What the #$%^ is going on every time i do a water change.
 

Ok so Im stumped. I dunno whats going on. I did a water change and a tank clean last night, nothing durastic, cleaned the glass, moved my frogspawn(which is great still) , set a shrimp trap, changed some carbon, moved a powerhead(same flow in area of corals just pointed at sand bed now) and changed a total of about 6 gal of water, its a 46 gallon tank. This is what happend today.....

http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/DSC00879.jpg

http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/z...n/DSC00880.jpg

Im thinking the acro is toast, and the xenia has done that before. My zoas are a bit ****ed and one of my montipora is a little light, but other then that everything else is hunky dory. So i figured it must of been a chemical swing. Tested my dKh. Both are 12.(tested twice with different kits) If the tank was out before i dont think changing 6 gal would bring it back that quick would it? PH is 8.2 on the mix and 8.3 in the tank. Ammonia,Nitrates is zilch on both.I added the water pretty slow with an old powerhead i have so it wasnt turbulent. Im getting to the point where im afraid to do my waterchanges. Any help to get this figured out would be greatly appreciated. OH and im not going to lie the salt mix was prob 2 1/2 weeks old, i keep it in a stock tank in the basement, constantly circulated and heated, i use it for shrimp hatching and waterchanges of course, i just mix 40 or so gal at a time. Is this the problem??? Forgive the stupidity if it is.

Can you describe what's going on? I am not seeing it sorry, your acro seems to have a good PE, unless your acro is not supposed to be white the there is definitely something wrong there.

what salt are you using?

http://i838.photobucket.com/albums/z...4/DSC00799.jpg

So thats what it looked like before. Sorry i should have mentioned that. The xenia seems to look the same in the pic but its normally more extended and has a lot more brownish colors in it. The colors do seem to be slowly coming back in the acro and the xenia does seem to be filling out again but i just dont think its right.

I use instant ocean. Havent changed. Im confused now cause theres another post going on that says your dKh should be around 7 with calcium around 420ppm. Mine is 12dKh with calcium at 420ppm and I have no reactors to turn off to lower my dKh. Thats just what is mixed so it never varies much from that. Im testing with a hagen test and API.

Um.. Could it be that the acro is actually happier after all those changes (new water, new carbon, etc.), and is now showing its true colours? I actually like how it looks now, lighter and less brown. Looks more brown in the older pic of that acro.

As for the xenia, well they do that, as you've observed, I wouldn't worry about them.

well i was just over at whatcaneyedo's house again and well his is under better lights but its more blue in his tank with the brown polyps so im thinking it looks brown as im only under t5ho's, white still bad i think. Im ok with waiting on the xenia (cant disagree with the totm guy!) Thanks!

Newly mixed Instant Ocean typically has an alkalinity of 11 dkh according to this post so that is normal http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1714505 Most brands have higher than natural levels of many elements to help compensate for uptake in our systems.

I've stopped caring when soft corals close up. Any little change can trigger them to shrink down to nothing. As long as they eventually opening again and your SPS have good polyp extension it looks fine to me.

Its funny what different light types will do. Lonnie switched from 400W MH to T5 a few years ago and all of his acropora bleached at first. Once they recovered some looked browner while others looked lighter...

Huh... ok. hahaha. Well thank you. I need to calm down a bit im thinking. sorry. haha. So what about ideal dKh? Is 12 actually ok? New mixed salt comes like that so cant be that bad right? All those mixes sure seem to vary quite a bit.

I prefer slightly higher alkalinity around 9 or 10 for two reasons. One is because it helps to keep my pH higher which I have a problem with in the winter because of my calcium reactor. And two, because it provides a bit of a buffer againts having my alkalinity drop too far if something goes wrong. For example: I had my calcium reactor stop working (long story, doesnt matter) and my alkalinity began to drop by about 1 dkh per day. If I didnt keep it slighter higher it would have dropped a lot lower than the 5 dkh that it ended up at before I corrected the problem.

Ok. Thanks again! man i must be getting annoying by now. haha. Sorry. So last question for tonight promise.haha. So should I not worry about a calcium reactor or kalk doser untill i notice a requirement for it? Or should I be looking now for one for when i want to get a clam in the future.

whats your mg at?????

Unless you see a good deal on something used just wait until you actually need it. This is a good article to read now before you jump the gun and do something that you dont have to.

How to Select a Calcium and Alkalinity Supplementation Scheme
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/feb2003/chem.htm

GAH!! Someone caught me! Its the next test kit on my list to buy, none in town so i have to order.

Thanks again, I will do some reading tonight.

Your acro still seems like it has pretty good polyp extension, though I think you should watch it as I do think it's stressed. They release their zooxanthallae and look bleached like that, they may or may not regain it provided the source of what's stressing it is removed.

Thanks ill keep an eye on it. The acro seems to actually slowly getting its color back.

just guessing.....but I'll bet your mg is low.......its very important to have the big three in balance and near "ideal" levels.....
whats your lighting btw?

Thanks. Its probably better someone called me out on that, im getting a test kit this weekend.

Don't apologize for asking questions, were all here to learn and help each other :biggrin:. I agree with Doug, gotta get that Mg test kit to see where your levels are sitting.

Haha sorry, oh crap sorry, bah! Oh well. I just felt a little nuts in the end so had to apologize. I do it too often. Thanks for the help. Ive got a kit coming, it will be here thursday.

sorry i missed that last question. Im running 2-36" T5HO Dual Hagen Glo. One Power Glow and One Marine Glow in each. (i know, theres better out there and will be getting them next)

So I got my mag test this morning, tested using the refrence fluid, tested properly, then i tested my tank, 1125ppm, tested the salt mix i have, 1125ppm. Retested the reference and it was exactly as it said at 1300ppm. So there doesnt seem to be a swing between mix and tank to cause the commotion but it is low is it not? How would someone go about getting that up to the proper levels without just adding a bunch of mag all at once and shocking the system? Periodic small doses? Mag heavy water change? Mag heavy fresh top up? Thanks.

I use epsom salts in my top off water.

I'm sure this is posted some wheres in this site. But to save searching read this.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

Lazy and didn't read the whole thread so excuse me if this is a repeat....

Any chance that with a water change and the addition of carbon your water clarity improved enough to give your coral a bit of a light shock?

This article will teach you plenty about managing magnesium.

Do-It-Yourself Magnesium Supplements for the Reef Aquarium
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-07/rhf/index.php

Use this calculator to find out how much to use. Just dissolve some magnesium salts in fresh water and add slowly to a high flow area of the tank. Do not try to increase by more than 100ppm/day

Reef Chemisty Calculator
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chemcalc.html

Well i wouldnt think so, I run a fluval 305 which has 3 compartments in it. I run a small amount of carbon in each, changine one each month trying to keep it at a constant absortion rate and also I know theres PE now so im not worried but there was way better before, thing was furry.

Thanks again, ive got to top up freshwater tonight anyways so i will do that.

just a thought...

when I added carbon to my sump i actually lost an acro.
It looked much like yours does prior to it succumbing to the stress.

I had not been running it previously though, so it would have made a much bigger impact for my coral which wasalso near the top of my tank.

Well thank you though, its still something to keep in mind for sure.

And another thought. For your filter, keep one basket with carbon (the carbon with bigger granules) and change monthly. The other 2 I would fill with small live rock rubble. Thats how I used to do it when I ran a cannister filter.

Agree.

But instead of 2 x LR you could go 1 of Chemi Pure or Rowa, or ZEOvit Zeolite Reactor Media.

Kevin

Thanks for all the suggestions, im actually running rowa in a reactor. (tanks looking full nevermind the rock and fish haha ill never own another one without a sump)