are there additives? On a separate note the brain coral sorry for your loss and a note to address is how are the other corals looking now? When a coral dies it releases a TON of nutrients into the water among other things. I would at this point in your shoes take a look at the corals and if the remaining corals look great and open I would call it a fluke and leave the tank alone and just keep doing as I was......if they didn't look so happy however I would add a carbon reactor or just some carbon in a bag near high flow. I would test ammonia and nitrates. If any ammonia I would start daily water changes for the next week then retest.

I'm sure you've heard this phrase before but nothing good happens fast in a reef tank.

You have a test kit maybe test the LFS water before adding it to tank mainly to see is there are phosphates. Keep us posted tho

 

[lion king]

Everything said above is right on, to sum it all up: alk , ca, and po4 are all too high. Chasing ph is a VERY, VERY bad idea and 8.1 is right within range; and you will find depending on time of day during light cycle those values will change.

I've found the weekly water change routine not to work for the long run, especially for larger system. I would get my own test kit, I don't know if those values are from the lfs or yours. Testing for alk, ca, mg, no3, and po4 weekly until you get a handle on it would be a good idea. Test your nitrates, if the po4 is that high I'd be suspect of no3 as well.

A series of water changes to bring everything back to normal would be a good idea. 10-20% at a time would be a good start. No more than 25% at a time, and figure your actually water volume; minus rocks and such and add in sump. My 90g is actually closer to 65g.

 

[MamaLovesHerReefTank]

My tank has been up for almost 2 months now with fish in it for about a month. But my lfs said that my pH was too low at 8.1 and gave me an additive pictured below to raise my pH. They did the water test so I figured that they had taken all parameters into account before offering me a solution. Long story short I woke up today to find my open brain coral looking very bad(not sure it's salvageable) so I tested all the parameters I have the ability to and they came back as such.

Salinity 1.024
PH 8.4
Alkalinity 14 dkh
Calcium was over 600 or out of range for my checker
phosphate was at 0.34 ppm
Temp 79.0

I don't know whether I should trust the guy at my local fish store none of their fish seem to be super-healthy and a lot of the advice I've gotten from him has been bad. So does anybody have any suggestions for how to correct this other than just water changes?

When I first started in this hobby there was one lfs that we frequently went to. They always had a ton of fish, lots to choose from. Always telling us we need this, we need that. Over time and after joining R2R, I realized their only interest was to make a sale regardless if it was a bad sale for my tank or not. I haven't been there in almost a year. We have 2 other lfs that also want to make a sale, but not if it's bad for our tank. These are my go to guys. I still double check with R2R and live aquaria so I am better informed. I have a cupboard full of stuff they said I needed that I haven't touched in more than a year. (Reminder to clean the cupboard ).