Hammer coral

[Edzob]

Hi there I recently upgraded my powerhead for the juwel filter and when I did I hve got an out break of brown mat alge that I cant seem to shift.

I had to stay away from home for a week and so the tank only got checked on every other day. The brown mat covered a part of the hammer coral, which is now obviously damaged it and it is starting to die off.

Is there any way I can save this coral?!? Or is it a gonner now the skin has been damaged?

Im so annoyed, I cant beleive this. I love my tank but im close to giving all my coral and rock to a freind with a marine and giving up. :cry:

[plecko]

You might try using reef dip by Seachem.
Good Luck!

[FishinInTheDark]

You could also try fragging off the healthy parts.

[Sugar Magnolia]

Don't give up. With some patience, you'll be able to take care of the problem.

First, what kind of water are you using to mix up your salt and for top off. RO/DI, distilled tap? Have you checked your phosphate level?

Your best bet is to dip the coral and place it in an area away from the slime algae. Suck out as much of the slime that you can. This will have to be done on a daily basis. Run some type of phosphate removing media. Phosban and Rowaphos are both good brands. Increase the flow in your tank and cut back a bit on the length of time you run your lights.

[Condiman]

How is it doing so far?

[Edzob]

Sorry I have not replyed I have not been receiveing my email notifications!

I had tried all the obvious with regards to less lighting hours etc. (should have told you I'd done that, I was just more worried about the Hammer I love that coral)

I always use rowaphos in the tank, and my phosphate are always minimal if any at all.

I use Deionized water in the tank, But the lfs has started to sell ro so i think ill start to get that insted.

I went to the lfs to seek advice and they have given me some antired, which they say will work on my brown alge too. I only put it in the tank yesterday and my skimmer is filling up at a much greater rate than normal! So fingers cross.

I also bought a Carbonate Hardness test as its about the only thing I have not tested. Guess what, its through the roof!! It is about 200mg/l which is very close to double!!! :shock:

So I assume this is gonna have been the caus. All my corals look ok though and I thought they would have been showing signs of stress at these levels!?!?

Anywy the Hammer is looking like it has stopped losing anymore tissue and the remainder seems to be perking up a little!

I dont want to jump the gun but I do think I am starting to see improvments just need to work on getting the KH down.

I will give it a few days and Ill let you all know how it is all going!
Thanks again.
Eddie

[Edzob]

Just wondered if anyine knows of any other way to lower the Carbonate Hardness than water changes?

I've been doing about 10-15l everyother day (using loads of salt!) do you think I could do that amount evryday or leave it to every other day but increase the amount? Its a 190l tank.

Im only down to about 180mg/l so still a long way to go.

The alge seems to be slightly better than it has been so it looks like it is this that is causing it.

Unfortunatly I have lost the hammer. Sooo annoyed with my self. :(

[FishinInTheDark]

I really think you should try a new test kit. I don't think you can possibly have 180 meq/l alk. Everything would be dead, probably even the algae. You might be doing all these water changes unnecessarily!

GL,

[Edzob]

I only bought the kit from the lfs last week its deffo not out of date, they didnt think it would be high either, they thought the alge would be caused if it was too low.

All my corals except one are fine, again lfs said they would show signs of stress if it was going to be high.

Maybe I should go to a freinds tonight an test his water with it just to make sure (his tank water mind! :wink:)

[Doctor_Reef]

What is your calcium level...If it is 450 or so it would be very unlikely that you could attain an alk level that high!!!!! It is either the kit or you are reading it wrong.... Take a sample of your water to the LFS and have them test it!!!! Or have a friend test it!!!! The higher the Calcium the harder it is to maintain a 3.5 to 4.4 ALK level...

[Edzob]

Ok Ill Go take a calcium test.

Sure I aint reading it wrong as you just add a drop at a time till it changes colour an multiply the total by 10!! I will tripple check tho.

[Doctor_Reef]

What test kit are you useing????

[Edzob]

I am using the Nutrafin test kit.

The calcuim levels are 460 and KH is definately 190. Just got my partner to make sure i was reading it correctly.

[Doctor_Reef]

That is very odd..... The trend is that you have to maintain the alk when the calcium is normal to above normal..... How much do you feed the tank??? What salt mix are you useing??....If you use oceanic salt mix....it has a tendency to run the alk low and that might help you bring down your alk!!!

[Edzob]

I feed the tank a little every other day as there is only a few fish in there. I have stopped feeding the corals since my algae started. The salt i am using is Tropic Marin. I will pop to a friends tonight and take my test kit along and see what kind of reading i get from his tank.

[FishinInTheDark]

Okay, I was just poking around Hagen's website, and I think I have found the issue! Are you measuring mg/L (milligramme per liter), because that traslates to 3.6 meq/l (milliequivalent per liter) which is (brace yourself) a little low. With calcium of 460, you should be at 4.95 meq/l (which would be 248 mg/L). Here's where I found the conversion table:

http://www.hagen.com/usa/aquatic/gh_kh_conv_cal.cfm

I knew we'd get to the bottom of this!

[Edzob]

:w00t:

My brain is starting to hurt!! lol

Yeah I am measuring in mg/l (I guess this is the American/Brittish differences getting in the way here!)

I just read in the KH instruction manual that anything over 125mg/l was too high for a saltwater tank an Im sure I read this somewhere else!!

My clacium level is good right!?

Ok so I have Kent Marine Aquarim Buffer, so Iam I right in saying I jst need to start adding this gradually keep testing and get the level up a bit?!

When I first started this hobby I thought I had researched it quite a lot, and to be honest a LOT more than some other people do. (going on some of the disasters you hear about). But I can believe how deep (BOOMTSHHH!) it can get and some of the factors that many of the books out there do not prepare you for.

How did you know about the level being too low in relation to the calcium I had no idea, I need to read more!

[FishinInTheDark]

The calcium/alkalinity balance comes much later in the hobby for most of us. Hardly anyone can fathom that while still figuring out how to get the specific gravity right! I can tell you that MikeS is our resident water chemistry expert, and he can explain things much better than I. I'll still do my best though!

Anyway, this table is an excellent means of finding the proper balance for Ca and Alk: http://www.kademani.com/reefchem.htm