Slow Motion Crash?

philosophile · 10/29/2011, 08:43 PM

Okay, so this is how things started... About two months ago, I put in a fresh charge of GFO, but I ran out of Carbon to put in my BRS dual stage. But I didn't think much of it, and started things running... About two weeks later I noticed that things weren't looking great in my tank, my Duncans were sucked in, and some of the other LPS weren't looking great. My blastos started caving in, etc. So I do water changes, and test the water. The water is REALLY low in Alkalinity.... something like 5 dkh. I take out the GFO, add in carbon.... Lots more water changes... I use Kalk, so I thought it was really odd to have such low dkh. Several water changes later, things still arn't looking good. I test for ammonia (original tests were for ca alk and mag). I get a reading of .25ppm. So I throw in some Amquel, and do some more water changes....

My blastos melt away, and my duncans are on the verge of dying, so I take them out, thinking that when they start rotting, it'll just add to the ammonia spike. Now Ca is at 460, dkh is at 8 and Mag is at 1400. Ammonia reads zero... but things still look kinda bad.... My branching frogspawn is receeding, and my other wall frogspawn isn't doing that hot either. I have a few zoanthids that never seem to open up anymore, a colony of palys that seem to be bleaching.... Today I found a dead fuzzy chiton, but I'm not sure if that's because of tank conditions, or if it died from starvation (they've done a great job cleaning things...)

I've been doing 10 gallon water changes twice a week, and I really can't keep this up forever... I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong.

Should I try feeding the frogspawn? Is there anything else I should test for? My fish seem fine... (2 clowns a green chromis and a lawnmower blenny) My mushrooms seem fine, I have a chalice that doesn't seem affected. I have one colony of Acans that seem a little unhappy, but the rest look okay... Chaeto is growing normally.

Other ideas? I haven't added anything new. About 4 months ago, I switched salts, but I've since switched back. (From Microbe-lift to Reef Crystals, now back on Microbe-lift)

philosophile · 10/29/2011, 10:09 PM

Bump

10/29/2011, 08:43 PM	#1
philosophile Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,149	Slow Motion Crash? Okay, so this is how things started... About two months ago, I put in a fresh charge of GFO, but I ran out of Carbon to put in my BRS dual stage. But I didn't think much of it, and started things running... About two weeks later I noticed that things weren't looking great in my tank, my Duncans were sucked in, and some of the other LPS weren't looking great. My blastos started caving in, etc. So I do water changes, and test the water. The water is REALLY low in Alkalinity.... something like 5 dkh. I take out the GFO, add in carbon.... Lots more water changes... I use Kalk, so I thought it was really odd to have such low dkh. Several water changes later, things still arn't looking good. I test for ammonia (original tests were for ca alk and mag). I get a reading of .25ppm. So I throw in some Amquel, and do some more water changes.... My blastos melt away, and my duncans are on the verge of dying, so I take them out, thinking that when they start rotting, it'll just add to the ammonia spike. Now Ca is at 460, dkh is at 8 and Mag is at 1400. Ammonia reads zero... but things still look kinda bad.... My branching frogspawn is receeding, and my other wall frogspawn isn't doing that hot either. I have a few zoanthids that never seem to open up anymore, a colony of palys that seem to be bleaching.... Today I found a dead fuzzy chiton, but I'm not sure if that's because of tank conditions, or if it died from starvation (they've done a great job cleaning things...) I've been doing 10 gallon water changes twice a week, and I really can't keep this up forever... I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. Should I try feeding the frogspawn? Is there anything else I should test for? My fish seem fine... (2 clowns a green chromis and a lawnmower blenny) My mushrooms seem fine, I have a chalice that doesn't seem affected. I have one colony of Acans that seem a little unhappy, but the rest look okay... Chaeto is growing normally. Other ideas? I haven't added anything new. About 4 months ago, I switched salts, but I've since switched back. (From Microbe-lift to Reef Crystals, now back on Microbe-lift) __________________ 90 gallon mixed reef XPS1000SSS skimmer, 2 radions gen 1, tunze osmolator w/ kalk dispenser, 70 lbs pukani, mp40w x2; 1 tomini, 1 clown 2 mandarins. Vinegar dosing, and micro bubble scrubbing.

10/29/2011, 10:09 PM	#2
philosophile Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: San Jose, CA Posts: 1,149	Bump __________________ 90 gallon mixed reef XPS1000SSS skimmer, 2 radions gen 1, tunze osmolator w/ kalk dispenser, 70 lbs pukani, mp40w x2; 1 tomini, 1 clown 2 mandarins. Vinegar dosing, and micro bubble scrubbing.

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