# LPS issues



## saltydawg (Nov 6, 2010)

Hello everyone, I need some advise regarding some issues that I am having with my LPS Corals

Fast story short, I can't keep leathers, frogspawn, hammers or my cabbage coral alive

Now I did have an issue where my RO crapped out and my alkalinity soared incredibly high but this has since been corrected over the past month or so, but my SPS continue to faulter. I have 3 pieces that I am trying to save at this time...toadstool is on it's way out hasn't looked good in months, I have a hammer that has totally receded and will probably be pulled shortly and the cabbage continues to look horrible

Current parameters
Salinity - 1.025
Calcium - 426.6 - maintained by a calcium reactor
Alkalinity - 13 dkh
PH 8.38
Nitrate - 20 ppm - controlled through water changes & nitrate reactor
Magnesium - 960 give or take (I have issues reading the Salifert tests) just added a buffer to bring it up
Iodine - 0 - Just added a buffer to bring it up
Phosphate 0.5 ppm - controlled with a fuge

Any suggestions would be appreciated


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Lower your alk! 13 in incredibly high, get it to around 9 and I think you will have more luck.


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Ugh...it's going to take some time for things to settle out and until they do, you are going to lose some coral pieces in the process. 

The "ionic balance" of Mg, Ca and alk are interlinked and when all components are regularyy supplemented from depletion from corals or other biological processes, they generally shift very little. 

The following is what I generally target in those parameters:
Ca 400-420mg/L
Mg 1375-1425mg/L
kH 8-9 dkH

When one is off, one or both of the others will be off as well. Don't start adding "this and that" right away. Do everything stepwise and methodically as it's easier to tweak one parameter and analyze results rather than doing many and if things are still screwy, it's more difficult to determine "what is/n't doing what".

In your case, alk is high and Ca just a bit high because the Mg has dropped too low. For starters, get your Mg in the range and regularly test Ca, Mg and alk to make sure that they are shifting to the appropriate range. 

Take a few days to bring the Mg up as not to shock the corals but to allow the Ca, Mg and alk equilibrium to slowly shift.

Not sure what Mg supplementation you are using but let us know and we'll give you a process as not to complicate your situation with more directions .

I quite like the Salifert Mg test kit. Not sure what issues in reading that you are running into but let us know what it is and we'll go from there.

HTH


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## saltydawg (Nov 6, 2010)

About 4 months ago I was planning to switch to a 2 part dosing method

Ended up overdosing the calcium because it wouldn't adjust to the skyrocketed alk due to my defective RO

I have the Mag supplement that came with this and I am planning to use this as my supplement (for now anyway) I've dosed 1 oz of it today (tank is 155 gallon with a 20 gallon sump)....I'll review my readings again tomorrow and revert. My issues with the salifert are that it is such a minute change in color that my eyes have issues detecting when exactly it changes...

I'm planning to do a 10% water as well today..this will help lower the alk as well..


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## wtac (Mar 17, 2006)

Hmmm...I find it pretty easy to see the color change from pinky purple to greyblue . 

Just don't do the test using your light from the lighting system...not alot of red wavelengths to see the initial color before the titration of reagent Mg-3 if your prefer the bluer side of lighting, IME.

If that's not the case, try doing it under another light source. All else fails...I'm stumped other than that you got a lemon batch.

It doesn't seem right to me that a defective RO water source to mix Ca supplemental solution would create such an issue. There's more of an underlying issue, IMHO, but I don't know all the history and details .

For now, get the Mg back up. Really no point in doing an unscheduled water change...one thing at a time 



JME


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