Water params problem

[mrvincent]

Hi, I recently tested my water. I didn't made a WC for 2 months in my reef, but I keep dosing NOPOX and running GFO to keep nitrates/phosphates unreadable.

I just noticed my chemistry seems not ok...

Alk: 5 dKH°
Ca: 390ppm
Mg: 1200ppm...
PH: Seems ok at 7.8 - 7.9

Should I raise them all ?

I already prepared 3 separates 1gal of topoff RODI water. I mixed calcium in one bottle, mg in the other, and alk in the last one. I calculated with a weight scale the required amount of each needed to bring params to:

Alk: 12dKH°
Ca: 440ppm
Mg: 1320ppm


Is it ok to make that change in an interval of 1.5 weeks ? (2 gal of evaporation on my 20g per week).

 

[Sniperhank]

I have a hard time believing that alk reading. Try testing again.

 

[mrvincent]

I have a hard time believing that alk reading. Try testing again.

Tested it twice already.. same readings... The first shot I didn't believed...
Via RedSea test kit.

I added some Seachem Reef Carbonate (Seachem. Reef Carbonate)

Retested, water raised to 6dKH°. Corals seems healty, except my pagoda with GHA growing on it...

 

[mr_X]

Yes, that's plenty of time to raise it, but yes, 5dkh should have been killing stuff. Is that what you are seeing?

 

[mrvincent]

I have 3 jar of 1g of RODI water with chemicals...

The first one: Seachem. Reef Buffer
Just enough to raise alk to 11-12 dKH.

The second: Seachem. Reef Advantage Magnesium
Enough to add 120ppm to 80L of water (20g).

The third: Kent Marine » Turbo-Calcium | Products
A half teaspoon, there's no weight mesurement on the product.

 

[mrvincent]

Yes, that's plenty of time to raise it, but yes, 5dkh should have been killing stuff. Is that what you are seeing?

What I see is a LOT of GHA growing on my freshly bleached LR, even if NO3 and PO4 are unreadable (PO4<0.03, NO3<0.2).

Also my big polyp pagoda is not going well. My birdsnest grow very fast...
I lost a snail recently...

 

[mr_X]

Why do you wish to raise your alk to 12? I would bring it up to around 8 and leave it there.
How about just doing a few large water changes to correct parameters? The reef buffer is a ph buffer isn't it? I would use the soda ash to raise the alk if need be.
Bryopsis can be controlled with Kent Tech-M. Google "controlling bryopsis with kent tech-m".

 

[ricksreefs]

+1 for water changes


Sent from my iPhone using Aquarium Advice

 

[mrvincent]

K I'll try ajust params, then do a 25% water change. I know my salts are well balanced.

I'll get rid of 1/4 Topoff alk water, so I get 9-10 dKH

 

[mr_X]

The important thing is keeping it stable. If you are saying your water changes aren't keeping alk up, then I would suggest looking into a pair of dosing pumps, or adding soda ash on a daily basis. BRS has some good products that are affordable as well as some good instructional videos.
Water changes will also help with the algae.

 

[mrvincent]

The important thing is keeping it stable. If you are saying your water changes aren't keeping alk up, then I would suggest looking into a pair of dosing pumps, or adding soda ash on a daily basis. BRS has some good products that are affordable as well as some good instructional videos.
Water changes will also help with the algae.

Kh went from 8.6 to 5 in 2 months without WC.
Calcium went from 440 to 390-400 in 2 months without WC.
Mg went from 1390 to 1200 in 2 months without WC.

I dosed nothing except corals nutrients and food during this period.

I'm using RedSea Coral Pro Salts for WC.

 

[mrvincent]

What's the difference between "Seachem Adv Magnesium" and "Kent Tech-M" ?

Kent Tech-M seems bit of Mg dissolved in a lot of water...

 

[mr_X]

I am not sure. They say it may have another ingredient in it that kills the bryopsis. If you googled it, you'll find some lengthy discussions about it.
As far as the water changes, from your test results, it sounds like you could keep your tank stable with a weekly water change regimen. That and remove nutrients that may very well be fueling your hair algae.

 

[Animal-Chin]

Ya unless your tank is huge I'd start with some big water changes. That salt you use should be high in cal/mg/alk and it should do the trick. If you can't maintain with weekly water changes then go with dosing but dosing is tricky to start. If you add too much cal and alk at the same time it will solidify in your tank and kill your pumps and encrust on stuff. You have to raise it all really slowly making sure your alk cal and mg all stay close in range, if one goes to high, others will fall. Its really tricky to get the right numbers by dosing if you are starting low but with water changes you won't have this issue.

I ended up with so many sps that even weekly water changes couldn't keep up with demand, thats when dosing came in. My first shot at it I dosed cal and alk, woke up the next day and my glass was white from the calcification that happened over night, my mag was way too low and I added to much cal and alk all at once.

 

[mr_X]

You should really dose alk and calcium at different times of the day also.

 

[mrvincent]

K. So I'll proceed to my WC tonight, (so long process to osmose new water ).

Then I'll add alk one day, the other mg, the other cal, according to my tests kits.

Can I do two 25% WC in two days ?

 

[carey]

Yes you can do that for water changes.

Now would be a good time to stop dosing crap to get out of water changes, lol. They really are the best way to keep your tank stable.

 

[mrvincent]

Also, I don't understand what's going on with my pagoda... It was clean when I bought it... Then, a part died and lot of GHA is growing on it... Tryed peroxyde, tooth brush, it come back anyways...

It was on a low flow area, I've put it on a mid/semi high flow area to see if something happens... On the video the water flow seems 4x what's in real life...

 

[mrvincent]

I would say everything else look in perfect health...

 

[mr_X]

Well, the short is, it died off and the area where it used to be rotted away and as it rotted algae grew close to it. In my system I have found that nuisance algae lives very close to the nutrient source. For instance, where my fish live, eat, and poop, i have a lot of bubble algae. In the refugiums however, there is very little because the caulerpa absorbs 99% of the nutrients entering the space.