Kat's Ol' Max

[metrokat]

Oooh Psychedelic!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No I have regular orange clownfish, the Actinic makes them black.

I wanted a pair of the B/Ws, this way I get to have both I guess

 

Edited September 8, 2012 by metrokat

[patback]

With so much sps and so many zoas and palys do you ever find it hard to keep then from encroaching?

[metrokat]

With so much sps and so many zoas and palys do you ever find it hard to keep then from encroaching?

I'm working towards having a zoa garden. The SPS is easily fragged and clipped. The zoas scare me when it comes to fragging. I've tried fragging a polyp or two and I don't like it one bit. I've seen many tanks where they fill out their space and nicely cover the area till you don't see rock. I'm heading there slowly, then we shall see what these guys do.

[Looselyhuman]

IME it's 50/50 as to who will win when SPS and Zoas start fighting.

 

Kat, interesting that your Alk seems to have stopped plummeting. Almost like something in your substrate is kicking in and buffering when you go below that 6.1 mark. What are you planning at this point?

 

I've never used any 2-part except B-Ionic, but here's what the rumor mill states: B-Ionic a.) supposedly has some type of trace elements and b.) is more concentrated. It also seems just easier. But people do like the BRS stuff, so the results will probably be about the same.

 

--ian

[metrokat]

IME it's 50/50 as to who will win when SPS and Zoas start fighting.

 

Kat, interesting that your Alk seems to have stopped plummeting. Almost like something in your substrate is kicking in and buffering when you go below that 6.1 mark. What are you planning at this point?

 

I've never used any 2-part except B-Ionic, but here's what the rumor mill states: B-Ionic a.) supposedly has some type of trace elements and b.) is more concentrated. It also seems just easier. But people do like the BRS stuff, so the results will probably be about the same.

 

--ian

Hey Ian, how come you're so seriously cool on my thread but like totally fun and cool on your own thread?

 

So the zoas and SPS in my tank are not on the same rocks or ledges. There is one spot where I have the porites next to some small zoanthids but everywhere else, the zoas occupy the mid level of the tank, and the SPS are at the top. I don't anticipate their being problems between SPS and zoas, rather more of the crowding of zoas by zoas as they grow.

 

I am getting both the B ionic 2 part and a doser this weekend. I guess the calcium part is calcium chloride. But what is the alkalinity supplement ingredient?

 

[Deleted User 3]

Kat your photos look AMAZING. Your colors pop so much better than mine do ! And Wow you have an orange fish with a black second personality. Rare find ! haha

[Looselyhuman]

Hey Ian, how come you're so seriously cool on my thread but like totally fun and cool on your own thread?

 

So the zoas and SPS in my tank are not on the same rocks or ledges. There is one spot where I have the porites next to some small zoanthids but everywhere else, the zoas occupy the mid level of the tank, and the SPS are at the top. I don't anticipate their being problems between SPS and zoas, rather more of the crowding of zoas by zoas as they grow.

 

I am getting both the B ionic 2 part and a doser this weekend. I guess the calcium part is calcium chloride. But what is the alkalinity supplement ingredient?

 

 

Ok so I guess the lockdown is ovah then? Umm, but, I have no idea how to be un-serious now.

 

Ooooh doser!!! Awesome.

 

Edit: The B-Ionic recipe is secret. But probably some combination of carbonate and bicarbonate.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Hypsophrys

[jedimasterben]

But what is the alkalinity supplement ingredient?

Sodium carbonate is what it should be. Most likely contains borates, though. I would just use baked baking soda. Less snake oil that way.

[ALexpsycho]

Sodium Bicarbonate...(99,85%)

ok very good alkalinity supplement.100grams for every 1lt of RODI water.It dissolves very easy in hot water.If you have pH problem you can do 2 things.

If your pH is low bake the sodium bicarbonate in the oven at 200degrees for one hour(this way it removes water and CO2) and boosts your pH 0,5meq/l

If your pH is high 8,5 or so the sodium bicarbonate drops(not baked) the pH level 0,05meq/l.

I think the soda ash is baked Sodium Bicarbonate.

 

Calcium Cloride dehydrade.(95-99%)

Is a nice supplement for Calcium.300grams for every 1lt of RODI water(use hot water to dissolve better).The supplement gets really hot when it dissolves so use a glass for the prosses to avoid melting plastics.Use plastic gloves and protect your eyes.After 1-2 hours it gets normal in temperature and has a yellowish color.The supplement has high pH (8-10) so you can dose at night when the pH value hits the ground,to boost your pH.

 

Always add the chemicals to water and never the opposite.

There is also magnesium sulphate and magnesium cloride for magnesium supplementation.

 

cheers.

Edited September 8, 2012 by ALexpsycho

[metrokat]

Good morning and thanks for the ingredients list. It should not be a secret. I thought there may be strontium and other stuff in there. Where to find a glass beaker to mix the calcium chloride, hmm. Might have to pick up a lemonade jug or something from Target.

[albertthiel]

Good morning and thanks for the ingredients list. It should not be a secret. I thought there may be strontium and other stuff in there. Where to find a glass beaker to mix the calcium chloride, hmm. Might have to pick up a lemonade jug or something from Target.

 

The kitchen departments of large supermarkets will have a nice selection of various sizes too

[Criley7]

Awesome pictures BTW!

[metrokat]

Date Calcium dKH Notes 1 Notes 2

8/6/2012 470 8.0

8/13/2012 490 8.2

8/19/2012 250 6.1 KALK+2, Part A no WC 10+ days

8/26/2012 300 8.3 KALK+2, Part A

9/2/2012 320 8.2 KALK+2, Part A

9/3/2012 300 8.3 Stopped KALK Corals pissed off

9/5/2012 360 7.0 15 hours after WC

9/6/2012 350 6.1 Before WC

9/6/2012 350 6.4 3 hours after WC

9/7/2012 350 6.4 14 Hours after WC

9/8/2012 350 6.1 1.5 days after WC

Edited September 8, 2012 by metrokat

[metrokat]

Kat your photos look AMAZING. Your colors pop so much better than mine do ! And Wow you have an orange fish with a black second personality. Rare find ! haha

Thanks, yeah I have magic fishies. This tank is full of all sorts of awesome. ha ha.

 

Awesome pictures BTW!

Thank you! Taking pictures with Actinic LED's is not easy and even now the colors are off.

 

Sodium carbonate is what it should be. Most likely contains borates, though. I would just use baked baking soda. Less snake oil that way.

You're right. Once the stock B-Ionic supplements are depleted, it is up to me to decide what to put in there. I don't know how to determine what is in their alkalinity supplement if they don't have it listed (and I could not find it on the web either). I sent ESV an email too.

[Spirofucci]

Holy crap! For all the troubles you're having, things sure do look nice in there! Sounds like you are getting a handle on it.

[metrokat]

Holy crap! For all the troubles you're having, things sure do look nice in there! Sounds like you are getting a handle on it.

Thanks. Ever since I stopped KALK the tank looks much happier.

 

The KALK+2 product I was using contains strontium and magnesium.

Before adding it, my strontium was 22.9 which is high (NSW is 8.1)

And my Magnesium tests between 1350-1500 (NSW is 1280)

 

So I would imagine, adding more might have been the problem. This is what Aquarium Water Testing service said:

Strontium (Sr)

Natural Seawater Value: 8.1 mg/L

Acceptable Range: 5.0 to 12.0 mg/L

Tested: 22.9 mg/L

(HIGH) Your strontium level is too high. We recommend you suspend any chemical

additives containing strontium. You may also wish to perform a partial water change to help

alleviate this problem. Strontium is important for coral and coralline algae growth, especially

among the “SPS” corals. Too much strontium can be detrimental to coral calcification

processes, and may cause coral mortality.

 

I think (I hope) I found the problem.

 

Now. The new tank normal levels seems to be Calcium 350, dKh 6.1.

Having established this baseline, the next step is how to safely bring these two levels up using 2 part.

The next step after that is making sure I can maintain levels when they rise to desired levels.

The final step is continued stability.

 

In between all the above steps, you have to factor in water changes and how they will change the levels. So there is a lot of testing still to do.

 

I'm planning a larger water change for tonight than the usual 10% I've done the last few times. Let's see what that does.

 

Bottom line: KALK+2 : Epic fail.

[ALexpsycho]

Metrocat i wrote an article for the balling light method but it is in Greek.

http://www.aquazone.gr/forums/index.php?ap...attach_id=72635

 

I mix it with Randys 2 part for the magnesium part for Magnesium cloride+Mg sulfate because it is more stable then FMs version.

Also we add Fauna Marins Trace elements for Balling Heavy metal complex+Strondium/Barium in Calcium part.About 5ml of each per 1lt.

We also dose Iodine/Fluorine complex in magnesium part.

also we made a presentation here in Thessaloniki about the method and is uploaded on youtube(

) it is about 2 hours.

The method itself is very popular in Europe.

Those zoas are great!I love them.

[metrokat]

Metrocat i wrote an article for the balling light method but it is in Greek.

http://www.aquazone.gr/forums/index.php?ap...attach_id=72635

 

I mix it with Randys 2 part for the magnesium part for Magnesium cloride+Mg sulfate because it is more stable then FMs version.

Also we add Fauna Marins Trace elements for Balling Heavy metal complex+Strondium/Barium in Calcium part.About 5ml of each per 1lt.

We also dose Iodine/Fluorine complex in magnesium part.

also we made a presentation here in Thessaloniki about the method and is uploaded on youtube(

) it is about 2 hours.

The method itself is very popular in Europe.

Those zoas are great!I love them.

 

The expression " It's all Greek to me" has never had more meaning than right now.

Thank you, I will research and check out the video.

[ALexpsycho]

cheers.

[chrssprngs]

So glad things are heading the right way! Hope things continue down this path.

 

Everything is looking great!

[Looselyhuman]

Love that things started to stabilize as soon as you bought the doser. Murphy is alive and well.

 

Yeah the mag part of Kalk+2 is what RHF said doesn't work for ####. The strontium part probably was bumping your levels ever higher. Good catch.

 

Can't wait to see how it works out w/B-Ionic though. I agree ideally it wouldn't be secret but I won't argue with results over many years personally.

 

Edit: Can I just say that I hate Noo Yawk (you HAD to mention it phonetically in another thread) for one simple reason: Every time I think about it, I end up with Alicia Keys stuck in my head for at least 24 hours. Can you all please start referring to it as The City Which Shall Not Be Named? kthxbai.

Edited September 8, 2012 by Hypsophrys

[metrokat]

So glad things are heading the right way! Hope things continue down this path.

Everything is looking great!

 

Love that things started to stabilize as soon as you bought the doser. Murphy is alive and well.

 

Yeah the mag part of Kalk+2 is what RHF said doesn't work for ####. The strontium part probably was bumping your levels ever higher. Good catch.

 

Can't wait to see how it works out w/B-Ionic though. I agree ideally it wouldn't be secret but I won't argue with results over many years personally.

 

Edit: Can I just say that I hate Noo Yawk (you HAD to mention it phonetically in another thread) for one simple reason: Every time I think about it, I end up with Alicia Keys stuck in my head for at least 24 hours. Can you all please start referring to it as The City Which Shall Not Be Named? kthxbai.

The City formerly known as NooYawk henceforth will be The City that shall not be named NooYawk.

 

You'll laugh at me but it's been I've been dreaming all night of running alk tests and forgetting to do water changes, and thinking I added salt to my RO water when I added KALK. I haven't been stressed about the tank, just worried enough to be dreaming about it I guess.

 

I've got 20% water change on the burner.

Edited September 8, 2012 by metrokat

[patback]

Lol. When I dream about my fish tank that is when I know to take a break fr a day or two from it

[metrokat]

lol, I prolly do need a vacation from my tank.

[patback]

I'm sort of in the same boat as you. I have been extremely lazy and skipped so many water changes that my calc and alk levels are probably off the chart low. I'm not looking foward to 10 days of small water changes any more than I am looking foward to just doing a real big one an pissing everything off and possibly crashing the tank :/