Emhriverdale

@jason the filter freak Cheers to nurses in reefing! I'd have a reefer run my ECMO pump any day!

Thank you all for the great responses. @KingOfAll_Tyrants - I had just done a big WC an hour prior, as the tank had been looking 'meh' for a few days. I figured given the volume I administered (back of the napkin estimate was now the DT is a 0.4% vinegar solution), any meaningful rescue would require >50% change. It didn't seem like a small WC would matter, and I didn't have water ready, it was after 10pm, so I told myself 'the tank is already too stressed.' What's the difference between swimming in 0.2% vinegar vs. 0.4% really?! I'm an inexperienced reefer, but my clinical nursing background tunneled my vision to oxygenation. If you have an ICU patient with a low pH and you can't administer sodium bicarbonate or other tricks to raise it, you hyperventilate the patient to blow off CO2 and administer higher % atmospheric oxygen. All of that, of course, if you can't/don't have time to correct the underlying issue. So I did the exact same thing - turned pumps and powerheads to 100, dropped in airstones, and opened the windows. I'm skimmerless at the moment, would have used that as well. @jason the filter freak - I am completely convinced that ICU nursing and reefkeeping are the exact same thing, and that reefkeeping has major potential to support training and mental health for clinicians. I worked in a intensive care unit for neonatal/pediatric patients. On a normal shift, I would be assigned one patient who is being kept alive through ECMO (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), often post-surgical with a window of cellophane-ish stuff covering their still-opened chest, so I could directly observe and monitor the heart. Here are some of the main things I'd be focusing on. - Pumps drain blood from the body, pass it through several membranes that oxygenate the blood, and pump it back into the body (overflows and returns). - Once you have a patient on the ECMO 'circuit,' you can perform most lab draws and medication on the 'pump' side of the system (sump system). - I'd drawn dozens of small blood samples to run an arterial blood gas (ABG - ph, 02, bicarb, c02), and make minute changes in the rate of ventilation, % o2, and others to meet my targets (testing and titrating) - The goal in ICU is stability, not recovery. My kid's vitals might be crap, but they'll be stable crap. No matter how perfectly you do everything, sometimes everything comes crashing down and makes for a few exciting few hours. - In such a critical state, kidneys often fail. I'd hook up a dialysis machine to the ECMO circuit, which requires constant titrating of Ca, Mg, K, P, Na and waste export in relation to labs and each others (c'mon, are we not seeing it?!) This is a pediatric ECMO room (https://www.chop.edu/sites/default/files/ecmo-machine-canonical.jpg). Looks like a cleaner version of my basement. Reefing has been a great outlet for many behaviors/personality quirks that I've locked up since leaving the bedside. Sorry for the soapbox - but you asked! I am fascinated by the connection here and hope someday to find a way to share reefing with clinicians.

Sparing the ugly details, I accidently dumped 1 gallon of concentrated 30% cleaning vinegar into the sump of my 75g mixed system early last week. My pH dropped from 8.2 to 7.2 almost immediately. Alk dropped from 10.5 to 8. I put some air stones in and crossed my fingers (I'm an old ICU nurse, and this brought back memories). I had just done a WC, so I was forced to wait to do 20% WC for 24 hours until the bacterial bloom started. I did another 20% WC the next day. I put filter socks in the sump and have been changing them daily. pH corrected itself within 12 hours. It's been over a week now. pH/Alk/Calc are normal and stable for 72 hours. Nitrate and phosphate are down to 0. The tank is crystal clean, and livestock happy as ever. Am I in the clear? I know carbon dosing is a thing, but I can't find reports of someone overdosing to the extent of turning their tank into a (bad math?) 0.4% vinegar solution. Is there another shoe to drop in the process? Many thanks, and I promise never to do it again.

Thanks for the fantastic guidance fellow Riverdalian! Upon further research, directly plopping a paste of Reef Roids on them is NOT the ideal method for target feeding. My nutrients spiked subsequently, but things are settling down - and I have most definitely learned my lesson!

Howdy! I've been broadcast feeding with Reef Roids a few times a week. Yesterday I did my first target feeding yesterday. Several SPS/LPS started bleaching (I think) within hours. Palys and Zoas look happy. I have a monti that has been lovely and slowly growing for months, turning white as we speak. Did a 15% WC 48 hours prior to feeding, getting ready to do another now. I tried turkey basting, no change. Only other system issue was a heater which I forgot to plug in after WC overnight - but temp only dropped to 78. My unkillable gramma who, a month ago recovered from a bad injury on his cheek, had popeye on the same side - I'm assuming latent infection as I didn't treat. It's well recovered now and he's eating like a pro. Parameters just prior to the feeding - 1.025/80F - pH8.0/Nitrate 5/Phos .1/Ca 500/Alk 10/Mg 1280/Ammonia 0 - not yet chasing trying to dose, cause I listen to my WAMAS friends. Test values unchanged just now after bleaching started. I have 2 black box LEDs and 1 XR15. Coral in the picture has been in the same place for months. Only change was the target feeding. Could the feeding have stressed? Could this be a growth spurt from being fed for the first time? Thanks for the assistance! Edit: 55g DT - 28g sump w/ fuge, no skimmer.

I'm stocked with a yellow wrasse, 2 clowns, purple firefish, watchman, gramma, and a neon goby. I feed minimally - maybe 1/2 cube of mixed frozen ever 2 days. Huge pod population keeps the wrasse busy. Does this sound under stocked or fed? I'll plan to: Check Mg Hold WC pending nitrate or phos increase Is there any danger do having Ca staying that high? I have a background as an ICU nurse, and playing around with monitoring electrolytes is bringing back terrible memories.

Hello! I have a year old 55 g. I started putting in some LPS and SPS after success with some softies and frankly winning an sps pack on R2R. I've only recently started really monitoring parameters regularly since my freebies didn't immediately die (I was hoping to avoid being a hobbyist who spends all their time and money on a tank - lol nice try). My Ca has consistently been 500-550 on API and Hanna test, alk 10-11, ph 7.8-8.0. Nitrate and phos generally 0. I'm using Instant Ocean Reef reef crystals for 1.025 @ 80F. Lighting is 1 XR15 Gen 3, and 2 nicrew black boxes. Recently checked PARs and have good areas of 75-150 and 150-300. I have never dosed anything. I don't have much growth in some of the corals that have been around for a few months (montis, zoas), but everything looks relatively happy - see picture as I may not be defining happy appropriately. Is my ph likely hindering uptake of ca and alk? If so, is air composition the missing variable? I'm repairing an octo 1000 but not currently running a skimmer. The sump is the basement w/ gas furnace and boiler, so there is definitely a CO2 source. Greatly appreciate any insights.

Hello! Omg, omg, omg. I'm back in the hobby 20 years later after failing miserably in my teens, and am finally stepping out from lurker status on a forum with a legitimate question! This is a big moment! I directly drilled 4 holes in my 55 g, which exit the back wall to right angles down to the floor (Bean Animal + return). They are covered with slim profile filters (which I love), and thus I have no overflow. Currently, the primary outflow (which is partially restricted because my current return pump is a sissy), secondary, and emergency all empty individually into my hilljacked 20G high sump in the basement with baffles made out of whoknowswhat and glued with chewing gum. Thanks to WAMAS - I have procured an Aqueon Proflex sump. The new sump has a single intake primary intake. Is it OK to just plumb my secondary and emergency to drop in the first chamber, or should I combine into a single intake pipe for the sump. I don't anticipate regularly using the emergency line, but I'm probably undersized on my return pump so the secondary gets used a bit to maintain water height in the display tank. Any advice is much appreciated!