Things are dieing, but I have information...need help

[peted]

Yes, deterioration occured sooner than explained, that's why I can't point to a test result that is not ridiculous.
I am begging to think a pest maybe, disease, possibly? Something that may cause a 4 day or less change without a great swing. I understand that I went from 1.026 from 1.024-1.025 and back to 1.024 over a short time causing a little shock. Bit it seems like something else is going on.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Calcium and alkalinity are absolutely the 2 most important parts in your water. And one of those parts is not just low, it is off the charts low. The majority of what a coral uses to grow is calcium and alkalinity.

 

[Nano sapiens]

300 ppm Ca is well out of range so your stony corals are suffering (shoot for ~430 ppm with higher Alk).

Keep everything else within normal reef keeping ranges and as stable as you can.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Yes, deterioration occured sooner than explained, that's why I can't point to a test result that is not ridiculous.
I am begging to think a pest maybe, disease, possibly? Something that may cause a 4 day or less change without a great swing. I understand that I went from 1.026 from 1.024-1.025 and back to 1.024 over a short time causing a little shock. Bit it seems like something else is going on.

With calcium that low, the coral is already struggling big time. One little thing that stresses them out will likely send everything over the edge. And that is why everything goes south quickly.

 

[peted]

300 ppm Ca is well out of range so your stony corals are suffering.

Keep everything else within normal reef keeping ranges and as stable as you can.

Ok I will go test right now. I. Concerned maybe I errored the reading of results from salifert. Standby. Need to make sure it's not my error I guess

 

[Nano sapiens]

Ok I will go test right now. I. Concerned maybe I errored the reading of results from salifert. Standby. Need to make sure it's not my error I guess

Perform the full test (not the quickie '1/2 amount of reagents' test). I use Salifert, too, and I get much more consistent results using the full test.

 

[peted]

Perform the full test (not the quickie '1/2 amount of reagents' test).

2lm.... Hang tight.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Ok I will go test right now. I. Concerned maybe I errored the reading of results from salifert. Standby. Need to make sure it's not my error I guess

Yes be sure it is actually 300. I have had many test kits that were completely wrong and caused a problem when there wasn't one. I would have your local fish store do a test for you or get a cheap api calcium test from petco as a backup test.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

And no matter what your problem is, it will likely take awhile before things start looking better. Change what you know is not within the acceptble prameters, and keep everything stable.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

Sg drop from 1.026 to 1.024 within one water change is probably the cause. Corals are stenohaline, meaning they can tolerate only very narrow range of salinity. They could probably adjust to it, but very slowly.
Other params are not ideal either, low Ca, high dKH.
You need STABILITY and above all all you should correct salinity first, but slowly.

It is likely you’re correct. With calcium that low they were likely not doing well, this sort of an event could have easily caused them to go downhill. I was just trying to help this guy, no ill will toward you.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

2lm.... Hang tight.

At work, have to go dock a ship. Good luck, hope you figure it out.

 

[peted]

And no matter what your problem is, it will likely take awhile before things start looking better. Change what you know is not within the acceptble prameters, and keep everything stable.

So between .30ml and .40ml so...350-300?

 

[peted]

So between .30ml and .40ml so...350-300?

 

[sdreef]

I’d echo the comments above regarding targeting lower alk and higher calcium and then maintaining at stable levels. A 10 gallon tank will be less forgiving because parameters will change more quickly.

That being said, even with stable parameters, your parameters are likely substantially different from the system the corals came from. That is an additional source of stress. You also mentioned you dipped the corals. How? That can also stress the corals.

So less than ideal chemistry parameters, a change in system including chemistry light and flow, in addition to dip are going to combine for the decline you’re observing.

I’d suggest a different salt may be more suited such as blue bucket. I agree with @Lionfish hunter, work to get acceptable chemistry parameters and then work to maintain them.

 

[peted]

Lion....iv had loose recommendation in the past for things. Realized it was opinionated. All I was asking for was a better explanation of what/how to solve X. So if calcium is the culprit, and it needs to be fixed, how would you tackle that specifically . And why if calcium is low(er) than desired, would that be the reasons for unhappy or deaths.
So what's next if this is still too low and causing this?

 

[peted]

So what's recommended to bump calcium for me system? Changing salts is no prob. Blue bucket like said before could yield a solution, but if cal is too low even still, please please specific. Thank you.

 

[sdreef]

So what's recommended to bump calcium for me system? Changing salts is no prob. Blue bucket like said before could yield a solution, but if cal is too low even still, please please specific. Thank you.

Are you dosing or how are you planning to maintain your chemistry parameters. Specifically calcium and alkalinity.

there are a number of calcium supplements on the market. I personally use the Red Sea calcium supplement so that’s one way you could consider.

Based on the volume of water and your current level of calcium each supplement would give a recommended dose to add to reach a desired target concentration in the system.

 

[Lionfish hunter]

So what's recommended to bump calcium for me system? Changing salts is no prob. Blue bucket like said before could yield a solution, but if cal is too low even still, please please specific. Thank you.

What @sdreef said.

I have never had to bring up calcium levels from being that low so maybe somebody else has experience on how fast you want to do that. But you generally want to change things slowly. I would not just go from 300 to 420 in one day. I would slowly bring it up over a few weeks? I really don’t know how fast is too fast.

Calcium supplements will raise just the calcium. Water changes will also raise the calcium because the new salt water will be about 420 assuming a 35 ppt salinity. Just start to slowly raise it and test as you go.

Also you might want to check your test kit to ensure it is actually that low. I have an idea for this. When you mix up new saltwater it should have 420-440 calcium. Ensure the new water is at 35 ppt or 1.026 salinity, then test the new water for calcium. If it reads 420-440, your test kit is accurate. If it doesn’t read 420 you will have to figure out if you test kit is bad, if your salt is bad, or if your salinity tester is bad.

what are you dosing? It seems odd to have such high alkalinity and such low calcium. Are you dosing any trace elements? I would caution against dosing anything you can’t test for.

Stability is key to happy corals. Get your calcium up and keep everything stable. And what I mean by everything is alkalinity, calcium, temp, and salinity. Magnesium doesn’t change much so just test once or twice a month and adjust if needed. Keep those within proper levels and keep them steady and you will be setting yourself up for success. Keeping coral is more about keeping water than anything else.

I will share what I dose. All for reef. That’s it. It maintains calcium alkalinity magnesium and even trace elements in the proper ratio. I have checked with icp multiple times. So if you are looking for an easy method that will not be expensive, it is a good route. A jug of all for reef powder an empty gallon water jug and a kaemora dosing pump is that is needed. You just maintain alkalinity and all the other elements will stay steady if you dose to maintain a steady alk. Testing calcium and magnesium once a month and adjust if needed.

Hope all that made sense, it was a lot.

 

[Aqua Man]

So what's recommended to bump calcium for me system? Changing salts is no prob. Blue bucket like said before could yield a solution, but if cal is too low even still, please please specific. Thank you.

Following your salt mixing instructions, Test a batch of the saltwater that you are going to use as a water change. Test the Calcium and Alkalinity.

This will tell you a couple things. First is that the batch is good and mixing properly. Second is that you’re testing correctly and accurately.

 

[Tamberav]

So the moral of this story is don't go up .01-.02 salinity over a week without killing everything. And don't use red sea pro if you don't have a tank full of sticks?

FYI, don’t let the “pro” fool you. It doesn’t mean it’s for corals more so then the non pro salt, it just has higher alk. The regular salts are for corals too. People generally maintain parameters using dosing when they get a lot of corals. Then they used matched salts to what their tank is.

Lots of people have a ton of sticks and don’t use any type of “pro” or “reef” salt. Bet you lots of them use instant ocean even. Blue bucket is also popular.

High alk is never worth it imo, more so if you are new to the hobby. It can cause more problems than an alk around 8-9. Maintaining a high alk without swings is more work, you have to dose more to keep it there and so on. Pair that with a nano and I could see swings happening every water change. Then if you end up with low nutrients and high alk your corals suffer as well.

You also should be rolling the bag or bucket of salt around before use. Stuff settles and can make the salt parameters wacky. You need to mix it up if it’s been sitting three or sitting on a store shelf. Again, more of a problem for nanos because they see a larger percent water change.