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Calcium Reactors

jgraz

jgraz

So at at my wits end with this thing. My question is simple.

If a calcium reactor is supposed to melt old coral skeletons in order to supply a balanced ratio of Calcium, Magnesium, Alkalinity, and other trace elements, why is it that these balances fall out of line?

I am going through a STN episode in about 25% of my Acro's only. All other corals including other Monti's remain unaffected. I went through this shortly after switching from dosing to the Calcium Reactor. It went on for a bit but then just stopped and seemed to reverse cycle.
This time it has been going for a good 2 months solid and I have been unable to trace it to anything else. on 12/6/15 I topped off the media in the reactor and thi addition was done without any issue. Prior to this all levels were inline with my preferred. Today i checked and my tests were as followed.
Cal-390
Mag-1260
Alk-7.7
Not terrible but lower then I prefer. Nothing there that would led me to think STN cause, but its really all i can think of at this point.

Thoughts?
 
saltkreep88

saltkreep88

So by looking at your levels they are all low for you right? So you need to dissolve more media to keep up. To do that you need the reactor ph lower, more co2
 
jgraz

jgraz

Alk is actually in my acceptable range. 8 is where I shoot for. In order to keep the Cal and Mag in my range then alk would be through the roof. So as far as the Reactor goes I only go by Alk when adjusting. So in this case dissolving more is not the answer but may actually do more harm.

As far as Phos-.02, and nitrate-~.25 are both acceptable.

Again I really do not think that the Reactor is my issue but it really was the only change that was made that I can link directly to the time it started. Also I would like to add that this is ONLY occurring in my DT. My frag tank and small frags in general are unaffected. The STN is really only occurring in colonies.
 
jgraz

jgraz

saltkreep88 said:
Stn in colonies is usually flow related as you probably know. Have you been increasing flow as your sps grow out?
Click to expand...

As a matter of fact I did not know that at all.
Now as I think about it, most of the issues are in large, thick colonies. So I will def be messing around with that. Thank you
 
Chrisgarrick

Chrisgarrick

Ditto to above. I keep my alk at 7-8. I haven't tested for cal or mag in years. Coral grows great. If my drip slows growth slows. Not disease. I keep good flow and ensure the sps are well bathed.
 
M

mnat

Officer Emeritus
Staff member
Moderator
Flow is a good call, you might also want to keep an eye out for pests.
 
jgraz

jgraz

Well pests were actually one of my first concerns. But I have checked and rechecked, dipped and re-dipped different pieces and nothing at all observed. So I think I have def ruled that out.

As far as flow goes, the more I though about it the more sense it made. In addition to the recession I have noticed a touch of cyano building up in the dead areas of the larger colonies. So I gave my PH's a cleaning and noticed a bit of crap getting kicked up, and some of that cyano was blown out. So I decided I would pick up a little more flow for the tank. So hopefully we will see a turnaround.
 
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