edsbeaker
Grandma Has A Reef Obsession
Hi Randy,
This thread is a continuation of my other one that you posted on. Now that I'm clearer on what the problem is in my tank, I felt I needed a new thread to figure out where to go from here.
I need a little guidance to make sure my next steps don't make things in my tank worse.
I have a 65 G system that through a series of mistakes and mis steps has a LOT of precipitation from trying to increase my alkalinity. I was in the dark on how much was a reasonable amount to dose my tank, and never thought that it could be something else other then me not meeting the demands of the tank. So when Alk decreased, I increased the amount I was dosing. Unfotunately I didn't notice the precipitation until I realized I had a problem. I would like to take the steps necessary to rectify the situation and get things balanced again.
My system has 7 small LPS's, and then softies and Zoas. I would say my coral load is low to moderate.
I have verified that my test kits are all accurate by having a water sample brought to my LFS. Readings there were in line with mine.
Salinity 1.026
pH 8
Alk 6.5
Cal 425
Mag 1400
Right now I have turned off all three dosing pumps. In my researching, it seems like I should be able to maintain parameters with water changes only, and that is the direction I would like to go. My tank has only been running for 5 months. But how to proceed at this point to get everything balanced without causing additional setbacks is what I am not sure of. So here are my questions and concerns.
1. Is it feasible that water changes alone can sustain this tank until it grows out a bit more?
2. Do I need to take steps to manually remove as much of the precipitate as possible from the sand bed and rocks, or does it do no harm at this point?
3. Is it reasonable to do 25% water changes every 3 days until I bring up the alkalinity, or is that either too stressful on the system, or on the other hand, not aggressive enough?
4. When doing the water changes, am I better off using salt that has higher levels of Alk like Reef Crystals, at 12.2 dkh, until my levels come up to where I want them, and then switch to a salt that is close to my desired levels of 8, like Fritz. Or is it better to start with the Fritz which is consistent with where I want my parameters to be. I am concerned that if I use the RC, I could cause more precipitation. I am not sure if adding NSW high in Alk to my tank which is probably at saturation levels already can cause the same reaction... more precipitation and lower Alk levels, as when dosing the individual components from dosers. Can it???
5. Are my LPS and softie corals going to survive if my Alk goes down to 5.5-6 before I get everything stabilized? Will they be OK if this process takes a month or so to fix? Right now everything looks surprisingly happy.
6. Should I start trying to fix this problem right now, or does the tank need some time to just settle for a certain amount of time?
7. Are there any other suggestions that I should do. Any help would be appreciated.
This thread is a continuation of my other one that you posted on. Now that I'm clearer on what the problem is in my tank, I felt I needed a new thread to figure out where to go from here.
I need a little guidance to make sure my next steps don't make things in my tank worse.
I have a 65 G system that through a series of mistakes and mis steps has a LOT of precipitation from trying to increase my alkalinity. I was in the dark on how much was a reasonable amount to dose my tank, and never thought that it could be something else other then me not meeting the demands of the tank. So when Alk decreased, I increased the amount I was dosing. Unfotunately I didn't notice the precipitation until I realized I had a problem. I would like to take the steps necessary to rectify the situation and get things balanced again.
My system has 7 small LPS's, and then softies and Zoas. I would say my coral load is low to moderate.
I have verified that my test kits are all accurate by having a water sample brought to my LFS. Readings there were in line with mine.
Salinity 1.026
pH 8
Alk 6.5
Cal 425
Mag 1400
Right now I have turned off all three dosing pumps. In my researching, it seems like I should be able to maintain parameters with water changes only, and that is the direction I would like to go. My tank has only been running for 5 months. But how to proceed at this point to get everything balanced without causing additional setbacks is what I am not sure of. So here are my questions and concerns.
1. Is it feasible that water changes alone can sustain this tank until it grows out a bit more?
2. Do I need to take steps to manually remove as much of the precipitate as possible from the sand bed and rocks, or does it do no harm at this point?
3. Is it reasonable to do 25% water changes every 3 days until I bring up the alkalinity, or is that either too stressful on the system, or on the other hand, not aggressive enough?
4. When doing the water changes, am I better off using salt that has higher levels of Alk like Reef Crystals, at 12.2 dkh, until my levels come up to where I want them, and then switch to a salt that is close to my desired levels of 8, like Fritz. Or is it better to start with the Fritz which is consistent with where I want my parameters to be. I am concerned that if I use the RC, I could cause more precipitation. I am not sure if adding NSW high in Alk to my tank which is probably at saturation levels already can cause the same reaction... more precipitation and lower Alk levels, as when dosing the individual components from dosers. Can it???
5. Are my LPS and softie corals going to survive if my Alk goes down to 5.5-6 before I get everything stabilized? Will they be OK if this process takes a month or so to fix? Right now everything looks surprisingly happy.
6. Should I start trying to fix this problem right now, or does the tank need some time to just settle for a certain amount of time?
7. Are there any other suggestions that I should do. Any help would be appreciated.
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