instant ocean buffer

[sh2000]

why were corals damaged ?
I added 6 teaspoons of alk buffer instant ocean as per dire tions to my DT and it instantly damaged 10 corals most pulled through i'm waiting on the last 2 to make a full recovery the plate coral on the SB well lets just say its prob not gonna make it half of it is showing the skeletoral base and half is bleached out the other half seems decent but still nothing like it was this morning. I'm so upset why did this happen ??

 

[yosemite sam]

OK, fill in a little more detail for us. Why did you add the buffer? How did you add it? What did the directions say as to the ammount to add daily? Did you monitor your PH while you did this? What are your water parameters before and after you did this? What exactly happened to the corals?

 

[sh2000]

the product is instant ocean sea buffer for ph and alk..the directions were add 1 teaspoon or 5 ml per 10g daily to increase ph and alk levels to desired amount...the form of this product is a crystal form not a liquid...I added the buffer to increase the alk in my dt from 2.8 to 3.6 p/pl I followed directions as stated on the product by putting the amount in a cup and pouring it in to my tank...I did 3 PH tests 1 24 hours before 1 2 hours after and one just recently PH is and always was 8.2...Params are;
sal-1.026
temp-78F
PH-8.2
Ammonia-0
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Alk-10 DKH
Calcium-450
Mag-1240
exactly seconds after i dropped in the crystals into the DT all the polyps from the corals that were exposed to it mostly the right side of the tank went in..these corals included a plate short tentacle,leathers,star polyps,button polyps, alevporia,bubble and a few more lps..slowly the corals started to recover I literaly sat there for 4 hours watching them. ALso a Carpet Anemone shrunk and went from a 8 inch spread to about 1.5 inches and was motionless for 40 min..it recently filled up again but is slightly not the same shape and has a hint of brown with the yellow. All the corals recovered slowly and I hope by tomorrow they will be back in full form and the Anemone will regain the shape..I'm affraid the plate coral will be lost as it looks very grim.
I'm assuming my mistake was just pouring in these crystals I think they needed to be mixed first because it looks like the crytals burned these corals or did something dramtic to them...I'm so frustrated now because I've kept over 25 corals alive and thriving for almost a year now. It appears I will lose my second coral. I just think they should put on the container for the instant ocean sea buffer to mix fisrt or to add only to fish only aquariums as I payed dearly for following the directions..either that or I'm incredibly foolish.

 

[thangbom]

alk buffers spike ph.... maybe your tank is too small for the amount that you added in one go.. did you add in a high flow area?? are those parms after adding the buffer?? those reading look dead on good imo... if they where b4 adding the buffer than you didn't need to add it...
YzGyz

 

[sh2000]

same b4 and same after except I was trying to be cute and increase my alk from 2.8 to 3.6 ppl I messed up and a coral paid for my foolish mistakes..its an 80 gal RT whatst he correct way to increase alk and have the ph remain the same..
thanks

 

[yosemite sam]

Never add a powder like that directly to your tank. Same thing goes with salt mixes, kalk, ect. I imagine that your corals got burned. Hopefully they will make it.

 

[swalchemist]

Yes you need to mix with at least a cup of water and add that to your sump, or overflow box.

 

[sh2000]

Is there anything I can do foe the bleached plate coral ? or just hope and wait how would it recover ?

 

[flricordia]

As SWAlchemist said and make it fresh water. and add it slowely. Don't know what the directions say myself but if they say to add the crystals directly to your DT then I would think about using a differnt line of products.

 

[sepulatian]

Please stick to one post about a problem. The problem is that you added the buffer directly to the tank instead of dissolving it first. It does not matter what the directions say. The directions are probably for a FO tank, as most are.

 

[michaeltx]

Originally Posted by SH2000
http:///forum/post/2464685
Is there anything I can do foe the bleached plate coral ? or just hope and wait how would it recover ?
did the buffer get directly on the coral and if it did , did you get ot off as soon as possible thats really the only thing you can do is make sure its cleaned off from the buffer and watch it.
and as said always mix buffers and such into water and drip into tank no matter what the directions say cause to much to fast is devastating to the tank.
good luck
Mike

 

[sh2000]

Yeh well at least i learned from the mistake.

 

[sh2000]

Originally Posted by sepulatian
http:///forum/post/2464758
Please stick to one post about a problem. The problem is that you added the buffer directly to the tank instead of dissolving it first. It does not matter what the directions say. The directions are probably for a FO tank, as most are.
I had 2 dif questions look at the first post in each thread sorry for the cnfusing name, but one was how to add the buffer weather you must mux or not and the other was how by not mixing it effected corals.sorry if this bothered you

 

[swalchemist]

Your corals were burned by the drop in pH and Alk in a small localized region (on there tissue). As the powder fell onto them it changed the Alkalinity and pH in that area which caused the coral to receive a burn and bleach. If there is a sign of flesh left you may be OK but likely the plate is done. We mix with fresh water to dissolve and to dilute the solution a bit to avoid such problems, also add to overflow or sump not the DT in case the solution did not get mixed just right.

 

[sh2000]

Just waiting and hoping.