help...stupid mistake of mine....

[FuEl]

Hai..3 days ago added reef builder too rapidly in my tank..caused many things to go into shock..not to mention my sps frags..

My poccilopora and montipora digitatas are ok though..at least they appear to be...polyps extending and everything looks normal.

However..the pink tip staghorn frag does'nt extend its polyps till now..what should I do? Blue tip staghorn frag...on the brown tissue..got some tiny white spots (possible die off i tink)..also not extending polyps anymore..

Should I continue dosing kalk? Or should i stop for now?

kH around 9-10 and calcium around 480. Not sure for Mg levels. pH around 8.5 (sera test kit)

For now I have shifted them as close to the water surface as possible to absorb the most light possible.....

Anymore things I could do?

[Tanzy]

You shouldn't have shifted them. They won't suddenly need more light because you added too much Reef builder. Reef Builder is quite safe as the pH is not as high as Reef Buffer.

They might not be opening because you shifted them.

[FuEl]

They havent opened 3 days since i dosed the reef builder...

That's why maybe I thought a change of environment might help...I din shift them much..they are at the same spot..just that I propped them up with another liverock about 5cm higher.

[Achilles Tang]

Leave them where they are. If they have to adapt to a sudden change in lighting levels, they will experience more stress.

Since your paramaters are fine, you won't need a water change to rectify any overdosing.

In future, drip your reef builder solution in.

[FuEl]

Ok....normally I don't just pour everything in...normally i pour in 1/4 every hour....but that day think i stoned or something..pour the whole bottle into the sump..then now even my zoanthids and mushrooms still look 'carbonate burnt'.

[FuEl]

Would like to thank Joe for his help....sending my 4 frags to his house for vacation......waiting for the chemical warfare in my tank to settle down first b4 i get them back...dun wan such beautiful things to die in my tank....

[FuEl]

Now..this has been puzzling.....bought my salifert Mg test kit and salifert Mg powder today....

Measured my Mg levels...it is at 1410ppm.

I bought the Mg powder for nothing.....

Measured Ca levels...around 500ppm....

Now..here comes the puzzling part....

The day before I measured my kH it was at 8.7.

Yesterday I measured my kH and it was at 7.7.

Today I measured it again and it has dropped to 6.7.

Why is my kH dropping by 1 each day?!

The lowest I have seen my kH is at 6...that was when I first bought my kH test kit after my tank was 6 months old?

What should I do?!

Could adding freshwater as top-up decrease my kH in any way?

Help.....I have run out of brain power.....

[weisoon]

Fuel,

Mg powder has its use the next time you need it.

Assuming that you added no additives for the past few days and only top up water, then the answer IMHO could be your Ca is too high. As you know, Ca high, dKH low....

What you can do is add a little of sodium bi-carbonate to bring back the dKH higher with a subsequent drop in your Ca. Do adjust slowly.

I had the same imbalance problem sometime back, but its opposite of yours. My Ca drop to 250 and dKH went up to 14 after dosing too much PH buffer. Nowadys, I make sure I write down every measurement done and observations daily on a timetable.

BTW I think adding top-up water will not have any effect on your dKH, unless it's of course distilled water, then may have a little effect as distilled water PH and dKH are not as high as those of NSW.

Cheers.

[FuEl]

Thanks man!

Anyway..think I will need to understand the chemistry on how adding sodium bicarbonate to my water will actually lower the levels of calcium. Will bicarbonate preferentially precipitate out with calcium instead of sodium? My chemistry rusty already....

[mv3i]

juz a suggestion :

IMO , if u r moving into SPS , even for LPS ... get a CA reactor .... save u lots of time n effort .

[weisoon]

Fuel,

Hope this article helps on your problem.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

Cheers.

[FuEl]

juz a suggestion :

IMO , if u r moving into SPS , even for LPS ... get a CA reactor .... save u lots of time n effort .

I already have sps..mix reef...only about 4 frags of sps..don't think i'll be getting anymore..no space in my tank already.

[FuEl]

Fuel,

Hope this article helps on your problem.

http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/nov2002/chem.htm

Cheers.

ooo..thanks..luckily i have sodium bicarbonate in my fridge..used to use it for my freshwater planted.