Reefer 350

[markalot]

45 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

Crap. Alk bottomed out just under 5.5 with the broken doser. @markalot how fast can I raise it back up, should I remove this whole colony, and are there any adjustments to lighting I should make during this process. Two frags and this colony are RTNing. 

 

 

Hard to say.  Mine was due to a doser issue and I assumed it dropped over 24 hours so I raised it back to 6.5 over 2 hours and continue to try and get back to 7.  I lost a few frags from my last drop while others shows no effect whatsoever.  So far I have not seen any issues with this drop.  My experience, so far, is that Alk movements below 7.0 are much less stressful than those above 7 or 8.  

 

 

[4x5]

5 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

 @4x5 Sorry, certainly not trying to instigate a knee-jerk-type/panic reaction....Just thought that he should be looking at potential solution/action in the mean time.

Sorry I didn't mean to insinuate that you were. I was just giving Harry my thoughts as to how I'd go about it.

[HarryPotter]

1 hour ago, micoastreefing said:

yikes, I thought my alk dropped to 6.7 was low... Hopefully you get more answers soon.

 

Can't offer up much advice as I'm fairly new to the Alk game. But my gut feeling would be that under 6 you're risking a lot more without taking any action?  Let's put it this way, what was your 'daily swing' when it was in steady state - the tank should be able to handle that range of increase, no?  If you wanna be cautious, then target for just half of that 'daily swing' range in the next few hours or half a day? 

 

I never measured daily swing in alkalinity, I just tested it occasionally and it was "Around 9". I see what you mean though

 

59 minutes ago, 4x5 said:

Keep the dosage as it was and manually dose up to where you want it over the next few days is what I'd recommend. I had my Alk that low with no issues so I wouldn't panic and make big changes, that might just cause more issues.

 

Yeah thats probably what I will do- make sure its dosing the regular amount and then moniter/add as neccesary over a few days

 

41 minutes ago, micoastreefing said:

With the fresh mix RSCP really high in Alk, I wouldn't do 50% wc RSCP. I believe that will cause a major Alk swing from where you are.  

@4x5 Sorry, certainly not trying to instigate a knee-jerk-type/panic reaction....Just thought that he should be looking at potential solution/action in the mean time.

 

My normal response to issues tends to be "water changes until its fixed", but yeah that may cause more harm than good in this situation. Perhaps a 20g (~25%) change today and another tomorrow. 

 

35 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

Hard to say.  Mine was due to a doser issue and I assumed it dropped over 24 hours so I raised it back to 6.5 over 2 hours and continue to try and get back to 7.  I lost a few frags from my last drop while others shows no effect whatsoever.  So far I have not seen any issues with this drop.  My experience, so far, is that Alk movements below 7.0 are much less stressful than those above 7 or 8.  

 

 

 

Movements "To those above 8" doesn't completely relate to this tank as it is normally 9, but I'm glad that low alk seems to be less harmful than high alk.  Will see how things look when I get home. I like that colony, its a nice yellowish color. 
 

 

[markalot]

Just don't over-react to save one or two colonies, you could lose a lot more.  If I were you I'd run at 7, not 9, especially since you have been reducing feedings to combat algae.  The low Alk might have saved you from tip burn.  You also have to consider that this may not be from low Alk but from something else.  Acros can react to something that happened 2  to 3 weeks ago and you may not be able to stop what is going on.  

 

I would create at least one frag of that piece from a remaining healthy section just in case.

 

[HarryPotter]

Post water change. The yellow colony continues to RTN, there is very little chance of it recovering. I may try to frag what i can if it continues any more, as the polyps and skin look healthy above the necrosis.

 

[4x5]

How's the tank doing?

[mitten_reef]

^ +1

[HarryPotter]

22 hours ago, 4x5 said:

How's the tank doing?

 

1 hour ago, micoastreefing said:

^ +1

 

It seems the RTN has slowed down considerably on the yellow colony, but the area that died has some algae. It will need to be trimmed I believe to protect the rest of the coral. I lost 2 small frags but they weren't anything special, a small red Milli and yellow tort. (I have colonies) 

 

I hooked up the doser Saturday and did a 25% water change Sunday. As of this morning the Alk was 7.3, so getting close to normal. 

 

I think it was also lazy reefer syndrome to not notice the nonfunctional doser and coral indicators ?. 

[markalot]

Hopefully staying steady from here on out will work well.  I would seriously consider keeping Alk right where it is.

 

[HarryPotter]

6 hours ago, markalot said:

Hopefully staying steady from here on out will work well.  I would seriously consider keeping Alk right where it is.

 

 

The alk dosing is where it was before the decline- which kept it at 9. So I should reduce it from 40 to around 20 to try to keep it here around 7?

[markalot]

1 hour ago, HarryPotter said:

 

The alk dosing is where it was before the decline- which kept it at 9. So I should reduce it from 40 to around 20 to try to keep it here around 7?

 

Not sure, I would rather know usage per day but 20 sounds like a good start to make sure it stays steady without rising too much. 

[teenyreef]

Whew, I'm it seems that the damage has been contained! I stopped using my Jebao doser because I had the same problem, the design of the rollers around the motor shaft is not very good and the shaft can slip or just spin freely, especially over time. 

 

Fortunately I always caught it within a few days but I decided I just didn't want to take chances with something that could crash the whole tank. 

[HarryPotter]

Time to start tossin colonies/frag like mad. Bottom RTNS while the upper part looks great with thick skin and great PE. ? Never had this before. 

[Rehype]

Oh no sorry to hear that Harry. Just frag everything and remount.. Its likely the alk swings are the culprit. Try to keep the alk stable at its current level. Don't try to chase numbers 

[teenyreef]

Oh crap, I'm sorry, Harry! If you need any of us to keep fraglets safe for you just ask. It's such a frustrating experience to see things go downhill like this. I know Markalot has pointed out that a lot of time when acros go bad, it's in response to something that happened weeks ago. Hopefully fragging and remounting will stabilize things. 

[Bowen1022]

3 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

Time to start tossin colonies/frag like mad. Bottom RTNS while the upper part looks great with thick skin and great PE. ? Never had this before. 

 

Ive been dealing with this exact thing. Its reallyl disappointing especially when you have mostly SPS frags. Good luck in the recovery

 

[ninjamyst]

How's the tank temperature?  Are you running a chiller now?

[HarryPotter]

17 hours ago, Rehype said:

Oh no sorry to hear that Harry. Just frag everything and remount.. Its likely the alk swings are the culprit. Try to keep the alk stable at its current level. Don't try to chase numbers 

 

Yeah, but it seems to continue to spread since the Alk stabilized. 

 

16 hours ago, teenyreef said:

Oh crap, I'm sorry, Harry! If you need any of us to keep fraglets safe for you just ask. It's such a frustrating experience to see things go downhill like this. I know Markalot has pointed out that a lot of time when acros go bad, it's in response to something that happened weeks ago. Hopefully fragging and remounting will stabilize things. 

 

I wouldn't want to send out frags at the moment because what if the RTN is bacterial?

 

14 hours ago, Bowen1022 said:

 

Ive been dealing with this exact thing. Its reallyl disappointing especially when you have mostly SPS frags. Good luck in the recovery

 

 

Yeah and ones you've grown from .5" to 5"!

 

7 hours ago, ninjamyst said:

How's the tank temperature?  Are you running a chiller now?

 

Tank temp is 79-81 per usual, no chiller. 

 

Ive been advised that my UV is prone to rusting- will check that. I have another 25% water change mixing up  

[HarryPotter]

Replaced old socks with new ones, fragged up two colonies, and tried dipping  the dying areas- no bugs came off. 

 

Im starting to see coralline again which is a good sign, I should have worried when all my panels have none. 

[HarryPotter]

 

[markalot]

Base issues can result from low Alk, so that's probably the issue.  Remember I had low Alk a month or so ago and lost most of the base of my Lokani but it stopped and lives on.  I also lost the base of the smaller Katropora but the bigger one had no issues.  Because you run higher Alk I would guess, and it's just a guess, that your low alk swing caused more damage than mine did, but still similar.  

[HarryPotter]

On 6/27/2017 at 9:20 PM, markalot said:

 

Not sure, I would rather know usage per day but 20 sounds like a good start to make sure it stays steady without rising too much. 

 

Markalot my dKh confirmed with Hanna and Alkalinity is roughly 5.4. What do I do. So far I have done two 25% water changes with RSCP and my manual dosing but it's still not budging. Do I add a ton of Alk or what?!

[markalot]

3 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

 

Markalot my dKh confirmed with Hanna and Alkalinity is roughly 5.4. What do I do. So far I have done two 25% water changes with RSCP and my manual dosing but it's still not budging. Do I add a ton of Alk or what?!

 

Stop playing around with that toy salt and use blue bucket instead, get your Alk to 7 quickly and then hold it there ... forever.   For dosing use 2 part, does equal parts 2 part.  I never know how to answer the speed question but my limited experience is FAST to 7, much slower higher than that.  Acros will thrive at 7KH.

 

What I did ....

 

2 caps calcium in the first sump chamber, 2 parts Alk in the return chamber.  Wait 30 minutes, do it again, wait 30 minutes test.  I have over twice your volume so dose accordingly.

[HarryPotter]

5 minutes ago, markalot said:

 

Stop playing around with that toy salt and use blue bucket instead, get your Alk to 7 quickly and then hold it there ... forever.   For dosing use 2 part, does equal parts 2 part.  I never know how to answer the speed question but my limited experience is FAST to 7, much slower higher than that.  Acros will thrive at 7KH.

 

What I did ....

 

2 caps calcium in the first sump chamber, 2 parts Alk in the return chamber.  Wait 30 minutes, do it again, wait 30 minutes test.  I have over twice your volume so dose accordingly.

 

Toy salt? It has higher Alk and Ca than blue bucket, that's why I preferred it? 

 

So ill add 75ml Alk and 75ml Ca, alternating and slowly over an hour or so. Then test again. Freaking corals. 

[markalot]

31 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

 

Toy salt? It has higher Alk and Ca than blue bucket, that's why I preferred it? 

 

So ill add 75ml Alk and 75ml Ca, alternating and slowly over an hour or so. Then test again. Freaking corals. 

 

Yes, toy salt.  It's not really deserved, the salt has a purpose and it does it well, but if you want to grow acros for a long time and keep them alive while they grow bigger then IMO you need to focus on natural seawater params and stability.  The closer you are to NSW the more room you have for error.  RSCP works very well for low demand tanks that can tolerate Alk movement.