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Corals Issue

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
@Philadelphia Aquatics this morning I gather the information and I didn't realize how off my tank was. Today is a water change day for me so I am going to work on getting it back on track.

Salinity - 1.023 (I normally run between 1.025 and 1.026)
pH - 7.9 (I swing between 7.9 and 8.0)
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
Mag - 1560 (I aim for 1390)
Cal - 395 (I aim for 450)
Alk - 5.6 (I aim for 9)

Tank Information:
- 36g bow front
- two jabeos RW4s turn up to about 90% for flow
- HOB fuge but no cheto in there just bio balls, heater, gfo, and carbon
- HOB filter with just poly-fil
- One Kessil 360WE and two Kessils A150 Deep Ocean Blues
- Salt is IO Reef Crystals
- Live Stock: (been in the tank range from 11 months to less than 24 hours)
- Flurry Crown
- Coral Beauty
- Yellow Clown Goby
- Pink Rock anemone
- Red monti cap
- Zoes (a couple different kinds)
- Satosa
- Red Acro
- Hammer
- Sand star
- Gold Hammer (got from you guys)
- Bird of Paradise (got from you guys)
- Acropora Horida (got from you guys)

I do weekly water changes (about 5 gals)

Here a pictures of the corals I got from you guys plus my other corals

IMG_20180317_074955.jpg

IMG_20180317_075004.jpg

IMG_20180317_075025.jpg

IMG_20180317_075039.jpg

IMG_20180317_075054.jpg

IMG_20180317_075202.jpg
 
Last edited:

jmags080307

SPS Grow Out Winner
which one are you talking about? The 5.6 or the 9? I run a mix reef tank and thought they need to be in around the 9/10 range correct?
I keep both my tanks around 7.7. My zoa/lps tank I'll check that weekly because it's more forgiving if it moves. My sps tank I check probably 5 to 6 times a week. With sps in your tank you want stability. That birdsnest RTN'd because the alk was way too low. What did you test the alk with?

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njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
I keep both my tanks around 7.7. My zoa/lps tank I'll check that weekly because it's more forgiving if it moves. My sps tank I check probably 5 to 6 times a week. With sps in your tank you want stability. That birdsnest RTN'd because the alk was way too low. How often do you do water changes? Are you dosing?

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I normally don't let my alk get that low. I'm not sure what happen for it to get low but I have not tested in awhile so I can't say when it got that low. I do water changes every week. I don't dose unless I test and something is off. As I said I have not tested in awhile (been super busy and tank seemed to be doing good) I tested this morning after seeing the birdnest RTN and realize how off my tank was. I am working on doing water change today
 

jmags080307

SPS Grow Out Winner
I normally don't let my alk get that low. I'm not sure what happen for it to get low but I have not tested in awhile so I can't say when it got that low. I do water changes every week. I don't dose unless I test and something is off. As I said I have not tested in awhile (been super busy and tank seemed to be doing good) I tested this morning after seeing the birdnest RTN and realize how off my tank was. I am working on doing water change today
It happens[emoji21] life gets in the way sometimes!

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Should try to test once a week after a while your corals will consume more than your weekly Water change will put back in the tank. Depending on the size of water change your doing you're only putting very little alk and calcium back into the tank. Eventually you're going to have to start dosing.
 

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
Should try to test once a week after a while your corals will consume more than your weekly Water change will put back in the tank. Depending on the size of water change your doing you're only putting very little alk and calcium back into the tank. Eventually you're going to have to start dosing.

I did know that and when I had my larger tank I was testing weekly to make sure I was good. With this tank I was trying to keep it low maintenance as I am trying to focus on getting a house so I can get a large system going again and it hasn't gone that way lol I am going to get back to testing weekly and keeping up on everything
 

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
water change done. Going to wait about 1 hour and then test again. I will dose off of the new test but I know I don't want a large swing so it be a low dose to help bring it up. I am then going to try and test every day and slowly bring my numbers where they need to be
 

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
Ever think about running kalk in you're auto top off so you don't have to dose.
I have thought about looking into it but I just have not done it. I might look into it now but my focus right now is just to get my numbers back up. I do have an auto doser which I might look into using as well once I get my tank stable
 

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
So here my numbers after water change

Salinity - 1.024
pH - 8.0
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
Cal - 475
Alk - 7
Mag - 1340

Seeing how both cal and alk went up after the water change I did not dose but I did dose for mag. Will see what my numbers are tomorrow.
 
So here my numbers after water change

Salinity - 1.024
pH - 8.0
Amm - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 10
Cal - 475
Alk - 7
Mag - 1340

Seeing how both cal and alk went up after the water change I did not dose but I did dose for mag. Will see what my numbers are tomorrow.
We have all been here! It’s humbling, and a fact of life sometimes when things get busy.

You may know most or all of this but I’ll drop it in anyway. Just trying to be helpful.

You’ll get it back in track. That said, your corals are adjusted so let’s do this slowly over a couple weeks. I keep alk 8-9 since that’s pretty standard. The rest of your targets also look standard to me. Bring the salinity up with ATO water that has a little salt in it, and ease the alk up slow so the other corals don’t stress. Hopefully he horrida is toughened up enough to make it through. Good news for that one is it’s not naked yet.

Feel free to call me anytime to chat if you want to bounce ideas around or anything. If I don’t answer and it’s between 6-6 I’m at work and will call back as soon as I can!
 

njtiger24 aquariums

Officer Emeritus
Article Contributor
We have all been here! It’s humbling, and a fact of life sometimes when things get busy.

You may know most or all of this but I’ll drop it in anyway. Just trying to be helpful.

You’ll get it back in track. That said, your corals are adjusted so let’s do this slowly over a couple weeks. I keep alk 8-9 since that’s pretty standard. The rest of your targets also look standard to me. Bring the salinity up with ATO water that has a little salt in it, and ease the alk up slow so the other corals don’t stress. Hopefully he horrida is toughened up enough to make it through. Good news for that one is it’s not naked yet.

Feel free to call me anytime to chat if you want to bounce ideas around or anything. If I don’t answer and it’s between 6-6 I’m at work and will call back as soon as I can!

Ok not a problem. I will work on those changes and let you know how things go
 
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