thecoralbeauty Posted February 29, 2016 Author Share Posted February 29, 2016 Your gorgonian is NPS (non-photosynthetic) which means you'll have to feed it by hand. I've yet to talk to anyone who's kept one alive for more than a few months. It's too bad, they're absolutely gorgeous... Thats why he was in the fuge with my dendros and sun coral- I feed them by hand every day more or less so I immediately classified him with them- but there's not much flow down there. Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 1, 2016 Author Share Posted March 1, 2016 Params: Mg: 1260 Ca: 340 Alk: 11.8 Whoa. crazy high alk.... Weird. Quote Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 yea i saw that but am scared to fiddle with it and break it.... would you let me know how it goes and then maybe i'll get the guts to go through with it? Super simple just cut the outlet tube shorter- the barbed part. My pump came with two so if you screw one up you have another. Really straight forward though. I'll be cutting my after I am done with my two weeks of travel- I'll let ya know 1 Quote Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted March 1, 2016 Share Posted March 1, 2016 Thats why he was in the fuge with my dendros and sun coral- I feed them by hand every day more or less so I immediately classified him with them- but there's not much flow down there. That's a big problem - it's unlikely to open its polyps without strong, intermittent flow. Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 1, 2016 Author Share Posted March 1, 2016 That's a big problem - it's unlikely to open its polyps without strong, intermittent flow. Good, that's what I thought so I stuck it in the display where it will get lots of flow! Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 params tonight: wondering why my calcium seems low but my alk is high. maybe boosting the mg higher will bring the alk back down a bit and let me dose more calcium? hm. getting close though! alk: 11.8 ca: 350 mg: 1260 Quote Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 params tonight: wondering why my calcium seems low but my alk is high. maybe boosting the mg higher will bring the alk back down a bit and let me dose more calcium? hm. getting close though! alk: 11.8 ca: 350 mg: 1260 Mg needs to be around 1300 for calcium to stay stable and it will also increase the stability of your alkalinity. Mg prevents abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate when kept at proper levels. 2 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 Mg needs to be around 1300 for calcium to stay stable and it will also increase the stability of your alkalinity. Mg prevents abiotic precipitation of calcium carbonate when kept at proper levels. Perfect. I bumped my Mg last night- I'll test again tonight! Quote Link to comment
jimbonds Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 When you dose Alk (HCO3 and CO3) it will usually cause your Ca to drop. Likewise, when you dose Ca it will cause your Alk to drop. An imbalance like that is tricky to fix. You may have already answered this but what are you using for dosing? I'm assuming two part because kalkwasser and calcium reactors usually keep everything in balance due to the nature of how they work. Quote Link to comment
cnseekatz Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 I seem to have the opposite issue. My Mg is plenty high, but I can't keep my Alk up. Quote Link to comment
jimbonds Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 A really good article about Mg was written by Randy Holmes-Farley and he does a really good job of explaining the interactions of Mg with Ca and CO3. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2003/10/chemistry 2 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 2, 2016 Author Share Posted March 2, 2016 When you dose Alk (HCO3 and CO3) it will usually cause your Ca to drop. Likewise, when you dose Ca it will cause your Alk to drop. An imbalance like that is tricky to fix. You may have already answered this but what are you using for dosing? I'm assuming two part because kalkwasser and calcium reactors usually keep everything in balance due to the nature of how they work. just b-ionic two part and the mg from the same company with a doser. Quote Link to comment
CronicReefer Posted March 2, 2016 Share Posted March 2, 2016 just b-ionic two part and the mg from the same company with a doser. I find sodium carbonate and Calcion to be the best for keeping calcium and alkalinity stable and super cheap. One gram of sodium carbonate will increase dkh by one point in 15 gallons of water which costs $20 for 10lbs. One mL of Calcion increases one gallon by 40ppm which is double b-ionic. Once you get that Mg to 1300-1350 alk and calc become much easier to manage. 1 Quote Link to comment
jimbonds Posted March 4, 2016 Share Posted March 4, 2016 just b-ionic two part and the mg from the same company with a doser. Have you been dosing equal parts this whole time? If you have, then your params should be balanced and it would indicate an imbalance is coming from somewhere else. Have you tested your new salt water before doing a water change? Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Have you been dosing equal parts this whole time? If you have, then your params should be balanced and it would indicate an imbalance is coming from somewhere else. Have you tested your new salt water before doing a water change? Yea, I have- and I did. The old bag of salt I had been using was extremely low in Mg. Hoping I can get it back up with fresh salt, which is testing right on the money with Mg. Quote Link to comment
jimbonds Posted March 7, 2016 Share Posted March 7, 2016 Yea, I have- and I did. The old bag of salt I had been using was extremely low in Mg. Hoping I can get it back up with fresh salt, which is testing right on the money with Mg. Weak. I dislike when salt is not good. Do you shake your salt each time before using it? When it sits, some things settle out to the bottom. Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 7, 2016 Author Share Posted March 7, 2016 Weak. I dislike when salt is not good. Do you shake your salt each time before using it? When it sits, some things settle out to the bottom. interesting... i dont shake it Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 So, Mg is finally back up where it should be... but my acro insignis is RTN'ing. least everything else is ok. Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 It's always something isn't it. But at least it keeps it challenging!! 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted March 8, 2016 Author Share Posted March 8, 2016 In much better news, I did pretty well at my first ever archery tournament this last weekend. Here I am on the end- 'reping my shop in the staff shooter jersey they got me. I placed third in my division, much better than I thought I would! 8 Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 See, you just like challenges. 1 Quote Link to comment
vlangel Posted March 8, 2016 Share Posted March 8, 2016 Way to go and good for you. I think that is so cool that you do archery! Also I went back a page to see what gorg was in your sump and while I was at it I saw your most recent FTS which looks great. Your tank is very nicely scaped and when the coral grow out more will be spectacular. 1 Quote Link to comment
thecoralbeauty Posted April 15, 2016 Author Share Posted April 15, 2016 It;s been a while! Lots of archery tournaments starting to pick up this time of year, and my tank is mysteriously not doing so well. Despite religious water changes, param testing, and maintaining the best possible version of my typical routine, my SPS seem bugged. Im losing my jack-o-lantern lepto, my pink birdsnest that survived the cat crash suddenly RTN'd almost overnight, and other SPS aren't growing much at best, and at worst are slowly necrosing in random places. The only thing at this point that I think it may be is that a piece of the aluminum foil from the PE Mysis and Calanus I feed somehow got lost in the tank... but is aluminum poisoning a thing? I've disturbed things even more by trying to find it but have not found a thing. If there is a piece in there, it's not coming out. Ideas?? Quote Link to comment
FlowerMama Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 any chemical warfare or anything? Quote Link to comment
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