Cali Kid Corals

65 gallon tank

derek_SR said:
It is strange. You have happy acros in that tank right? What is your po4? Looks like you haven’t tested in a bit so could it be zero?
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I posted the full tests the other day here.
65 gallon tank (only hammers nems mushrooms/ leather frags)
11/03/24
PH 8.6
Alk hanna 5.6
Alk salifert 6.1
P04 hanna (LR) 0.12
Calc hanna 545
Magnesium salifert 1350

Been feeding this tank like crazy to keep p04 up.


Biocube32 main tank (with sps)
11/03/24
Ph 8.25
Calc hanna 517
P04 hanna (LR) 0.13
Alk hanna 8.0
Magnesium salifert 1230

Use Rowaphos to keep p04 down in this tank, nothing else works.

Light feeding.

Salinity maintained at .025 all tanks
 
Regarding the pH pen, when was the last time you calibrated it? Also, are you making sure you clean the probe after each use? Typically, probes stored in pH storage solution tend to hold their accuracy slightly longer. You may want to think about cleaning the probe head as well. Could use multiple solutions to do that.
 
ReyDeFarts said:
Regarding the pH pen, when was the last time you calibrated it? Also, are you making sure you clean the probe after each use? Typically, probes stored in pH storage solution tend to hold their accuracy slightly longer. You may want to think about cleaning the probe head as well. Could use multiple solutions to do that.
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I just got it last week, only used it prob twice. Never calibrated it, should I have out the box?
 
ReyDeFarts said:
Always! Some pH pens are not the most reliable. Some are better and keep calibration longer.
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Will do and get readings tomorrow. It was around $ 12 so nothing i would take at face valve and start dumping stuff in the tank based on it. I figured it was better than nothing at all. I will look for something more trust worthy at some point.
 
MichaelB said:
Will do and get readings tomorrow. It was around $ 12 so nothing i would take at face valve and start dumping stuff in the tank based on it. I figured it was better than nothing at all. I will look for something more trust worthy at some point.
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Apera makes reliable pens. Many options out there, but I believe pH is an important parameter to monitor. I personally do chase that one somewhat. I don't have a fancy monitoring system. So I check with a pen style probe too. I use the Apera pH60.

I have an extra Hanna pH pen you can have, but it might need a new probe head. It was not stored properly by the previous owner, so it's been just sitting in its box for the last 6+ months. I may be able to clean the probe and recalibrate to see if I can get it to read consistently. If you want it, let me know. I'll try and get it to work good.
 
ReyDeFarts said:
Apera makes reliable pens. Many options out there, but I believe pH is an important parameter to monitor. I personally do chase that one somewhat. I don't have a fancy monitoring system. So I check with a pen style probe too. I use the Apera pH60.

I have an extra Hanna pH pen you can have, but it might need a new probe head. It was not stored properly by the previous owner, so it's been just sitting in its box for the last 6+ months. I may be able to clean the probe and recalibrate to see if I can get it to read consistently. If you want it, let me know. I'll try and get it to work good.
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Yea I would appreciate the hanna pH pen.
How much do you think the probes for the one you have run?
So the one mentioned above apera ph60 is one I should work towards getting? I saw that it’s around $100 so maybe a future purchase.
 
MichaelB said:
Yea I would appreciate the hanna pH pen.
How much do you think the probes for the one you have run?
So the one mentioned above apera ph60 is one I should work towards getting? I saw that it’s around $100 so maybe a future purchase.
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Let me see if I can get the one I have working first. Then we can discuss other options if needed bud.
 
MichaelB said:
So a testing update of sorts.

11/03/24
Alk hanna 5.6
Alk salifert 6.1
Added half dose esv 2 part alk
11/04/24
Alk hanna 230pm 7.5
Added half dose 2 part alk
11/05/24
Forgot to test this day alk should have been 8 according to the dosing calcaulator

11/06/24
1hr after 15 gallon Neptunes enhanced natural sea water W-C (their signs if I recall correctly reads around 10alk in their natural sea water)
* no i didn't test their water before water change- I didn't think to and I trust in Roberts advertising)

Nitrate hanna hr 46.3
alk hanna 7.1

1.) This has me a little confused as I expected the alk would have been at least 8 or slightly over. I'm not sure if it's possible for this tank's consumption to be that much in a short period of time?

My main tank has probably 3 times the coral Including sps and it doesn't consume nearly that amount. I'm still getting by with dosing 5 mil AFR per day and 5 gallon natural salt water enhance every 1.5 weeks. The main tank holds steady with that routine.

Is there anything that could cause alk to drop in such a manner that I maybe missing?

I 'm considering not using AFR on this tank and sticking to the esv 2 part and esv mag if needed. My goal in this would be to get more understanding of maintaining parameters individually over the easier AFR option I've taken in my main tank.

Not really a question but I like to know if anyone here is or has used the esv 2 part/mag for manual dosing?

I plan to try to figure out the daily consumption of alk for this tank.
Hopefully if i have 2-3 days in row without water change variable it would be enough to safely identify daily alk consumption?

2.) I took heed to the recommendations and bought a hanna nitrate high range checker today. The result was 46.3. o
Online search says under 20 is considered the ideal range. My Nems are very wonderful but hammers
aren't. I've asked recently based on a color chart. With this specific number from the hanna check Is Nitrate enough to cause it to effect the hammers?

I would assume seeing the alk up and down that could be a effecting them as well. Especially not having a dosing routine identified and in place yet to keep them steady.
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A update to this post.
11/7/24
Alk Hanna 7.3
Added 25 ml esv alk

11/8/24
Hanna alk 7.1

Added 45mil esv alk
15 mins after I retested
Alk hanna 7.8

After adding alk hammers that were retracted came out, almost an immediate improvement. The are not fully out like the ones in my main tank but there is a very noticeable improvement.
20241108_143957.jpg

Is it possible for these hammers/nems to take in this amount of alk so quickly ?

My other tank with more corals doesn't consume that much alk so quickly. So it's confusing to me.
 
Did you dump it in all at once or spread the dosing out? Adding too fast can cause precipitation which could explain the "consumption". Also, if you have coralline algae taking off, that could explain some of the consumption.
 
Agree with Tim’s comment re raising alk by more than 0.5 dkh daily.

Also, I am not an ESV user but used it previously—I don't believe they are so happy because of the alk but the other trace elements included in the two-part dosing—or rather, the oversupply of them by adding a disproportionate amount of alk.
 
dangalang said:
Did you dump it in all at once or spread the dosing out? Adding too fast can cause precipitation which could explain the "consumption". Also, if you have coralline algae taking off, that could explain some of the consumption.
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No visible coralline at all in this tank, I split inti 2 doses.

Precipitation???
 
A little bump in alk isn’t going to cause a noticeable change in any corals happiness.

Could be the trace elements, or it could be random. Do they perk up after a water change too?
 
If may take a stab at the lack of coralline algae. I believe the following is a likely scenario:

Your CA is too high, and your MG too low. Should be around 420 to 440 mg/l really for CA and ideally around 1350 for MG. A too high CA will lead to a lower MG value due to increased precipitation. Also, the AFR has very little MG.

Coralline algae consume MG, which is why when urchins eat coralline, they release MG back into the water (and no MG is lost).

So there might not be enough MG to produce coralline algae, or at least not fast enough.
 
Not to micromanage / armchair quarterback your tank, but just calling out that a 7.1-7.8 alk change from a one time dose over 15 minutes is in big alk swing territory. Every tank is different, but swings like that caused me major euphylia polyp bailout and dead torches. Other things were probably going on in my tank at the time, but if you're having issues I'd really be careful about changes like that.

Have you been spot feeding them, with mysis sized stuff not reef roids. It might sound repetitive, but the basics like water changes + spot feeding can go really far with less chances for craziness.

Good to hear it at least appeared things improved.
 
richiev said:
Not to micromanage / armchair quarterback your tank, but just calling out that a 7.1-7.8 alk change from a one time dose over 15 minutes is in big alk swing territory. Every tank is different, but swings like that caused me major euphylia polyp bailout and dead torches. Other things were probably going on in my tank at the time, but if you're having issues I'd really be careful about changes like that.

Have you been spot feeding them, with mysis sized stuff not reef roids. It might sound repetitive, but the basics like water changes + spot feeding can go really far with less chances for craziness.

Good to hear it at least appeared things improved.
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Isn't that just the bolus method? ;)
 
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