My 29 gallon reef

[carey]

Unless the ph shifted quickly I dont think that is the issue. The nitrates could be making him unhappy though, nems are very particular about their water. I wpuld get those trates down best you can and give him a few days and see if that helps.

Sorry I couldnt be of more help. :-( But good luck with him.

[TigerBarbs]

Okay thanks Carey. I'll do a 10 gallon water change and be super extra careful about feeding. Do u think that taking a couple rocks out and blasting them with tank water would help? I've heard of people doing that to free all the detritus.

[carey]

I use a turkey baster to blast crap off my rocks from time to time. Works pretty good too and beats taking rock out of the tank.

[TigerBarbs]

I'll try that my only concern with doing that is won't it collect all over the sand after?

[scottayy]

Your powerhead(s) should suspend the detritus and most of it should be removed by your mechanical filtration system (filter sock, sponge, etc?).

Then blast it again later to do the same thing. I used a small powerhead and really blasted the rocks before ;d

[TigerBarbs]

My calcium is 550 without ever dosing. And my alk is 3.12. My lfs said that the high calcium could be the issue with my nem. Not very familiar with alk. Could it be the issue too?

[Leighton79]

550 is ridiculously high, are you sure your test kits are accurate? Also I'm unfamiliar with alk on that scale, but it should be 8-12 dkh, I like to keep mine around 9.5

[TigerBarbs]

I know it surprised me too. Ive been doing water changes about every 4 or 5 days with reef crystals. My lfs did it with salifert.

[Leighton79]

Originally Posted by TigerBarbs

I know it surprised me too. Ive been doing water changes about every 4 or 5 days with reef crystals. My lfs did it with salifert.

I use salifert and I'll tell you that it measures from 0-500 ppm, so I'm unsure how they get to 550....?

[TigerBarbs]

Actually I'm not sure if it was salifert because I had them test alk calc and nitrate. I saw a salifert and a lamotte test kit so maybe it was lamotte.

[Leighton79]

I'm unfamiliar with that brand, I'm not sure we have it over here in the UK.

I'd double check with a salifert kit. Also check your DKH, the most important of the alk, mag and cal triangle IMO.

[TigerBarbs]

They said that was freakin 3.8!!! How does that work??

[Leighton79]

It's on a different scale, German I think, let me have a look for a conversion table, just a mo...

[Leighton79]

1 KH = 0.357 meq/L

2 KH = 0.71 meq/L

3 KH = 1.07 meq/L

4 KH = 1.42 meq/L

5 KH 1.78 meq/L

6 KH = 2.14 meq/L

7 KH = 2.5 meq/L

8 KH = 2.85 meq/L

9 KH = 3.21 meq/L

10 KH = 3.57 meq/L

11 KH = 3.92 meq/L

12 KH = 4.28 meq/L

13 KH = 4.64 meq/L

14 KH = 5 meq/L

15 KH = 5.35 meq/L

16 KH = 5.71 meq/L

[TigerBarbs]

Ok so my dkh is fine right

[Leighton79]

Yes, I'd say so. I'd rather have it higher than lower. Low promotes algae, which I don't like.

[TigerBarbs]

So do you think it's the high calcium that is causing my nem to shrivel up or is it the 8.8 nitrates

[TigerBarbs]

After reading a little bit, I saw online that if the calcium is really high than the alk should be low and if it isn't, the test kit is off. Is this true?

[TigerBarbs]

When feeding my tank today, I thought about feeding my ricordea and palys. It was cool!!! The ric was super sticky and he closed pretty quick on those mysis. The palys are fun to watch too!

[TigerBarbs]

My calc, alk, and mag test kits come next week. Also my refractometer. Im excited!! If my nem doesn't spring back after a water change, I'll probably bring him back to the lfs.