Tank crashing, crazy parameters. Help!

Diesel · Nov 15, 2016

glb said:
I know. That was a problem in the past but the kalk corrected it. Actually the ph is ok for now. Thanks for your help!

Glad to hear that you back on the right track.

jenreefer · Nov 15, 2016

As Spock so eloquently said
“In critical moments men sometimes see exactly what they wish to see.”
It may be time to throw out all that you know and start over with your investigation. Something IS killing your fish. No matter the cause, without identifying it you will not be able to progress.
Full tank shots and close ups of remaining fish would be helpful. There may be clues that the reef squad could pick up on that the rest of us would miss. They are the experts for a reason.
Retesting all parameters, nighttime observation of the tank for possible predators and stop dosing for now. Too much kalk could be the culprit here. How much are you putting in daily and do you monitor ph when it is being dosed. If it is all going in at one time and blasting your fish, you could have your answer. They will not do well with the PH swings that doing a large amount of kalk all at once could cause. Measure ph before and after addition of the kalk to see what is happening here.

So what is status of remaining fish?

good luck

Diesel · Nov 15, 2016

jenreefer said:
As Spock so eloquently said
“In critical moments men sometimes see exactly what they wish to see.”
It may be time to throw out all that you know and start over with your investigation. Something IS killing your fish. No matter the cause, without identifying it you will not be able to progress.
Full tank shots and close ups of remaining fish would be helpful. There may be clues that the reef squad could pick up on that the rest of us would miss. They are the experts for a reason.
Retesting all parameters, nighttime observation of the tank for possible predators and stop dosing for now. Too much kalk could be the culprit here. How much are you putting in daily and do you monitor ph when it is being dosed. If it is all going in at one time and blasting your fish, you could have your answer. They will not do well with the PH swings that doing a large amount of kalk all at once could cause. Measure ph before and after addition of the kalk to see what is happening here.

So what is status of remaining fish?

good luck

Nobody could said it better.
I'm in awe but I'm not Spock

reeferfoxx · Nov 15, 2016

This is another reason to suggest kalk in ato for nano tanks will cause more harm than good.

glb · Nov 15, 2016

jenreefer said:
As Spock so eloquently said
“In critical moments men sometimes see exactly what they wish to see.”
It may be time to throw out all that you know and start over with your investigation. Something IS killing your fish. No matter the cause, without identifying it you will not be able to progress.
Full tank shots and close ups of remaining fish would be helpful. There may be clues that the reef squad could pick up on that the rest of us would miss. They are the experts for a reason.
Retesting all parameters, nighttime observation of the tank for possible predators and stop dosing for now. Too much kalk could be the culprit here. How much are you putting in daily and do you monitor ph when it is being dosed. If it is all going in at one time and blasting your fish, you could have your answer. They will not do well with the PH swings that doing a large amount of kalk all at once could cause. Measure ph before and after addition of the kalk to see what is happening here.

So what is status of remaining fish?

good luck

Thanks for your input. Actually, no fish have died. I only keep one clownfish in there and he's happy and healthy. It's one snail and two sexy shrimp I lost. I have a continuous ph monitor so that's taken care of. There aren't any predators that I can see unless one of my hermits went rogue. I'm sure misreading the ca tests and additional dosing of ca is what got things out of whack. I'm going to do another 2g water change today and switch to rodi in the ato until things improve.

glb · Nov 15, 2016

Update. One trocus snail (new one) died bur the other is looking fine, more active and eating algae on the glass. Here's a tank shot without the lights. I'll post parameters soon and then do another water change.

glb · Nov 15, 2016

Alk is 6.2 kh. Yikes. I'm making rodi for a water change. Already changed ato to RODI. Amazingly, tank doesn't look any worse. I'll post updates.

glb · Nov 15, 2016

Ok. 2g water change. And I realized that misreading ca and mg was a huge part of the problem. Alk is now 7.3, Ca is 500+ppm and Mg is 1425ppm. The last 2 were actually too high and not too low. The tank is looking better. Thanks for clearing things up Randy!

Rick.45cal · Nov 15, 2016

My guess is your magnesium was skyhigh as well, which might account for the snails being not so happy.

glb · Nov 15, 2016

Rick.45cal said:
My guess is your magnesium was skyhigh as well, which might account for the snails being not so happy.

It was.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 15, 2016

glb said:
Ok. 2g water change. And I realized that misreading ca and mg was a huge part of the problem. Alk is now 7.3, Ca is 500+ppm and Mg is 1425ppm. The last 2 were actually too high and not too low. The tank is looking better. Thanks for clearing things up Randy!

You're welcome.

Happy Reefing.

glb · Nov 16, 2016

Update: pH dipped to 7.6 last night but was up to 7.78 this morning. I think things are starting to come around.

glb · Nov 16, 2016

Today's numbers:
Alk: 6.6kh
Ca: still 500+ppm
Mg. 1410ppm
pH: 7.99

The tank looks better. The snails and crabs are moving around a little more. Corals are hanging in there. I did a 2g w/c yesterday and another tomorrow. If the tank inhabitants seem ok, do I need to worry about the low alk? With that alk, I have no clue why the ph is rising. Lol

reeferfoxx · Nov 16, 2016

glb said:
Today's numbers:
Alk: 6.6kh
Ca: still 500+ppm
Mg. 1410ppm
pH: 7.99

The tank looks better. The snails and crabs are moving around a little more. Corals are hanging in there. I did a 2g w/c yesterday and another tomorrow. If the tank inhabitants seem ok, do I need to worry about the low alk? With that alk, I have no clue why the ph is rising. Lol

Your alk to ca ratio is off. Dose alk and calcium number should drop. pH will should rise with addition alk supplement.

Tham121988 · Nov 16, 2016

Sorry to hear of your issues with the tank. I hope it turns out okay!

glb · Nov 16, 2016

reeferfoxx said:
Your alk to ca ratio is off. Dose alk and calcium number should drop. pH will should rise with addition alk supplement.

The ph is now up to 8.0. Go figure. How can I dose alk without dosing ca? Dosing is what got me into this mess in the first place so I'm wary.

reeferfoxx · Nov 16, 2016

glb said:
The ph is now up to 8.0. Go figure. How can I dose alk without dosing ca? Dosing is what got me into this mess in the first place so I'm wary.

2 part dosing can achieve that. 1 part is ca and other part is alk.

jenreefer · Nov 17, 2016

glb said:
The ph is now up to 8.0. Go figure. How can I dose alk without dosing ca? Dosing is what got me into this mess in the first place so I'm wary.

Yes, you need to dose Alk only to get the Alk back up to a reasonable number. Dose slow, and preferably at night. Do not worry about Ph right now, it seems fine. With a small tank, dose by hand for now and only very small amounts each night and then retest each morning to see where you are at.
here is one of many online calculators to see how much alk you need to add to reach desirable levels.

http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html

Once you get your alkalinity back to a normal number, then figure out how much you need to add nightly to keep it there. Until you get your calcium back down, you should only be dosing alkalinity.
Ph will be fine, it seems to be finding it's sweet spot, which is good.