Diagnose my tank ;)

[Anonymous]

I need a clarification from someone who knows...doesn't a combination of calium and alkalinity keep your pH up? In other words, doesn't a drop in either potentially screw up your pH?

Mouse, I'm still around!

I think that yeah, the Ca levels and the buffer levels are waht keep your pH and dkh in line. But I never delved that far into the chemistry of it--I just watch my animals and if one of them looks sickly, I know somethin'gs out of whack. I've never had a tank that was just consistently...mediocre. :?

 

[Anonymous]

edit: double post

 

[Anonymous]

I want to bump this, because there's some really good stuff in here. 'Hope ya don't mind.
~wings~

 

[Juck]

The dissolved organics, fish pee etc. are yellowing the water I would think,, the carbon should clear it up but your protein skimmer should be taking care of it.

In the absence of Alk/Ca readings, I'm castin' a suspicious eye at that sandbed,,, you don't state the exact size of the sand but most small cukes will have problems with larger particles,, so get a big one.

I'm guessing you stopped dosing Iodine as well?

I always have a bit of red cyano in my fuge but it's never really bothered me. Have you tried chaetomorpha as a fuge macro? Stuff grows like crazy under my LOA 65w 6400k PC on a reverse cycle.

Dissolved organics and a bit of Nitrates won't be retarding the growth of any of your corals,, assuming your PC bulbs aren't too old or anything, an increase in the lighting cycle on the display tank would probably help a lot.

 

[Anonymous]

Refresh my macro-memory--which is chaetomorpha?

At the moment, I've stopped dosing pretty much everything, just to try and sort things out. Like I said, overall the tank's not doing bad, it's just kind of mediocre.

 

[Juck]

Here's a pic and some info about chaeto:

http://www.macro-algae.com/

 

[Anonymous]

Ahhh yeah that's what I thought. I've got some of that and it seems to be staying alive, but not reallyt hriving. The slime algae in the refugium seems to coat it quickly and stifle it some.

 

[Carpentersreef]

John, I would advise testing your Ca amd Mg. Soft corals like leathers still have sclerites (kind of a primitive skeleton) which require calcium to grow.
Your dsb may be slowly dissolving and providing a small source of Ca, but not enough for any other vigorous coralline growth, for example.

Mitch

 

[Russ1]

FWIW Just curious what your pH is. If it is too low, this can definitely retard the growth of everything. A fairly high alkalinity will buffer against a drop in your pH. High alkalinity and calcium are required for good coralline algae. Also seems like a little too much food.

 

[Anonymous]

All this is idle speculation until you check your alkalinity. That is the most important measurement, and I think it is the most likely problem.

Even softies require a source of calcium, although less than stonies. I find b-ionic pretty easy to use; I would use that regularly or kalk for your evap replacement.

Also you might want to borrow another hydrometer or spectrometer to make sure you have proper salinity.

 

[ChrisRD]

Yeah, I agree - check your Ca/Alk and see where things are at. Also, running some good quality carbon would probably help eliminate the yellowing and reduce the possibility that there's any issues from chemical warfare going-on.

 

[Anonymous]

After reading Sharkky's first post, I thought it might not be a bad idea to put some carbon in my sump. I have had this tank up and running for more than 2 1/2 years, and have never put any carbon in...until today.

The container said to leave it in about three days. Anyone disagree with this?