Arce Posted October 23, 2014 Author Share Posted October 23, 2014 I really want a green mandarin. By far my favorite fish. Only problem is i have no time to really try to train in on frozen. Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted October 24, 2014 Author Share Posted October 24, 2014 So my garf bonsai has had such a reduction in PE. Everything else is doing pretty well and showing decent growth but also a small reduction in PE on a couple pieces. Thoughts on what might cause it? I have been feeding a little light, might be that? params have all stabilized.. maybe the alk change? Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted October 24, 2014 Share Posted October 24, 2014 I get nervous when my Alk drifts .25 in a day, it needs to be rock stable. At this point it could be nothing or anything so just keep an eye on them and keep params stable. Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted October 26, 2014 Share Posted October 26, 2014 Mandarins that are already trained are available. Plus you can always see which ones are eating frozen, always ask the store to feed this fish in front of you. Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted October 26, 2014 Author Share Posted October 26, 2014 Mandarins that are already trained are available. Plus you can always see which ones are eating frozen, always ask the store to feed this fish in front of you. My LFS never gets any trained ones. Ive asked him to feed fish before, usually hes good with that. But i havent found any that will accept frozen yet. He had two nice ones in his tanks that looked pretty healthy, hunting for pods, nice plump stomachs, but im afraid to pull the trigger. Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Still working on the alk... its getting there but small fluctuations still. 1 Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Well.... Forgot i turned on my RODI, flooded everywhere for the millionth time............ Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 I did that too. Till I installed a float switch on my bucket. Best $22 I have spent on the reef ever. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/auto-shut-off-kit-for-reverse-osmosis-systems.html 1 Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted October 30, 2014 Author Share Posted October 30, 2014 I did that too. Till I installed a float switch on my bucket. Best $22 I have spent on the reef ever. http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/auto-shut-off-kit-for-reverse-osmosis-systems.html How does the float fit onto the bucket? Drilled it? Or does it just clamp on? Quote Link to comment
metrokat Posted October 31, 2014 Share Posted October 31, 2014 I put my Dremel to good use. Of course it took me about a billion hours 1 Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted October 31, 2014 Author Share Posted October 31, 2014 So i want to add leds to my fixture... But i really dont want to gut it because i want to keep 4 bulbs going. I got the aquaticlife 4 bulb fixture, it has the strip in the middle for two moon light LEDs. I was thinking a really narrow heatsink with some leds? Im not lookin for a crazy amount of leds, mainly supplemental and to help with color and such. But then theres the question of how i connect it or mount it. I have my fixture sitting on my rim, so space is minimal, and its nearly as wide as my tank so i cant put it infront or back. Hmmmm ideas.....? Quote Link to comment
itzju Posted November 1, 2014 Share Posted November 1, 2014 http://www.coralvue.com/t5-led-fixtures if you're just looking to supplement, might want to take a look at those. LEDs are already built in like you're planning on doing and the price is very. very much on point. lol Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 3, 2014 Author Share Posted November 3, 2014 http://www.coralvue.com/t5-led-fixtures if you're just looking to supplement, might want to take a look at those. LEDs are already built in like you're planning on doing and the price is very. very much on point. lol Never seen that before, so cheap though lol. Idk i have to see. Im having other problems with my tank right now anyway. I may see if i can pick something up around black friday on sale. Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 5, 2014 Author Share Posted November 5, 2014 Does anyone with a BM doser know if while in the "setup" mode will the doser still dose as usual or does it not? I accidently left it in setup when i adjusted it the other day and alk sank to 5.9. Not sure if its from usage or due to not exiting the setup. Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 8, 2014 Author Share Posted November 8, 2014 So the alk swings have had a small impact on my tank, still working on getting it consistently stable. The good news is, despite the swings, I've finally had some vertical growth and of course everything's still encrusting like crazy. Some corals though have taken a huge hit in their color, not quite sure what happened but i attribute it to the alk problems. Mainly its the katropora, my green monti, and my garf bonsai. Everything else is either maintaining its color or not that bad. I have a craving to do something new for my tank or buy something new, dont want to pick up any corals till my levels stabilize... so no idea what to do... Some random pics I just took.... \ 3 Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted November 8, 2014 Share Posted November 8, 2014 Does anyone with a BM doser know if while in the "setup" mode will the doser still dose as usual or does it not? I accidently left it in setup when i adjusted it the other day and alk sank to 5.9. Not sure if its from usage or due to not exiting the setup. It does not dose when in setup mode. This is how I've had mine set since my Alk spiked up to prevent dosing. Alk drop is better than a bug Alk rise, just raise it back very slowly and you should be fine IMO. 1 Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 10, 2014 Author Share Posted November 10, 2014 It does not dose when in setup mode. This is how I've had mine set since my Alk spiked up to prevent dosing. Alk drop is better than a bug Alk rise, just raise it back very slowly and you should be fine IMO. Ah man, thanks for verifying that for me. I figured it doesnt dose in that mode since my alk dropped so much. Cant believe i left it in setup mode. Im still working on picking it back up to 7-7.5. Ive been thinking about switching my 2 part to the BRS instead of the red sea. Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 So I just checked my nitrates and phosphates out of curiosity, haven't done it in a long time. Tested my Nitrates with a Salifert test kit, got a 0 reading, the fluid never even changed color. Tested Phosphates with a Hanna tester and got a 0.12!! Not sure I trust that reading. I have literally no nuisance algae growth, but my chaeto in my fuge is very dense, so I guess it may be right. Maybe high Phosphates is the cause of the color loss? Now I'm unsure... Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 Don't test, be happy. The Hanna is a piece of crap anyway, an expensive digital nonsense meter. Use Salifert and double the water and reagents (as indicated in their instructions) and see what you get. I got a nice blue indicating over .1 but I believe the source of all my browning was an Alk spike. Lots of people better than me run with fairly high phosphates and have no issues. As pointed out in a thread on RC, phosphates only became an issue when phosphate reducing media was introduced. See what they did there? Certainly super high phosphates can be an issue, but I don't think it's nearly as important as many claim. 1 Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 Don't test, be happy. The Hanna is a piece of crap anyway, an expensive digital nonsense meter. Use Salifert and double the water and reagents (as indicated in their instructions) and see what you get. I got a nice blue indicating over .1 but I believe the source of all my browning was an Alk spike. Lots of people better than me run with fairly high phosphates and have no issues. As pointed out in a thread on RC, phosphates only became an issue when phosphate reducing media was introduced. See what they did there? Certainly super high phosphates can be an issue, but I don't think it's nearly as important as many claim. Lol yeaaa I went awhile without testing trates or phos, but got curious, should have just kept ignoring it. Oh I didn't know that you double the salifert test for a lower reading... I guess I should have fully read the directions. Either way its super low so I'm just going to ignore trates. As for phosphates, I've heard debates back and forth about hannas but not really sure on the subject. Yea I've seen threads with beautiful tanks and high phosphates, I guess I'm going to just let it go and ignore it. I have been getting good growth, so my color issues must be due to the alk swings. Sighhh why couldn't I have just gone to sleep instead of going to test quick lol. 1 Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 11, 2014 Author Share Posted November 11, 2014 Took a crappy cellphone pic of the Katropora. Its hanging in there, colors still there a bit but it definitely lost a lot. Still working on the Alk issues and hoping once i get it stable everything rebounds. Regardless though, its been encrusting nicely. 2 Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Just remembered i have some old LED stuff from my first ever build. I have a dimmable driver from Rapid that can run 10 leds i believe. Thinking of adding a thin heatsink and supplement some LEDS. Question comes down to which LEDs to choose. Limes are cool. Quote Link to comment
markalot Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 Your Katropora looks better than mine does now, since I browned it out. Quote Link to comment
Arce Posted November 12, 2014 Author Share Posted November 12, 2014 Your Katropora looks better than mine does now, since I browned it out. Its hanging in there. Hopefully it lightens up once i get eveything stable. 1 Quote Link to comment
GtTap Posted November 12, 2014 Share Posted November 12, 2014 So the alk swings have had a small impact on my tank, still working on getting it consistently stable. The good news is, despite the swings, I've finally had some vertical growth and of course everything's still encrusting like crazy. Some corals though have taken a huge hit in their color, not quite sure what happened but i attribute it to the alk problems. Mainly its the katropora, my green monti, and my garf bonsai. Everything else is either maintaining its color or not that bad. I have a craving to do something new for my tank or buy something new, dont want to pick up any corals till my levels stabilize... so no idea what to do... Some random pics I just took.... \ What kind of birdsnest is this? Quote Link to comment
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