Urgent Favia coral hurting....

Discussion in 'ASAP' started by ezz1r, Jan 26, 2011.

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  1. blackraven1425

    blackraven1425 Giant Squid

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    The Red Sea kit is over engineered. It seems, from using it, to be too sensitive to hit the purple color - not enough tolerance to stay there, it always goes straight to orange/yellow.
     
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  3. ezz1r

    ezz1r Feather Star

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    Black raven : My same situation as a matter of fact the LFS said he did not know how to test either...weird mine also straight to yellow. he said to check back 2morrow....

    FaceOfDeceit: I was adding purpleUp but have not used for months....
     
  4. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    That's why I like the Tropic Marin dKh test kit. Easy to see the color change, and the number of drops=the final reading, no calculations.

    If you don't know your alk reading, that may well be the main issue.
     
  5. ezz1r

    ezz1r Feather Star

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    Thanks to all for the help we have started to raise the Ca which is low and monitoring the ph as it comes down.

    Update today my Trumpets are looking dismal as well starting to show signs dying as well.


    As far as the alkalinity we are on our way to the LFS who is going to show us how to use the test. The owners son which to me seems more clueless than me a newbie at times.

    He actually mentioned he did not know there was such a thing as a Water Purity Test Pen which gave me a very bad vibe.....

    Thanks again forum for the help and advise.

    E
     

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  6. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    Part of the issue is that you're having basic chemistry issues. Don't add calcium without keeping it in balance with alkalinity. With a small tank, either do regular water changes with a salt that will give you the final chemistry that you are looking for, or look into two part dosing.
     
  7. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    Yes, you can raise ca and raise alk. After a point, when you raise any more, what you add will just precipitate out. The limitation to how much you can add is primarily dependent on magnesium and phosphate. Because we don't want phosphate and we do want magnesium, we prefer to supplement magnesium to help balance calcium and alkalinity. The precipitation however will occur instantly, regardless of po4 and mg if you add ca and mg together. So, be sure to add the two with some time in between to let them fully settle into solution. However, I would not add without testing. As you can really throw things off quick if not careful. Once a precipitation event occurs, precipitation can continue past the saturation denisty. It does not necessarily stop once at the point, so you can end up even lower...

    cheers,
    m
     
    Last edited: Jan 27, 2011
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  9. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    I should clarify my point. If you are adding Ca without testing or adjusting alkalinity, you are most likely driving the alkalinity down. Since Ca and alkalinity levels affect each other, you shouldn't add one without at least testing for the other.

    Now that more than one coral is affected, I would suspect that alkalinity could be in the 6-7 range. In any case, a better understanding of the chemistry and more consistency in the water parameters will go a long way.
     
  10. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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    Sorry, I'm not sure if I understand what you are saying. pH is high, odds are alkalinity is very high. 6-7 is low. I would not add anything without testing though, for the reasons you mention, especially alkalinity, because if the pH reading is correct, alk would need to be very high. Of course the pH reading could be wrong too...
     
  11. barbianj

    barbianj Hammer Head Shark

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    We're saying the same thing. Don't add without testing. I usually disregard the pH reading because it could be completely wrong, and it's likely that the alk has dropped if nothing is being buffered
     
  12. m2434

    m2434 Giant Squid

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