birdman204 Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 LOL Borked..... Semi-Borked, and sorry it slipped ........ I clearly should not be taunting a dog of your size...... I only am measuring to watch the swings that it takes. At my normal measure time, it was up and down for three days, but is is back to 8.2 at Mid-photoperiod. After reading more articles about RTN, I belive the Temp swing was to blame in my situation, Even though the symptoms weren't so "RTN"-ish. I will be stopping by radio shack for some 3 inch fans tonight(currently running 2 inch). My Ca and Alk was wacky which is why i switched to the sealab, It is getting things back in line, but I think that with the temp changes blew my s*%& out. All is ok, It will recover and has started to better than i had hoped. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 ok, no I'm a bit concerned about dropping blocks in and leaving town. If the goods arrive today (doubtfull), I'll test all parameters and make the 14 usage decision then. Link to comment
Dingo Posted November 26, 2003 Author Share Posted November 26, 2003 'Sokay. Did you recently switch to MH lights? I wonder if it could be "sunburn"? Link to comment
onthefly Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 Well...I'm happy to report that my month long fiasco after my buffer crash is over......Thanks to the 28 blocks! With the Ca staying steady above 400, I have been able to get my Alk up to 12-14 and my pH, which was low and jumping around like Christina Aguilara's hooters (7.5-8.0), has now been corrected (8.4). I think the 28 blocks really helped stabilize the Ca and let the Seachem pH 8.3 buffer do it's thing! My indicator was a tiny xenia frag that hadn't been looking good (shriveled, and barely pulsing), now it's open and growing like xenia should. For the record, I'm now adding a "nugget" every 3 days..... Link to comment
Dingo Posted November 26, 2003 Author Share Posted November 26, 2003 Originally posted by onthefly low and jumping around like Christina Aguilara's hooters ??? BTW, now on day 4, 1 nugget is almost gone, and the other is about 2/3 gone. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 Dingo . Yes I did, For the first 9 days, no probs with the new bulb. Is it possibly becoming MORE intense as it burns in? If so, time to throw the screens in there again. I am also having a similar dissolve rate. I am gonna put another in tonight. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 halides take some time to burn in Link to comment
cjm033 Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 i dont get whats wrong with christina agular's hooters bouncing around. you make it sound like a bad thing lol Link to comment
Crakeur Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 our avatars look quite nice on top of eachother Link to comment
onthefly Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 Oh.....No! Believe me......Bouncing is good! Very good! Just with when it is relating to my pH! Link to comment
birdman204 Posted November 26, 2003 Share Posted November 26, 2003 Crak, yes the Av's are similar, but I think any woman would prefer the slow rythmic motion of the Safe, versus the Cracked out spasm that Kermit is having...... I mean uuuuhhh.. all that is related to PH, yeah, slow rythmic swings,,, yeahthat's it.... Link to comment
birdman204 Posted November 27, 2003 Share Posted November 27, 2003 Arghh, Crak , When does it end? I come home, my heater isn;t on and the tank is now 77 degrees!!! Argh!!!! I give up. Hands off, we'll see what happens........... Link to comment
onthefly Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 3 week update....... Calcium 480 (haven't dosed anything other that the blocks for 3 weeks) Alk 5 dKH 14 Of course, the Alk and dKH are probably the result of the buffer. But starting today, I'm going to ween my tank of the buffer and see how the number hold up. Link to comment
Dingo Posted December 1, 2003 Author Share Posted December 1, 2003 Expect it to go down. The blocks did not hold my alk up at all. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 same here, I may try the kalk route, bought some today. Link to comment
Dingo Posted December 1, 2003 Author Share Posted December 1, 2003 BTW Fly, Unless I am totally misunderstanding you, you may not quite understand alk. Dkh is a unit of measure for Alk. Alk can either be measured in Meq/L (milliequivalents per liter) or dKH (Disgusting killifish heads). dKH = 2.8 x Meq. Therefore 5 Meq = 14 dKh. Save yourself some effort and only measure it once. Link to comment
onthefly Posted December 1, 2003 Share Posted December 1, 2003 Sorry, Same test....just reported both values since some people relate better to Alk in meq/L or dKH. Link to comment
Crakeur Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 well, my blocks arrived yesterday and I dropped a pair in (can't o.d. this so two was easier) into the fuge outflow. probably too high flow an area but I figured it was better to get the ca and other elements more stabilized, then I will dump into the fuge itself. anyway, I tested the water before adding and found: ca 410 (give or take a few as I never rely on these tests to be 100% accurate) alk was thru the roof. one full dropper and the water didn't change color so it is at least 14. needs to come down big time pH - 8.2 (ish -color bars are not the easiest to read). also noted some phosphates in the water so I'm picking up some filter bags for rowaphos (and more rowaphos). Hopefully I'll get the filter bag this weekend if the snow ever lets up. On a side note, I complained mightily to zoomed about their powersweeps and I'm getting all new gears and suction cups. big whoop. I'm also replacing the two powersweeps (and a rio ph) with one magdrive or one quiet one pump (1017-1200 gph not sure which one yet), getting a scwd and finally using the lifegard plumbing kit. All will be done next week. So excited about this. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 So wow. after 10 days the 28 was not helping me. My alk was steady at 12 ! and ca was at 380 , the p.h. was still swinging like anna nicole before she met Mr. Marshall. I started half strength Kalkwasser tuesday i belive ( 1tsp per gallon of fresh) for all my top off. 4 hours after I started, my p.h. was at 8.2 then 8.3 the next day, didnt change yesterday. Ca went 390 to 400 to 410 - ish yesterday, alk went 11 to 10 to 9.5 ish yesterday. I will keep you posted..... Oh Yeah, My bork was due to sunburn! The polyps in the shade of other branches are fine. D'oh. Next on the list is a 70 watt MH ballast to burn in new bulbs in the garage. D'OH! Link to comment
Dingo Posted December 5, 2003 Author Share Posted December 5, 2003 Bird, are you dripping the kalk, or putting it in your auto-topoff bucket? Link to comment
caja Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 You guys are making me feel really really guilty. I haven't tested my water in a couple months. Think I may have to do that tomorrow. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Dingo. I am using half strength kalkwasser, but lemme post this in this thread..... in a 10 gallon, kalk at full strength can be added at the rate of .6 gallons per day, that's almost half a cup an hour. If you evaporate more than this, use half stregnth kalk water. I do not evap more than this, but didn't know if I needed full strength or not. I started at half strength gonna do this for 2 weeks, testing CA , Alk , PH and Nitrates ( I am watching them go down as the macro in the fuge grows) Every Day (caja ) and watching levels. I have gone through a half gallon in 3 days so I am sure I could use full strength kalkwasser. I have my float set super sensitive. I will let you know how things go, but if this works, It's a miracle. I think easier than sealab, Just replenish topoff w/ whatever strength kalkwasser when empty, and water changes. i will not be adding anything else, 'cept food. P.S. BE SURE TO UNPLUG YOUR TOPOFF BEFORE WORKING IN THE TANK IF IT'S KALKWASSER!!!! Your moving the water may set it off too long or too close to the last shot! just a thought. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted December 5, 2003 Share Posted December 5, 2003 Oh and how's your pet rock Link to comment
Dingo Posted December 6, 2003 Author Share Posted December 6, 2003 Well, Bird, my goal is to make my life easier with this tank, and since I'm adding Alk into my topoff already, switching to kalc would make things even easier since I wouldn't have to watch the blocks. They do do a great job at maintaining ca, though. My pet rock says hi. In a sloppy, bubbly sort of way. I named him George. Caja, I've still got new tank syndrome. It still feels so new that I'm puttering around it every night looking for things to do. After a while, I will calm down. Link to comment
birdman204 Posted December 6, 2003 Share Posted December 6, 2003 dingo, mine NTS lasted forever, It just ended with the kalk topoff again, I will keep you posted. Hence the new 75 FOWLR for all me wife's non reef safe fish that she loves. see avatar Link to comment
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