WTF Am I Doing Wrong??

[dz6t]

What type of light do you have?

 

[CoralJunkie]

I'm having the same issue and my alk is at 8... I just increased the flow a bit to see if it helps. It's just strange how my zoas went from growing so much even under the frag plugs to shrinking up and disappearing.

 

[delta]

the alkaline is 13

should i worry about the calcium?

yes both are high

I would dial both back into a reasonable range

You can do some water changes to reduce them over the next few weeks or dial back your dosing or however you are maintaining Ca/Alk

I would also start testing Mg as that will help keep them in balance

 

[delta]

I'm having the same issue and my alk is at 8... I just increased the flow a bit to see if it helps. It's just strange how my zoas went from growing so much even under the frag plugs to shrinking up and disappearing.

Did you dip them when you brought them in? if not try a peroxide dip and see if that helps.

 

[CoralJunkie]

Yeah I dipped them and I see no signs of any pests... I'm stumped

 

[Tooch81]

Didn't know any of that!?!?!

I am not using RODI but my evap is very minimal because it's a pretty sealed lid. And since i do a 20% replace every two weeks, i've never had to worry about it.

 

[Tooch81]

Mg and calcium work together. Sometimes one can be high and the other low. Adjusting them to be within the recommended ranges help stabilize. As for dosing -- do you add any chemicals to your system such as stuff to get rid of algae, medications .... while the bottle says reef safe some corals still get really grumpy.


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I am not dosing with anything because i thought everything was close to in-line?

 

[Tooch81]

13 is a bit high for alkalinity. I would shoot for 8-9 mag 1400 and calcium 450 or so for sps 420 but that comes later after you can keep things where you want at will

What should i used to adjust the alk, mg and calcium?

 

[Tooch81]

yes both are high

I would dial both back into a reasonable range

You can do some water changes to reduce them over the next few weeks or dial back your dosing or however you are maintaining Ca/Alk

I would also start testing Mg as that will help keep them in balance

I think that is the underlying question. What should i used to maintain my Ca/Alk? Also what should i used to test/maintain my Mg?

 

[JohnK]

If Ca and alk are both high the first thing I would do is to double check however you are measuring the salinity. If the SG is abnormally high then it is easy to have those levels elevated and cause plenty of stress for your livestock.

 

[ebattistoni]

The next time you mix up some salt water test its parameters first. That will give you a baseline for what is normal. Dong suggested that to me when my tank went nuts. It will help you to know what your test kits read. Different brands will return different results (Api vs sailfert vs Red Sea and so on). And then compare the baseline to your tank to see if it's just how your kits read or your tank is off. Also test for mg. all three Alk mg and ca work together. If one is out of sync you can piss off your corals. I use Red Sea for mg because it was what the LFS had in stock.

And what kind of lights again? I saw dong asked but maybe I missed the reply.


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[reefstarter]

most good fish stores have RO/DI water you can get pretty cheap I recomend getting an Ro.di filter look em up . also since you are using tap invest in a poly filter or 3 run those till they turn color and toss em . to get alk and calcium and salinity down change water using RO water only but not too much do a test in a bucket to see what amount will drop how much . DO NOT change things more than 1/2 a point a day on alkalinity stability is more important than it being correct . but being correct is important too , key is to not make too many sudden changes . where are you located ? I'll see if I can make it by and give you a hand

 

[Tooch81]

If Ca and alk are both high the first thing I would do is to double check however you are measuring the salinity. If the SG is abnormally high then it is easy to have those levels elevated and cause plenty of stress for your livestock.

I just took my refractometer (sp) to tuned and it was spot on. I tested the stores water and it was exact and then i came back and tested mine and it was still 1.024. Unfortunately or fortunately the salinity is right.

 

[Tooch81]

The next time you mix up some salt water test its parameters first. That will give you a baseline for what is normal. Dong suggested that to me when my tank went nuts. It will help you to know what your test kits read. Different brands will return different results (Api vs sailfert vs Red Sea and so on). And then compare the baseline to your tank to see if it's just how your kits read or your tank is off. Also test for mg. all three Alk mg and ca work together. If one is out of sync you can piss off your corals. I use Red Sea for mg because it was what the LFS had in stock.

And what kind of lights again? I saw dong asked but maybe I missed the reply.


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Good advice. I'll give that a try before my next water change. I already have 25G made in storage but i haven't tested it yet.

 

[Tooch81]

most good fish stores have RO/DI water you can get pretty cheap I recomend getting an Ro.di filter look em up . also since you are using tap invest in a poly filter or 3 run those till they turn color and toss em . to get alk and calcium and salinity down change water using RO water only but not too much do a test in a bucket to see what amount will drop how much . DO NOT change things more than 1/2 a point a day on alkalinity stability is more important than it being correct . but being correct is important too , key is to not make too many sudden changes . where are you located ? I'll see if I can make it by and give you a hand

Thanks. I'm in Roslindale and could use help...a lot of help. As for the RODI filter, i'm not sure how i would set it up on a biocube. And finally, what would i do with the poly filters? Would i put them in the filtration system along with the current ones (http://www.amazon.com/Coralife-2-Pa...qid=1432775914&sr=8-1&keywords=biocube+filter) and the bioballs?

 

[ryanyde]

I'd guess:
1) Flow
2) Do you have algae? If algae aren't growing then you have some missing nutrients
3) Light is too intense: my yellow polyps never open up, but only the ones directly under the LEDs.

I'd try using less light; different coral have different light needs, and sometimes too much is not good, even for Zoas.

So i have two issues and i'm very confused about both??

1) all of my snails have been eaten by my crabs? The crabs are not starving by any stretch of the imagination but for some reason 2 of them keep going after the snails? Is this one of those "just get rid of the crab because its 'bad'" or is it something i'm doing wrong?
2) My zoas are shriving up and dying? When i got all 4 of them, they were big and vibrant, now they barely open and are shrinking? what am i doing wrong? All my parameters are below and nothing has really changed in the past several weeks. I'm so lost right now because my fish are great but my corals are just @#$%@#. 3 of the zoas are 5+ weeks old, one is 2+ weeks old and the polyp is also 5+ week old. None have grown at all....they just keep shrinking.

Any help/advice/comments/info? I'm completely scratching my head because nothing had changed in 7+ weeks?

30G biocube
40lbs live sand
15lbs live rock

Lighting
lunar blue glow LED - 24/7
actinic lights - 8-11AM and 7-10PM
10000K daylight fluorescent 10AM-8PM

Temp - 79F-80F

5G water change every other week

Levels
pH - 8.0-8.2
Ammonia - 0ppm
Nitrite - 0ppm
Nitrate - 0ppm
Phosphate - .25ppm
Calcium - 480ppm
Hardness - 232 ppm KH

Fish
2 black and white ocellaris clowns
1 blue velvet damsel
1 green spot goby

Inverts/Snails
1 emerald crab
1 blood red shrimp
1 scarlet skunk shrimp
2 scarlet reef crabs
2 electric blue hermit crabs
2 bumble bee snails

Coral
1 2" round green star polyp
4 various zooanthid polyps in various sizes (the eagle eye is now gone?? Just flat out gone, off the rock and not in the tank?)

 

[dz6t]

Generally speaking, zoas are not very sensitive to alk and Cal level. What exactly are you using for light? What type? How many watts?

 

[delta]

If Ca and alk are both high the first thing I would do is to double check however you are measuring the salinity. If the SG is abnormally high then it is easy to have those levels elevated and cause plenty of stress for your livestock.

I would reiterate what John is saying here and get a second set of eye. Bring your water to LFS and have it tested. preferably one that is well versed on reef tanks.

Spmetimes what we are missing is a mistake in testing and it is always one of the best ways to trouble shoot(getting other eyes) problems

Typically when both ALk and Ca go up balanced as they are here your salinity would be high as well. Refractomer are good but they still can give false reading. calibration solution can be bad or if you used RODI to calibrate it, you could get false readings

 

[wolffman1992]

Most likely lights unless they are the stock biocube lights. Zoas are pretty tough to kill. The alk is high but idk if it's enough to kill the zoas. Could be sundial snails. They are tiny, only come out at night, and eat zoas. If you used live rock from a fish store they could have been a hitch hiker. If you used dry rock then probably not an issue

 

[delta]

High alk can have an effect and obviously it is a problem on the whole regardless of his Zoas issues. his tests point to high salinity, but his refractomer is reading 1.024, but that doesn't mean it is right. it is like calibrating you refractomer with RODI you have the comfort of thinking you calibrated the refractomer but you are getting incorrect reading as it is not a solid standard.

My point is not to say do not look at pests or lighting, just in the process of troubleshooting lets get the whole tank in order and double check it to make sure it is where the tests are telling them it is.