Heartbreak hotel

[Jason McK]

I agree 100% Tony. I just can't read that test kit. I still try to read it. The crazy thing is your ability to see through the liquid is also determined by ambient light.
Anyway. I did notice huge improvements in coral when using K. But I have stopped because of the inability to test

J

[Delphinus]

Hi Greg, yes I did and it did indeed kick back the slime. There are still some spots but nowhere near as bad.

This problem with the frags is I think something else. I guess it could be that the weekly water changes caught up to me and the new seawater has params out of whack. I had to buy a huge box of Mg supplement from littlesilvermax and I've already used about about 20% of it just correcting my tanks (and I'm not there yet - I'm only raising the tanks by 50ppm per day, they should be hitting their target values tomorrow or Thursday) and my water change water.

So much for Aquamedic salt! Problem is I'm so stubborn. I paid $90 for this bucket of salt, I can't throw it out. Hopefully it's just the Mg is out but I guess I should double-check the Ca and Alk. At least Ca and Alk don't appear to be deviating in the tanks so I don't really suspect that those params are out. Nevertheless the Mg of 900 is way too low, I won't be using or recommending this brand of salt to anyone. If it's a case of it's a just bad batch, Ok fine, but the thing is, they advertise that the levels are a certain thing, so you expect it to be what it claims it is. A bad batch means there are quality assurance issues, and thus I'm still concluding that I won't use or recommend that brand again.

Anyhow so I have to wonder if the latest casualties are a result of the chemistry of trying to raise Mg over such a profound range. And of course there's the potassium thing too.

Next salt for me is Reefer's Best..

[Delphinus]

Thanks J At least I know I'm not the only person who's looking at that test kit thinking "now what?" .. Maybe the solution is just to switch to RBS and not worry about K since K is supposed to be good, out of the box, with that one.

[BMW Rider]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

Potassium is one of the last frontiers for me. Tell me about your dosing regimen .. I'm a little hesitant to dose anything without testing. I do have a Potassium test kit (this one) but it is inordinately the most difficult test kit to read. Basically, you're guessing the value based on how opaque the liquid is. I thought comparing colours was a subjective guess, this is worse!! Basically if in the end you're just guessing the overall value you can just guess without spending the cash. However, I think it's more or less the only test kit for K and if you're anything like me, it's just a more comfort zone knowing you can test when you're actively dosing something (because it's generally imperative to know when to stop, IME).

Right now I am cleaning the glass every day. If I don't do it every day, it gets harder to clean with every day that goes by.

I do wonder about the K thing. It's just that I tested it and .. well, I think the end reading was about 400 (top of the scale). So either I guessed wrong, or K isn't really the issue.

I was a little hesitant on dosing without testing too. I based my decision to go ahead with it based on anecdotal evidence that I found in several threads on various forums. The symptoms seemed to match the low K experiences of others. Tony, you are not the only one who has indicated uncertainty with the test kits, it seems that most of them are pretty subjective to get results and are therefore somewhat unreliable. Still, I'd like to know what my K levels really are.

I have the Pohl's K Balance Strong. The directions for dosing are 1ml per 25 gallons daily, so based on that, I'd dosing 6ml every morning. From what I've read, you'd really have to go crazy with this stuff to OD it, but yes it is a concern to not go overboard with it just the same.

Just wanted to add to this: I don't have the low Mg issue like you. I have been dosing additional Mg and have had reasonably stable wter parameters for Ca, Kh and Mg, so it is still possible that your situation is from other factors than low K or perhaps in addition to it.

[Jason McK]

Not sure about your Salt Tony. I've never heard of Aquamedic salt. I'm wonder what buffer they use. I know a lot of salts have been boosting ALK with Boron and it is rally a false buffer.
I'm current;y using RBS and Love it. But Seachem salt is also rated in the 360 -400 for Potassium

J

[Delphinus]

Yeah I definitely regret having tried this salt. Man, that's worrisome about the Boron giving a false alkalinity reading.

I run both a calcium reactor and a kalk reactor though so hopefully that means my Ca and Alk levels in the tank are solid readings.

I think I have decided though to just simply give up on SPS for now. I thought Zeovit would help me out of this 3 year nightmare but it's maybe a case of too little too late. I was utterly convinced that due to the age of the tank (6 years) that this was a nutrient buildup in the substrate and that running Zeovit would help pull it out. I now think though that this is not the case. I can't get a PO4 reading, and NO3 ranges from 0 to 4 or 5 (and "4 or 5" is not a fatal NO3 reading). So it's something else, and since it's not Ca, it's not Alk, and since it started happening well before I tried this salt it's likely not the Mg, and, well, I can't say for sure if it's potassium or not but honestly at this point it wouldn't surprise me in the least to find out that it has nothing to do with potassium. It's not AEFW, it's not red bugs ... if it is an organism it's something invisible, if it is a parameter it's something untrackable. How does one fight an enemy they can't see?

Since it's restricted to SPS, maybe the solution is pull out the pieces that are not yet showing stress and give them a future with potential instead of the inevitable.

The cycle of "I think this tank is on the rebound!" to "oh, no it's not, after all" is just starting to get to me. My fish, my clams, gorgonians and LPS do fine, so maybe it's better just to focus on keeping those happy in the remaining months that it will take me to finish the renos on my basement and get the new tank running. And just hope beyond reckoning that the new tank doesn't inherit this problem .. I hate to say it but I think if it comes to that I may be done. There's this nice X-C bike I've been looking at but I can't afford it right now, but boy oh boy I could buy like 3 of them if I sold off all the tank crap I have lying around.

[Delphinus]

Debated starting a new thread or adding to this one. Instead I started a new one but thought I'd link to it here. http://canreef.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=47089