Acros receding/STN from base, what to do???

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by familiar1985, Dec 7, 2009.

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  1. chuckdee

    chuckdee Peppermint Shrimp

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    How much flow do you have in your display?

    Where do you dose your chemicals & addivitives and how much?

    What's your Salinity?

    What kind of lighting are you running?

    When was the last time you changed your bulbs?

    Are you using carbon or GFO?
     
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  3. familiar1985

    familiar1985 Bristle Worm

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    I dose kalk and alk/ph up through my top off. Salinity is at 35, Lighting is 2 150w phoenix 14k plus actinic and a blended vho. I changed bulbs about 6 months ago.

    I use carbon and gfo. Can that be a problem?

    The tank is a 100g w/ 30g fuge and 20g sump.

    Would it be good to run a uv sterilizer hopefully making it harder to pass virus to other corals?
     
  4. chuckdee

    chuckdee Peppermint Shrimp

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    Everything sounds good, but I want to know a little more about your dosing regimen. You top off with kalk and add an alkalinity supplement and PH Up? Give me more detail about this. What brands are they, how much do you dose, how often? Reason I want to know is SPS are greatly effected by Alk swings. It can stress them out causing their polyps to close and start to STN. I know because it happened to me my first try at SPS..

    Also, are you relying on Kalk for all your calcium needs?

    And what about mag? What do you use and how much?

    Sorry if this is too many questions. I'm kinda thinking it is your parameters and dosing regimen then a "virus" or whatever else. Your problem sounds too much like my situation I had a long time ago.. I read up lots and tried again and I've been very successful with SPS lately.

    One thing I'd advise is to not make any drastic changes to water chemistry. This will make it even worse. Go slow with any adjustments you make..
     
  5. familiar1985

    familiar1985 Bristle Worm

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    You top off with kalk and add an alkalinity supplement and PH Up? Give me more detail about this. What brands are they, how much do you dose, how often?

    alk/ph up i use is Kent Marine Superbuffer-dkh. My kalk is from bulk reef supply. When my top off container is dry (about 1 week) i test the tank water fill up my top off and add kalk/ph/mag. Quantity depends on test. Usually just kalk (3tsp approx.)


    Also, are you relying on Kalk for all your calcium needs?

    Yes, i try to keep it at 450, when i test 400 or less i add a little more kalk then normal to top off.

    And what about mag? What do you use and how much?

    I use mag flake from bulk reef supply, how much i add depends on test, i usually go to the reef chemistry calc and adjust 100ppm over 3 days. Last time i added mag flake my magnesium went up higher then calc told me it would so i will be very cautious from this point on. (Went up atleast double of what it was supposed to)

    Sorry if this is too many questions. I'm kinda thinking it is your parameters and dosing regimen then a "virus" or whatever else. Your problem sounds too much like my situation I had a long time ago.. I read up lots and tried again and I've been very successful with SPS lately.

    Yea, its been out of balance since an overnight temp swing 3 months ago. When i had all corals doing good tests were more consistent.

    What happened was my temp dropped to 70 from 78 norm overnight, half my torch died and a couple sps started receding over the next week. I think after that all my params got out of line, as my corals were using up supplements at steady rate and i was dosing at steady rate and after the temp swing growth got stunted and a new balance had to be achieved. I think the combined stress of the water temp drop and a new chemistry balance to accomodate slower growth rates might have been too much stress on the some corals?
     
  6. chuckdee

    chuckdee Peppermint Shrimp

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    Yea hugh temp swings and making harsh dosing adjustments can be bad for SPS.

    As Much as I love BRS, I don't and have never agreed with their calculator that says it's ok to raise magnesium 100ppm per day. Any time you want to raise or lower a parameter, it mush be done slowly. This is even more important with calcium and PH and especially alkalinity.

    I would be wary of that alk/ph up you are using. Reason why is I noticed when I dose an alk supplement manually, it spikes my PH if I dose it fast. My corals usually react to it. My rule for alk is only raise it .7DKH or .25meq/L per day.

    I would also not recommend using kalk to raise your calcium. I found it difficult and inconsistent. I manually dose Seachem calcium slowly to raise my calcium and alk when need be and keep my kalk topoff consistent.

    Just hang in there and don't quit. Try to keep your system as stable as possible. It is hard sometimes, but stability is key for success with SPS.

    Good Luck
     
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  7. NeighborTomita

    NeighborTomita Banned

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    I could not have said this better myself, great advice, Chuck :)
     
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