MH - How little is to little?

[Awibrandy]

Thanks fritz, but I meant the numbers on the Doser itself. I dose ESV 1 & 2.

What should the doser be set to? Right now it is set to 1.00 on both channels

 

[fritz]

I've never used the aquamedic doser but I would trial and error this till it's right. First dose your tank some to get your calcium and alk to where they should be. Check your Mg levels as those may be off which is throwing your balance out of whack. Once you get your alk, calcium and Mg levels correct you can then go back to dosing equal parts of each. Try a little lower than "1" if that's an option till you find the sweet spot. As your sps grow and need more calcium that sweet spot will move.

 

[Awibrandy]

That's what I thought. Nothing is ever easy, especially in this hobby!!:irked:

Thanks any way!!

 

[scumonkey]

The alk levels should be based on your calcium levels.....
I have been keeping mine at 11 (cal 450), with no problems...
until I decided to lower it -cause people like Fritz keep telling me it's too high-
It's NOT!!!!
I started a thread about my high alk levels maybe bleaching out my SPS
and Solby gave me this reply:

I'm surprised that the slight decrease in Alk value would cause any SPS to bleach, going from 11 to 10dkh. That happens in my reef all the time with no adverse affects. I actually keep my Alk at 12dkh and Ca at 450. For your Ca value you should be in the 12dkh range also, so 11 was just fine.

So Awibrandy set your Alk levels to balance with your clacium levels - not at a set level that disregards your other params.
It turns out that my STN problem IS THE HEAT (not the high alk)
I got my tank cooled back down- and everything is already looking better.

 

[Awibrandy]

Thanks Eric! Great to know! See what happened is that Chris set, and installed the doser. Then I accidently messed up the setting. Chris told me it would be fine, I guess the alk was fine, but I needed to adjust the cal dosing part of it due to that very low reading.
Heat - well thank God it is cooler today therefor the tank is at 81.
Looks like I won't be getting the A/C hooked up after all.

Sure glad I only have a few caps, patchy, and the only ones being bodered by what ever digi, and possible slimer. Zoas are not to happy either, but I know they will bounce back. They don't seem to be so sensitve.

 

[Aqua Pro Builder]

Only thing that I can think of that caused the ammonia spike, the addition of scarf's, NRA, & drperetz fish all within a couple of days. A totall of 7 I think, and the lnhawk I got from another mr member. :Yikes: Didn't even realized what I'd done til just now when I added them up.

If there is no major death, even adding 7 fish in couple of days will not result in ammonia spike/nitrite spike if your BIO FILTER IS SETUP PROPERLY. At this stage, you need to gradually increase capacitiy of the BIO filter.

 

[fritz]

Scu there is no conceivable way that a temp of 81 degrees caused mass bleaching in your tank. That being said I doubt a 1 dkh drop would cause it either and that is why I stated earlier that "often when you think you've found the cause of something , it turns out to be something totally different."

What solbby left out of his post to you is that while we are testing chemically for certain factors there are thousands of other things going on in our tanks. (ask him about it) Your mass bleaching event was certainly caused by something but to point at anything that has been mentioned so far, I think is purely coincidental. We arent' aware of most of the ups and downs happening in our tanks on a daily basis. For example we have no way of testing the bacterial populations? Or what the ramifications of their rise and fall is? We also cannot measure weather or not our corals contain a dangerous amount of zoax due to an overabundance of bacteria brought on due to some as of yet unknown source. etc

 

[scumonkey]

Fritz, I did NOT have a mass bleaching in my tank, (only three nice corals- and not completely)!
As you stated earlier, tanks that are very stable have a harder time with changes than tanks that have broader swings- My tank is VERY stable.
I too doubt it was my Alk (I'm raising it back up to where it was -11dkh, cause I have since read enough info to know I was correct at keeping it there). That said -My response was to your post :

I keep my Dkh under 8 I think most sps keepers do as well. Off the top of my head I think 6-7 is the optimal range....,

I have a problem with that advice! I think Alk should be kept in a balance with your Calcium levels- if Calcium is 450 , an alk reading of 6-7 is way too low!
Also according to what you've said,

6-7 is the optimal range, over that and your sps can get burnt or STN.

with my alk levels,(or Solby's), our acros should be burned to a crisp! Since for 11months these 3 corals have done nothing but grow like weeds- i know my problem is not due to high alk levels.
My water temp stays at 77 degrees 99 percent of the time. When I said I keep it at 77 -79, that was the top and bottom temp ever recorded over the last
11 months. So from 77 to 81 is a lot for my tank.... and suspect!

 

[Awibrandy]

Fritz, I did NOT have a mass bleaching in my tank, (only three nice corals- and not completely)!
As you stated earlier, tanks that are very stable have a harder time with changes than tanks that have broader swings- My tank is VERY stable.
I too doubt it was my Alk (I'm raising it back up to where it was -11dkh, cause I have since read enough info to know I was correct at keeping it there). That said -My response was to your post :I have a problem with that advice! I think Alk should be kept in a balance with your Calcium levels- if Calcium is 450 , an alk reading of 6-7 is way too low!
Also according to what you've said, with my alk levels,(or Solby's), our acros should be burned to a crisp! Since for 11months these 3 corals have done nothing but grow like weeds- i know my problem is not due to high alk levels.
My water temp stays at 77 degrees 99 percent of the time. When I said I keep it at 77 -79, that was the top and bottom temp ever recorded over the last
11 months. So from 77 to 81 is a lot for my tank.... and suspect!

Eric, funny you should post this. I hadn't tested the tank because everything was going so well so I can't say for sure were the alk was, but I would imagine that it has been 11.9dKh all along since the doser was not changed until today. My tank also was maintaining a temp of 77 - 79 until the high temp hit. First to act funny were the zoas, then yesterday I saw these two sps bleaching.

 

[scumonkey]

I can't say for sure were the alk was, but I would imagine that it has been 11.9dKh all along since the doser was not changed until today.

I'm guessing BUT....
In your case the alk levels might very well be your problem?
You said your cal was down to 260....for your alk levels, it should be more like 453ish
If the calcium only recently dropped (I'm assuming you've keept it closer to the 400 or higher range), Then the now High alk to low cal level ,
could have played a part in your problem?

 

[Awibrandy]

Didn't test for the past few months since all was well. So the alk & cal have been off all along. I know this because the doser has been dosing a great deal more alk then calcium all along. The only change is the temp. from 77 - 78 to 80 - 84. And today it is back to 80.