Purple Algae???

[holidayrj]

It's like being a kid on Christmas everytime the UPS man comes to my house! Well, I got one of my boxes. The light won't be here till thursday of next week, somebody forgot to ship it , so it will be a lil late. But, I hooked up my protein skimmer, the digital therm, and took my tests. here's the results of all:

Temp: 78.2F
Salinity:1.023
pH: My pH is high off the chart, is this bad or ok. it should be slightly high like 8.1-8.4, but how high is too high, and how to I change/stabalize this?
Alk: low end of the "low"(0-1.6)
Ammonia: 5.0ppm
NO2(Nitrite): between 0.0 and 0.05
NO3(Nitrate): 200ppm
PO4: 0.2ppm
Ca: 650-700ppm very high, but is this ok? I don't add any ca, only add water which is high in ca.


I dunno, I'm not so good with the chemical asspect of this hobby! I'll do some reading up on it, but for now, which ones are deadly, what should I do? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Right now I have the feeling that I just shot my eye out with my new RedRider BB gun I got in that box for christmas. Think I'm just gonna go cry in a quiet cornor for a while.

[jhnrb]

Your water parameters definitely seem to be out of whack. Make sure your test vials are not contaminated, and that you are using the correct charts. read the instructions and make sure you are not suppose to be using a multiplier or divider for end result. I would recommend you browse the helpful articles on page one very good where they pertain to water quality, beginner articles, and nebie articles may have some insite for you. in additona I recommend the following articles:

Helpful Article Page

1- Calcium Additives *********************page - 2
2- Understanding calcium and alkalinity *******page - 2
3-Calcium additives and more **************page - 3
4- Reef Matters*************************page - 4
5- DKH & CA++*************************page - 4
6- Kalkwasser**************************page - 4
7- pH********************************page - 5
8- Sea Water Buffer System***************page - 5
9- Alkalinity, Hardness, pH*****************page - 5

I seems to me that maybe you have low oxygen levels, or, you are experiancing the results of long term buffer additions. the above articles should give you some insite as to what your problem is. without knowing exacty how you maintain your system and all equipement, etc. it is impossible to guess what the problem might be or a combination of problems. the above articles will cover all those bases. let us know if the articles help you and what your final opinion is. also keep us posted on your progress. good luck.

Additionally I would recommend you start some major water changes. say 20 percent every 3 days until your system stabilizes. if you are using additives cease all additions until you can get your water parameters under control. remember to top off system with fresh ro or distilled water and then do your water changes. your make up water should be same temperature as main tank, and salinity should be same. make sure you are using saltwater test kits and that they have not expired. good luck and keep us posted on your progress. water changes ASAP you can start. since fresh makeup water is slightly caustic, you will need to mix and aireate new salt water for at least 24 to 48 hrs with good circulation before adding to the main.

[minireefer]

Originally Posted by jhnrb

Your water parameters definitely seem to be out of whack. Make sure your test vials are not contaminated, and that you are using the correct charts. read the instructions and make sure you are not suppose to be using a multiplier or divider for end result. I would recommend you browse the helpful articles on page one very good where they pertain to water quality, beginner articles, and nebie articles may have some insite for you. in additona I recommend the following articles:

Helpful Article Page

1- Calcium Additives *********************page - 2
2- Understanding calcium and alkalinity *******page - 2
3-Calcium additives and more **************page - 3
4- Reef Matters*************************page - 4
5- DKH & CA++*************************page - 4
6- Kalkwasser**************************page - 4
7- pH********************************page - 5
8- Sea Water Buffer System***************page - 5
9- Alkalinity, Hardness, pH*****************page - 5

I seems to me that maybe you have low oxygen levels, or, you are experiancing the results of long term buffer additions. the above articles should give you some insite as to what your problem is. without knowing exacty how you maintain your system and all equipement, etc. it is impossible to guess what the problem might be or a combination of problems. the above articles will cover all those bases. let us know if the articles help you and what your final opinion is. also keep us posted on your progress. good luck.

Additionally I would recommend you start some major water changes. say 20 percent every 3 days until your system stabilizes. if you are using additives cease all additions until you can get your water parameters under control. remember to top off system with fresh ro or distilled water and then do your water changes. your make up water should be same temperature as main tank, and salinity should be same. make sure you are using saltwater test kits and that they have not expired. good luck and keep us posted on your progress. water changes ASAP you can start. since fresh makeup water is slightly caustic, you will need to mix and aireate new salt water for at least 24 to 48 hrs with good circulation before adding to the main.

I agree with John's commits.The kit may be expired.If it is you will get very different or false readings.The high calcium is driving down the alk.Usually when you have low alk you will have low PH or it will very.I would try some water changes as stated.Try a water change with some fresh only than right away do a change with premixed saltwater.Than continue the salt only changes till thangs stablize.What reading did the LFS provide?

[jhnrb]

what minireefer was saying is to top off your system with fresh water and then do a water change with new salt water. remember to always top off your system 1st with fresh makeup water(no salt), and then once mixed well very well then do a water change adding new salt water. now initially you might see very little change, but eventually you will notice things comming back in line and then back out again to some extent. this is normal as your system becomes balanced again residue in the rocks, sand etc will leach back into the system. so stay with the water changes. once you can go for three days maintaining constant water changes, then extend your changes out to 5 days and once stabilized for 5 days out to weekly, and at that point adjust the change out amount that keeps your water parameters good. at this point you will need to develope a long term water change maintenance schedule for water changes that will keep your system balanced. this might be every week, every two weeks, or monthly. I would recommend weekly my self, but absolutely at least every month whether needed or not. weekly 5% after balanced, by weekly 10%, and monthly 20%, as minimums. you may need do do more but theres figures are just minimum recommendations even if you water parameters show good. hope this helps somewhat.

[holidayrj]

Here's the story now. I've gotten my Metal Halide light, and it's all wired in. Thanks to all of you who talked me into just "manning up" and paying the extra $. It's well worth it. I also finally finished hooking up my protein skimmer. And it's been filtering out some nasty . Glad to see that stuff go. I've also been doing some water changes. Larger amounts at first, and now smaller ones. I've been quite the busy lil bee with my tank. rearanged the rocks and such. figured I might as well do it exactly how I want it since my arm is already wet! lol I'll send some pics soon.

But here is the new testing results:

Temp: 81F
Salinity: 1.026 = a lil high, I normally run 1.024
PH: 8.6
Alk: In the Low region
Ammonia: .5ppm
Nitrite: .2ppm
Nitrate: 50ppm
Phosphate: .5ppm
Ca: well we dont' even want to go here. I have a Red Sea test kit. you add part a then 5 of b, get a "starting" color, then add part b until you hit the end color. then by the number of drops used, determines your Ca content. Well when I got to the 1500ppm range I figured i wasn't doing it right. so i did it again. Same results. I gave up both times around 1500ppm. I don't think this can be correct. Can it? is this harmful, how could i drop it back down?

Basically everything seems to be coming in line. Just gonna take some time. If anyone knows any speedier processes or anything to help get these results corrected let me know, I appreciate any advise!

I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

[jhnrb]

Start here;

1- Drop temperature to 78 degrees
2- Drop salinity to 1.023 - 1.024
3- Drop pH to 8.2
4- Ammonia and nitrite should be 0.
5- Nitrate needs to be below 5ppm for corals or as low as you can get it.
but at least never above 20ppm.
6- Phosphates should be 0.

correct all the parameters you can such as temp, salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate. select a good salt. dont skimp here. cut back on feeding, adding any additives of any kind to the system such as vitamins, minerals, trace elements, buffers ect. if you have anything that could be leaching into the system take it out such as old carbon or filter pads that are more than 10 days without cleaning, sea lab 28 blocks, any rocks or other items not from the marine environment. If you have sand (play sand) take it out and replace your substrait with aragonite sand of the approriate size to suit your system. mix up your new salt water and airiate it and bring to temperature for 24 to 48 hours mixing well with pump before use (use a bucket or trash can etc). top off your main system to the normal level with ro water, after mixed well do your water change of 10% every three days. do not add anything to the system until your parameters stabilize. you could do 20% every three days for a few weeks until system stabilizes for at least a week to 10 days and then water change at least weekly. hope this helps. something is really wrong and i do not believe we have identified the problem yet. as a boost for buffer capacity you could add kent maring osmo prep at 1/4 the recommended dose to your ro water and mix well to reconstitute the ro to receive the salt mix. always have all your water ready and mix for the total amount (do not do small portions at a time, say 3 or 4 buckets for one water change. mix enough to do the entire water change. hope this helps.

[holidayrj]

I'll lower the temp, and reduce feedings. The only thing in my tank that is "non-marine" is 2 lava rocks. Would these be bad? I have some of the small "hard" featherdusters all over them, so I hate to destroy them, but if it's hurting the tank, it's outa there. I just changed all my filters and stuff. how do I lower PH? everything I read tells me how to raise it but not lower. I've been told by a few, and read that Caulerpa would help me with some of these problems. Is this true? i've also heard that this stuff will take over your tank, and is venomous. Does anyone have experience with this in there main tank, as I do not have a refuge.

[jhnrb]

you lower your pH by doing water changes with makeup water at 1.022 or at 1.021. test after the water change and the next day. as your pH gets to 1.023 change out water at 1.023.

the lava rock could be leaching back into the system. hard to say, but is a possibility. could be leaching out some small amount of sulfur, but not sure.

At this point you do not need calerpa. stick with the water changes. test the new salt makeup water before adding it to the system and make sure it has the water parameters you are seeking. most important never add new makeup water to the system. always mix up a day or two ahead, airiate well and run pump, temp should be same as main system. hope this helps. keep us posted on your progress. (water parameters.)

[JellyMan]

Cant wait to see pics, sounds awesome I know a couple of people that would love to have that problem and bein that it is growing at such a rapid pace that tells me that you have a well established aquarium great job. I would go ahead and add the corals the coraline will not hurt it it just adds beauty. And attempting to scrape it helps it to seed.