BIG TROUBLE!! Need advice please.

[doch]

Yes, I do use RODI. This is the first time that I have.

I think that I may have found the Mg culprit. I had a bucket of 2Ocean sitting around waiting for changes.... I was at the bottom of the bucket, and today I did yet another water change, and tested the Mg before putting the tank online. 1850! Seems that is the Mg problem. I wasn't smart enough to test the Kh before putting it online, so who knows about that. For the record... yes, yes, I know... roll, shake and disturb salt before use. I have learned this the hard way. Crap. And lots of it.

This all said, who knows... it's a semi old Mg test kit, maybe it's out? I get a new one tomorrow so we'll see.

So, I went onto BRS and used their reef calculator... turns out that I was using too little GFO, so I upped that and the carbon. I dosed a little Ca so we'll see what that does... hopefully bring the Kh down.

One question though... talking to buddy tonight, I was told that dosing for Alk will drop the pH... is this right? Everytime I dose soda ash my pH spikes... I think. I haven't paid attention in a while, but I thought that was the case.


Anyways kids, thanks for the inputs. Wish me luck in saving my little box of ocean!

[viperfish]

Originally Posted by doch

Yes, I do use RODI. This is the first time that I have.

I think that I may have found the Mg culprit. I had a bucket of 2Ocean sitting around waiting for changes.... I was at the bottom of the bucket, and today I did yet another water change, and tested the Mg before putting the tank online. 1850! Seems that is the Mg problem. I wasn't smart enough to test the Kh before putting it online, so who knows about that. For the record... yes, yes, I know... roll, shake and disturb salt before use. I have learned this the hard way. Crap. And lots of it.

This all said, who knows... it's a semi old Mg test kit, maybe it's out? I get a new one tomorrow so we'll see.

So, I went onto BRS and used their reef calculator... turns out that I was using too little GFO, so I upped that and the carbon. I dosed a little Ca so we'll see what that does... hopefully bring the Kh down.

One question though... talking to buddy tonight, I was told that dosing for Alk will drop the pH... is this right? Everytime I dose soda ash my pH spikes... I think. I haven't paid attention in a while, but I thought that was the case.


Anyways kids, thanks for the inputs. Wish me luck in saving my little box of ocean!

The effect of Alk on your PH is determined by the recipe you are using. sodium bicarbonate will drop the PH but soda ash (sodium carbonate) will raise it.

[The Codfather]

Originally Posted by medhatreefguy

The effect of Alk on your PH is determined by the recipe you are using. sodium bicarbonate will drop the PH but soda ash (sodium carbonate) will raise it.

+1 soda will raise pH. We use soda ash in our treatment labs here to neutralize acidic waters.

[christyf5]

I've had high Mg levels before (way higher than the 1500 the kit maxed out at) without any problems. But the high Alk and low Ca could be part of the problem esp if you have new stuff that isn't acclimated to those levels (and I'm talking long term here not just the acclimation to your tank). Sometimes RTN can trigger a cascade effect and cause RTN in other colonies that have been in your tank for awhile. Try to get the alk back on track and the other levels should fall in line with water changes with new/better salt.

[Bblinks]

Originally Posted by christyf5

I've had high Mg levels before (way higher than the 1500 the kit maxed out at) without any problems. But the high Alk and low Ca could be part of the problem esp if you have new stuff that isn't acclimated to those levels (and I'm talking long term here not just the acclimation to your tank). Sometimes RTN can trigger a cascade effect and cause RTN in other colonies that have been in your tank for awhile. Try to get the alk back on track and the other levels should fall in line with water changes with new/better salt.

+1. if you are running probiotic system like pellets or zeovit, you alk should be around 7 anything over 10 dkh you will run into issues. I would get your alk and cal back to proper range and go from there, snip off the rtn sps frag it or what ever but try to get rid of all the other that rtn'ed before it begins a domino effect. best of luck, I know it sucks but just hang in there.

[doch]

Originally Posted by Bblinks

+1. if you are running probiotic system like pellets or zeovit, you alk should be around 7 anything over 10 dkh you will run into issues. I would get your alk and cal back to proper range and go from there, snip off the rtn sps frag it or what ever but try to get rid of all the other that rtn'ed before it begins a domino effect. best of luck, I know it sucks but just hang in there.

OH BOY! So you think that I should clear out anything that is dying? Can anyone else vouch? I've been taking stuff out and fragging it as best as I can and ditching th RTN portions if I can tell that they aren't going to make it, but there are a couple in there still that aren't looking great... should I frag and toss the parts with RTN??? Unfortunately, I'm now out of frag plugs and glue due to the massive amount of fragging that has been going on.

This sucks.

[doch]

Well, after reading the last 2 posts, I cmae home after my night shift, cracked a beer (it's more like 8pm for me right now... lol) and went to work. I pulled out 5 pieces from my display... most of which are among my oldest corals, and 6 or 7 from the frag tank. The display pieces ranged from golf ball to soft ball size. Tossed them all. I had tried to save one last night, but came home this morning and the frags were all RTNing, so... essentially, I gave up. If I had frag glue, I'd try, but I'm out of that and plugs, so eff it. My alk is coming down slowly... 229ppm/12.8dKh. On the bright side, since i've added the right amount of gfo, my phosphates are down to 0.00 on the hanna. I just hope that the drop from .10 to .00 wasn't too much for everything right now. I've lost many of my favorite pieces... and most of the frags that I just spent $440 on. I've got my wife going to the crappy in town pet store (refuse to call it a lfs) today to see what she can find me for salt. When I wake up, I'll do yet another water change. I'm just so happy that I have my water change tank operational through this. An 18x18x20 water change (28Gal) takes me about 5 minutes of work. I just wish that my 'fish room' (furnace room with my equipment in it) was a few inches wider... or maybe that I was a few inches narrower... lol. It's pretty tight in there. I'm regularly walking by the outside wall of the room taking measurements and wishing for my wife to let me relocate the wall.

Anyways, there's my morning rant... again... wish me luck!

Ah... what the heck... maybe one more beer before bed! hahaha! It's 5pm somewhere, right?