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russianrick
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 11:55am |
Here are my water params:
SG - 1.024 - 1.025 temp - 74 - 80 Ammonia - 0 Nitrite - 0 Nitrate - 0 pH - 7.8 - 8.0
I have an open sump with bio balls and the largest protein skimmer that I could fit in my cabinet (reef dynamics ins-100) and my tank is 80 gallons. The temperature is a range because it fluctuates during a 24 hour cycle as the lights start to warm things up during the day and then it cools off at night. I have had problems with cyano, but I just added a bunch of live sand and that seems to help, but I am planning on getting a bunch more snails and crabs since I don't have more than maybe 20 snails and crabs in my tank. I don't have too many fish (2 4" black oscelaris clowns, 2 2" green chromis, and 1 4" yellow tang)
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CapnMorgan
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 1:01pm |
You pH is low at 7.8-8.0 it should be around 8.3, what are your calcium and alkalinity?
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Steve My Old 180G Mixed ReefCurrently: 120G Wavefront Mixed 29G Seahorse & Softies Running ReefAngel Plus x2 435-8
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russianrick
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 1:04pm |
I don't know what my calcium and alkalinity are, I don't have tests for those yet. Can you recommend a way to raise the pH without using buffers? I am somewhat opposed to using chemicals and would rather do things naturally.
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bstuver
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 1:10pm |
In a salt tank you really need to know the calcium and alk levels they are two of the most important ones. Along with Magnesium. The acros I got from Chris all died by the next day and polluted my whole tank it really sucked. As Steve said that second one is pretty much a goner:(
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Jackie Stuver
"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
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russianrick
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 1:21pm |
I actually have chunks of limestone in my tank to help a little with naturally buffering the water and I have been reading about adding baking soda to the water to help raise the pH and alkalinity (buffering the pH), but have any of you had any experience with using baking soda? Would it be better to crush up one of these dead acros and put it back in the tank? I don't like doing anything drastic with my tank, as it usually proves stupid no matter what it is. I once heard that nothing good happens quickly in an aquarium, so I try not to change things too much when I do. My pH usually stays pretty stable, so I would assume that my alkalinity is decent. Either way, I realize that I need to go out and get some tests for alkalinity and calcium now that I have stony corals.
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WhiteReef
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 3:52pm |
I have used baking soda and love it. There are a lot of people the use it to maintain Alk with good success. The dead acro can be just crushed up and put back in, but I would be cautious as mentioned that it could cause some issues if there are dying parts as it could pollute the tank. You need to add chemicals to your tank to help ensure proper coral health and growth. You can either purchase them pre-formulated in a liquid form or you can mix your own for Alk/Ca/Mg. There are recipes for each of them, and a lot of people use them. If you do not want to add chemicals to feed your corals, you will need to do water changes frequently to keep things stable. The only concern with water changes is that if the salt mix changes, so will your tank parameters. Either way it takes stable water parameters including Alk/Ca/Mg to keep corals happy. Your thought about just adding in the chunks of limestone to naturally buffer your tank will have some affect, but usually the demand of your corals will far out reach what the limestone will add to the tank. Limestone is used in calcium reactors, but it only desolves in a low pH. That is why CO2 is added to lower the pH in the reactor chamber. My recommendation would be to get a test kit to know what your Alk/Ca/Mg values are. Then based on the levels of each will determine what you need to supplement your tank with, and how much. Since every tank is different you just need to test and test to make sure things are stable. As an example, I have to add in Alk every day to keep it stable. My 46G tank loses about .5 Alk every day, and it is not heavily stocked. The Ca and Mg usually stay rather stable and only lower slightly, and require less frequent dosing.
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Richard
Former 47G Column Reef, Magna 20" x 18" x 31"H
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russianrick
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 4:17pm |
I realize there is an added bio load any time that you have something die in your tank, but is there an extra danger to having a dying acro in your tank? Should I just take this thing out of my tank as it is? Both WhiteReef and bstuver mention a dying acro polluting the tank. Do they release other toxins as they die that I should be careful of?
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bstuver
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 4:25pm |
I myself would pull it out as when mine died off it really polluted the tank. You mention only testing alk and cal because you have stony corals but when I had mostly softies I still had to test and dose.
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Jackie Stuver
"wait these aren't the happy Hawaiians oompa doompa godly heaven on your face zoas? I dont want them then. lol!" Ksmart
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russianrick
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Posted: August 18 2011 at 4:31pm |
When I say that, I am mostly referring to the fact that I had a fish only tank for a long time except for anemones and so calcium was never really a huge issue and since I didn't have any problems with pH fluctuating I didn't really worry about alkalinity, because I know I didn't have anything that was really consuming the calcium that came from my salt mix out of the water.
For something that doesn't seem to be very fleshy, it sure seems to collect algae pretty quickly, although that might just be a function of the texture of the surface of the branches.
Edited by russianrick - August 18 2011 at 4:31pm
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russianrick
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Posted: August 19 2011 at 3:42pm |
I checked my pH last night and it is a wonderful 8.4. The 7.8-8.0 that I measured last was right after I had added a bunch of new live mud to my aquariumand was checking that there wasn't anything seriously out of whack with the chemistry while the dust settled. Always got to look out for the fishies;)
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: August 20 2011 at 10:43am |
if it were me, I'd act very quickly to either move the coral to a tank that has other healthy SPS, or to immediately follow the advice of this message board to get the tank in a healthy condition before that coral completely dies. pH matters little, as long as Alkalinity and Calcium levels are within range and the water is moving properly to allow gas exchange at the water surface. The tank is not covered with a lid, is it? I grew tons of coral from around 1996 until this year when I moved and sold it all. I am known for giving my frank and honest opinion. I hope that doesn't offend you. Looking at the 2 pics my opinion is that both coral are stressed. Even the one you say is the healthy one looks to be in pretty bad shape. Polyps are retracted, color is not uniform across the branches, and it's mostly brown. By the appearance of the rock, my guess is that this is a fairly new tank, or that it is lacking the biological diversity and stability to ensure healthy coral growth. If you would like to show us a pic of the entire tank, test the Alkalinity and Calcium and give us the numbers, we can help you. I would also suggest reading the Reefkeeping Tips thread linked below in my sig line, to help you have the best experience at keeping a reef aquarium.
Edited by Mark Peterson - August 20 2011 at 10:49am
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russianrick
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Posted: August 20 2011 at 12:35pm |
Biodiversity is something I am working on and I am grateful for your frank and forward words. I realize that several of these corals are quite stressed and I am doing my best to keep things stable for them. I have already removed all but a small piece of the dying coral and my tank does have really good surface disturbance with a well ventilated hood and an open sump with a large protein skimmer. The tank is a little more than a year old, but was moved a little over a month ago and was really a fish only tank before now as I didn't have the lighting to support corals until about 10 months ago. I know I have increased my bio diversity a lot over the last month as I have adopted a lot of the life from a friend's dying tank, but is there anything you can suggest? I will try to get a full tank shot up shortly.
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russianrick
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Posted: August 20 2011 at 12:42pm |
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