LVCaniac Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 from your pictures it looks like you still have a bit of cyano in your tank. if you can get rid of that i bet your duncan will open back up. All of my corals closed up when i had my outbreak. I did a 70-80% WC and everything opened back up the next day and i havent had any cyano/red algae since. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 yeah there is still some. definatly not as bad as before. just a couple spots about quarter size and some on the rocks. its not completely covering the sand any more. water change day is wednesday so will suck all that crap out again. Link to comment
LVCaniac Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 try really stirring the sand around. that might help get any of the lingering causes of the crap Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 last time i stirred up my sand some is when it the cyano came in full force. i think why it came back after the last water change is because i left a couple little pieces by accident. Link to comment
LVCaniac Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 hopefully it will be gone soon. i know what a pain in the butt it is Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 yeah hopefully. im getting tired of looking at it lol. also im planning on fragging one of my zoa frags. never done it before but read the guide on zoa id. i have one frag that has 3 zoa polyps and 1 paly but they are spread far apart and are not spreading. gonna try to put them close together on a plug and see what happens. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Everything in the tank is young, nothing is going to spread yet, they're still trying to adapt to water conditions. I'd suggest leaving them alone for right now. too much change, and you don't want to cause them more stress. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 well im seeing new polyps on most of the other zoas. plus the rock the zoas are on is the one having the bubble algae so i want to get it out of there. this will also be a learning experience since ive never fragged anything before. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 I did have one polyp that fell away somehow on it's own so that one I was able to glue to a frag plug and then w/in 1.5 2 mos it made 2 more polyps but that's my only attempt thus far. Good luck. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 new zoas are opening up nicely http://s315.photobucket.com/user/t8raff/media/20130618_114111_zps2d269710.jpg.html'> acan is nice and puffy as well http://s315.photobucket.com/user/t8raff/media/20130618_114117_zpsea52cfdb.jpg.html'> Link to comment
Stkef9 Posted June 18, 2013 Share Posted June 18, 2013 Have you had a chance to test the alkalinity? Talking to a local reefer she said one big cause of Duncan's closing is due to low alkalinity. Just an idea... Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 18, 2013 Author Share Posted June 18, 2013 I should be getting the test kit today. Hopfully its there when i get home tonight. Ill be testing alk, ca and mg. Ill post the results on here when i do them. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 okay got my test kit in and did the tests. man those instructions were confusing as hell but you tube helped out. here are my results alk- 8.1 mg- too low for my scale, guesstimating around 620 ca- 300 now.. where should these levels be and what should i do? they are all low so i know i will have to dose. gonna go buy that stuff tomorrow. Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 Are you using Reef Crystals? If you're mxing RO/DI with that you should be fine. My calcium is always in the 400s and it has all the trace elements, takes care of pH and all that, so alkalinity should be good too. If not use an alkaline buffer. pH and alkalinity go together so it should take care of both. Alkanity should be 10 or 11 I believe. pH I believe is good in the low 8, like 8.1 or 8.2 Just change it gradually over the next 2 water changes or something. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 no i dont use reef crystals. i got my salt for free from work. its what they use for the lobster tanks. its not the best salt in the world but it was free so im gonna use it. what should my levels be at? Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 19, 2013 Author Share Posted June 19, 2013 alright today was water change day. also went to petco to buy alk, ca and mg to dose. i did a 10 percent water change and tested everything again. nothing really changed. did 1 dose of each of what the bottle said http://s315.photobucket.com/user/t8raff/media/20130619_175430_zpse0a881c9.jpg.html'> that was a few hours ago. just got done testing everything again and here are the new levels alk 9.5 ca 310 mg still too low to read. around 620 still what will be the safest yet quickest way to level up my mg? from what ive been reading i need to almost double what i have right now. also here are new pics http://s315.photobucket.com/user/t8raff/media/20130619_140559_zps8e4408af.jpg.html'> fragged those zoas today. one is already opening again http://s315.photobucket.com/user/t8raff/media/20130619_173123_zps1249d52f.jpg.html'> new fts. i moved the scape over a few more inches and flipped the rock on the right over and froggy is in the sand again. also guy at the lfs gave me another duncan frag. i didnt want to take it because of the problems im having with the other but one thing lead to another and its in my tank. http://s315.photobucket.com/user/t8raff/media/20130619_130721_zpsd6cebf04.jpg.html'> Link to comment
venturalvn Posted June 19, 2013 Share Posted June 19, 2013 As for dosing, just take your time. Don't try to go heavy on dosing immediately, you'll just stress the system and the corals. Slowly but surely you'll get there. Your frags are looking great! I love those acans! Too bad your duncan is being so finnicky. It's pretty common for those, though. Link to comment
Super CatPig Posted June 20, 2013 Share Posted June 20, 2013 Your alk at 8dkh isn't bad. 9dkh is the sweet spot. With your calcium shoot for 420 and Magnesium shoot for around 1350. Like venturalvn stated go slow with dosing.. Obviously things can live with parameters off but huge swings in these parameters can cause more problems than them being off in the first place. I believe with Calcium you shouldn't add over 50ppm per day. With alk no more than adding 1.4dkh. Not sure about mag though.. I just got my test kit as well. (Doing a search i read its something like don't add over 100ppm per day.) I try to stay below those warnings though to be on the safe side. I also try to wait at least a half hour between dosing chemicals. I'm not sure if it is necessary but no ill effects here. Use Seachams dosing calculators for what you bought. (I assume your products will be listed in there somewhere) I'm not sure if fluval has calculators.. Double/triple check to make sure you are getting the right numbers for the correct chemicals. The first time I dosed I typed my info in wrong and killed some shrimp after adding a crap load of alk so just be sure you calculate things properly. is a good brs video on how calcium, alkalinity and mag works together.. You may want to test your source mixture as well to see where you are starting at or figure out what salt brand they are using to see what others like/dislike about it. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 20, 2013 Author Share Posted June 20, 2013 Thanks for the info! Ill check out those calculators when i get home. I beleive my alk is good now. Checked it last night and got 9.5 everything else is low. Would the ca and mg being low be the reason why my duncan is acting up? Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 21, 2013 Author Share Posted June 21, 2013 Well guys found out my favorite lfs might be shutting its doors. He is blowing out his inventory at stupid cheap prices. I rushed in before work today and picked up 2 pieces.. ill leave them a surprise until i can get a good pic of them. He said he might get one or two more shipments in before the end of the month so might try to pick up more stuff. Link to comment
Super CatPig Posted June 21, 2013 Share Posted June 21, 2013 Thanks for the info! Ill check out those calculators when i get home. I beleive my alk is good now. Checked it last night and got 9.5 everything else is low. Would the ca and mg being low be the reason why my duncan is acting up? I've always had the opposite problem where I have high calcium and low alk. So I'm not really sure from personal experience if low calcium would cause the same problems low alk can cause. However I imagine it would since corals use both calcium and alkalinity (together) to make calcium carbonate for their skeletons. Magnesium is useful to keep both levels of calcium and alk up so they can create calcium carbonate and not precipitate out. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 Well the new additions are atill being a little shy but i got pics. Blue tipped acro. Wanted to give sps a try. He gave me this frag for 5 bucks so why not. I wanted a monti but no luck. Next we have what i beleive will be my favorite coral in the tank. He was being shy durring the pic. I present to you.... mr. Purple torch For 20 dollars i couldnt pass it up. Im gonna have to re arrange some stuff so the torch and froggy have no chance at touching or having chemical warfare. Also!! My firat attempt at fragging is doing great! Everything is opening up and i also noticed that one polyp is already spreading!!! Happy happy happy Link to comment
shanesauce Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Tank looks good! I just got done reading the whole thread and I know your struggle with the cyano is tough. I had my 20L running for a few months and during the whole time it never really went away even with sucking it up during water changes and redirecting flow 50 different times nothing seemed to do the trick. Otherwise everything looks to be coming along nicely. Link to comment
t8raff Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 Tank looks good! I just got done reading the whole thread and I know your struggle with the cyano is tough. I had my 20L running for a few months and during the whole time it never really went away even with sucking it up during water changes and redirecting flow 50 different times nothing seemed to do the trick. Otherwise everything looks to be coming along nicely. thanks!! yeah the cyano is driving me crazy. i just did a wc and sucked all that crap out on wednesday and its already back.. ugh. oh well. it should go away eventually right? at least i hope so Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 So, you still have cyano and if your magnesium and calcium were still low 2 days ago, then regardless of sales or lfs closing, why are you buying corals if water conditions aren't right? Your duncan was closed for a full week before and showed how sensitive it can be and sps likes really clean water and stability at that. What are your nitrates at? That will create cyano. In the last week with bad water conditions you bought acans, zoas and sps and torch? I know you're excited but the buying you're doing is detrimental at this time. Even if water was stable for a day, you have to give it a few weeks of stability before buying again. Slow down. Link to comment
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