twan Posted June 22, 2012 Share Posted June 22, 2012 Thanks Joe Dirt, proof positive I need to do more research before I go further. Your setup is very nice. I have zero room in my stand so I would be mounting this on the other side of the wall and running the tubes through. Time to get out the hole saw! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted June 22, 2012 Author Share Posted June 22, 2012 Your setup is top notch and what I envision my future setup to resemble. I'd hate to see you not take full advantage of your controller and exploit all its features. I'd tend to trust the Apex over the bubble magus for reliability. Plus, you can have better control over your dosing with the Apex anyways and have access to it away from home which is a bonus. For the money, you won't find a better and impurity free product. You can't beat the price of this stuff in comparison to other brands. I was intimidated a little at first, because I had always used Seachem stuff and they explain everything on the label. For instance, choosing between the soda ash and sodium carbonate, and the mixing of both the magnesium sulfate and magnesium chloride. The little nuances were a little confusing. To be honest, were extremely helpful to me. If you get the small two-part kit, recipe 1 it takes a lot of the confusion out. I'd suggest watching the vids when you get a chance. The dude in the vids looks like Steve Perry to me, which is always good for a laugh. Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 Great info Joe! But I think I'm going to 100% bi-weekly water changes. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 I think you can get away with that for a little bit, but not forever. You've got a good bit of pretty sticks in there, Mark. Well, my 6 minutes of run time was way too conservative. My dKH dropped to 8.288 from 9, so I had to run the pump for about 20 minutes to get it back right. I bumped my total time up to 24 minutes for a 24 hour period. I'll test tomorrow night again and see how close I've gotten. That should get me in the ballpark and should only have to add a few minutes if any at all. This sort of makes sense because I have mostly SPS and my cap and birdsnest are pretty good sizes. This is in line with BRS little consumption chart they have. I took a quick screenshot of the chart for everyone. I have about 25 actual gallons of water which puts me right on target with the last column. 1 mL x 25G = 25 mL My current estimate is 24 minutes of dosing in a day, so: 24 min x 1.1 mL = 26.4 mL That's pretty close. Let's see how it turns out tomorrow. Link to comment
gena Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 I think you'd need to do 100% weekly, Mark. Though is that even safe to do? I'd be leery doing that with sps. Just face it....you will have to get yourself a dosing system like CJ's, eventually!!!!!! You have sooo many sps in your tank and they suck that alk DOWN!!!!! I don't know if I'd be able to configure the correct amount, like you've done. Math was never my strong point I hope kalk in the top-off will be enough for me!!!!!! Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 I think you'd need to do 100% weekly, Mark. Though is that even safe to do? I'd be leery doing that with sps. Just face it....you will have to get yourself a dosing system like CJ's, eventually!!!!!! You have sooo many sps in your tank and they suck that alk DOWN!!!!! I don't know if I'd be able to configure the correct amount, like you've done. Math was never my strong point I hope kalk in the top-off will be enough for me!!!!!! I'll do my 25% tomorrow and then re-measure, but looks like I'm destined to be a dark ages alchemist like CJ! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted June 23, 2012 Author Share Posted June 23, 2012 I handle mercury with my bare hands! Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted June 23, 2012 Share Posted June 23, 2012 I handle mercury with my bare hands! HAHAHAHAH! That's just what I had pictured! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted June 24, 2012 Author Share Posted June 24, 2012 I tested my Alk and accounted for the 4.4 mL dose that's going to happen at 8:00 pm and I'm only off by .3 mL in a day. I'm going to leave it this way for a few days and see what happens. I may have to add 1 more minute, but that'd be about it. Wow. This is going to be a little bit easier to dial in than I thought. A little math goes a long way. Link to comment
metrokat Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 My dKH gets to critical low levels if I don't watch it. And I have no idea why this happens. Calcium on the other hand stays high. I've thought about getting the BRS doser. Dirty, did you measure your dKH everyday at the same time to determine how much you needed to dose? Was that before lights on? Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 I don't think it'll matter when you take your reading. It's not like pH in that sense. As long as you take your measurement every day at the same time, that should give you a pretty good understanding of your consumption rate. If I had a controller, I'd have all 3 automated by now. It's so nice have the Alk on tap now. It was such a PITA dosing every day. For me, I started new chemicals and the pump at the same time, so figuring out the dosing was a learning curve. When I was using Seachem, my tank was using .3 to .4 tsp a day consistently. What is your dKH, Ca and Mg measuring at? Link to comment
metrokat Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 What is your dKH, Ca and Mg measuring at? Don't have a Mag test kit. Ca 490+ dKH 6.7 - 7.8 without dosing I need to test daily to come up with a chart Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted July 2, 2012 Author Share Posted July 2, 2012 Don't have a Mag test kit. Ca 490+ dKH 6.7 - 7.8 without dosing I need to test daily to come up with a chart I think you'll be surprised at how low your Mg will be. Your Alk is pretty low Ms. Kat. Everyone has a preference, but I keep mine at a steady 9 dKH. 490 is a little high, but it'll come down when you get your other 2 params in check. Putting in the hard work now in figuring out the dosing is a pain, but it'll pay off once you don't have to dose anymore and just test weekly with nice, even, stable params for you happy corals. Link to comment
metrokat Posted July 2, 2012 Share Posted July 2, 2012 I think you'll be surprised at how low your Mg will be. Your Alk is pretty low Ms. Kat. Everyone has a preference, but I keep mine at a steady 9 dKH. 490 is a little high, but it'll come down when you get your other 2 params in check. Putting in the hard work now in figuring out the dosing is a pain, but it'll pay off once you don't have to dose anymore and just test weekly with nice, even, stable params for you happy corals. True! A mag kit is on my list to get. 9 for dKH is a good number, my ca has always been high, I use red sea coral pro so it is always on the high side. Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 100mm Macro time!!! Link to comment
thirdchild Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Wow, love that color combination on the first frag. Mind sharing what it is? I haven't been through your giant thread yet :-) Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 Its a chalice called cornbreds trash mummy eye. Very bright in person. Link to comment
thirdchild Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Its a chalice called cornbreds trash mummy eye. Very bright in person. I wouldn't have guessed chalice! I was going to guess cyphastrea. Very nice. Link to comment
Felicia Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 The dude in the vids looks like Steve Perry to me, which is always good for a laugh. I've watched the BRS videos for a bunch of their different products and that guy cracks me up. Link to comment
Spirofucci Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Hey Mr. Dirt! How it goin? Nice pics. How are you liking your dosers??? Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 I wouldn't have guessed chalice! I was going to guess cyphastrea. Very nice. The tentacles were hanging out so that's probably why. It was an expensive piece, but it's huge now and quite beautiful. I promise the pics will get better. Those are literally the first shots with my new macro lens. I've watched the BRS videos for a bunch of their different products and that guy cracks me up. Did you see the zoas in that second pic Hey Mr. Dirt! How it goin? Nice pics. How are you liking your dosers??? I like it a lot. I've been so busy with life though. So I haven't really gotten everything dialed in just right so I still have to dose or turn off the pump a little. I keep doing my WC and maintenance on different days so it's hard to get right. But it's keeping everything consistent for now. I hated dosing daily. Nice sticks. T. Hanks! Link to comment
gena Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 I've been wondering where you've been!!!!! Corals look awesome!!!!! Link to comment
Joe Dirt Posted September 11, 2012 Author Share Posted September 11, 2012 Sup Gena! Between work and life, I'm super busy. But I finally got a new camera. I ended up getting a 60D and a 100mm macro and a 30 prime. So far, so good. I'm still getting used to it. I've finally started to kick this algae's butt. On a huge note, I ditched the LEDs and I'm using T5s now. The corals are starting to change color in an awesome way. Link to comment
Felicia Posted September 11, 2012 Share Posted September 11, 2012 Did you see the zoas in that second pic Yes! Drool! So pretty Also, I'm supr jealous of that macro lens. Nice photos! Link to comment
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