madsalt Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Parameters are still holding around the same. Phos is down to 0.06 from 0.11. Mag is still around 1200 but I dosed b-ionic again because my BRS mag is not mixed yet. Alk is still in the high 8 to low 9 range, still using API until my reagents get here. My original order got messed up Calc 420-440 Mag was a bit low at around 1200 Sali is 1.025 Phos 0.06 Nit about 0.05 Just as I say my fish are doing great, BOOM ich, no clue. I am not going to remove all the fish and if I can I will remove the infected one or two that I can catch. I am going to try kick-ich as it is reef safe for the most part. I read a crap ton of reviews before I decided to try it, we will see. I did move some corals up higher in the tank after being on the sand for light acclimation. We will see how they do with the movement and new light profile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 That's a bit of a shame about the fish health. I'd imagine the addition of the flame wrasses may have played some part in that... whether by being a source or causing enough stress in the tank with the other fishes and causing a mini-outbreak. I'm not a fan of any medication in the tank. I think severely infected fish need to be removed and treated and then placed back in the tank. I don't know much about kick-ich so I can't say much about that. How were the corals doing in the sand before you moved them up? Where they getting happier in the tank? Whenever you are done and bring back the fish trap, bring some of your tank water with you and I can double-check your results for you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I am not sure what happened with the ich. I will try to catch the severely infected fish and treat them. The corals weren't looking great on the sand bed although when I moved the purple digi, up the polyps started coming out again. The rainbow stylo has kind of been doing the same thing since day one so I moved it up to see how it would do. I will overcome the ich problem in one way or another. One thing I am trying to deal with is my ph. Since I started dosing my ph has slowly crept up, as expected. The problem is that is starting to creep up past 8.4, my highest was 8.55. No bueno! I have been cutting back on the dosing in order to get the ph to drop. Still waiting on my reagents, should be here in the 18th ugh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 If it were my tank, I'd leave the fish alone in the tank and let them get over the ich. Healthy fish should have no problem doing that. If there is still fighting amongst the new additions, I'd remove any fish that are causing the extra stress. This is just my personal opinion so do what you feel is in the best interest of the fish based on what you see. For your pH, 8.55 is a little higher than what you want to be at but not a terrible issue. I'm assuming this is happening during the dosing of your alk? Any chance you can spread the alk dosing out more to overcome this? I still consider it a non-issue unless the pH goes above that. Just a thought with the sps, I'm sure your observations are telling you the right thing to move them up a bit. Just throwing another theory out... but SPS aren't too fond of having to deal with sedimentation all the time... perhaps your sand sifting goby is causing them to expend extra energy on the sandbed removing additional particulates versus off the sandbed and in the liverock? Again, if you need to borrow a reagent bottle, I have an extra you can grab until yours gets here and just replace mine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Just another quick thought, but I fear your alk maybe reading higher with the API test. This is obviously based on no real evidence but a higher pH tank reading and if the alk supplementation is not the direct cause of it (pH higher only when dosing), then I worry about your actually alk level being higher than advertised. Normally, if enough Ca is present, then it would just start precipitating out of solution if the alk gets too high and that in itself reduces pH levels. Just throwing out my only concern about a higher pH reading. Not that the pH in itself is a danger, but that it may be indicative of another issue. When was the last time the pH probe was calibrated? I'd recommend at least 1x/6 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Funny that you say that about the ph probe, I am actually going to calibrate it tonight when I get home. I was wondering myself if the ph probe was off. My ph was 8.33 at 0210 this morning and climbed to 8.43 by 0610. I would consider that to be an acceptable climb while my dosing was happening. So it is in a decline right now and at 0910 it was 8.37. I imagine by the time my lights come on and things get moving around I will be back to around the 8.33 range. My ph only hit above 8.5 once so I am wondering that as long as I do not exceed 8.5 and I stay in the 8.4 range I will be good. I usually only get to about 8.45 then drop down after the lights go out and climb again when I dose. My ph used to run around 8.2 and has only hit the levels I see now because my alk is at an acceptable range. It is very possible that my tank will run at its current ph levels (all tanks are different) as long as I see no ill effects. Then again I have not seen very many positive effects either lol I am not a fan of having to use the API kit but I do know that when I was testing against my hanna checker it was pretty close. Obviously I can only estimate the numbers within a certain range with the API test kit. I did not think it would be so difficult to get reagents for my alk checker. I will make I do not run out again in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 Sounds Ike you have a good grasp on your pH trends. Just a thought, either try dispersing the alk dosing during the naturally lower times of the day (as you have mostly done already), aerate your water better for more balanced CO2 levels in your tank, or if you are using sodium carbonate as you alk supplement, try switching to sodium bicarbonate instead, which has a more a more depressive effect on pH. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I do dose early In the morning when my ph is lower. My lights are off by midnight and then I do not dose until 2am, the dosing occurs over a 4 hour period. I use the BRS soda ash that comes in their 2 part kit. I have pretty good flow across the water surface and my skimmer helps as well. I will continue to watch things and as long as I am not exceeding 8.5 and I float in the 8.4 range I think I will be ok. This is how things have been going for the past 5 days. I have attached a screen shot of my ph There are no large swings so I am happy about that. If I had big swings I imagine that would more of a concern. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 That looks pretty good to me too. I forgot to say that I only mentioned the options to lower pH if you thought it was an issue and those are reasonable alternatives to correct. I don't consider what you have as a pH issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Cool, I will keep doing what I am doing then. I hope that I see some coral improvement now that I have started moving the corals up. I thought that I would see something good from them on the sand bed though. I didn't expect to see crazy growth or color, just some polyp extension and a little color. I figured that at best I would see polyp extension as the corals reached for light if there wasn't enough Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 15, 2015 Author Share Posted March 15, 2015 If you're talking just your sps frags, they don't really reach for light with their polyps. That's mainly a zoa and lps thing. Give it time. I've had frags ticked off for weeks with great water quality before looking happy again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Ok I'll give it time lol. My softies and LPS seem to be doing great. I moved my frogspawn and golden hammer a little but they seem to be doing good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 So things in the tank seem to be stabilizing. My ph looks like it is falling into a decent pattern with swings of about a 10th of a point so I am good with that. I am still dosing alk and calc with good numbers for now lol. My new reagents should be here today so I will be able to get a lot better test results. I do hope that I am not saddened by poor results once I check tonight. My corals seems to be doing ok. My rainbow stylo and new purple digi are doing ok, I say ok because they haven't died yet. They both have white tips on them, I am hesitant to say growth vs slow STN until I get better test parameters tonight. My blue echinata looks good. This thing is slow growing but from what I can see it is hanging in there with some new growth. My LPS corals are doing good along with my zoas and leathers. For now my fish look to be ich free. This was a very short bout but I am not going to say gone quite yet. I am treating with garlic and chloroquine phosphate medicated food. At this point I see no ill effects on corals or inverts and the fish have no ich on them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 Both the stylo and purple digi both have white tips as growth tips, unlike most acros that don't. If they are staying alive and trying to encrust, I'd make no further changes to placement or tank parameters and just let them adjust to your system. I've had frags just sit there for 2-3 months just staying alive and then out of nowhere, boom, they start growing like crazy. Glad your system is ich free for the most part and the Dr. G's helped out. Let's see what that alk number really is when you get in the reagent today. Remind me, you're running biopellets, correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Nope no biopellets, high capacity GFO I am just letting the tank roll on cruise control right now with maintenance only. The corals are where I plan on leaving them. I have been looking for a few more test SPS so I can place them in other areas to see how my flow and lighting are. There are not a lot of 5 dollar SPS frags in the local fish stores lol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 There are a couple of free frags at your mentor's place. [emoji4] Come on by in about a week when I get the all clear and you're welcome to some screaming green birdsnest to test with. Part of the undisclosed perks of being in the program. Haha. Cruise control is an enviable position! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 18, 2015 Share Posted March 18, 2015 Sweet. I do need to get your trap and syringe back to you. I will drop it off tomorrow, if you are not home, can I leave it on the front porch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 18, 2015 Author Share Posted March 18, 2015 That should work. Just text when you're headed to my place. I might be down south for my listing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 New reagents finally came in woohoo. Alk - 9.6, I would like it to be a bit lower, maybe around 9. With new reagents I will dial it in Calc - 440 - holding here, I would expect my calc to fall over time because I have not been dosing Mag - 1320 Phos - 0.11 higher than I want but weird that it raised .05 in just a couple of days, I will work on that Sali - 1.025 So things are still overall looking good. I got home late so I wasn't able to check the SPS because they were already retracted. I hope to see the purple digi out as well as the stylo. The stylo has pretty much looked the same since I put it in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 Not bad numbers at all. How far off was the alk to the API test you've been using temporarily? Just keep in mind for PO4 results that there is a +/- 0.04 ppm potential read error so I wouldn't read too much into a 0.05 ppm difference unless it's consistently reading that number. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 19, 2015 Share Posted March 19, 2015 I'll watch the PO over the next few days. What do you think about the calcium? I would say given the color range on the API I'm not that far off actually. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 19, 2015 Author Share Posted March 19, 2015 Calcium is fine. The corals aren't too picky about Ca level as long as it doesn't fluctuate much and is anywhere from 380-500 ppm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 The tank is still dong its thing, no real changes. alk - 9.0 cal - 420 mag - 1320 pho - 0.03 sal - 1.025 I added some photos of the corals to see what your thoughts were. they may or may not be helpful, especially of the shots aren't great Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted March 23, 2015 Author Share Posted March 23, 2015 Looks like you're losing flesh and there is some STN on the corals. I'd say anything caught up in the changes of alk, Mg, and Ca up to this point is not going to be happy for a bit. They don't really like changes. Hopefully they survive but I think it's going to be an uphill battle. Are all SPS looking bad or are there happy ones too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 The only three corals that were caught in the initial parameter changes were the red monti, birds nest and cactus coral. The purple dig and the rainbow stylo were added after I got things stabilized. I also have a blue echinata that seems to be bleached out. I have since moved it back down into a lower light area. Corals that I seem to have lost totally were a different purple dig, red dig and a green warp speed. The red monti referenced above was purchased at the same time and I imagine I will lose it over time. I added two acans on Friday that are currently going through light acclimation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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