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Need help with sps

F

Flare1185

I might try carbon dosing in the future but for now I'll give the bio pellets a few more weeks they're slowly degrading. Also just check my po4 and it's down.
* .68 phosphate
I know you're suppose to change the GFO when your po4 climbs up, is there any other way to tell when the GFO is exausted beside testing each day?
 
GluttonousSolarWrasse

GluttonousSolarWrasse

You're pretty much going to have to test a lot. I think every other day is fine to test for phosphate anyway. This is what I do: Alk, salinity, pH and temp get recorded everyday in my tank, Calcium, Phosphate, Nitrate, and Magnesium get tested every other day. When your phosphate is as high as it is, your going to be changing GFO fairly often, maybe every 14 days or so. When It drops down, your probably going to be changing it much, much less often. The only way you're going to know is by testing it frequently.
 
F

Flare1185

I made out like a bandit at John's aka Howez's place and Olivier's last night with a bag of frags. Here's my parameter
* .54 Phosphate
* 10.52 Alk
* 1170 Mag
* 595 Calcium
* 2.5 Nitrate

I also had Olivier check my water just to double check my test kit and they were pretty much similar.
* 0.53 Phosphate
* 9.54 Alk
* 470 Calcium
* 1385 Mag
I also added some pictures so you guys won't get bored while reading my post.
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F

Flare1185

Just put new GFO yesterday. Now phosphate is down to .21. Slowly but surely getting there. Also a buddy of mine lent my his XP2000 Reef Octopus skimmer to try out for awhile. Also added ATO so that should make my tank a little more stable. I haven't seen any growth on the new sps addition but they're only been in there about week.
 
F

Flare1185

Phosphate down to .18 but I haven't seen any growth on any sps. Also seeing some zoas closed. I did a 5 gl water change to see if it'll help. I'm going to test alk, cal, and mag to tomorrow to see where they're at.
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
i wouldnt worry about no growth as of yet. It really hasn't been that long. It usually takes SPS a little bit to adjust to new water params and all. Keep doing what you're doing and you'll get there!
 
Olivier

Olivier

sps growth requires adjustment and time provide that you keep up with your cleanup and keep all parameter at optimum level. coral growth is not like crabgrass growth. time, time and time
 
F

Flare1185

Started getting algae on my frag plug so I'm going to try dipping them in peroxide. What's everyone opinion on GAC is it necessary for having a healthy tank? I never really ran GAC and I just switched out my GFO last night. P04 was climbing again to .28.
 
Olivier

Olivier

don't mess the tank too much. keep your 15% water change (which include vacuum your tank and blast your rock). you might cause more stress to the tank than fixing it.
 
F

Flare1185

Thanks for the tip, I'll stick with what I'm doing now. I've seen some slight growth on the setosa howze kindly gave me. Jon if your reading this pm me and let me know when you want a frag of my fruitloops I remember you stating that you lost yours.
 
F

Flare1185

Been neglecting on my testing but kept up with my water weekly water changes. Here's my latest test result.
0.1 p04
14.4 dkh alk
546 Cal
1230 Mag
50 Nitrate
Haven't seen much changes to the sps but my zoas are slowly growing. Frogspawn and hammer are really extending their heads during lights on hours and my lobo is looking healthier with nice fat heads. Any tips on how to get my nitrate down is it too high? I misread my test result for them before.
 
howze01

howze01

NJRC Member
I'd say calcium and mag are a bit off too. Nitrates can be solved many ways. More frequent and larger water changes, carbon dosing (vinegar, vodka, sugar, bio pellets), chaeto or other macro... I'm sure there are other ways Im not remembering too. I know CJ has been dosing vodka and it's worked out well. Nitrates are pretty much 0 now along with PO4. With any method (besides maybe macro) start slow and work up. Start with 1/2 to a 1/3 of recommended doses and gradually increase.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
If your alk was 14 all your corals would probably be dead, I think that was a mis reading. Your calc is pretty high and your mag is decent, so I don't think your alk could be that high. Might want to retest or pickup a hannah checker.
 
F

Flare1185

All my parameters for P04, Alk, and Calc was checked with Hanna Checker, I'll double check again for my Alk but it state in the instruction whatever number you get you multiple by .056 to find the dkh which was around 257. I have BRS bio pellets going but doesn't seem to be helping. It's been almost 4 weeks. I'll give it a little more time before I try dosing vinegar.
 
F

Flare1185

Didn't even know they have different reagent choices? My alk is liquid form. I just bought some replacements reagents but haven't open it yet because my liquid is still half full. I'll retest via the new reagents and see if it differentiate.
 
F

Flare1185

I tested water from someone else tank and their alk was 6.3 Alk and retested my tank again and it's still crazy high 14.7 alk. I think it is due to my ATO with kalkwasser, should I just stop adding kalk to the ATO or is there another way to slowly get my alk down? Everything in my tank looks normal.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
I would take the kalk offline and dose some calcium (not a ton) to help bring the alk down. If your alk is consistently this high I think we discovered why your corals are not doing well. Ideally your alk should be around 8-9, high alk will cause tip burn and tissue loss around the base of the coral and then the coral will go. High alk will also close softies down pretty quickly too. Fun fact: Xenia hates high alk and can kind of act as a canary in a coal mine sort of thing.

Going back over your first post you will see your alk goes from 9 to 11 over a very short period of time. From there, several weeks later it is even higher. I think that is your main cause of not keeping SPS. Your phosphates are also really high and that will hinder coral growth and color but for death I think Alk is your culprit.
 
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