HELPPPPPPPP Tank shock

[Montaquelaveist]

Hello fellow reefers need some help just when my tank was starting to take off it crashed well not completely but almost i lost my ponapae birdsnest my green millie is closed and still loosing color, both my ora birdsnest are getting patches of bleaching and one of my acros is starting to pale but still has pylop extension can you help please the only thing that i can notice out of whack was after a water change my ALK Shot up from 8 to 10.4 but now after two water changes its back to normal could that have been the problem and also can expect my corals to bounce back also my green monti started to brown a little and my red cap bleached at the edges. any help would be great i have listed my param. as of 7:30pm tonite

Alk -8.0
ph - 8.31 Probe
Salinity 1.025
Temp 78
Nitrate bet 20-40
nitrites 0
ammonia 0
phosphates .25
calcium 420ppm
magnesium 1300
iodide 0

currently dosing carbon running Ca reactor and using kent carbon :help::help::help::help:

 

[Mattl22]

Yes alk swing is usually a culprit in sps rtn or temp

 

[nautilus]

Nitrates and phospates are kinda high. Try vodka dosing to temporarily neutralise it. Light shock as well as flow plays a part also. Dose some vit. C and amino acids.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

dosed trace elements and have been doing the vodka i just lost another acro it seems the ora birdsnest is trying to recover and the green monti is starting to green back up the red cap not too sure is there anyway to lower alk slowly back to regular levels i had a false reading its still 10.2 used elos and it said 8 wont be using that again:frown:

 

[kenconnect]

How old are the test kits. And did u change any thing else.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

The elos is new the salifert expires in 2014 and rhe only thing that I changed was the carbon took the chemi pure out and replaced it with the Kent carbon

 

[Jbanks]

The best thing, is to allow your Alk to go down by itself by shutting off he CO2 in your reactor for a few days.. once Alk gets back to where you want it, I would start the CO2 again at the proper BPM in order to maintain that level.. However, your nitrates and phosphates are very high for SPS, so before adding anything else to the tank, I would let the vodka do its thing and get your Nitrates and phosphates down. I think you will be fine at that point as long as you keep the parameters stable... I wouldn't worry about dosing trace elements either as long as you are doing regular water changes.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

thanks i will trythat so basically i should just shut my calcium reactor off and how long do you think that would take cause i dont wana loose my ora birdsnest also i was thinking about getting a phophate pad also im currently at 6.0ml of vodka thru research it says not to increase by more than 0.3 per week is this acurate

 

[Jbanks]

No problem Bro. (if you're the lady in the pic... my apologies. LOL) That's it. It should only take few days. Your corals absorb cal and alk fairly quickly. That is correct on the vodka dosing. How big is your tank?

 

[Montaquelaveist]

no im the guy lmao the lady is the one that sent my tank into shock and the tyank is 120 gal i have some pics in my gallery ill turn off the reactor tonite also what do you think about the phosphate pad for the trickle filter

 

[Jbanks]

LOL.. Gotcha! phosphate pads are ok, but I've never used them.. they will clog pretty quickly and turn into a nitrate trap... I still recommend to keep doing what your doing with the vodka and allow it to come down.. Remember though... when NO3 an PO4 get to zero, cut the amount of Vodka in half and that will be your maintenance dose..

 

[Montaquelaveist]

gotcha will do thanks for the help on a side note do you know what will cause a claner shrimp to just suddenly die after being in the tank for over a year could the alk have done it and also how do you feel about dosing potassium and if so which one would you recommend

 

[Jbanks]

You got it man. As for the shrimp, I know they don't tolerate heavy metals in the water, like copper and they are sensitive to interceptor that is used to treat redbugs. Outside of that, not sure unless you have a predator fish in there that was messing with it. I'm not a big fan of dosing any trace elements that I can't test for. I know they say that potassium is good for bringing out certain colors, but I have yet to try it..

 

[Montaquelaveist]

cool thanks for the feedback i actually do have a potassium test kit i just never got the nerve to dose it

 

[Jbanks]

You got it Bro.. Let me know how it goes for you if you try it.

 

[pauliwalnuts]

Yes alk swing is usually a culprit in sps rtn or temp

"or Temp"
Temperature swing should not be overlooked. If you don't already have one, get yourself a mercury thermometer from your local LFS. Monitor your temp from the DT three times manually and write it down so you can see your fluctuation during the course of the day. If that swing isn't greater then 5 on a daily basis, then we can rule out the RTN'ing do to temperature swing.

 

[Montaquelaveist]

Nah the temp stays pretty steady between the chiller and the heater it never sways more than 2degrees

 

[pauliwalnuts]

I would still check it manually for several days just to confirm the temp probe is doing its job (that's if you're using a controller of some sort).

 

[Montaquelaveist]

cool i will pick one up tomorrow another question i have a rock full of watermellon mushrooms would they release any toxins into the water if they also became shocked and today one fell off the rock not dead just all balled up

 

[pauliwalnuts]

i have a rock full of watermellon mushrooms would they release any toxins into the water if they also became shocked

Nothing that some carbon can easily remove.

today one fell off the rock not dead just all balled up

They tend to do that when they release them selves. Do you have any pics of how things looked before, during, and after your issues?