I think I messed up.

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saltyvixen

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Well I killed my first sps. Went to bed with a perfect psammacora woke up to a white skeleton. Began checking params. I started adding pickling lime to my ato. Only added 2tbsp to 8 gallons of rodi. So I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference. But last night the ato cut on and now the params are out wack.
Fish has been missing for several days and I don't have a cuc yet. I have alot of bristle worms and brittle stars though. Small ammonia spike. High nitrates
Ammonia .25ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40pm
Phosphate 0
Ph 8.0
Kh 7
Cal 440
Mag 875



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SaltyVixen;1040647 wrote: Well I killed my first sps. Went to bed with a perfect psammacora woke up to a white skeleton. Began checking params. I started adding pickling lime to my ato. Only added 2tbsp to 8 gallons of rodi. So I figured it wouldn't make much of a difference. But last night the ato cut on and now the params are out wack.
Fish has been missing for several days and I don't have a cuc yet. I have alot of bristle worms and brittle stars though. Small ammonia spike. High nitrates
Ammonia .25ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40pm
Phosphate 0
Ph 8.0
Kh 7
Cal 440
Mag 875



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our tanks are similar in age. sorry bout the sps loss. i'm doing the birdsnest frag, wait a week, then try again method.

your ammonia could be spiked by that missing fish.
kh is a lil low for the nitrate load but i wouldnt dose until you get mag to 1200-1400
nitrates are a lil high as well. wouldnt hurt to get em to 20ppm or less

fun stuff with our new tanks lol
 
What's the best way to raise magnesium

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SaltyVixen;1040655 wrote: What's the best way to raise magnesium

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magnesium supplement. i think brightwell and a number of others sell it at lfs
 
Don't think the lime water had anything g to do with it all?

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SaltyVixen;1040658 wrote: Don't think the lime water had anything g to do with it all?

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hard to say....

you gave me an "after the fact" snapshot.

what were the parameters before that led you to believe you needed to add limewater?
 
Kh was 10 the other day and ph 8.2 MG was the same

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SaltyVixen;1040661 wrote: Kh was 10 the other day and ph 8.2 MG was the same

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kh was 10 and ph was 8.2 and that is what led you to use kalk/lime water?
generally if you want to keep things in balance, you can add kalk (alk and ca and ph). If "the other day" you had 10, THEN dosed limewater it should have risen much much further....

I personally would have waited for alk to drop if it got to 10+

What i would do:
try doing a water change to get nitrates to 20ppm first. (50% wc at once / not 10% every couple hours)

then test and see where you are at. I believe a lot of stuff will solve itself by doing just this alone.

Just incase things are out of whack AFTER the change...</em>

it really wont matter how you dose ca/alk due to the fact you will have severe fluctuations due to improper mag levels.

think of magnesium as a foundation for a house. alk being the walls, and calcium being the roof.

if your mag levels are low, then you would be building on quicksand rather than cement. Doesnt matter how much you try to keep the walls and roof plum and square...they will sink in odd areas.

get mag right and you have a solid foundation.

then work on alk... get it where you like it, (generally 7-10dkh depending on various things. I suggest 8.5 based on my observations). lastly... dose the roof (calcium).

calcium's only disadvantage to overdosing is that it will be harder on pumps and precipitate out, and cover heaters and such.

best way i can describe it.

edit:</em>
Dont get hung up on ph either. I've had successful reefs at 7.6-7.8 ph before. It just needs to stay stable.
My new tank is pretty stable at 8.0-8.1 all day and night.
 
SaltyVixen;1040667 wrote: Thank you

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no problem... are you using a hydrometer or refractometer for WCs?
 
Limewater is Ca(OH)2 - so no magnesium in the solution. mag being in the 800s would be the source of weird alk and cal numbers.
 
Both No3 and definitely the ammonia could and likely did cause the STN.
 
SaltyVixen;1040672 wrote: Hydrometer

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if the water you are measuring is around 78 degrees target 1.022- 1.023 on the hydrometer. you will hit a more realistic 1.025-1.026 depending on the hydrometer make and model.

eg: instant ocean is calibrated at 60 degrees
 
Russ-IV;1040663 wrote: think of magnesium as a foundation for a house. alk being the walls, and calcium being the roof.

if your mag levels are low, then you would be building on quicksand rather than cement. Doesnt matter how much you try to keep the walls and roof plum and square...they will sink in odd areas.

get mag right and you have a solid foundation.
Click to expand...

Great analogy!
 
SaltyVixen;1040676 wrote: It's instant ocean

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if you want a "real" 1.025, and the temp is high 70s, have that swing arm measure between 1.022-1.023 then.

do it several times (10+) and then average them. make sure no bubbles are on the arm
 
Ok, wow I didn't know temp affected hydrometers

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