Calcium & KH/Alk Reading (Salifert Test Kit)

[32Bit_Fish]

Hi All,

 

Finally I bought some Salifert test kits for Calcium and KH/Alk.

 

Calcium: 387.5

KH: 9.6

Alk: 33.4

PH: 8.2

 

The acan is receding and one mushroom doesn't open fully like it used to.

 

I use RO/DI water with Instant Ocean salt mix. 25% w/c on a weekly basis.

 

I can't figure what's wrong with it. Thanks

[Weetabix7]

The Calcium reading is a little low.

Could you get it up to at least 420?

Could be something else bugging your corals.

How are ammonia, nitrite and nitrates?

[32Bit_Fish]

The Calcium reading is a little low.

Could you get it up to at least 420?

Could be something else bugging your corals.

How are ammonia, nitrite and nitrates?

 

I didn't test Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate because the tank is 3.5 months old and it's fishless. There are only two fire shrimps and I feed them brine shrimp, mysis shrimp once every other day.

 

The ammonia, nitrate was all at zero when I tested two weeks ago. I have a HOB CPR aquafuge with lots chaetos growing fast.

 

I bought a jar of pickling lime powder. I'm planning to add one tea spoon of the powder in my DIY doser (a coke bottle) and drip dosing the tank. What do you think? I appreciate all inputs/suggestions.

[Weetabix7]

There's no chance the Shrimp are picking at the Corals, is there?

I don't know a lot about Fire Shrimp (except they're pretty and supposed to be Reef-Safe), but I do know that Peppermint Shrimp (who are also supposed to be Reef Safe) will nibble at corals, esp. LPS.

[lakshwadeep]

What are the units for your alkalinity? 33.4 doesn't make sense in dKH, meq/L, or ppm CaCO₃.

http://ozreef.org/library/tables/alkalinity_conversion.html

 

IMO, you should not be dosing unless you have many stony corals. Calcium is in the normal range of 380-450 ppm, so it looks like that isn't the cause of your coral problems, especially for the mushroom coral.

 

What is the tank size, and what kind of lighting are you using?

 

What are the test kit brands for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? If you really have zero nitrates, it could be a sign that nutrients are "too low" for your corals. Have you tried target feeding them?

[32Bit_Fish]

What are the units for your alkalinity? 33.4 doesn't make sense in dKH, meq/L, or ppm CaCO₃.

http://ozreef.org/library/tables/alkalinity_conversion.html

 

IMO, you should not be dosing unless you have many stony corals. Calcium is in the normal range of 380-450 ppm, so it looks like that isn't the cause of your coral problems, especially for the mushroom coral.

 

What is the tank size, and what kind of lighting are you using?

 

What are the test kit brands for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates? If you really have zero nitrates, it could be a sign that nutrients are "too low" for your corals. Have you tried target feeding them?

 

I think I reported wrong dKH, i think it should be 3.34 (not 33.4).

 

The fire shrimps only come out at night and I have never seen them pick at any corals during the day.

38G tank with 4x39w T5 fixture

 

API test kit for Ammonia , nitriate. I've tried to target feed the acan couple times. But not on a weekly basis.

[Amphiprion1]

I think I reported wrong dKH, i think it should be 3.34 (not 33.4).

 

The fire shrimps only come out at night and I have never seen them pick at any corals during the day.

38G tank with 4x39w T5 fixture

 

API test kit for Ammonia , nitriate. I've tried to target feed the acan couple times. But not on a weekly basis.

 

Okay, but you have two different readings on alkalinity (and for all intents and purposes, alkalinity is carbonate hardness/KH (there are other ions that contribute, but they do so to a much lesser extent). Are you simply dividing the 9 dKH to get milliequivalents per liter (still doesn't quite add up, though)?

[lakshwadeep]

Sorry for confusing you. dKH is also a unit for alkalinity measurement; "3.34" sounds like meq/L units. KH comes from the German "Karbonathärte" (carbonate hardness), and dKH stands for degrees KH. These degrees relative to ppm are analagous to converting Fahrenheit and Celsius temperature values.

 

Did you recently change the lighting? T5s can cause some corals to shrink. I know that any mushrooms in my 20 gallon high barely survive when facing direct light under 4x24W T5s.

[32Bit_Fish]

I'm looking at the KH Alkalinity value table that comes with my Salifert test kit.

 

My test result for KH is 9.6 in dKH and that equal to Alkalinity value of 3.43 in meq/L. Both values are in the same row of the table. The table consists of two columns (The test reading in ML's, KH value in dKH and Alkalinity in meq/L).

 

The mushroom was doing fine for the first week in my tank. Then it started to closing after that. I guess I have to wait and see.

 

I did another 10% w/c this morning. The acan isn't doing well and I probably going to loss it. I went back to the fish store that I bought my acan from. The same batch of acan is also receding and look pale. The acan frags were under LED light in their tank. All of them came from Australia according to the store owner. Maybe I just bought a frag from a weak batch.

 

I already moved the acan to the sandbed and behind a small rock to reduce water flow. See how that goes.

 

I have several zoas, white tip torch, hammer heads and pink tip green frog spawn. They are all doing fine. I am just wondering whether I should start dosing pickling lime to my tank since there are several animals in my tank require Calcium to grow. I also have two large fire shrimps.