Alk, Mg, and Acro Tips

I believe it to be burn issue but again I am not totally sure on this. Ive seen new growth and it never has appeared like this. Today I noticed the color had mostly returned to the tips however, they have long strings of (?) coming off of them in the water flow. Only the tips I thought were burnt have this.
Current levels
Mag 1435
Alk 7.5
Cal 460
PH 8.2 up from 8.1
I am raising the kalk dosage to see if this doesnt balance out things. Should I be concerned with a raise in PH due to the higher concentration of kalk? I have very good growth in all of my SPS. My Cyphastrea, Montis, and Acros all show new growth evident. I am happy to admit they are growing very quickly and I can see noticeable difference week to week. If nothing else I am prepared to add a Alk builder to raise the levels or at least steady them.

 

Ryland - get a picture up on the corals please just so we can see what the problem looks like

if your confident in your test results

Your Mag is fine where it is
Your calcium is fine where it is
Your Alkalinity is acceptable where it is
if you want to increase Alk without affecting Calcium, then an carbonate buffer is idea
if you check the 3 reef calculator you will notice that some Alk buffers will increase PH, and others will have no effect
examples Kents supperbuffer DKH , does not affect PH
Seachems reef builder , does not affect PH
Seachems reef buffer , will affect the PH (increase it)

I use a PH probe and monitor , my levels are about 7.94 between 6 and 7am and stay below 8 until lights come on, after which time the PH increases over the course of the day to 8.27 (Highest I remember seeing yesterday evening) so always do your PH test late afternoon at around same time

so basically do not worry to much about your PH unless it overshoots 8.3, or drops much below 7.9 (anywhere between those numbers is fine, slightly either side is more likely to be test kit tolerance rather than actual situation)

once you have the levels where you need them using a 1 or 2 shot Alk buffer (keep the increase below 1 dkh per day, that way you are on the side of caution)
so if you want to go from 7.5 - 9.5 take 2 days to get there and your corals should be fine

after you have levels where you want them
then you can return to using Kalkwasser to maintain those levels
using either of the methods/ suggestions previously mentioned

either using a solution of fixed strenght to compensate for all top off
or mixing a saturated solution at 2 teaspoons per gallon and dripping that into your sump ( try and set a rate of 2 drops per second, and drip at night whilst PH is at its lowest, thus the PH of the Kalwasser will not have as dramatic effect as it would if you dripped it when PH was at it's peak)

Steve

 

I think thanks to you guys I have the drop in ALK under control. At one point I dropped to 7.0. I slowly increased my kalk mix to a higher dosage and tested my results daily. I have found 7 tsp per 6 gal of ATO to be the exact dosage needed. Once I hit this dosage I tested for two days with no change. I then did a 10 gal water change and checked it again. A slight increase in ALK to 7.5 ish. I have since done a couple smaller (5 gal) water changes which has brought my ALK back up to 8.5. I am okay with this and I believe each time I do a water change I should have a slight increase in ALK. Slow and steady is my comfort zone. My PH has steadied at 8.1 as well. The stringy stuff coming off a couple tips has gone away. Nothing to report on it. Its as if vanished?

Tomorrow I have a few new corals coming in. An Acro, BOP frag, and Mille frag all from Happycoral. I suspect I may see this again and if I do I will adjust my dosage as needed. I started another thread discussing coral dips and some DIY stuff. I live in nowhere Iowa and LFS do not carry this kind of stuff. Found tincture of iodine 2% iodine, 2.4% sodium iodide (this ingredient has me questioning it) and alcohol 47%. Would this stuff be okay or would you stick with the Seachem reef dip? Not real sure on the Reef dip either though. Question for you gentlemen (and ladies) is it true the smooth skin acros do not fair well in a iodine dip? I have a smooth skin acro I nearly lost a while back. I cannot lay blame on the dip but I am suspect of it and improper placement. Any advice would be great. FYI the Acro I ordered is a neon blue green smooth skinned variety. I think they still have some similar to them on their website. I dont have any specifics on it. Thank you again all you have been most helpful. Chris ;D