Weekend Ruined! Lesson Learned!

[GoVols]

Im telling ya ... lol.

So I played college football and always was told and knew that it was a game of inches. THIS hobby is an even BIGGER game of inches!!! Wow. I have bene at this hobby for 5 plus years and still and always will be learning .... and even the smallest thing makes such a PROFOUND, tank crashing potential, difference on your tank.

Incredible

specialk,
Just one question about your coral issue...
Have you been carbon dosing or using a salt mix that has a carbon source in it?

 

[twilliard]

Around 15 - 20 ml of spectraside a day for 3 days. In researching I had read that many systems that are ULNS, will REALLY eat the nitrate up when you dose it so you may have to dose more then usual.

You don't dose more in a ULNS you dose longer. Never increase the dose. It is easy to overshoot the target without even knowing it. I myself have overshot my target before but that is how we learn.

 

[specialk]

specialk,
Just one question about your coral issue...
Have you been carbon dosing or using a salt mix that has a carbon source in it?

I always have used Instant Ocean Reef Crystals salt mix. But had not done a water change (up until yesterdays water change) for about 4 weeks. And yesterdays water change I have since switched to regular Instant Ocean salt mix.

And no I have not been carbon dosing. All I was running (not anymore) was Roxx carbon but I know that will not be an issue.

 

[specialk]

You don't dose more in a ULNS you dose longer. Never increase the dose. It is easy to overshoot the target without even knowing it. I myself have overshot my target before but that is how we learn.

GREAT advice and that is now tatooed into my brain! Thanks @twilliard I will follow the strict directions and dosing requirements on the calculators noted here!!

 

[GoVols]

You don't dose more in a ULNS you dose longer. Never increase the dose. It is easy to overshoot the target without even knowing it. I myself have overshot my target before but that is how we learn.

+1
I used to use Tropic Marin Bio-Actif salt mix. It has a carbon source in it.

Well, Later on I make the mistake of doing a 50% water change with it and... BLAM-MO!!!!!!!!!!!!

lol
I quickly learned (The Hard Way) that I'll pass on any salt mix that has a carbon source in the mix and you really don't how much carbon your dosing

PS: That was human error and I think the TM web site says to do smaller water changes with that salt mix.

 

[specialk]

So basically what I am looking at now is this:

No3: 7ppm (right in between 5 and 10)
P04: dont test for this right now (was running gfo for 4 months solid. stopped running it though about a month ago)
Alk: 8.6
Calcium: 470 (just did a 35% water change)
Mag: 1350
Salinity: Slightly under 1.026
Temp: 79

 

[twilliard]

So basically what I am looking at now is this:

No3: 7ppm (right in between 5 and 10)
P04: dont test for this right now (was running gfo for 4 months solid. stopped running it though about a month ago)
Alk: 8.6
Calcium: 470 (just did a 35% water change)
Mag: 1350
Salinity: Slightly under 1.026
Temp: 79

That looks good!

 

[specialk]

That looks good!

So my plan of attack now is going to be -> monitor and test (test the RIGHT way ...lol) and keep things stable with normal dosing routine (dosing brs products), get back to my regular 10% water changes every 2 weeks, and test some more ... (Now that I got SOME nitrates in there like I wanted to do ... ) and hope things start showing signs of life and rebounding with stability ... which is the key in this hobby as we all know.

Let the REHAB begin!

 

[Rick.45cal]

So basically what I am looking at now is this:

No3: 7ppm (right in between 5 and 10)
P04: dont test for this right now (was running gfo for 4 months solid. stopped running it though about a month ago)
Alk: 8.6
Calcium: 470 (just did a 35% water change)
Mag: 1350
Salinity: Slightly under 1.026
Temp: 79

Do yourself a favor and test your PO4, the tissue recession/bleaching may be caused by "imbalanced nutrients" meaning you have ample NO3 now since you have dosed but still may not have enough PO4 available to the corals. PO4 deficiency results in bleaching, bare patches on montis, and all kinds of other bad things. You're getting there. Yes, when it gets down to the nitty gritty in this hobby, it's a game of inches (milliliters).

 

[specialk]

Do yourself a favor and test your PO4, the tissue recession/bleaching may be caused by "imbalanced nutrients" meaning you have ample NO3 now since you have dosed but still may not have enough PO4 available to the corals. PO4 deficiency results in bleaching, bare patches on montis, and all kinds of other bad things. You're getting there. Yes, when it gets down to the nitty gritty in this hobby, it's a game of inches (milliliters).

Noted! THX! I will test for this right away. Have a friend with a hanna checker he said I can borrow. Think I will get that taken care of right away ... will post those #'s on here to get your opinion as well!!

 

[ctsps]

I had tip burn,recession from zero phosphate, sometimes dosing nitrate compresses phos,good luck

 

[specialk]

I had tip burn,recession from zero phosphate, sometimes dosing nitrate compresses phos,good luck

Yah this is what I am thinking MAY be a problem as to why this is happening and thru ought the comments on this thread. I was also dosing Acropower the last 4 weeks and some colors started to get deeper colors and PE was improved. So it was odd to see, for example, on a "$500 efflo acro" the blue got really deep and improved, but noticed (when I dosed stump remover) that it had/has a burn out on one of its tips. Bizarre.. so while Iam seeing improvement, I am also seeing stress

 

[Rick.45cal]

Yah this is what I am thinking MAY be a problem as to why this is happening and thru ought the comments on this thread. I was also dosing Acropower the last 4 weeks and some colors started to get deeper colors and PE was improved. So it was odd to see, for example, on a "$500 efflo acro" the blue got really deep and improved, but noticed (when I dosed stump remover) that it had/has a burn out on one of its tips. Bizarre.. so while Iam seeing improvement, I am also seeing stress

It's probably a result of little to no phosphate and ample nitrate present. It seems to cause a lot of stress to SPS.

 

[specialk]

It's probably a result of little to no phosphate and ample nitrate present. It seems to cause a lot of stress to SPS.

This may be a dumb question because honestly I have NEVER wanted to add P04 to my tank ... but how doI add p04 to my tank (assuming Itest and there is little to none in there)

 

[Rick.45cal]

This may be a dumb question because honestly I have NEVER wanted to add P04 to my tank ... but how doI add p04 to my tank (assuming Itest and there is little to none in there)

Since you don't carbon dose, you can probably feed a very high phosphate food like flake foods to help raise it. Feed the fish/ grind up and globally feed the tank/corals. Or you can dose a source of PO4 (brightwell aquatics neophos), but, it is a very very small quanitity that you dose and you definitely don't want to overdo it. (I have dosed PO4 in the past).

 

[GoVols]

This may be a dumb question because honestly I have NEVER wanted to add P04 to my tank ... but how doI add p04 to my tank (assuming Itest and there is little to none in there)

I feed my fish more and do smaller water changes.

I also use "Red Sea Colors" to provide my corals continual trace elements between water changes

 

[specialk]

Since you don't carbon dose, you can probably feed a very high phosphate food like flake foods to help raise it. Feed the fish/ grind up and globally feed the tank/corals. Or you can dose a source of PO4 (brightwell aquatics neophos), but, it is a very very small quanitity that you dose and you definitely don't want to overdo it. (I have dosed PO4 in the past).

I have a bunch of flake food and typically did not feed that because previously I had too high of p04. I will start feeding that more and follow along, monitor and see what happens.

And FOR SURE noted on the over dosing p04 - lol - lesson learned on this last fiasco and scare!!!

 

[Rick.45cal]

Since you don't carbon dose, feeding more will likely solve the issue for you. It's good to test for NO3 and PO4 on a regular basis, you have to remember that your corals will do best with a little bit of both. The best way to figure out how much of each is to keep track of both, when your tank is looking it's best (after it stabilizes again). You should be able to refer to your parameters you have recorded and you can note the NO3 and PO4 levels, pick where everything seems to like it the most, and let your tank balance around there. (That's the real secret to this hobby). It takes time and a little exploration on your part, but it will pay off big time in the long run!

 

[GoVols]

Since you don't carbon dose, feeding more will likely solve the issue for you. It's good to test for NO3 and PO4 on a regular basis, you have to remember that your corals will do best with a little bit of both. The best way to figure out how much of each is to keep track of both, when your tank is looking it's best (after it stabilizes again). You should be able to refer to your parameters you have recorded and you can note the NO3 and PO4 levels, pick where everything seems to like it the most, and let your tank balance around there. (That's the real secret to this hobby). It takes time and a little exploration on your part, but it will pay off big time in the long run!

+1

 

[Rick.45cal]

Oh yeah, I meant to tell you I am glad you figured out the Salifert test kit. Viewing the sample from the side is very handy for viewing the low range, though not realizing that it is divided by 10 has probably happened to more than just you! You just did some extra waterchanges is all