what makes torch fleshband recede?

bubbgee · May 14, 2024

smitten with ocean life said:
i can test my mag. ill go ahead and do it. i have a salifert test. i had read on one of randys threads that he thinks its a waste of time and money to test that (if i remember right). so i quit bothering

I think he meant manganese in that thread. that's a completely different thing.

JayM · May 14, 2024

bubbgee said:
I think he meant manganese in that thread. that's a completely different thing.

Nope. It was magnesium.
Randy's Magnesium Method

moosevandyke · May 14, 2024

agree with above on dosing the nopox and GFO. I use 1 tablespoon of GFO in my 300 gallon and it will drop them from 60PPB to 40PPB using a reactor in a day.

Uncle99 · May 14, 2024

Mine hate movement.
Usually dwindle if I handle them a bit to much.

Nitrate a bit high but I’d leave that if it does not increase, week to week.

The phosphate @ .9ppm (if that is true) is too high.
Bind some of that to GFO and remove, you could also do two back to back 25% water changes, one day apart and maybe lower by 30% or so.

Water changes cheaper than GFO and ok, provided you do not zero out either nitrate or phosphate.

TeamAquaSD · May 14, 2024

MarsReefer said:
I can’t comment on the flow from pictures but you have aptasia likely stinging your torches, your phosphates are literally off the chart, your salinity and alk are a little low, and calcium too high.

I’d tackle the alk first and get it above 8 since that’s easy.

Phosphates are tricker. It’s likely going to take a long time and money to get them back down from that level. Start with adding some GFO, go slow so you don’t shock anything.

Your CBB will hopefully eat the aptasia long term, but immediately move the torches away from any that can sting the torch flesh.

The calcium is high but likely not an issue. The nitrates are also high but also not an issue imo.

Basically you have an extremely unfriendly tank for coral right now. Likely only some hardy softies will survive long term as you have it now.

I will second this.

The aiptasias can certainly extend quite a bit past what you think may be their max length and will definetly upset and overtime kill any corals it touches.

Alk should be okay as normal seawater is around 7.8 but any lower than that and you can start having some big issues. Any large swings in Alk can definetly upset corals and as mentioned in other posts in the thread any changing of paramaters should be done as slowly as possible to not cause any other issues.

Salinity definetly needs to be monitored and kept stable as fluctuating salinity levels will affect your main paramaters as well.

Phosphate can be taken care of with a multitude of ways but if you have a protein skimmer I would recommend a lanthanum chloride based product ( LOVE Phosphate Rx) to help with high phosphates.

smitten with ocean life · May 14, 2024

i really appreciate all these tips. my sal. is stable that what i keep it at. i really am thinking my numbers got a bit out of whack because of my heavy feeding due to adding and trying to keep alive a CBB. but maybe im way off base....