Take move. Parameters off the charts

Zeal · Jul 31, 2020

Moved my tank into my new house 2 weeks ago and just tested today after not touching it. The parameters are off the charts.

Alk 13.1
Calc 380
Mag 1400
Phosphate 0.0153
Nitrate 5

These numbers are scary to see. I’m worried my tank might crash in the next 2 weeks.

I got rid of a huge Hollywood stunner during my tank move and lost a couple corals (maybe that caused the Alk spike?I lowered my dosing to 4ML of Alk every 4 hours (was 7) and increase my Calc to 10ML every 4 hours.

As for my phosphate they were at a steady before the tank move between 0.03 and 0.05ish. I lost my cheato also during the tank so maybe that could have caused the increase of phosphate?

During the tank move I used half new water and half old water...

also currently still dosing Vibrant to deal with my Ulva outbreak

Arlen nemeth · Jul 31, 2020

Zeal said:
Moved my tank into my new house 2 weeks ago and just tested today after not touching it. The parameters are off the charts.

Alk 13.1
Calc 380
Mag 1400
Phosphate 0.0153
Nitrate 5

These numbers are scary to see. I’m worried my tank might crash in the next 2 weeks.

I got rid of a huge Hollywood stunner during my tank move and lost a couple corals (maybe that caused the Alk spike?I lowered my dosing to 4ML of Alk every 4 hours (was 7) and increase my Calc to 10ML every 4 hours.

As for my phosphate they were at a steady before the tank move between 0.03 and 0.05ish. I lost my cheato also during the tank so maybe that could have caused the increase of phosphate?

During the tank move I used half new water and half old water...

also currently still dosing Vibrant to deal with my Ulva outbreak

Maybe my way of reefing is not caring too much i dont test anything besides nitates its had no problems in the last couple months besides a snail issue i dont keep my levels steady it helps everything get more used to it

Uncle99 · Jul 31, 2020

Numbers don’t look bad to me, yes, Alk is just outta range, but I don’t know what it was before.
Some run Alk in the higher ranges like 11.5-12dkh.
I’d let Alk fall back on its own to what was normal.
None of those numbers should crash a tank, I’m not sure why 0.01 PO4, bothers you it’s a trace, and that’s a good thing.

Kryptonian · Jul 31, 2020

Numbers look fine to me. You mentioned sitting around 0.03 phosphate and say you're worried about the increase but they're lower now at 0.01. Wondering if you mistyped that?

My Alk has jumped up in the 13-14 range before. Everything was fine as long at it doesn't sit there forever. Just let that lower itself back down under 12.

I'd be relaxed running those numbers on my tank just with a bit lower alk and bump Calc over 400. You're not going to crash with those.

Flippers4pups · Jul 31, 2020

I agree, your numbers don't look bad. Calcium is low. Dkh is high.

Zeal · Jul 31, 2020

Arlen nemeth said:
Maybe my way of reefing is not caring too much i dont test anything besides nitates its had no problems in the last couple months besides a snail issue i dont keep my levels steady it helps everything get more used to it

Uncle99 said:
Numbers don’t look bad to me, yes, Alk is just outta range, but I don’t know what it was before.
Some run Alk in the higher ranges like 11.5-12dkh.
I’d let Alk fall back on its own to what was normal.
None of those numbers should crash a tank, I’m not sure why 0.01 PO4, bothers you it’s a trace, and that’s a good thing.

Kryptonian said:
Numbers look fine to me. You mentioned sitting around 0.03 phosphate and say you're worried about the increase but they're lower now at 0.01. Wondering if you mistyped that?

My Alk has jumped up in the 13-14 range before. Everything was fine as long at it doesn't sit there forever. Just let that lower itself back down under 12.

I'd be relaxed running those numbers on my tank just with a bit lower alk and bump Calc over 400. You're not going to crash with those.

Flippers4pups said:
I agree, your numbers don't look bad. Calcium is low. Dkh is high.

Holy typo, my phosphate is 0.153

And yes Alk super high and Calc is low. I dosed some BRS calc to bring it up slowly over the next couple days

Flippers4pups · Jul 31, 2020

Zeal said:
Holy typo, my phosphate is 0.153

And yes Alk super high and Calc is low. I dosed some BRS calc to bring it up slowly over the next couple days

.1 isn't all that bad either.

Zeal · Jul 31, 2020

Flippers4pups said:
.1 isn't all that bad either.

I thought everyone recommends 0.03-0.05

fishguy242 · Jul 31, 2020

adding cal,will help bring down alk

xxkenny90xx · Jul 31, 2020

Zeal said:
I thought everyone recommends 0.03-0.05

Not everyone....

Arlen nemeth · Jul 31, 2020

xxkenny90xx said:
Not everyone....

I dont even measure phosphate lol

Pistondog · Jul 31, 2020

Zeal said:
I thought everyone recommends 0.03-0.05

Depends on livestock.
Some don't care until a coral gets puny.
How do yours look?

xxkenny90xx · Jul 31, 2020

Arlen nemeth said:
I dont even measure phosphate lol

I do, I usually keep mine between .15 and .25. If it gets any higher I run some gfo. This is in a mixed reef with lps and sps, I don't test in my fish only tank.

Zeal · Jul 31, 2020

Pistondog said:
Depends on livestock.
Some don't care until a coral gets puny.
How do yours look?

Corals look fine, after the tank move everything got ticked. Some bird nest got ticked lost tissue

Pistondog · Jul 31, 2020

Zeal said:
Corals look fine, after the tank move everything got ticked. Some bird nest got ticked lost tissue

In a move, maybe some damage/loss is unavoidable.
Ticked sounds like mechanical, not nutrient damage?
Give it some time, congrats on minimal damage.

Zeal · Aug 1, 2020

Pistondog said:
In a move, maybe some damage/loss is unavoidable.
Ticked sounds like mechanical, not nutrient damage?
Give it some time, congrats on minimal damage.

Pi$$ed autocorrects to Ticked... lol