Should I wait ... or should I play with chemistry?

[jon in alberta]

Hi All,

- my tank is about a year old (150 gal)
- inhabitants are IMO 'satisfied' but not thriving

That is my problem - now for the details.
tank specs:
- vertex 260 LED lighting
- good skimmer (not great)
- recently bought (but not turned on) dosers for Ca and Alk ... BUT Ca is around 425 mg/L and Alk is around 3.5 meq/L. (NO3 <0.25; Ammonia <0.25; pH 8.08 .. that's all the test I have). With those readings I don't think I have to start dosing?
- recently bought a ozone generator, with ORP probe. The ORP started at 115 mV and within 3 days of applying ozone went up to and is sitting around 350 mV (which shuts the ozone generation off). I had been applying ozone through the skimmer.

Here is are my questions:
1) Should I shut up and just wait? Things gotta grow, and the tank will mature ...
2) Is Ca and Alk my limiting factor?
3) how is my ORP sitting at 350mV+ with my ozone generator unplugged?

Any advice is welcome.

[Proteus]

I'd like to know what you have for fish. What's your setup. Amount of flow. Canister or sump what makes you think fish are not all that happy. Got coral or nems

[subman]

your alk is low for sure I would bring that up. Once the alk and CA are in balance the corals will take off

[11purewater]

why are you using ozone?

[Seriak]

Your Alk is fine. What is your Mg at?

[jon in alberta]

I'd like to know what you have for fish. What's your setup. Amount of flow. Canister or sump what makes you think fish are not all that happy. Got coral or nems

7 fish,

flow not sure (high) - I can get that exact for you.

fish are ok - corals are growing slow .... that's the thing

[jon in alberta]

your alk is low for sure I would bring that up. Once the alk and CA are in balance the corals will take off

ok, thanks - alk up to what constitutes balanced?

[ScubaSteve]

ok, thanks - alk up to what constitutes balanced?

Check out this article by Randy Holmes-Farley (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/index.php). It will explain everything. You'll know what balanced is after this.

As for Alk... there's no right answer, but rather an acceptable range. I would actually consider yours perfectly balanced. No need to worry. Once the corals start to take off you see your levels drop and that'll be the time to fire up the dosers.

I consider your pH a touch on the low side, but not problematic. A better skimmer will probably boost this up a bit with better aeration.

How many corals do you have? What kind of corals? What kind of lighting? How often and how much of water changes are you doing? (the water changes might be replenishing your levels, hence no need to dose).

[subman]

Sorry I read this at a red light your alk is fine I thought it was 3.5dkh. It's perfect where it is my mistake.


Your Alk is fine. What is your Mg at?

What Seriak said mg may be your problem

[kien]

If you don't already have one, which you did suggest that you didn't, I would get a phosphate test kit and figure out your P04. Phosphates can be an inhibitor of growth. At least it would be nice to rule it out even if it's in check.

[ScubaSteve]

Sorry I read this at a red light...

LMAO :razz: I do the same thing...

[jon in alberta]

Your Alk is fine. What is your Mg at?

good call. I was wondering if I needed to by that test kit. I have good salt (with sufficient Mg) and do water changes about every 3 weeks. further, i have Mg dosing solution but don't plan to tie it to an automatic doser like the Ca and Alk.

[subman]

LMAO :razz: I do the same thing...
:redface:

[Seriak]

good call. I was wondering if I needed to by that test kit. I have good salt (with sufficient Mg) and do water changes about every 3 weeks. further, i have Mg dosing solution but don't plan to tie it to an automatic doser like the Ca and Alk.

I recently started having some RTN and STN on some of my SPS and my readings for Mg were in the 1100 range, but I also had a low Alk (5.5dkh). As soon as I corrected these my corals recovered and really started to take off. I did weekly water changes (Reef crystals), but it was not enough to get the extra Mg boost I needed. I am switching to H20 salt to hopefully alleviate my Mg problem without having to dose.

This is why I asked about your Mg.

[jon in alberta]

If you don't already have one, which you did suggest that you didn't, I would get a phosphate test kit and figure out your P04. Phosphates can be an inhibitor of growth. At least it would be nice to rule it out even if it's in check.

Thanks all, so I guess I will be buying a PO4 and a Mg kit.

As for corals - I will try to list them all (and will forget some I am sure)
- green star polyp x 2
- 4 types of zoas (these were growing rapidly until 2 months ago - now they are sort of sitting there)
- bubble tip anemone (recently split into two)
- 'regular' anemone (really small)
- green/red favia - growing at 1mm / month (isn't that slow?)
- 'pink' millipora which is all dark green now
- pink/green trachy
- hammer coral
- green torch
- unknown mushrooms

... that's about all I can see now

[jon in alberta]

I recently started having some RTN and STN on some ...

I'm still kinda new: what is RTN and STN?

[Seriak]

I'm still kinda new: what is RTN and STN?

Slow or fast tissue necrosis. Its when the flesh of the coral starts to recede. Sometimes it happens overnight and your entire coral is gone or sometimes it's a slow process over many days / weeks.

[jon in alberta]

while the iron is hot ... anyone out there know why ORP would sit around 350mV with my ozone generator sitting unplugged?

[Aquattro]

while the iron is hot ... anyone out there know why ORP would sit around 350mV with my ozone generator sitting unplugged?
Clean water? Dirty probe?

[jon in alberta]

Clean water? Dirty probe?

Clean water: if by that you mean "is your water clean?" to that I say "as far as I can tell"

Dirty probe: that was my first thought too - so I checked the probe as well as possible - it responded to changing water conditions.

[Proteus]

Orp is a tricky subject. I once dug into it and really I don't bother. As long as water quality is good. Nitrate phosphate. Cal alk mg. it's all good. Some coral like high flow some like less. Same as light. I grow sps and a few lps. Due to high light and great water my sps out grows lps 10 to 1. Try moving pices to different areas as long as you have good polyp extension then let time do its thing. Also IMO ozone is good but not a huge factor for me. Orp can and will drop and raise through out the day.

[kien]

Orp is a tricky subject. I once dug into it and really I don't bother. As long as water quality is good. Nitrate phosphate. Cal alk mg. it's all good. Some coral like high flow some like less. Same as light. I grow sps and a few lps. Due to high light and great water my sps out grows lps 10 to 1. Try moving pices to different areas as long as you have good polyp extension then let time do its thing. Also IMO ozone is good but not a huge factor for me. Orp can and will drop and raise through out the day.

+1 one. I have had an Orp probe on my tank for 3 years and have watched to go from 300 to 450 all in a matter of a day without any noticeable changes in my tank. Some days it'll sit at the low end, sometimes it will sit at the high end. I've read up on it as well and still don't really understand what the heck ORP is telling me LOL.

[lastlight]

I did weekly water changes (Reef crystals), but it was not enough to get the extra Mg boost I needed.

Strangely enough when i used RC on my 97 and 404 I rarely ever used any of my Mg chems. It was always at 1400 but I was never sure how lol.

[Seriak]

Strangely enough when i used RC on my 97 and 404 I rarely ever used any of my Mg chems. It was always at 1400 but I was never sure how lol.

Yeah, I have read about RC having MG levels anywhere from 1000 to 1450 over the last few years.

[lastlight]

Yeah, I have read about RC having MG levels anywhere from 1000 to 1450 over the last few years.

and undetectable levels of liquid death apparently.

[Proteus]

+1 one. I have had an Orp probe on my tank for 3 years and have watched to go from 300 to 450 all in a matter of a day without any noticeable changes in my tank. Some days it'll sit at the low end, sometimes it will sit at the high end. I've read up on it as well and still don't really understand what the heck ORP is telling me LOL.

Basically it's a measure of good vs bad. 350 450 is a good range. But really if it goes to high or low you would probably know without a meter. Ozone is o3. So if you have good o2 in tank it should already be oxidizing the filth in tank. H202 is another way to raise orp.

[kien]

Basically it's a measure of good vs bad

ya that's pretty much all I got out of reading the various articles about ORP. :lol: