Nobby's S-650

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Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Pat24601 said:
What kind of SPS are you trying? I always had an easy time with things like me montipora and birds nest, I never really tried things like acros. I agree with you that it could easily be your new(ish) tank.

SPS are overrated anyway. :)

Regardless, glad to see you've got your tank going well! I'll keep following along.
Click to expand...
I've tried the easy SPS like Staghorn & Monipory, but they've all gone to Boot Hill !
I've sent off for another ICP test, so I'll just wait for the results.
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Nobbygas said:
I've tried the easy SPS like Staghorn & Monipory, but they've all gone to Boot Hill !
I've sent off for another ICP test, so I'll just wait for the results.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking your issue is probably new tank. Maybe try again in a few months if you want it.

I couldn't kill my montipora and birds nest when I tried and I'm far from an expert saltwater guy.

Birds nest is weird, though. For me, it would die off occasionally. Maybe due to flow? Then come back strong again.

Then again, some corals just don't do well in some tanks. There were some "easy" corals I never could get to work in my tank. Go figure.
 
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N

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Now, it's just the wait. Triton have received my sample.......the results should be released in a day or two.
One part of me is hoping that they reveal a huge discrepancy somewhere, something that I can fix. If the test just shows a couple of minor discrepancies, then I'll probably just switch to FOWLR and stop wasting my time and money on corals......however, my previous two tests didn't show anything bad.
 
Whitey1973

Whitey1973

Active Member
Don't get disheartened mate, it will all work out, I've lost all but one of my SPS so I'm sticking with LPS and softies for at least a year, but with a FOWLR you can have some really cool fish that you couldn't with a reef, I've always wanted a clown trigger and there is a small one at my LFS which is driving me nuts because I can't have it!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Whitey1973 said:
Don't get disheartened mate, it will all work out, I've lost all but one of my SPS so I'm sticking with LPS and softies for at least a year, but with a FOWLR you can have some really cool fish that you couldn't with a reef, I've always wanted a clown trigger and there is a small one at my LFS which is driving me nuts because I can't have it!!!!!!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I'm serious when I say I like LPS and softies better anyway.
 
SPR

SPR

Well-Known Member
Let's see what the Triton results say when you get them back, but why don't you do the tests yourself every week, if you don't already ? I do the whole list every Sunday ish and it only takes me around 20 minutes

If your loosing corals, clearly there is a reason, but they are very sensitive and the slightest thing they don't like, off they go! I know!

And don't beat yourself up about the SPS. You've already read our experiences with a new tank etc on these so it's probably nothing your doing at all.
 
N

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
I've been testing every three days! SPS I know can be tricky to start, but even the LSP/Softies are keeling over !
 
N

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Low levels of Aluminium.
Calc is fractionally low. - Easy fix.
Potassium is low.
Bromine a little low.
Sulfur really low!
Lithium a little high.
Molybdenum is high.
Iodine low - Not important.
PO4 - Slightly low.
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We detected elements in your water that can be harmful for your tank.
More information about each element is listed below.

We recommend to carry out 6 x 15% water changes with TRITON PURE 2.0 or other recommended salt, spread over 6 weeks.

Low levels of Aluminium have been found in your system.

This is normal if you are using an aluminium based PO4 media. However try to find the contamination. To assist you in finding the source of error, we have listed them the most common sources of aluminium (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Aluminium based Phosphate remover
2. Zeolite
3. Metals in water

Use ROWAphos phosphate media to remove the aluminium.
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Low levels of Lead have been found in your system.

Although not as dangerous at very low levels it is important that you check your system for any possible contaminations. To assist you in finding the source of error, we have listed the most common sources of lead (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Contaminated sea salt mixtures
2. Contaminated salts such as calcium chloride
3. Contaminated trace elements
4. Contaminated feed for fish or coral

If you have problems in your tank, TRITON DETOX should be applied before the water changes.

Application DETOX: Take activated carbon and Phosphate media out of the system, add 3ml Detox / 100l of aquarium water. After 3 days, put on fresh activated carbon (Phosphate media can now also be introduced again), activated carbon should be changed after 7 days.


Monitor levels over future ICP-OES tests.
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Your Calcium levels are slightly low.

Check for accuracy of home Ca test kit if used.

Please dose as recommended in the DOSE tab.

Your Potassium levels are too low.

Please dose as recommended in the DOSE tab.

Your Bromine levels are slightly low.

WARNING! Dosage only to be carried out by advanced reef keepers.

Due to the possible hazardous nature of dosing Bromine the dosage amounts include a safety factor to ensure that the risk of overdose is reduced. This may result in further dosing being required with subsequent ICP testing.

Please follow the directions on the Dose tab.
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Your Sulphur levels are too low.

WARNING! Dosage only to be carried out by advanced reef keepers.

Due to the possible hazardous nature of dosing Sulphur the dosage amounts include a safety factor to ensure that the risk of overdose is reduced. This may result in further dosing being required with subsequent ICP testing.

Please follow the directions on the Dose tab.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Lithium levels are slightly elevated.

Check for possible contamination source. To help you in your search for the source of error, we have listed them the most common lithium sources (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Contaminated salts / contaminated magnesium salts
3. Artificial Rock/ Reef ceramics
4. Food

If you are dosing additional lithium on top of regular doses then stop.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Your Molybdenum levels are too high. This can lead to severe bacterial growth (Cyano, etc.).

Check for possible contamination source. To assist you in finding the source of error, we have listed them the most common sources of molybdenum (sorted in descending order of frequency):

1. Trace element overdose / contamination
2. Food
3. Contaminated salts
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Your Phosphorus levels are slightly low.

Increase feedings.

Reduce amount of PO4 media.
 
N

Nobbygas

Well-Known Member
Trying to get my head together.....

I think that to an extent, I am suffering from the 'new tank syndrome' even though it's been running for about nine months now. I've noticed that I have recently had a growth spurt with the Coraline. Now, Coraline uses up a lot of Mag, so I've had to start dosing Mag above and beyond what the Triton supplies. In the same way, something has been using the Potassium (don't know what though). This has led to the Potassium going down. Looking at my three ICP tests, I can see that this has been a trend. I've never tested for Potassium.
In my humble opinion, because I started off with Dry Rock, the stuff like Coraline had a slow start. For the first months the tank was stable, but now things are starting to take off (Coraline growth etc) and therefore elements are being used up far quicker. I think the tank growth is accelerating, and I need to get off my arse to keep up with it!

So, my plan of action is.....

Perform a couple of 90 litre water changes.
Buy a Potassium test kit.
Test for Potassium.
Increase the Potassium levels, if needed after the water changes.
Increase Mag and Calc levels.
Resume Dosing with Triton, but with higher amounts of the elements.

Any advice would be gratefully received :yup:

I refuse to be beaten by a bloody glass tank full of water !
 
Pat24601

Pat24601

Well-Known Member
Wow. This seems weird to me. You are having to work way too hard for what you are trying to do.

I may have missed something, but I don't see anything in your water parameters that looked crazy.

Water changes are never a bad idea. Big water changes if you are having big problems.

That said, your water doesn't look crazy to me. If you are having problems with all of your corals, that doesn't really feel like a potassium issue to me.

I'm not sure my opinion is worth much here, but I might back off dosing and do a lot of water changes to kind of get the water back to a "natural" eqalibrium.

I say this just because I know with my tank I couldn't kill some corals if I tried. Leathers, mushroom, torch, branching hammer, montipora, birds nest all went through terrible maintenance ringers with me and did fine.

So, I'm wondering if something you dosed somehow caused problems, but I have no idea what.

Really, that's a long winded way of saying I'm mystified. It really shouldn't be this hard.
 
SPR

SPR

Well-Known Member
That test result is way to much information for my head! Lol

That's like a scientific lab report on that big glass box thing.

I think you have ditched Triton anyway (or have you changed your mind?)but if you do regular water changes you will be constantly replacing the lost elements on a weekly basis or whatever your schedule is.

My advice would be to crack on with the water changes, use the Red Sea Standard salt, and get yourself some Red Sea A B C and and get the water parameters stable.

Things like potassium I would have thought will come into line with the new water and I wouldn't even bother testing for that. Otherwise you are going to drive yourself insane

You can make water changes as easy or hard as you like. There really not that bad.
 
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