Chemistry and anemone
Printed From: Utah Reefs
Category: Help
Forum Name: EMERGENCY FORUM
Forum Description: If you have an Emergency post here and you should receive a quick reply.
URL: http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=78753
Printed Date: April 25 2024 at 1:50pm
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 12.03 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Chemistry and anemone
Posted By: Mejeremy
Subject: Chemistry and anemone
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 10:33am
|
My tank has been a journey. Small 30 gal hexagon with a HOB filter. I will link build thread later... Now I have changed some things from good advice a friend gave me... Thanks mark! I took off the hob filter and put a double power head sun sun Jvp mounted to a rock at the bottom Of the tank and pointed it up. Then I took off the tiny skimmer and gave it a nice clean look. I kept all the macro algae and just hid it in the rocks. Thus all began because my zoanthid closed up and got black tips! However I took things too far. I started testing calcium and it didn't register. To get the formula to change from pink to blue I had to put in 1 ml and another half ml. Which according to the chart would be negative. I put 1 cup of calcium in to help it register. Still didn't work and so I dumped a little more without measuring. Dumb. My anemome has hidden do for 2 days and now I found it in a rock shrunk to a tiny little thing. It isn't dead yet because when I touched it it latched back on the rock. I would like to 1. move my anemome it to someone's tank for it to heal 2. and get my alk tested this morning, but I don't own a test, 3. Get my parameters back 4. I will pay for help Thanks Jeremy 801-910-6994  
|
Replies:
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 10:47am
|
I would do a big water change (like 80-90%). Use good quality salt and that will get your perameters where they need to be. When you say you put the macro algae in the rock, it is still getting light? |
Posted By: Fatman
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 10:54am
|
I believe the reason the CA didn't read on the test kit is that the CA was high to begin with. Adding more only exacerbated the problem. My kit tells me that when I've used 1 ml of solution the CA level is at 500 PPM, adding another 0.5 ml would take it to 750 ppm. I'm using a Red Sea test kit, what are you using? Hogie is right, a BIG water change with a good salt is in order. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 11:25am
|
Instead of going to all of the trouble of a big water change, get the Alk tested ASAP. I would test Ca again, too. I can do it. Bring me some water. High Ca won't hurt anything in the tank Anemones always move around but the elevated Ca probably has something to do with it. The Alk may have been somewhat low, as it always is when nothing has been done about it. It may also be low because of the high Ca. Simply adding Alk often brings the Ca down and makes everything okay. I have a bottle of Alk solution for you also.  There's your text just coming in on my phone. Ok, let's get this completed.Aloha, Mark  ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member 
|
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 11:30am
| It's a small 30 Gallon tank. It's not hassle to do a water change. |
Posted By: AcroNem
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 1:01pm
|
I also think a big water change would help a lot. It really wouldn't take long and will help things to equialize. ------------- 150G mixed reef, growing coral farm. Thirteenth year keeping reefs, always here to talk fish. 801-850-7577. |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 2:56pm
|
A water change may not seem like a hassle to some. Yet if the water chemistry is off, it's important to know the numbers. This information gives us clues as to the current health of the tank and its health history. I'm kind of an engineer, a chemist and an investigator. I like to know what's going on and why. I have learned over the years how to fix these issues. I don't feel comfortable with doing water changes to correct problems because that may cover up the root issues that created the problem in the first place. Okay, we tested a sample of tank water. Alk = 9 dKH Ca = 370 ppm It looks like the addition of a fair amount of Ca supplement was actually a good thing. It's a good thing overall, even if the anemone didn't like the improvement in water chemistry. This tells me that Alk was probably much higher before the addition of liquid Ca. That confirms my initial thought last week that high Alk was the reason some zoanthids burned a little. According to Jeremy, this morning everything else is doing just fine. - Regular water changes of 10% monthly will give the tank what it needs. - I'd highly recommend throwing a bag of ~0.5-1 cup of Activated Carbon(AC) down near the powerhead or hanging just below the water surface in the back for a couple weeks each month. AC cleans specific stuff out of the water that Macroalgae, Skimmer and regular water changes can't do. FYI, Macroalgae growth and AC use can do pretty much the same thing a skimmer can do, plus more. Aloha, Mark P.S.  I have extra AC for sale, just $4/lb. ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: Hogie
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 5:05pm
| Man, if it were my tank (and it looks like from the posts anyone else's tank but Mark) I'd do a water change. |
Posted By: Reefer4Ever
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 6:42pm
|
What kind of calcium did you dump in just over a cup of and only brought it to 370? It's only a 30 gal tank, something seems amiss here to me. ------------- 90 gal reef w/refugium 24 gal softie tank 11 gal nano anemone tank 5 gal fresh water |
Posted By: Mark Peterson
Date Posted: January 12 2016 at 7:47pm
It is Peladow Driveway Heat dissolved in RO water, but the jug contains less than a full strength solution. Evidently, the Ca was so low the tank water in the test vial was going blue almost immediately.  I don't know how long it's been since a water change was done on this tank, but with everything doing okay... a water change may do something, but it may also make no noticeable difference. If in doubt, might as well do it. I understand that the filter cartridge in the recently removed HOB filter was quite old so running some AC as I described above will definitely help. Aloha, Mark ------------- Reefkeeping Tips, & quick, easy setup tricks: www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9244 Pay it forward - become a paid WMAS member
|
Posted By: phys
Date Posted: January 13 2016 at 2:40am
| Hmm |