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    Thread: SPS Help - ICP Results In

    1. #16
      HHN is offline Registered User
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      Quote Originally Posted by Livinlocal View Post
      After reading your post, there are a couple things that come to my mind.

      First would be stability. How stable are your parameters? You mentioned your alkalinity drops, but how often does it fluctuate? Is that a daily fluctuation between dosing? What temperature do you keep your tank at? does it hold that temperature throughout 24 hours, or does the temperature fluctuate up and down?
      ** I test a lot and am pretty on top of it. It's generaly very stable at 8.3. Those drops to 7.5 were dosing pump issues (off) and happened over a 24 to 48 period.
      ** Temp fluctuates between 77.5 and 78.5 (except summer where it got to 81 (78 to 80 range, 81 on occasion).

      Second would be your water source. What are you using for top off water? Do you have a RODI filtration set up, or do you buy your water? Do you know the PPM of your top off water? Sometimes with RODI you can get contaminants going through the filter when the media gets exhausted, most commonly which is chloramines. This is something that could go undetected and cause lots of issues that a lot of people overlook.
      ** RODI top off, 4 stage, 60 PSI
      ** Honestly, I thought Triton would test for chloramines. So, lll get those strips.
      ** Filters were replaced about 3 months ago and 3/4 fresh resin

      Third would be your light schedule, and how many hours you are running your lights, along with the sunlight that is hitting your tank. It is recommended that you do not have natural sunlight shining through your windows into your display, But I wouldn’t say that’s the definite culprit, but I would cover your window or whatever it takes to keep the sunlight off your display.
      ** Sunlight not great, but it's a 30 to 45 minutes a day. Tough to cover as it's a ceiling window.
      ** Peak is 12 to 6:30, and then it drops off until 10:00 (11 hours total, 6.5 full).

      Lastly would be the extreme magnesium. With too high or too low of magnesium, it stunts the corals uptake of cal/mag. After dosing all of that magnesium, have you noticed that you have not had to dose as much calcium and alkalinity?
      ** not really as I dose Kalk and that mag has been high for a long time (I am sure). Although, I feel like I need to dose more Kalk than my tank should need, but the 1950 ml/day is what keeps it stable. So it's possible. Ill be monitoring that as I bring Mag back into line.

      And again, stability is king. I would work on any type of fluctuations, and getting them settled in.

      Regarding nutrients, each persons system is going to use the nutrients differently. It has been proven SPS need nutrients in our closed loop system, and the correlation between our closed loop system and the open ocean, do not collaborate together when it comes to nutrient levels. This isn’t 100% understood why, but You can read articles by Randy Holmes about this.

      With that being said, I keep my nitrates at about 30-40ppm on purpose, and I dose nitrates to keep it at this level, but I keep the number stable. This is where I find the most vivid colors coming out of my sps.
      ** Thanks
      Again, dealing with the obvious culprits (Mag and Algae) for now.
      And, Ill rent the PAR meter.

      Is the low Iodine that ICP noted really important? On their scale it was in the yellow.

    2. #17
      crustaceon is offline Registered User
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      SPS Help - ICP Results In

      If you look at the nutrient level of natural sea water and our closed loop systems the main difference is constant availability and replenishment of nutrients. In the ocean, tides constantly carry in food for corals. That doesn’t exist in our tanks and has to be artificially created by either feeding our livestock more, neglecting maintenance in some form or dosing nitrate sources outright in combination with in-tank circulation pumps. I’m curious to know how fast 30-40ppm nitrates is consumed by a large system before it prohibits growth/coloration. Maybe 5ppm per day? Most people have trouble with nitrates and nuisance algae when starting out. How many people with advanced systems have that same problem anymore and now try to boost those nutrients, otherwise their corals will show signs of distress? I think it all comes down to consumption and could grow into an enormous thread as much of this hobby really is still theory.

      I have to agree on stability being the number one concern. Especially alkalinity. Ocean temperature can swing quite a bit and ph can change a little and corals can deal with it to an extent. That’s millions of years of adaptation for you. Not so much with alk swings and that’s typically attributed to our involvement with the tank, whether it’s going crazy with dosing or doing large or rapid water changes using salt mixes that tend to change alkalinity like a rollercoaster. This might sound funny but some of my best success has happened once I stopped messing with my tank parameters through frequent water changes and started addressing my nitrate sources which in my case was a shallow sandbed that needed way more siphoning than I had been giving it. Just 2-cents from someone who’s had their ups and downs with nano tanks. Every tank is different and you might have to tinker to get things to click. Just do it SLOWLY.



      My first tank: 36 gallon bowfront.



      Tank #2, 47 gallon column.


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      Last edited by crustaceon; 01-07-2019 at 05:02 PM.

    3. #18
      Livinlocal is offline Registered User
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      Your answers to everything seems spot on. Those minimal swings shouldn’t effect much. I would try and get the temp more stable, but 1 degree isn’t terribly bad at all. Being that your filters are only three months old, those should be good as well. As for the iodine, I wouldn’t be too concerned on that, and wouldn’t chase iodine numbers. Also, I wouldn’t make any changes just off of one ICP test. There have been report on the national forums of people sending 2 tests, and getting different results of the same tests, so take the results as a guideline and not a measuring tool if that makes sense.

      It seems like you are doing everything right, but maybe something is ticked off with your system because of too many changes and trying to chase numbers. If I were in your situation, I would stop Dosing everything, including the Kalk, and test The parameters daily. This way you can see what your tank is consuming, and what it is doing. You can see it’s natural course, and which direction it wants to take. Also while dosing nothing, and testing your parameters, I would also be doing water changes (small) and concentrating on getting your magnesium in line. Sometimes you need to do the set it and forget it method, to reboot a system.


      Quote Originally Posted by HHN View Post
      ** Thanks
      Again, dealing with the obvious culprits (Mag and Algae) for now.
      And, Ill rent the PAR meter.

      Is the low Iodine that ICP noted really important? On their scale it was in the yellow.

    4. #19
      HHN is offline Registered User
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      Thanks for feedback. Ill cycle back in a month and let you know what has worked (optimism).

    5. #20
      crustaceon is offline Registered User
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      SPS Help - ICP Results In

      100% livinlocal’s recommendation. Many a tank has been improved by stopping what you’re doing, watching what the tank wants and going from there. I had to do the exact same thing when I started going through a lot more alk than usual after massively increasing my PAR with a 6-bulb t-5 fixture and realized, yeah, I did need to put 95ml of alk in per day instead of 45ml. I also had higher than normal mag at the time and had suspected it was causing alk precipitation without showing any visible signs in the tank. I stopped mag dosing and it fell to a normal level. Alk consumption remained the same and my growth took off. Yup.


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    6. #21
      HHN is offline Registered User
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      I am curious to see what happens when my mag gets in line. I had been completely misreading the Red Sea Kit and not really checking up on it.

    7. #22
      Livinlocal is offline Registered User
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      With everything else in line, I’m willing to bet it’s the magnesium causing issues for your SPS. Now you just needTo let your system find its equilibrium.

    8. #23
      HHN is offline Registered User
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      Been about 3 weeks.
      ** Mag is down to 1400/1450
      ** Blue Flame and WWC Green Goblin still not coloring up, but encrusting with good polyp extention as always.
      ** "Black" christmmas monti is now turning green, encrusting and black is turning green
      ** The Red Planet and California Tort that I picked up from same system (Radion G2 and Scripps) are beautiful and encrusting faster than anything ive ever put in.

      I borrowed a friends PAR meter. I run my Radion G2 XR30 Pros at 100 %, 8 inches above the water which theoretically was really high. However, looking at the PAR numbers, they are really high in some spots and, in the center where most of my nicer SPS are, it is pretty low; much less than 200. I am wondering if there is a problem with my lights (they are old) or G2 Pros just dont have enough kick.

      Any suggestions?
      I am planning on increasing the whites more than the recommended AB+.

      Thanks

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    9. #24
      crustaceon is offline Registered User
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      SPS Help - ICP Results In

      Looking at your spectrum, I would say your lights are only running at 50%. I would raise those other sliders a bit.


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      Last edited by crustaceon; 02-02-2019 at 08:47 AM.

    10. #25
      fijisrfr is offline Registered User
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      Have you downloaded light programs from schemes on the apex?


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