What's going on in my tank?

[cuttingras]

OK where to begin?

I've been buying zoa & ricordia frags since late October. The first ones I got were doing great for about a month, then poof, they close up, never to open again. The ric's are shrinking and have lightened in color. I've purchased more zoa's since the first ones in hopes of them opening. They never do. The only thing that seems to be ok other than the fish is my finger leather, it's fine. I feed every other day a pinch of flake food and my fish act like they're starving... I'm getting pretty frustrated with this tank.....

I do a 5-10 gal. water change every Saturday with ro/di (tds is at 7). I use instant ocean salt. Here's my other info...I'll test as I type...

pH 7.7(won't go up)
SG 1.021 with an I.O. hydrometer(yeah I know)
Ca 340(dripped kalkwasser last night)(not enough?)
Phosphate 0(the only thing working is the phos reactor)
Nitrates 10
kh 14
Mg 1380(wooo hooo! finally got that up, now to keep it there)
temp 79
I have 3 ph's in the tank, one Koralia 3, tunze and a smaller maxi-jet.
Emperor bio wheel filter( last week I started making my own replacement filters, poly fiber and carbon, cheaper that way)
let's see what else....
4-54 watt T6 lights which I installed before I got my zoa's and rics. The 15k's are on from 8-10 am thru about 4-5pm then the actinics are on until 9 then moon lights..

AquaC Remora which puts out a lot of gunk. Not so much green anymore since I got the phos reactor, but still nasty.

Oh yeah I had to throw out my flower anemone. He would not reattach on any rock and was rolling around in the tank. His foot started poking out the bottom side. That's when I decided enough was enough.

I've gotten rid of a few pieces of questionable rock. I put my new rock that I made in tonight(it cycled since Dec, 12) pH went down to 7.4 so I decided it was time.)

I have 1 foxface rabbit fish, 1 engineer goby, 1 maroon clown and a convict damsel, a coral banded shrimp, a few crabs and snails.(enough to eat the algae)

I don't know what else to tell you... help.......

before pics



Current



this has disappeared totally and the next one kind of melted away

[mandarin11]

pH, salinity, and calcium are to low. Are you using any type of buffer or builder for the pH?

[cuttingras]

actually I have been using SeaChem pH 8.3 Marine buffer. I forgot to put that...I was under the understanding that the kalkwasser would increase my pH and keep it at a desirable level? The sg I was told to keep it at 1.021 (by a reputable person) when using a hydrometer

[mandarin11]

I believe Seachem makes a pH builder that will help you get it up. The buffer is more for keeping it up. I'm sure there are less expensive at home ways to raise pH, but I can't remember which compound it is right now. Hopefully someone will chime in that knows.

Nothing against whoever advised you about salinity, but I have never heard of keeping it at 1.021. Normally 1.024 is highly recommended. Did this person tell you why they recommended 1.021? I'm curious.

[sweetriden76]

I am just cycling but I am using kent PH buffer, and there nano buffer(only a 12 gal.) I think they make the same buffer type product for larger tanks(stronger concentration) ca is at 480, PH stays around 8.2-8.4, sg is at 1.025 , so i believe the kent stuff is doing its job, and from reading stuff on here and asking questions it seems that the sg should be around 1.026

[cuttingras]

yes, because hydrometers read lower than refractometers, I believe is the way he explained it...

I'd love to know the home made ph raiser. Mrs Wages is the kalkwasser I make 2tbsp per gallon of ro/di. 5 gallon bucket at a time and it gets used within a week. should I be doing this more?

ya know I do think they opened more, but were still in distress even at 1.025sg, I think I'll raise that back up

[mandarin11]

IMO you should aim for 1.024 on your hydrometer. It's the same thing I have and that's what its at and everyone is very happy. (Hydrometer= a cheap person's best friend)
1.024-1.025 is very good

I'll let some one else advise you on Kalk seeing as Kalk and I don't see eye to eye right now. (My calc testkit won't ever read above 20ppm yet I've got happy zoas, trumpets, and live rock, go figure)

[cuttingras]

wow mandarin that's crazy! 20 ppm or are you not doing the calculations for it or looking on the chart? what brand tester are you using?

[mandarin11]

I know I'm wondering if I should get another test kit. I'm not exactly religous about dripping kalk top off water. (I hate dripping, I just want to pour in the top off for the day and be done, not manuever around an unsightly bucket dripping kalk into the sump) but under 20 is kinda crazy.

I think the pH thing is either baking soda or baking powder or something like that, but don't add any of those until someone who remembers for sure tells you which one and how much.

By the way those are some nice ricordeas, before they shriveled up of course!

API cal test kit by the way

[ziggy222]

kent marine turbo calcium brings calcium up fast without affecting alk