Vinegar dip for sps frags

[ramasezz]

Hello Doc,

I was in vacation for 2 weeks, had a colleague come and feed the fishes. Apparently they thought feeding it like a human child is the order of the time. This was in spite of me keeping measured quantities of the food they ought to have done.
Anyways I came back today and see that there's tissue loss and brown algae allover my sps frags. I don't think any of them are alive.
I gave them a dip in seachem reef dip and have now put them in an acclimation stand affixed to the side of the glass.
My question is can I give them a dip in vinegar solution instead of dosing my while tank. If yes. What would be the ratio and for what length of time.
NO3 is at .10 and PO4 is at 0.06. This is as per the JBL test Marin Lab test Kit.

Thanks, Ram.

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

I have never heard of using vinegar nor see any benifit to using it.

 

[Larry L]

Sorry to hear about the die-off... Are you talking about dipping in vinegar instead of dosing the tank with vinegar like you'd normally do to help with nitrates? It think all you'd accomplish is burning the tissue if you dipped them. The point of dosing the tank with vinegar (or other carbon source) is to provide food to build up a bacteria population in the tank that will help reduce your nitrates, so the bacteria can be skimmed out - there would not be any point in applying the vinegar directly to your corals.

On a related note, your nitrate and phosphate numbers look fine - I wouldn't try to do anything drastic while seeing if the corals will recover. If you haven't already done it, I'd do a water change and run some carbon to try to clear things up from the overfeeding.

 

[ramasezz]

Thanks for the reply.. I guess I was mistaken in assuming that vinegar will actually stem the growth of the algae on the frag by suffocating it in some way. In hindsight I also thought that I may stress the frag further with them already being smothered and my putting them thru a dip session today already with the seachem reef dip. I am doing the water change so that'll help like you advised. I've got matrix carbon in the sump, have just dialled up the skimmer a wee bit more in the hope that it'll help in the nutrient extraction faster..

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I can't see a reason to vinegar dip. but I've never heard of anyone trying it.

 

[ramasezz]

I can't see a reason to vinegar dip. but I've never heard of anyone trying it.

So I've gathered now from the replies
But if an idle mind is a devil's workshop then I've come to realise that a desperate mind could be his factory lol..

And this is why...

2 weeks back... and now...

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

IME. Those nutint values should not have effected the corals that way.

 

[Engloid]

I have higher nutrients, and haven't had loss like that. If you can't figure out anything else, I'd be tempted to do a large water change to start.

 

[ramasezz]

Some advice needed.. actually on 2 counts..
I did a water change yesterday of 10%. My aquarium is a 220 gallon DT.
Today I tested the water and the following are the results:

Salinity 1.024
Temp 28 Celsius
DKH 10
PO4 0.6
SiO2 0.8
Ca 440
Mg 1000

So I need your advice on SiO2, this is the first time this is registering in a test.. I use bottled water that is supplied for drinking purposes army apartment block. Is there a way to get this down or neutralise it coz this may be the reason for my sps growing algae.
Second, my mg is also low.. this is the lowest I've ever hit.. I use seachem 2 part (reef fusion 1 & 2)so how can I only increase mg.

Ram.

 

[Myka]

Po4 0.6 ppm, is that a typo? Did you miss a zero?

 

[ramasezz]

It's mg/l

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

The bottled water may be an issue.
Drinking water is "flavored " with minerals and such.

 

[Reefltx]

So I've gathered now from the replies
But if an idle mind is a devil's workshop then I've come to realise that a desperate mind could be his factory lol..

And this is why...

2 weeks back... and now...

I think it's dead, looks like algae took over.

 

[A sea K]

I know this is not the root of the cause but if you were targeting algae growth on the frag then I would think a peroxide dip and not vinegar would be more helpful.