Need some help

JeepersReefers

JeepersReefers

Member
Over the last few days my xenia and colt haven't looked quite as "happy". Now today, several zoa colonies and the frog spawns appear to be in trouble too. I'm afraid i'm heading towards my first tank crash in 8 years in the hobbie.


ammonia .25 or less ( lfs tests)
nitrate 5
nitrite.25 or less

Temp 80.2F (my test equip)
sg 1.021
PH 7.9

other notes: Mh lights are 1 month old( no more alge from bad lights)
Refuge was upgraded 2 weeks ago to a 20g with 2 6500k CFL
70g (30% )worth of water changes done over the last 5 days.
No new livestock of any kind in 3 months, since the ich incident

Any suggestions, or things i over looked?

Thanks in advance
Dane
 
BigAl07

BigAl07

Administrator
RS STAFF
Dane I see a couple of issues but don't "react" to them all at once. Go slow..


A) sg 1.021? That's really low. I like to see 1.024 - 1.026 but don't go wild and try to push it in a day's time. Raise it (if you do this) over the course of several days by adding Salt Mix to your top-off water.

B) You've got NH4, NO2 and NO3 in your test results. Something has "expired" or in the process. Those are tough on coral.

Just as a precaution I'd get some serious carbon running yesterday.
 
JeepersReefers

JeepersReefers

Member
Thanks for the quick response AL
A large carbon sock was added yesterday, i forgot to include that in the post. At this time no one is MIA or dead, but i will give every thing a much closer exam. Usual its 1.023, ill bring that up over a couple of days.
 
ReefLady

ReefLady

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Hey, my last plate on my Jeep was "JEEPRS". :)

I agree with Al 100%. And I'd really suggest that you get your own test kits. There's a huge difference between an ammonia level of .25 and 0.00. It's a world of difference in terms of a SW tank.

Agree that sg needs to be much higher (but slowly) -but have you validated test results? If you're using a hydrometer, you might want to have LFS validate before raising the salinity.

What do you have for livestock in the tank? How much do you feed, and how often. Amount of LR? Any skimmer?
Do you have test results for ca, alk & mg?

Last thought...any dwarf angels or other tank inhabitants that could be picking at the corals?

Member since '03....there aren't too many of us still around. :)
 
JeepersReefers

JeepersReefers

Member
Follow up:

The PH is stable at 8.2
SG 1.025
AM is 0

The ammonia was 0 on the last test, unfortunately my eyes aren't that great for colors. Digital meters are on my wish list for the future.

I believe the Ph was the main issue, i borrowed a buddies digital tester and it was much lower than previously thought... 7.4

Now for the slow recovery process.
 
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