My tank has been up and running well for a few months already. after fixing some of the issues i had months ago(too much gfo, temp) i thought i had it under control. i bought new frags maybe three months ago. my torches were opened beautifully as was everything else in my tank. i tested ammonia, nitrite, nitrates etc every week and the were all stable... still are. a few weeks ago ive noticed my torch coral opening 1/2 way and my lobo is shrinking. everything else seems to be doing okay havent noticed them being bothered (so thats why i say "okay"). i checked everything and my parameters were okay except for my phosphates were at .36. i decided to add some gfo since well that was my only clue to what maybe was causing my frags to shrink in size. i added 1/2 of what the brs product recommends. at the end of the week i did my normal 4.5 g water change which dropped my phosphate down to .28. the following week i changed out my gfo because it was not getting lower than .28. after that week i did another wc and tested my phosphates and they were .13. i tested my parameters and everything was fine except my alk was at 6.8 and before it had been steady at 8.4. this last week i did my regualr wc and rechecked everything and my phos are at .09 using the same gfo as i didnt thnk i needed to change it yet and my alk is still at 6.8. what should i do? should i remove the gfo. if i remove it will my phosphates begin to rise again? what could have caused my torches to close up in the first place? was i wrong to add gfo to my system again
need help i dont know what wrong
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Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
I need your total water pramameters, lighting, temp, flow and locations of the corals your have detailed.
Dennis McGrath
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Where are you placing the GFO? IN a reacot? How big is the tank? How much GFO are you using?
the gfo is in a media bag in one of my chambers, i use about 1 1/2 tablespoons. the brs says to use 1 tbl per 4 gallons.i haveabout 15 gallons of water, in the past i over doesed on gfo and been afraid to use gfo ever since then
Dennis McGrath
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What kind of flow do you have going over the GFO? It needs substantial flow to be useful, which is why a reactor is suggested normally. I didn't know it's possible to overdose GFO...
0-amonnia
0-nitrite
<5 nitrate
1.025 salinity
Alk 6.8
Calcium 480
Phosphates at .09
Temp 78
Light is an marine orbit 30% white 60% blue
Acclimating the kessil 160 at 5% 25% color. The marine orbit is the main light on at 1-10, 10-12 moon light at 10%
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
Okay. Yes your alkalinity is low. To raise it you'll need to dose some sodium bicarbonate (baking soda, not baking powder!) Baking soda with nothing added. Its in your grocery store. Arm and Hammer.
Take 1 1/8 cup of baking soda and mix it into a gallon jug of RO/DI water till it's completely dissolved.
Use this calculator, fill in the blanks and pick "Randy's two part". Add what it tells you to raise it to 7.8 dkh. Add the solution slowly into a sump or a powerhead flow. For future reference, never add more than 1dkh a day.
http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html
As far as the locations of your Euphyilla, they do best in low to medium light and low to medium flow. You may want to lower them.
Flippers4pups
Fins up since 1993
Depends on what salt you use and how much your changing. I would do your change and then test. Adjust as needed from there. Test your alkalinity every other day for a week to see if it drops again. Dose as needed going forward.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Phosphate is mostly a concern for issues such as algae, not so much because it will make corals close up at the levels you have.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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FWIW, alk at 6.8 dKH is also not likely causing corals to close up. It is actually higher than natural seawater at 35 ppt.
If the less than 5 ppm nitrate might mena only 0.001 ppm, it might be too low.
If the less than 5 ppm nitrate might mena only 0.001 ppm, it might be too low.
i tested my new water today and my alk was at 7.5. this is what ive been doing someone correct me if i am doing it wrong. as my bucket is filling up with ro/di water i dump in my salt all together. i know that a little less than 2 cups makes my salinty at 1.025. as the water rises i then add a pump to mix everything. maybe an hour after when i cant see the salt spectacles ill test the salinity to make sure. usually is, so i proceed to heat my water after-overnight until the next day mid afternoon ill do my water change
how would one keep nitrates at 5ppm? i do weekly wc at 4.5 gallons. does one lessen the wc water change to lets say 2g instead? if i do wont my corals consume calcium and alk much faster since my tank is mostly lps
Randy Holmes-Farley
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The best way to mix new water is add the salt to the full water volume andd then mix fast. That way, you are not making an extra salty solution that may be more prone to calcium carbonate precipitation.
Randy Holmes-Farley
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Water changes are not likely the controlling factor. You can feed more, export less by other means (if you do other means, like growing macroalgae), or dose nitrate.
