NanoJoe
NJRC Member
No dosing at the moment. I was thinking of going Kalk soon but there really is no demand for ALK and Ca at the moment. Do you think dosing kalk may help with things too?
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Acclimating SPS corals
- Thread starter NanoJoe
- Start date
How often are you doing water changes?
NanoJoe
NJRC Member
weekly 10%
And your alk never moves off 8.5?
NanoJoe
NJRC Member
nope. and ive been through a couple salifert ALK kits.
First thing is that salifert test kit is not going to be good long term trying to pinpoint alk consumption. You really need to get an a hanna alk checker. If your lps are growing and your alk is being consumed and should show on the test Second is you need to check the par in your tank. Maybe it's just not enough for Acros. Are you also dipping them in anything before putting them in your tank?
I have never light acclimated an Acro. Base up, is usually STN which I'm convinced is bacterial in nature as I've been able to stop it by cutting off the effected area and dipping. If it was alk based we would be losing corals left and right as my tank alkalinity is rarely the same as the persons tank which it came from.
The bad thing about my theory is if it IS bacterial, what do we do with this information? Let me know when you find out
Edit.
More on alk swings. Yes, I check mine every night. Yes I'm mildly obsessive compulsive about preventing drifts. For every guy like me there's two who's tanks swing wildly. I think alk stability is important but I don't think it's the be all end all. I think the swings can "weaken" a coral but not outright kill it.
if I never wash my hands am I more likely to get sick? Yes.
If I never get sick is it because I never wash my hands ? No.
The bad thing about my theory is if it IS bacterial, what do we do with this information? Let me know when you find out
Edit.
More on alk swings. Yes, I check mine every night. Yes I'm mildly obsessive compulsive about preventing drifts. For every guy like me there's two who's tanks swing wildly. I think alk stability is important but I don't think it's the be all end all. I think the swings can "weaken" a coral but not outright kill it.
if I never wash my hands am I more likely to get sick? Yes.
If I never get sick is it because I never wash my hands ? No.
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Alk swings are death to acros. Anyone who tells you different probably hasn't kept them long term.
Also may seem like a silly question does the acro have any polyp extension. Even if it's just the slightest bit. Have you examined them good for white/black bugs? Look at that area that I circled. See the bump in the middle. Any chance that is a bug?
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Best sps is xenia
My point was they're bad, but they're not the only things that's bad. I've lost JUST as many acros with stable alk as I have with unstable alk. Big picture stuff.
NanoJoe
NJRC Member
Okay, my ATI ICP test results are in. I am a setback since the results say my ALK is at 7.34 when I always tested 8.5 - 8.3 along with my phosphate at 0.01.
I test alk with salifert
I test phosphate with Hanna.
Have you found varying results like this?
Also showed high zinc
Low iodine and low manganese
Thoughts?
Auswertungsergebnis
I test alk with salifert
I test phosphate with Hanna.
Have you found varying results like this?
Also showed high zinc
Low iodine and low manganese
Thoughts?
Auswertungsergebnis
How high is your zinc? Low manganese is normal. Unless your dosing a chemical that has it in there it will always be undetected. Low iodine is common. The question is how low is it? I am not surprised by the variation in alk. The salifert test is subjective. The hanna alk meter is better for dialing in numbers.
NanoJoe
NJRC Member
Weird. The link defaulted to “auswertungsergenbis” click that word and it should bring up my results of the ICP.
Do you have any metal touching the water? Zinc and Tin elevation is somewhat concerning.
NanoJoe
NJRC Member
I feed with metal forceps just about everyday and they touch the water. The only other thing I can think is the heater. It is coming up on 2 years but looks to be in good condition and operating normally.
You are going to have run some metasorb to pull that zinc out. Then run another ICP and monitor. Elevated zinc can certainly fry some corals.