Thought I would post what happened to a couple of my corals as there may be a lesson for some of the newer folks and a reminder to pay attention for those that should know better.
So I transferred a lot of frags over from my 90 to my 40B frag tank when I took it down last week. I figured(first mistake) that the alk/cal demand would drop due to the stress of transferring to a new tank. I waited a couple days before I was going to set up my dosing pumps, that turned into a couple more days.
I started noticing my birdsnest didn't look too happy and my acans weren't fully inflating. I said to myself, I bet the alk is low, but I got busy and didn't do anything. 2 days later I wake up and my strawberry shortcake is about half white from the base up. I tested the alk/cal and I got 6.1dKH and 380ppm. That night I set up my dosing pumps and got everything going. As of last night my alk is at 7.4dKH, but a few things are still unhappy. Strawberry shortcake is dead, $500 efflo is looking like it might RTN any day now, rainbow monti is looking the same, and birdsnest/acans are still PO'ed. Several others are showing reduced polyp extension, hopefully getting things back in check and stable will correct the problem before anymore death.
Moral of the story, don't be lazy, stay on top of testing and don't assume anything. Also, pay attention to any stressed corals. In my case both the birdsnest and the acans were telling me something was wrong, I had a good idea what it was and basically ignored it. Pay attention to your tank, it's amazing what it can tell you if you actually listen.
So I transferred a lot of frags over from my 90 to my 40B frag tank when I took it down last week. I figured(first mistake) that the alk/cal demand would drop due to the stress of transferring to a new tank. I waited a couple days before I was going to set up my dosing pumps, that turned into a couple more days.
I started noticing my birdsnest didn't look too happy and my acans weren't fully inflating. I said to myself, I bet the alk is low, but I got busy and didn't do anything. 2 days later I wake up and my strawberry shortcake is about half white from the base up. I tested the alk/cal and I got 6.1dKH and 380ppm. That night I set up my dosing pumps and got everything going. As of last night my alk is at 7.4dKH, but a few things are still unhappy. Strawberry shortcake is dead, $500 efflo is looking like it might RTN any day now, rainbow monti is looking the same, and birdsnest/acans are still PO'ed. Several others are showing reduced polyp extension, hopefully getting things back in check and stable will correct the problem before anymore death.
Moral of the story, don't be lazy, stay on top of testing and don't assume anything. Also, pay attention to any stressed corals. In my case both the birdsnest and the acans were telling me something was wrong, I had a good idea what it was and basically ignored it. Pay attention to your tank, it's amazing what it can tell you if you actually listen.
