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+1 on checking Nitrate and Phosphate.

How close are the mushrooms and leather corals to each other?
Leather corals in particular are known for chemical warfare.

If they are close, move them apart.
You can also start using Carbon to remove the warfare toxins.
Aggressive Carbon use could be a good way to test it.
But I would not recommend aggressive Carbon long term.
 
Mark, I didn't think those elephant ears would have the ability to fight with the mushrooms. My 100 reef has those in close proximity and I only see issues when they physically touch one another. Both look happy and healthy otherswise.

I just did some measurements today following the 60 gallon water change on the 4th. I'm perplexed by the high pH, dKH, and calcium. In short, how did that happen?

1.023 spec gravity (refractometer)
10 dKH
520 ppm Calcium
Above 8.5 pH on my LaMotte kit. (color achieved was darker than the set color for 8.5 pH). Best guess, 8.7 to 8.8

How did a water change cause my readings to rise so high?

Thanks.

Mike
 
Ok, I understand some refractometers use just RO/DI while others need to be calibrated with a calibration solution.
Not sure if it was mentioned but what salt are you using?
 
Spicolte said:
Mark, I didn't think those elephant ears would have the ability to fight with the mushrooms. My 100 reef has those in close proximity and I only see issues when they physically touch one another. Both look happy and healthy otherswise.
...
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My understanding, which is not necessarily perfect:
Leather corals fight with chemical warfare. Basically putting poison in the water.
1) They generally only do that when threatened. Usually meaning touching, but sometimes if other corals put out chemicals.
2) The further away, the more diluted those chemicals become, so even if they do fight, impact is less.
3) In a small reef tank, those chemicals can accumulate a bit, somewhat affecting all corals.
 
Spicolte said:
I just did some measurements today following the 60 gallon water change on the 4th. I'm perplexed by the high pH, dKH, and calcium. In short, how did that happen?

1.023 spec gravity (refractometer)
10 dKH
520 ppm Calcium
Above 8.5 pH on my LaMotte kit. (color achieved was darker than the set color for 8.5 pH). Best guess, 8.7 to 8.8

How did a water change cause my readings to rise so high?

Thanks.

Mike
Click to expand...
Alk drives PH, so a high dKH will mean a high PH, unless there is excess CO2 in your tank.

Reef Crystals and other "premium" salt mixes have fairly elevated levels of Alk and CA.
That, plus measurement error, plus maybe mixing a bit off, could explain it.

None of those numbers look particularly scary to me.
 
Spicolte said:
Update...I sent off my IPC sample yesterday. Over the weekend I got proactive and made up 60 gallons of RO/DI salt water. Yesterday, I did a large water change, siphoning out all debris and algae.

The large tubs I bought for this endeavor stated they were 31 gallons each...but, it was obvious after changing water out they were more like 25 gallons each. I had never done a 60 gallon change before, so this was a trial by fire. I meticulously measured what I was siphoning out, and ended up having to add another 8 gallons of new RO/DI salt water back in after I reached 60 gallons of water removed.

I'll report back my measurements when I receive my water report.
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Thanks.
rygh said:
Alk drives PH, so a high dKH will mean a high PH, unless there is excess CO2 in your tank.

Reef Crystals and other "premium" salt mixes have fairly elevated levels of Alk and CA.
That, plus measurement error, plus maybe mixing a bit off, could explain it.

None of those numbers look particularly scary to me.
Click to expand...
Thank you. Good to know and that you aren’t scared by it like it scared me.

Regarding coral warefare, my 100 has the same corals and both are fully opened and happy. The only issues I see are when they actually touch each other. See this picture of my 100:

1620699096398.jpeg


When can I expect ICP results? I mailed it off last Tuesday the 4th. No email results as yet.
 
I am new to reefing (just over 1 year) but I noticed your UV sterilizer appears to have a wiper. I just watched a BRS video where they specifically advise against using a sterilizer with a wiper on a salt tank. May or may not be an issue for you, but thought I'd mention it.
 
ghermes said:
I am new to reefing (just over 1 year) but I noticed your UV sterilizer appears to have a wiper. I just watched a BRS video where they specifically advise against using a sterilizer with a wiper on a salt tank. May or may not be an issue for you, but thought I'd mention it.
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Did they say what the concern was?
 
Spicolte said:
Did they say what the concern was?
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I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. I believe the concern is that generally the wiper is connected to a metal rod that could deteriorate over time and add unwanted metals to your tank. They said that the sterilizers with the wipers are meant for freshwater tanks.


Mistake number 19 at 22:00 in the video.
 
ghermes said:
I'm sorry, I should have been more specific. I believe the concern is that generally the wiper is connected to a metal rod that could deteriorate over time and add unwanted metals to your tank. They said that the sterilizers with the wipers are meant for freshwater tanks.


Mistake number 19 at 22:00 in the video.
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Great video. Good info. Thank you for sharing. I guess my bar needs to come out.
 
For those who have done water testing via ICP, I have a question.

The instructions state nothing about paying for return shipping. The label that affixes to the return envelope has a stamp area, but it has text saying “priority”. (Doesn’t say “place stamp here”)

I sent them a message as I was concerned. Their reply was odd. (Did I pay for USPS tracking? Did I just use a stamp). None of those were stated in the instruction form.
Now I’m concerned it’s lost. And since I changed 60 gallons of water immediately after obtaining that sample, the point of that test is now moot.

Do those of you that used ICP pay (or aware that they needed to pay for…) return shipping?
 
Spicolte said:
For those who have done water testing via ICP, I have a question.

The instructions state nothing about paying for return shipping. The label that affixes to the return envelope has a stamp area, but it has text saying “priority”. (Doesn’t say “place stamp here”)

I sent them a message as I was concerned. Their reply was odd. (Did I pay for USPS tracking? Did I just use a stamp). None of those were stated in the instruction form.
Now I’m concerned it’s lost. And since I changed 60 gallons of water immediately after obtaining that sample, the point of that test is now moot.

Do those of you that used ICP pay (or aware that they needed to pay for…) return shipping?
Click to expand...

What company did you use? Triton and icp-analysis.com include a postage paid return label.
 
I used ATI and Triton for my ICP analysis last month. Both included the prepaid sample mailing label. Results are made available on line. Who did you use for your ICP test?
 
I ordered from this website: https://icp1999.com

The email reply from them to my inquiry ended with this line: " If you used only 1 stamp then depending on the distance it will arrive very late."

I immediately emailed back to inquire as the return label, nor included instructions, stated I need to pay for return shipping.
 
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