Tank Crashing--Need help reefers!!!!

CubanPete · Jul 16, 2013

I have an eng goby, three PJ cardinals, a Banggai Cardinal, fire fish, flashing wrasse, clown, and a Pygmy Angel who I have not seen eat anything except what I feed him. Also a shrimp in there. White with red stripes. I evicted a primarily red one with white stripes who was attacking my anemone. I've checked on te one I have every couple hours, even set an alarm for te middle of the night a few times, and haven't seen him bothering anything.

pickupman66 · Jul 16, 2013

i AGREE with the above posters. all add to it as well. QUIT SWEATING ABOUT PH! test your alkalinity and Ca and the PH settle where it wants to. WHY? because a stable ALK will lead to a stable PH. ive seen many very very successful 7.8PH tanks. PH IMO is only needed as in indicator of stability. you dont want it to swing wildly. it will seek its level based on your house.

with regards to the brown jelly, sucking it out with a baster andfragging heads as they brown up is the only way I know. I had a beautiful torch that went up in smoke on me too. nothing i could do to save it. water was perfect...

BCN_Sumps · Jul 16, 2013

Your Alk is probably gonna go way above what the charts read. I made this same mistake with my tank in the beginning. It's also what is screwing up your ph. The only way to get it down is to do water changes and DONT add any Alk buffer OR PH Buffer. The ph buffer increases you Alk too.

Beach Bum · Jul 16, 2013

Pete you should do a 15-20 gal water change .. Then you should test again . Check the cal,alk, and mag....
Good luck water change is the best thing . But for sure you need to start adding mag
Good luck

CubanPete · Jul 17, 2013

*hangs head in shame* thank you ALL SO MUCH. I had no clue that I even had the doggone test in the kit I bought from someone. It didn't have a card so I didn't test. Tested my DKH and as suspected, was at 13...off the charts. I will be doing a 25 gallon water change tomorrow. Is that too much for a 72 gallon? I just don't want to lose anything else. Wish I would have asked these questions two weeks ago. Man these are some expensive lessons we learn...

CherryCorals · Jul 17, 2013

CubanPete said:
It's a two bottle system. It says calc twice, and alk once a week, yet the bottles are the same size...smh

Bionic is dosed in equal amounts daily. You should test the alk before you dose every time unless you are sure of your uptake. If your uptake is stable then you can test less frequently.

We use Bionic here to help keep up since our current carx reactors are undersized.

pickupman66 · Jul 17, 2013

Pete, dont drop it too fast. and if your salt has high alk, then it wont help a whole lot. that said, overtime, it will come down on its own as it is used by corals. Keep an eye on the alk and the Ca and dose one or the other as needed to get them in harmony.

_Alex_ · Jul 17, 2013

CubanPete said:
*hangs head in shame* thank you ALL SO MUCH. I had no clue that I even had the doggone test in the kit I bought from someone. It didn't have a card so I didn't test. Tested my DKH and as suspected, was at 13...off the charts. I will be doing a 25 gallon water change tomorrow. Is that too much for a 72 gallon? I just don't want to lose anything else. Wish I would have asked these questions two weeks ago. Man these are some expensive lessons we learn...

No need be ashamed a lot of people have done it starting out. I had my dKH up to 16 doing the same thing chasing ph. There is a learning curve to everything and some lfs make it a lot bigger one but giving advice that isn't the best and only helps them with sales. Ask questions and do some looking around. Lots of answers available at the push of a button!!

-Alex-

Mike in CT · Jul 17, 2013

Think about how many things you did right to get your tank where it is, then learn and move on. The next time someone has this issue YOU will the one giving advice

CubanPete · Jul 18, 2013

Thanks for all the advice and the boost. I'm not beating myself up too bad. Lol. I dropped the alk down to 12 from 16. I'll do another 20 on Sunday and another 20 weds if I need to. I'm definitely excited that I figured it out, with your help. Thanks again.

Shadow1 · Jul 18, 2013

Lesson #1 don't dose it if you are not testing for it. A lot of folks have done the same thing you have. 25 to 30% water change every week and test In between also test your fresh salt mix for what levels it is at.
I disagree with the dose mag comment. Once you get the tank under control test all 3 mg, KH and ca every 3 days and then you will have some idea what amounts you are using and how much to dose to keep the system stable.
Without this information you are shooting yourself in the foot.
Good luck

jservedio · Jul 19, 2013

While I would agree to not dose any Magnesium right now, you should definitely test it. Without a good Mg level, your calcium and alkalinity are not going to be stable (which will also cause pH fluctuations). Once your Alkalinity is at a reasonable level and is stable, you NEED to have your Magnesium at a proper level (~1350 ppm).

Another good thing about some 2-part systems is that they contain Magnesium so you may not need to dose it at all independently. Right now I am using Reef Fusion 2-part and that contains enough Magnesium to keep mine stable at 1380ppt.