North Ga Hillbilly's Bare Bottom 20G (Ramping up for an upgrade)

July 30, 2014

yea, its really starting to take hold, I saw a huge increase after I started topping off with kalk, since then its been going nuts, Strangely enough I have basically NONE on the walls of the tank, but the bottom is going strong.

I think your going to like it, especially with that your bottom is so covered with coral, theres not much stirring of that sand going on. Play with your flow alittle and see if you can get it to pile up in an area thats easy to get to. Mine piles up in the back corner, easy to get out of there. I need to do a WC at some point and get the new pile out

Do you have a ATO or do you hand top off? How often you topping off with Kalk?

July 30, 2014

Yea it is. Hahaha. I wish I planned my coral selection better sometimes it usually ahhh yep that's nice and in my budget. Lol. My favorite thing in my tank isn't even coral it's my GBTA from lawn.

When I did the rescape I really developed an idea of what I wanted where, I plan to basically move this rock work as is into the next tank, itll just have 6" of free space on each side. I was really into the idea of an BTA, and mine is cool I guess, When it gets larger and actually moves with the flow itll prob catch my eye more. Yours looks alot flashier than mine

Do you have a ATO or do you hand top off? How often you topping off with Kalk?

yea Ive got an ATO, my return chamber in the sump is about .5 gallons, so its kicking in every ~15 min

July 30, 2014

You hand dosing Kalk or mixing it in the ATO?

When I did the rescape I really developed an idea of what I wanted where, I plan to basically move this rock work as is into the next tank, itll just have 6" of free space on each side. I was really into the idea of an BTA, and mine is cool I guess, When it gets larger and actually moves with the flow itll prob catch my eye more. Yours looks alot flashier than mineyea Ive got an ATO, my return chamber in the sump is about .5 gallons, so its kicking in every ~15 min

Of course his is flashy he got it from me

July 30, 2014

You hand dosing Kalk or mixing it in the ATO?

Of course his is flashy he got it from me

ahh, in the ATO, doing about 1 tsp per gallon

LOL, Im going to have to get up with you about a Lawnman Bling Pack

July 30, 2014

You hand dosing Kalk or mixing it in the ATO?

Of course his is flashy he got it from me

It's true all speckled and what have you.

July 30, 2014

ahh, in the ATO, doing about 1 tsp per gallon

LOL, Im going to have to get up with you about a Lawnman Bling Pack

I have heard people say there Kalk doesn't stay mixed in the ATO canister. You have this problem? I have some Kalk from BRS sitting in the garage I have never used it. Have you ever tried the BRS Kalk?

July 30, 2014

I have heard people say there Kalk doesn't stay mixed in the ATO canister. You have this problem? I have some Kalk from BRS sitting in the garage I have never used it. Have you ever tried the BRS Kalk?

I use the stuff made by two little fishies, there's defiantly a layer at the bottom that precipitates out, but the PH stays around 12 on my solution, so i take it that its all not settling. From what I understand kalk is just pickling lime, which is CHEAP at the grocery store, but with as little as I need I stick with this stuff. I feel it helps buffer PH, as I dont have any sand to help with that, or the buffering youd get form coral based sand atleast. PH stays at 8.4 during the day and will drop to 8.2 sometimes at night.

July 31, 2014

Finally got a FTS thats worth a shit

FTS

Untitled by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

New Stick

Untitled by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

Weird Fungia thing with multiple mouths, saw it at the LFS and decided it was weird enough I needed to have it

Untitled by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

Awesome chalice from Glenn at CGA, realized it has a second eye on the back side today when feeding

Untitled by North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

July 31, 2014

Finally got a FTS thats worth a shit

FTS

https://flic.kr/p/og6Pdj'>https://flic.kr/p/og6Pdj'>Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/people//'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

New Stick

https://flic.kr/p/ozm2KT'>https://flic.kr/p/ozm2KT'>Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/people//'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

Weird Fungia thing with multiple mouths, saw it at the LFS and decided it was weird enough I needed to have it

https://flic.kr/p/og6DsD'>https://flic.kr/p/og6DsD'>Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/people//'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

Awesome chalice from Glenn at CGA, realized it has a second eye on the back side today when feeding

https://flic.kr/p/og7o3X'>https://flic.kr/p/og7o3X'>Untitled by https://www.flickr.com/people//'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

Love that chalice pic and I am gracing your thread with my 18K post

July 31, 2014

Love that chalice pic and I am gracing your thread with my 18K post

Its an honor

August 1, 2014

Had this beauty for a long time. Bought the first ever led fixture that was released. The lights were so bright it fried this huge chalice and crashed my elos back in the day.

http://s915.photobucket.com/user/Lwnman/media/756b4064-c97c-49d3-814f-14c2691e9d2e.jpg.html'>

August 1, 2014

Had this beauty for a long time. Bought the first ever led fixture that was released. The lights were so bright it fried this huge chalice and crashed my elos back in the day.

DAMN, thats a painful story to hear. So thats a pic from back before the frying?

August 1, 2014

Tank is looking great, like the new pieces also.

August 3, 2014

Tank is looking great, like the new pieces also.

Thanks!

I decided I need to step up my check on water chemistry, ordered a Red Sea Pro cal alk and mag kit. My current Red Sea kit tests alk, which is testing in lower than it should, so Im going to see if low mag is the cause. Well see next week when everything comes in.

August 4, 2014

Last corals for at least a month, Im going to take the next month and make sure that I have a solid grasp of cal, alk and mag, as I said before, In hopes of being able to keep a few sticks along with all the LPS. But as a final send of to my chemistry journey...

Green lepestria and red w/ orange eyes chalice

https://flic.kr/p/ozSJt8'>https://flic.kr/p/ozSJt8'>DSC_0447 by https://www.flickr.com/people//'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

And some Z's and P's (Fire and Ice, Red people eaters off camera and a few hornets)

https://flic.kr/p/oxQQPS'>https://flic.kr/p/oxQQPS'>DSC_0422 by https://www.flickr.com/people//'>North Ga Hillbilly, on Flickr

August 4, 2014

Lovin this tank now GA, it's come along nicely. Great FTS and some real sick azz corals in there.

August 4, 2014

Lovin this tank now GA, it's come along nicely. Great FTS and some real sick azz corals in there.

Thank ya sir

August 10, 2014

Came home from being out of town for work to some really good things. Two chalices that completely bleached out, ghost style, are regaining color, as is the rescue trachy. I've got three new eyes on the bubble gum monster and the mummy eye has gone from one eye on a piece the size of a pencil eraser (free random piece that broke off a larger frag) to two full eyes and a 3rd coming in

My Mag was indeed low, I had the wife dose alittle while I was gone, did a WC today and my numbers look great

Ca 430

Mag 1300

Alk 8.4

PH 8.3

Nitrate 5

The acro frag I've got is still brownish, I expect from pretty high nutrients, Im going to cut back on feeding, and only feed the chalices regularly, and the bigger LPS ever other time.

August 10, 2014

Howdy,

enjoyed the thread. So are you making sure Alk is staying around 8.4 every day, testing same time every day? Once stable the acro should color up. Maybe.

August 10, 2014

Howdy,

enjoyed the thread. So are you making sure Alk is staying around 8.4 every day, testing same time every day? Once stable the acro should color up. Maybe.

Its defiantly been unstable in the last week, it was right at 7 before I checked the mag and got it higher, so there was a shift in the past week. Im only two days into it being above 8, but Im going to get on my testing and hopefully maintain it there. I haven't had to worry too much about alk in the past, so its defiantly a learning opportunity.

August 10, 2014

Its defiantly been unstable in the last week, it was right at 7 before I checked the mag and got it higher, so there was a shift in the past week. Im only two days into it being above 8, but Im going to get on my testing and hopefully maintain it there. I haven't had to worry too much about alk in the past, so its defiantly a learning opportunity.

Just make sure to test at the same time every day, before dosing anything. This is where I got confused and I see others getting tripped up when trying to stabilize alk. I would just test alk and figure out the amount of the alk part of a good two part solution you need to keep it stable and then dose the same amount of the calcium part a few minutes later. When I was manually dosing my 40 I did Alk in the morning and calcium in the evening. Then I added more sps and then I was dosing so many caps of two part I had to get a doser.

But just to clarify. If you do a cap of alk make sure to also do a cap of calcium as well, otherwise your levels will get out of whack and everything will seem insane.

August 10, 2014

Just make sure to test at the same time every day, before dosing anything. This is where I got confused and I see others getting tripped up when trying to stabilize alk. I would just test alk and figure out the amount of the alk part of a good two part solution you need to keep it stable and then dose the same amount of the calcium part a few minutes later. When I was manually dosing my 40 I did Alk in the morning and calcium in the evening. Then I added more sps and then I was dosing so many caps of two part I had to get a doser.

Im in the process of reading up on maintaining alk using kalk, as ive been using it in this tank from the beginning and used it in the past. Do you have any expierence with kalk? I have it in my ATO, which kicks in ~ every 15 min, adding .5 gallons per day.

It was stable in the past, over 5 days of regular testing, but I didnt have calcium or mag tests. I THINK it was low mag that was keeping my alk low, but we shall see

August 10, 2014

Im in the process of reading up on maintaining alk using kalk, as ive been using it in this tank from the beginning and used it in the past. Do you have any expierence with kalk? I have it in my ATO, which kicks in ~ every 15 min, adding .5 gallons per day.

Not much. I started using it to raise my PH a bit as mine was dangerously low. I do the timer as well; 30 seconds every 12 minutes, and I use full strength (2 teaspoons per gallon). This is in a big tank, 150 gallons. I never used it in my 40 but if you have good evaporation I hear it can work quite well in tanks without a lot of SPS. I do know my use of it dropped my alk and calcium consumption from 110 ml a day to about 90 ml, and when I took it offline today my PH started to drop, so it must be doing something.

August 10, 2014

Not much. I started using it to raise my PH a bit as mine was dangerously low. I do the timer as well; 30 seconds every 12 minutes, and I use full strength (2 teaspoons per gallon). This is in a big tank, 150 gallons. I never used it in my 40 but if you have good evaporation I hear it can work quite well in tanks without a lot of SPS. I do know my use of it dropped my alk and calcium consumption from 110 ml a day to about 90 ml, and when I took it offline today my PH started to drop, so it must be doing something.

Im doing half strength, Im interested to see how it goes over the next week or so, Im out of town again on Tuesday and Wed, but Ill be testing other than those days

August 10, 2014

Im doing half strength, Im interested to see how it goes over the next week or so, Im out of town again on Tuesday and Wed, but Ill be testing other than those days

I'll be interested as well. I have a little 29 gallon that I never dose anymore, or test, and was thinking doing kalk on a timer to see how it worked as the only means of dosing. I've always been a big fan of two part, it just makes more sense to my brain, so kalk is new to me.

Sign In

North Ga Hillbilly's Bare Bottom 20G (Ramping up for an upgrade)

Recommended Posts

Lawnman

Link to comment