Light Requirements For Sps

[Salty Cracker]

I have a titanium ground probe.

Right, but that just creates current flow instead of a capacitor. Disconnect it and check voltage in the tank, I mean what's the harm in doing that. I had colonies I had for almost a decade die just from one DC pump...

 

[Kyle1970]

Right, but that just creates current flow instead of a capacitor. Disconnect it and check voltage in the tank, I mean what's the harm in doing that. I had colonies I had for almost a decade die just from one DC pump...

Will do!

 

[Yuri Lee]

Hmm.. stray voltage from a DC pump bad enough? I thought that would affect all corals, not just acros.

Anyway, can you check if there's any water parameter (PH, temperature, etc) swing? Although some amount of Ph swing is expected, check both Ph and temperature swing - morning, day, evening, night. Do you have a PH meter?

Other more uncommon factors are - toxins (heavy metal, copper, or from other corals) or disease/parasite (AEFW, etc).. at least check thoroughly on acros dying to see if you can spot anything obvious..

 

[Hong]

Might be caused by low phosphates in combination with spikes in alkalinity.


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[Yuri Lee]

forgot to ask, are you using ULR checker? How do you achieve 0 phosphates?

 

[Salty Cracker]

Hmm.. stray voltage from a DC pump bad enough? I thought that would affect all corals, not just acros.

It did affect all corals...I lost a few lps, but it hit the sps quicker.

 

[Painter Steve]

I agree with Hong. Next time you do a water change check the alk in the tank and then check the new batch of water. I did this not to long ago and the alk in the bucket of water I was about to add to the tank was 147ppm and the tank having a lower alk level at 98ppm. I ended up giving the bucket a roll around the basement floor to mix up the salt. I now have been doing smaller water changes every other day and it seems to be working. My tank is only a 43g so it doesn't take much to piss things off.

 

[Josh]

If you have an electrical meter you can measure the voltage in the tank reasonably easy. Take the 1 probe (black) and put it in the bottom circle ground spot on any of the recepticles, take the other probe and just dip the tip into the water, make sure the meter is on volts. You should instantly see at least 10 volts depending on how much magnetism is in the tank. It can be be confusing at first because magnetism can induce a phantom voltage into the water and trick your meter. Turn your pumps and heaters on 1 at a time and see which ones raise the voltage higher than the others. This is how i found my bad heater. I was getting ~35 volts in my water, once i swapped it out i was running at like 12-13v. Converting magnetism to voltage is 1 of the main ways power is created.

 

[Josh]

I agree with Hong. Next time you do a water change check the alk in the tank and then check the new batch of water. I did this not to long ago and the alk in the bucket of water I was about to add to the tank was 147ppm and the tank having a lower alk level at 98ppm. I ended up giving the bucket a roll around the basement floor to mix up the salt. I now have been doing smaller water changes every other day and it seems to be working. My tank is only a 43g so it doesn't take much to piss things off.

I agree, I think what happens alot of the time and what leaves people with giant question marks is when things start to slide in the tank they start doing regular water changes and it just shocks the whole tank, everyone says water change if you are having issues but sometimes its the exact opposite of what you should be doing. I had a tank i was holding coral in during my renovations and i negligently let the alk dip and the corals starting looking not great, so i started doing regular water changes and getting back to business, it was 100% the wrong thing to do, it dropped down my nutrient levels and shot up my alk and my 2 sps frags both died.

Not saying this is what happened here just sharing a story that may or may not have relevance.

It all circles back to stability in the end.

 

[Kyle1970]

All good info. will do a water change tomorrow and measure levels if water I’m using.
As well, I’ll check the stray voltage at that time.
Will be updating this shortly.

 

[Yuri Lee]

I think regular water change is always a good thing but as with anything, it should be done gradually. 50% water change is of course going to shock the system if the parameters are not in line and cause a large swing. 5% each time would be fine in my opinion.

 

[Kyle1970]

I think regular water change is always a good thing but as with anything, it should be done gradually. 50% water change is of course going to shock the system if the parameters are not in line and cause a large swing. 5% each time would be fine in my opinion.

80 gal system. I do about 7 gallons at a time. New water gets dumped into refugium section of sump that tends to be turned over very slowly.

 

[Kyle1970]

Started seeing swing of my Alk.
Tore into my doser to find out the line was almost plugged.
So for the next week or so I will be trying to bring Alk back to suitable level.

Watching my ph now as well.
Ph is sitting around 7.6 which I in know is low but I’m not going to try to correct it until my Alk back in line.

 

[Josh]

If your PH is acting really weird check your magnesium, i bet its down to ~1200-1300.

 

[Kyle1970]

Mag is up to 1400
Tested today.
I’m not sure how much Alk the tank has been getting since last tested.

I’m going to bring it up bit by bit for the next week and watch the ph while doing so.

 

[Kyle1970]

Things staying more stable
Been watching ph. It swings from 7.4 to 7.8 daily.
Temp is good
Mag 1300
Cal 420
Alk 7.4 ( trying to raise slowly)

Started testing phosphate more. Had a couple tests at 0.4, now with gfo added I’ve brought that down.

Nitrate still at 0.25

Thinking to add another fish at some point. Currently just the 2 clowns and a small Tomini.

Any feedback or ideas appreciated.

 

[conix67]

It's odd that Mag is down considerably from 1400 to 1300 in a short time. Was it at 1400 consistently before? Alk is low but not too bad but Ph is on the lower side, although they tell you not to chase Ph. How are you raising Alk?

 

[Josh]

Just stay the course and let gfo slowly do its thing, GFO is best used when you slowly lower your phosphates not as a "reactional treatment"

 

[Kyle1970]

I have not been dosing mag. Only maintaining with W/C
Currently dosing Esv at 38ml/day (alk and cal)

as far as GFO, I’m using minimal amount in reactor. I had been using reactor for carbon but now have carbon in filter sock that I’m using on the reactor discharge.

 

[Winks]

You might find as your alk comes up your PH will come up with it.