yet another why can't I keep sps??

[jda]

Alk at 8 is more than fine. 7.0 is totally fine too. So is 6.0, actually. I do not think that phosphate above 10 ppb is really much risk to suffer true burnt tips (calcification faster than tissue growth), but IMO alk in this tank is not worth worrying about at all.

 

[Charlie’s Frags]

Raising his alkalinity with no Phosphate will kill everything he's managed to keep alive at this point.

Alkalinity, light, and Phosphate are all tied together. Raising light or alkalinity without addressing Phosphate will increase photosynthesis and skeleton building without giving the corals the things they need to do that - and lead to tip burn followed by melting.


Also, where the heck did people get the idea that 8 dkH is LOW?

Agreed. I wonder where a lot of the sps information comes from.

 

[becon776]

ok done (man I've gotten efficient at this)
Sal: 34ppt (i expected this... long story but when I cleaned my sump my eb832 failed on me created a 911 situation the ato made up the difference) the ato is now in FSW
PO4: 0.00 (Hanna hi713) expected - GFO combined with slowed feedings(1x perday pellet, 1x per day rods) will scrub some Rock today mist the ones I can remove with h202. Maybe tomorrow remove GFO.
NO3: 5ppm (nyos) expected PO4 is limiting my NO3 uptake.
ALK: ~8 average between hanna and trident. will raise some when Salinity increases.

 

[Rick5]

ALK: ~8 average between hanna and trident. will raise some when Salinity increases.

You're going to raise the tank's alkalinity? If so, why?

 

[ryshark]

You're going to raise the tank's alkalinity? If so, why?

I think he means it will raise naturally going from 34ppt to 35ppt.
Why wait on the GFO? You can flip the switch off or close the valve today. Then remove it tomorrow

 

[becon776]

@ryshark - yup will increasr a bit. trident still figuring out controlled dosing since adding CO2 Scrubber. made a big difference and Ca and Alk usage increased. fwiw started this tank with rscp and alk was out of this world too crazy. def bleached out everything bc low nutrients

-this is what is in my basement has been sitting there for 2.5 yrs with light, flow, and heater. i caught the "live rock is evil and full of pests" fever

went in and did sime more manual removal tool oit some rocks sprayed h202 3 min soak back in.

 

[becon776]

I'm scared to put some of this fiji in main tank... But 2.5 yr quarantine?? Should be good right?
The vid was this rock before teardown . Can you say disco party? Lol

 

[KrisReef]

Can you put it in the sump where it doesn't get light? Most of the microfauna you want doesn't need light.

 

[jpas]

Are you using the Hanna ULR phosphorus checker? If your using the regular version a zero reading is not really Zero.

Also, Is all of that red in your tank cyano? If so you may want to see if you have an accumulation of detritus building up somewhere in your system.

If your not growing copious amounts of coralline you are probably not going to be growing SPS.

 

[becon776]

@jpas just for the record that picture is of a tank in my basement that's holding my old rock that I've had since 2001 old Fiji live rock from my last tank. The red as you can see at the bottom of the tank is actually reddish brown Chestnut corlin algae. I just did not have the heart to throw away the live rock since you've literally cannot buy it anymore. It's been down there for two and a half years. My current display is a reefer 450 filled with reef saver.

@KrisReef I was thinking that. I could also fire up the h380 over it since it's already there and see what kind of things end up come out of the Rock that way I don't get that sweet coralline algae loss.

PS I haven't posted a photo of my main tank yet because pictures come out terrible and I do not have the lens filter to enable me to take a decent photo