ML's 14 IM Peninsula

[ml86743]

Welp.  Just got back in town today.  Another interesting day on the reef - two hours away from home, I receive an apex alarm my temp dropped to 74 ( I had several other alarms go off through the night informing me temps had dipped below 77, just to dang sleepy this morning to realize) 

 

called the GF and she was able to take care of business.  Long story short ATO wasn’t plugged in somehow - heater was exposed because I’m an idiot ( leave mine in the return chamber) 

 

apex already paid for itself. 

 

corals seemed alright with the exception of the acros.  Strawberry shortcake bleached 100%, but I think it was already stressed… waiting to see what the “pearlberry” does.  
 

everything else looked good upon my return.  Glad I was able to catch the temp swing before it hit sub 70 or something.  
 

the other good new is that it seems my dosing schedule is working perfectly.  Left the tank @ 8.1, came home to 8.2 dkh.  I’m happy.  
 

k, I’m exhausted long few days out in the woods working..gnight. 

 

 

 

 

[ml86743]

I think I’m gonna have to give flatworm exit a shot.  These suckers are unsightly and I’m just sick of em.  Melves reef has a pretty good write up - as hesitant as I am to use chemicals I think this treatment is pretty safe as long as directions are followed.  
 

anybody on here have some experience? Would appreciate some first hand accounts.  

[ml86743]

Really love alveopora.  I’ve had some decent success growing this one with consistent feedings/good water quality.

 

 

[banasophia]

2 hours ago, ml86743 said:

I think I’m gonna have to give flatworm exit a shot.  These suckers are unsightly and I’m just sick of em.  Melves reef has a pretty good write up - as hesitant as I am to use chemicals I think this treatment is pretty safe as long as directions are followed.  
 

anybody on here have some experience? Would appreciate some first hand accounts.  

I used it once, just followed the directions (and probably MelevsReef instructions) at the time and it worked with no problems that I recall. 
 

Alternatively, does anything attract them? If so, I wonder if you could use the glass planaria trap that @debbeach13 just used for bristleworms in her Studio 12 and posted about today. I used to use them in my Biocube 16 for bristleworms too and they worked great. They are designed for freshwater for planaria. You’d have to have something that would attract the flatworms into the trap though. 
 

5 minutes ago, ml86743 said:

Really love alveopora.  I’ve had some decent success growing this one with consistent feedings/good water quality.

 

 

That’s beautiful!

[ml86743]

2 hours ago, banasophia said:

I used it once, just followed the directions (and probably MelevsReef instructions) at the time and it worked with no problems that I recall. 
 

Alternatively, does anything attract them? If so, I wonder if you could use the glass planaria trap that @debbeach13 just used for bristleworms in her Studio 12 and posted about today. I used to use them in my Biocube 16 for bristleworms too and they worked great. They are designed for freshwater for planaria. You’d have to have something that would attract the flatworms into the trap though. 
 

That’s beautiful!

Oh that is an interesting alternative.  I'm pretty sure they go nuts for reef roids?  Maybe I could give that a shot to start and then if numbers dwindle finish em off with flatworm exit?

 

Are those glass traps found online?  Thanks for the input!

[banasophia]

4 hours ago, ml86743 said:

Oh that is an interesting alternative.  I'm pretty sure they go nuts for reef roids?  Maybe I could give that a shot to start and then if numbers dwindle finish em off with flatworm exit?

 

Are those glass traps found online?  Thanks for the input!

Yes, they’re on Amazon. Tried to get you a link from my Amazon affiliate thing, but apparently since I had zero action on it they shut me down… oh well… so much for that. 

 

[ml86743]

28 minutes ago, banasophia said:

Yes, they’re on Amazon. Tried to get you a link from my Amazon affiliate thing, but apparently since I had zero action on it they shut me down… oh well… so much for that. 

 

I appreciate YOU!  

 

I think it could be worth a shot, thank you so much!

[ml86743]

What a busy past couple of weeks..Between work travel and gigging ( In a band called Tidal Daze, check us out if ya want:), were on all platforms #shamelessplug)  

 

Tank is doing alright, I got back from SC, May 21-26, and several SPS/zoas were looking meh.  PO4 tested out @ 0.   When I'm not home the corals do not receive any extra supplemental nutrition like reef roids, aminos..food soaks..etc, so they start to starve without excess PO4 in the water.  My nitrates tested out a little higher than usual (20ish) too so I think there is an imbalance between the two.  

 

My solution to hopefully provide some more consistent nutrient avialbility was to add more fish.  Found two small clowns and the rest is history.  

 

Alk has been stable @ 8 for weeks, coralline is taking off and there are many other corals that are doing wonderfully.  

CA 485

MG 1320

 

The pearlberry acro is looking like dogs**t but it's alive haha, found a cheap frag of orange digi that looked great initially but after the SC trip the PE is almost non-existent and the flesh is looking "withered".  To my surprise the bulletproof anacro was even PO'ed with no PE but after slowly correcting the PO4 numbers it has returned to it's former glory.  

 

These issues have to stem from phosphates, I have little to no algae growing ever and I think it is the limiting resource in the tank.  This is third time after an extended work trip that I have come back to paled/sucked in looking corals and before I have remedied with PO4 dosing. 

 

Just ramblings and junk...sorry if it seems scattered I just wanted to have at least some sort of documentation:) 

[ml86743]

New clowns are chillin.  Big three tested out today at: alk 7.9, CA 465, and Mag 1350.  My SPS/Zoas troubles have to be tied to nutrient imbalance.  I have always had consistent nitrates 10-30 (currently on the higher end probably 30 via redsea) but like I've said a million times PO4 always seems to find away to bottom out.  PO4 has been in the .04-.08 range since I've been home.  Using two small doses of Neophos day and night, LPS are responding well and some zoas are too.   

 

If one of you smart peeps feel like chiming in on this, I'm having a hard time grasping the concept of proper nutrient ratios.  SO if my NO3 is relatively consistent, but PO4 is pretty much always approaching 0, could that cause certain species of coral to react poorly?  If the balance is always off will that inhibit growth/health of SPS?  The digi I mentioned earlier has looked worse every day.  Looking quite "starved" with gray flaky flesh and loss of polyps.  The two OG's (anacro and tubbs stellatta monti) are hanging in there but have had some issues with tips.  PE is excellent, color is poor.  Like I mentioned, alk has been nailed at 7.8-8 for weeks... I might get an ICP and see if it has any answers but my money is on nutrients.  

 

There is always the tank maturity aspect too, and we will be going on 7 months in June so still very young.  

[ml86743]

ICP test ordered, should be here Saturday.  Genuinely curious about some of these parameters in the tank, as well as some answers for the recent struggles.   (Forgot to post this last night)

 

HOLY S**t guys,  I think I figured out my issue and it may not even be nutrient related at all..anyways.  Had my suspicions about my hanna checker right.  Picked up a salifert test just to double check...guess what 3x in a row got 10.9, 10.9 and 10.9.  Way higher than my stable "8".  Cross checked it with the hanna and it read 7.7....God only knows if this thing was ever right - I did buy it used and if I'm remembering correctly the original seller was having issues and tore down the whole tank.  This kinda lines up with some recent struggles with my SPS and zoas and it may mean I never had a stable number for alk all along. 

 

If the ALK was that high and my nutrient reading were correct, a bottoming out PO4 would totally cause fast tissue necrosis with SPS and piss zoas off.  Turning off dosing pumps now and will check back in a few days. 

 

 

[Koleswrath]

Yep, love my Hanna but sometimes I get a weird reading and have to double check. I don’t really trust them anymore. Glad you figured it out. 
You feed any pellets? I made a little spoon from acrylic and feed the exact same amount of pellets everyday and my PO4 has been bang on around 0.05-0.07 for about 2 months now. No dosing just match PO4 when I change water. NO3 has been unreadable for 2 months. Don’t care anymore. Corals are growing great and I don’t think I’ve seen polyps tucked or Zoas closed for the whole 2 months.

[MLS_Reef]

5 hours ago, ml86743 said:

ICP test ordered, should be here Saturday.  Genuinely curious about some of these parameters in the tank, as well as some answers for the recent struggles.   (Forgot to post this last night)

 

HOLY S**t guys,  I think I figured out my issue and it may not even be nutrient related at all..anyways.  Had my suspicions about my hanna checker right.  Picked up a salifert test just to double check...guess what 3x in a row got 10.9, 10.9 and 10.9.  Way higher than my stable "8".  Cross checked it with the hanna and it read 7.7....God only knows if this thing was ever right - I did buy it used and if I'm remembering correctly the original seller was having issues and tore down the whole tank.  This kinda lines up with some recent struggles with my SPS and zoas and it may mean I never had a stable number for alk all along. 

 

If the ALK was that high and my nutrient reading were correct, a bottoming out PO4 would totally cause fast tissue necrosis with SPS and piss zoas off.  Turning off dosing pumps now and will check back in a few days. 

 

 

Do you have to calibrate Hanna Checkers? 

[ml86743]

On 6/2/2023 at 11:50 PM, MLS_Reef said:

Do you have to calibrate Hanna Checkers? 

Not that I know of - they should come ready to go.  I wouldn't even know how or if you can.   Let me specify further now that I'm not in a panic haha...the REAGENT was bad not the checker itself.  Got my hands on some fresh reagent and it tested close to my salifert test.  

[Jaren45]

23 minutes ago, ml86743 said:

Not that I know of - they should come ready to go.  I wouldn't even know how or if you can.   Let me specify further now that I'm not in a panic haha...the REAGENT was bad not the checker itself.  Got my hands on some fresh reagent and it tested close to my salifert test.  

I've also experienced a bad bottle of alk reagent before, I feel your pain.

 

If you want to be extra sure, hanna sells "calibration" solutions for most of their checkers. You can't actually change the calibration, but they send you 2 cuvettes prefilled, 1 for c1 and 1 for c2, and then they tell you what the checker is supposed to read and you can adjust in your head accordingly

[ml86743]

On 6/5/2023 at 10:16 AM, Jaren45 said:

I've also experienced a bad bottle of alk reagent before, I feel your pain.

 

If you want to be extra sure, hanna sells "calibration" solutions for most of their checkers. You can't actually change the calibration, but they send you 2 cuvettes prefilled, 1 for c1 and 1 for c2, and then they tell you what the checker is supposed to read and you can adjust in your head accordingly

That's not a bad idea at all might have to give that a check.  I have to say though, I find myself testing quicker with the salifert at this point..probably cheaper in the long run anyways.

 

Update:

 

Getting ready to head out town for a wedding from friday AM to sunday AM.  Settled into a nice neophos dosing scheme and many of the corals that were irritated are seemingly better.  Digi that crapped out is looking better daily, zoas looking healthier.  I'm making the switch to kalk to try and level out the nightly pH swings.  A little nervous admittedly, so I mixed 1/2 teaspoon in a gallon to dial in what strength i'll need.  My uptake is only .4 daily so I'll probably start with 8-12mL at night.  Pump 1 will be kalk and pump 2 will be neophos at roughly 10 mL daily.  Leave Monday for a work trip so I'll hopefully have the dosing schedule in full swing by then. 

 

If anybody has any kalk tips or information that would be appreciated.  I'm gonna try to get the June FTS today if I have time. 

[ml86743]

June FTS - Coming up on 7 months this weekend:)  Currently working on getting some SPS color back from whatever the heck happened a few weeks back. 

 

OH!  I forgot to mention lol..I orderd a grafted cap from WWC with some old store credit I had..long story short the box came with 8 frags..of random stuff.  Sent them a message saying it wasn't mine told me to keep it...so we arepacked in here haha.

 

I've steadily been dripping neophos and Po4 is sitting right around .08.  Seeing some good signs of like from some of the previosuly stressed corals.  Smidges of color coming back to the montis 🙂  

 

 

 

 

[ml86743]

ICP results came back - nothing too alarming on that end.  Iodine is low and had some other elements that are slightly off.  Nothing bumping up my WC schedule up a little won't fix.  

 

SO the meltdown must have been related to alk,nutrient imbalance, or light exposure?.  A couple coral friends still look off but nothing too bad. 

 

I have noticed some of the more established SPS with some consistent burnt tips so I'm currently in the process of lowering the light intensity.  Several zoas have moved away from the light source over time as well as one of my rics, maybe this has played a role in stressing the tank?  The light is approximately 8 inches off the surface and was running @ 85% during peak hours.  We re now at 75%.  Tank depth is right around 11 give or take.   Interestingly, the two times I had corals start to go were after work trips and bottomed PO4.  Maybe as the nutrients were used up (and lack of typical coral feedings in my absence) the increased clarity of the water combined with the old light intensity just cooked the corals? dunno.  

 

Todays param check:

alk 8.5

PO4 .1

NO3 10-15

Salinity 35 ppt

Magnesium 1275

CA 460 

[TatorTaco]

Sorry if I missed it, but what salt are you using? 

[ml86743]

1 hour ago, TatorTaco said:

Sorry if I missed it, but what salt are you using? 

Haha don't worry I tend to ramble on anyways..

 

Using Red Sea Coral Pro

[Sharbuckle]

1 hour ago, ml86743 said:

Haha don't worry I tend to ramble on anyways..

 

Using Red Sea Coral Pro

[Sharbuckle]

Red Sea coral pro is super high in alk! If the Hanna was reading 7.7 it’s gotta be the problem. Wow. I stopped using coral pro just because my tank didn’t demand such high alk and it was wall to wall sps and LPS… the tank looks really good but may I suggest trying a salt change? 

[banasophia]

On 6/11/2023 at 7:19 PM, ml86743 said:

OH!  I forgot to mention lol..I orderd a grafted cap from WWC with some old store credit I had..long story short the box came with 8 frags..of random stuff.  Sent them a message saying it wasn't mine told me to keep it...so we arepacked in here haha.

Score!

[ml86743]

14 hours ago, Sharbuckle said:

Red Sea coral pro is super high in alk! If the Hanna was reading 7.7 it’s gotta be the problem. Wow. I stopped using coral pro just because my tank didn’t demand such high alk and it was wall to wall sps and LPS… the tank looks really good but may I suggest trying a salt change? 

Turned out the reagent was bad.  Mixes out around 10.5 to 11 with proper reagents (double verified with salifert)

 

That being said I have been toying around with the idea of switching something closer to my 8-8.5 alk levels.  Any recommendations? What was your process during the switch?  Small WC's weekly? I have heard mixed reviews on salt changes..some report no affects..some report tank crashes. 

 

 

It could just be the "placebo effect" but after lowering the light intensity for a few days it seems some of the burnt tips look "better".  

 

In other news, I passed my ISA certified arborist exam today!  I work as a wildlife biologist but my company was looking to add an arborist on-campus.  Mo-money...bigger tank!?!?!?!?!?!? 🙂

 

[MLS_Reef]

7 hours ago, ml86743 said:

Turned out the reagent was bad.  Mixes out around 10.5 to 11 with proper reagents (double verified with salifert)

 

That being said I have been toying around with the idea of switching something closer to my 8-8.5 alk levels.  Any recommendations? What was your process during the switch?  Small WC's weekly? I have heard mixed reviews on salt changes..some report no affects..some report tank crashes. 

 

 

It could just be the "placebo effect" but after lowering the light intensity for a few days it seems some of the burnt tips look "better".  

 

In other news, I passed my ISA certified arborist exam today!  I work as a wildlife biologist but my company was looking to add an arborist on-campus.  Mo-money...bigger tank!?!?!?!?!?!? 🙂

 

Is the salt in your water change the kalk in the top off? this is the question you have to ask with this salt. 

the alk in this salt is so high if it is improperly mixed, it will precipitate high calcium in a normal tank.

[ml86743]

On 6/20/2023 at 8:03 PM, MLS_Reef said:

Is the salt in your water change the kalk in the top off? this is the question you have to ask with this salt. 

the alk in this salt is so high if it is improperly mixed, it will precipitate high calcium in a normal tank.

You mean the same alk level?  The tank sits at 8.5-8.9.  Not sure of the kalk strength but the idea of dripping kalk is to maintain that current level which it is doing nicely.

 

Had a half a frag of zoas melt away 😞 Still a few left that slightly open so hoping they pull through. 

 

Anybody have any experience/success with dosing iodine?  My ICP results came back with these "issue" params, and Iodine is pretty depleted.  Let me know what y'all think. This test was from the time I had SPS going south..zoas shut tight (including the melters). 

 

Screw it: Ordered the seachem Iodide based off the reef moonshiners advice, gonna give that a whirl and see if it helps. Kinda at a loss otherwise.  I think I'm also gonna go ahead and switch salts after this RSCP bucket is done.