Red Mushroom Corals

Question
QUESTION: I have LPS, Serveral polyps, and some Red mushroom corals. Everything was going well. Some of my mushrooms even split. I did a water change and went from instantocean to Reefcrystals because of a recomendation. The next day just my mushrooms shriveled up to nothing. Nitrate 2.5, PH 8.3, KDH 12, phosphate 0.0, ammonia 0.0, Trite 0, and Calcium 480, salt 1.024, temp 86. I added this produced called proper PH to my 5 gal bucket of water the previous week and let sit a week. The produced said that it will keep it at 8.2. Even though it was at 8.2. I also added strontium molybdenum from Kent. All of these products are getting my so confused. My mushrooms were fine before I was recommended to use these products and I used them as directed. Oh. I also added some salt to my last water change to increase from 1.022 to 1.024. they all looked fine at 22 but was again recommended to get it up to 24.

ANSWER: Hello Brian.

WOW.  I would be getting confused too...  And this is really a problem.  When you do something different, it may or may not be good or you may or may not get good results...If you see this, you can make a decision to continue to use it or not.

BUT, when you make two changes you dont know which of the two may be good or bad, and if you make a half dozen changes.  WOW...

First off, your temperature is WAY TOO HIGH!@!!!!!

did you typo that or is it really 86?  Temp should be no higher then 81.  And it could be fatal over 85...

If you dont have a chiller, you better get some fans, and have them blow across the water surface, eitehr the tank surface or the sump, or both.  If you have a canopy, maybe you should open it when guest arent around.  Can you cut or install more holes for fans?

Adding fans will increase your evaporation water and you will need to add fresh water more often.

Or, break down and get a chiller.   (and an aquarium controller)


As to your shrooms starting to melt, I wouldnt worry about it right away...sometimes they get upset or something, and the temperature maybe causeing it too.

How often do you do water changes, and what percentage?  If it is often enough, (maybe every two weeks), then you really dont or shouldnt need to add or dose anything.  the water already has pleanty, and you really dont have a lot of corals...

The salinity should be 1.026  btw.  this is an average of all the tropical reefs aroundthew world.  If you know where most of your corals come from, you may want to target those parameters in that area, but if you have a mixture of corals from around the world, then 1.026 S.G. is the number.

Calc and ALK are directly related to SG.  So the higher the SG the higher the CALC, etc

I LOVE REEF CRYSTALS btw.  Cant beat the price from Drsfostersmith.com

They charge $10 shipping for upto three boxes/buckets, (get the boxes), so for 600gallons of salt for about $115 shipped to my door equals about $0.19 per gallon for saltwater.  


To increase salinity over time, I would add salt water each day instead of fresh water that evaporates...

Good luck and let me know how things work out for ya.


bill



---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Sorry the temp was a typo (76 to 78). I took a sample of water the a local Reef  retailer and even though my Instant ocean Hydrometer said 1.024 it was really at 28 on his refractometer. Everything else was perfect. He said to drop it to 21 and that will bring it to actual salt level  of 24. I do 5 to 10 gallon water changes a week.I get conflicting stories on water changes also on how much how often. There are so many supliments on the market that reefcare becomes so confusing. Do I need (strontium molybdenum)(proper ph 8.2 from petsmart)(calcium) additives. Are they gimics to sell you somthing you don't need? My ph was fine but he said I needed the additive to buffer the ph. I looked at him and said to myself WHAT???? I bought it like a dummy. I am going to simplify things and do my water changes and test my water and if it is OK' than thats it.
I bought 200gals of reefcystals from foster and smith for $49.00 with free shipping. The bottom bag was open and they sent me another 160 gal for free. They are great.

Answer
Hey Brian,

Water changes is reccomend to be 10-20% a month.  (depoending on yoru bio-load)  the more fish the more water changes

If you do 10% a week, then you wont have to worry about suppliments. Stop, save the money and the headaches.

You should try to achieve a salinity of 1.026.  (the lfs guy is an idiot, sorry lfs guys, I know all of you arent idiots)

So, I would shoot for 1.022 on your pos, i mean hydrometer... (with the money you save on geicko, i mean suppliments, please buy a refractometer and calibration fluid)

To determine if you need to dose anything, do the following test.  No suppliments for one month.  And do a bunch of tests.  Calcium, ALK, MAG, would be the important three.

IF they are good, then you are good to go, no more suppliments.  You can test twice a month, an dif you see some changes you can make whatever additions or changes you want.


Let me know how things turn out for you.


Bill