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Mark's 40B and 46 bow


markalot

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Things are much more stable, yes! Alk this morning was 7.8, calcium 410, and this was after only dosing Alk yesterday afternoon (which is mostly at the bottom of the refugium me thinks). I will dose part1 (calcium) this afternoon and begin normal 2 part dosing (morning alk, evening calc) and monitor the levels to try an determine just how much I need to add daily.

 

I'm planning to siphon the bottom of the refugium each water change to try and keep this detritus trap cleaner. Is the precipitate normal, or is it a sign the flow through there is too low to properly mix either the kalc or 2 part?

Mark, precipitate should be non-exsistant. I would drop slowly the ALK (evening) and Ca (morning) in the DT

above a powerhead. ALK in the morning I think would be better since it will help to keep your pH from dipping too low over night. If you plan on running a 24 hour lit refugium it will also work to keep your pH stable. I would never dose anything directly in a fuge.

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I bought a new camera, the Nikon 3100 with standard non macro lens. These are all handheld, manual focus, and playing around in the Nikon RAW edit utility without really knowing what I'm doing yet. The improvement in quality is amazing.

 

Montipora digitata 'Forest Fire'

 

dsc0009edit.jpg

 

Montipora sp. Idaho Grape

 

dsc0014edit.jpg

 

Bird of Paradise Birdsnest (I think)?

 

dsc0011edit.jpg

 

My strawberry colored acro

 

dsc0010edit.jpg

 

One of smaller saved frags of ORA Green Stylophora

 

dsc0013edit.jpg

 

Note for this last pic, the entire bottom half is globs of superglue I put around a barely living tip just to see if I could save it. I'm pretty amazed and pleased it worked.

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I bought a new camera, the Nikon 3100 with standard non macro lens. These are all handheld, manual focus, and playing around in the Nikon RAW edit utility without really knowing what I'm doing yet. The improvement in quality is amazing.

 

Montipora digitata 'Forest Fire'

 

dsc0009edit.jpg

 

Montipora sp. Idaho Grape

 

dsc0014edit.jpg

 

Bird of Paradise Birdsnest (I think)?

 

dsc0011edit.jpg

 

My strawberry colored acro

 

dsc0010edit.jpg

 

One of smaller saved frags of ORA Green Stylophora

 

dsc0013edit.jpg

 

Note for this last pic, the entire bottom half is globs of superglue I put around a barely living tip just to see if I could save it. I'm pretty amazed and pleased it worked.

 

 

You got the one I wish I would have gotten, the video version of mine (D3000). Kickin' myself now. Nice pics :)

 

 

Christine

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You got the one I wish I would have gotten, the video version of mine (D3000). Kickin' myself now. Nice pics :)

 

 

Christine

 

 

Thanks Christine. My understanding is the video on this camera is not the greatest so maybe a point and shoot with good video is a better and cheaper way to go anyway? :)

 

I just ordered a cheap and reliable Sigma all purpose zoom lens plus some extension tubes to help with macro shots. I just can't justify > $400 just for a macro lens!

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Thanks Christine. My understanding is the video on this camera is not the greatest so maybe a point and shoot with good video is a better and cheaper way to go anyway? :)

 

I just ordered a cheap and reliable Sigma all purpose zoom lens plus some extension tubes to help with macro shots. I just can't justify > $400 just for a macro lens!

I would love to see the video quality of the D3100, has to be better than my iPhone 4 :happy:

 

 

Christine

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I would love to see the video quality of the D3100, has to be better than my iPhone 4 :happy:

 

 

Christine

 

 

I'll make one as soon as I get the chance.

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I would love to see the video quality of the D3100, has to be better than my iPhone 4 :happy:

 

 

Christine

 

 

Here we go. On a tripod, but it's not dark in the room so some reflections. I used youtube enhancements to fix white balance (increase red).

 

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Video looks pretty good to me, better than the iPhone, I'm sure it has a lot to do with the lens quality. Tank is lookin' stellar Mark, thanks for the video.

 

EDIT: Mark, have you noticed any change in you KH drop? Has the change in dosing helped any?

 

 

Christine

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Video looks pretty good to me, better than the iPhone, I'm sure it has a lot to do with the lens quality. Tank is lookin' stellar Mark, thanks for the video.

 

EDIT: Mark, have you noticed any change in you KH drop? Has the change in dosing helped any?

 

 

Christine

 

I thought it did for a while but was surprised to find KH down to 7.2 yesterday evening. I skipped another calcium dose (measured 420) and double dosed Alk to bring it up to 8.5 ish. Mag was also a bit low at 1100 so I'm trying to raise it as well.

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I thought it did for a while but was surprised to find KH down to 7.2 yesterday evening. I skipped another calcium dose (measured 420) and double dosed Alk to bring it up to 8.5 ish. Mag was also a bit low at 1100 so I'm trying to raise it as well.

Something is not right IMO. You have a ton of coralline, this may be the culprit or at least a player. Something doesn't seem stable with the water, have you tried doing several big water changes to get things balanced again?

 

I have several SPS that are growing quite well and starting to suck up Ca/Alk/Mg again, I don't have as much coralline algae as you. Still your drop of 2 dKH in a day seems high to me based on the size of your tank to coral ratio. Alk and Ca should be used up in close to equal amounts when using a two part, this is why I think something may be amiss. Your tank doesn't want to hold high KH very well, have you thought of just keeping it at ~7 dKH?

 

I keep my tank at ~7 dKH and Ca at ~420ppm, this is a balanced level for both together. I have good growth of all my SPS and LPS at these levels, things are really stable and the tank seems to love it. I think it's a myth that you need to have high KH and Ca to achieve good growth, I think having high levels is more problematic in general.

 

Anyway, something to consider.

 

Christine

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Something is not right IMO. You have a ton of coralline, this may be the culprit or at least a player. Something doesn't seem stable with the water, have you tried doing several big water changes to get things balanced again?

 

I have several SPS that are growing quite well and starting to suck up Ca/Alk/Mg again, I don't have as much coralline algae as you. Still your drop of 2 dKH in a day seems high to me based on the size of your tank to coral ratio. Alk and Ca should be used up in close to equal amounts when using a two part, this is why I think something may be amiss. Your tank doesn't want to hold high KH very well, have you thought of just keeping it at ~7 dKH?

 

I keep my tank at ~7 dKH and Ca at ~420ppm, this is a balanced level for both together. I have good growth of all my SPS and LPS at these levels, things are really stable and the tank seems to love it. I think it's a myth that you need to have high KH and Ca to achieve good growth, I think having high levels is more problematic in general.

 

Anyway, something to consider.

 

Christine

 

Thanks for the info Christine.

 

A couple of months ago I switched to Red Sea regular salt with a KH of 7.8 in order to run at lower levels. I try and stay between 7.5 and 8. Lately I wanted to get a bit higher to try and judge how fast it dropped and how long I could leave the tank unattended without any serious issues. I'm horrible about logging my exact measurements and charting the progress but I am going to have to do it if I'm going to figure this out.

 

I did a 10 gallon water change 2 weeks ago to try and reset, but nothing changed. For at least 8 months, even before adding a bunch of SPS, I've had trouble keeping KH up. The back wall was covered in coraline 4 months into the life of the tank and I've got a lot of it. :) I'm considering scraping it off the back wall, bit by bit, to see if that improves anything.

 

I can't help but think I'm making some kind of fundamental mistake somewhere that's just not obvious to me. I assumed 2part would solve the worlds problems, but no. Now I read about people just adding alk buffer and the occasional Calcium weekly if it gets too low and they seem to be running fine. What the heck is eating KH and not touching the calcium?

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Quote from the above article:

 

 

"So the first "deviation" from the rule of calcium and alkalinity balance really isn't a deviation at all. If an aquarist is supplying a balanced additive to his aquarium, and calcium seems stable but alkalinity is declining, it may very well be that what is needed is more of the balanced additive, not just alkalinity. This scenario should be assumed as the most likely explanation for most aquarists who should look for more esoteric explanations for alkalinity decline only if calcium RISES substantially while alkalinity falls. Likewise, if alkalinity is rising and calcium seems stable when using a balanced calcium and alkalinity additive system, the most likely explanation is that too much of the additive system is being used."

 

 

 

Balance is very important: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2002-04/rhf/feature/

 

Below is an excerpt and chart from the link above, article by Randy Holmes-Farley

 

 

"For example, the table below shows a series of balanced combinations of calcium and alkalinity in modified seawater:

 

 

Calcium (ppm) Alkalinity (meq/L)

360 0

-------------------

-------------------

390 1.5

400 2.0

410 2.5 (seawater)

420 3.0

430 3.5

440 4.0

450 4.5

460 5.0

-------------------

-------------------

600 12 (possible CaCO3/CO2 Reactor Effluent)

"

 

 

This is a good guide when deciding on the level of Alkalinity you would like to keep, the Ca must also be at a balanced level as shown above. This will be every reefkeepers key to success :)

 

 

EDIT: okay chart did not paste well, just see the article LOL.

 

Christine

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Yep, I agree. I'm reading others experience with 2 part and many with 40 to 60 gal aquariums and what they consider a medium load are dosing 100 ml a day 2 part to keep up. :o I'm dosing 10 and then complaining that my levels are dropping. :blush:

 

Time to look into bulk supplies...

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Yep, I agree. I'm reading others experience with 2 part and many with 40 to 60 gal aquariums and what they consider a medium load are dosing 100 ml a day 2 part to keep up. :o I'm dosing 10 and then complaining that my levels are dropping. :blush:

 

Time to look into bulk supplies...

Okay Mark, so you are comparing the same exact "2 part" product here?

 

In any case, once you achieve balance between the two, you should be dosing equal amounts of both daily (one in the morning, one at night). Do the Alk at night, it will help keep the pH up a bit. :)

 

Your levels, once you determine usage, should remain the same. Corrections should only need to be needed every 2-4 weeks if necessary.

 

Get the balance, then dose equal parts (ca/Alk) and you should be set :)

 

Christine

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Okay Mark, so you are comparing the same exact "2 part" product here?

 

In any case, once you achieve balance between the two, you should be dosing equal amounts of both daily (one in the morning, one at night). Do the Alk at night, it will help keep the pH up a bit. :)

 

Your levels, once you determine usage, should remain the same. Corrections should only need to be needed every 2-4 weeks if necessary.

 

Get the balance, then dose equal parts (ca/Alk) and you should be set :)

 

Christine

 

Good point about comparing products ... no idea. Thanks again for your help.

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Ok, so here's what's been happening.

 

My mag was low, about 1100, so I unloaded half a bottle of Tech M over 2 days to get the mag up to 1350, then dosed 2 part to get KH at 10 and Calcium to 440. Now I'm losing about .5 KH a day, maybe a little slower. I've just started measuring day to day numbers so I'll know for sure next week.

 

I stopped adding limewater at night for these tests since my evaporation is so low anyway. I'm considering dosing my topoff water with Seachem Reef Builder (KH, Mag, Stro...) and dosing calcium manually. A little more risky since things can get out of balance without careful measuring and testing.

 

Next, I combined my AquaticLife 2-bulb T5 fixtures (they come with hardware to attach the fixtures to each other) and put on the legs so now I have a 4 bulb fixture sitting on legs over the tank. I removed all extra LED except a low power blue strip for morning and evening. I miss the LED shimmer, and the tank looks a lot darker, but I believe the lights sitting right on the glass were too much for some of the corals, and there was not enough spread. Time will tell.

 

Now to the annoying part. After doing all of that and putting in the ATI bulbs, the GFI tripped when I turned the lights on. WHAT! I spent 2 hours trying to figure out the issue, turning bulbs, trying different combinations, etc. The only thing that worked was using the stock AquaticLife bulbs. Grrrrr. I googled this issue and it seems others have this problem as well. I will be looking to either install a new GFI outlet to see if that fixes it, or running a non GFI cord from somewhere for the lights.

 

It's always something. :)

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I believe the low mg was the problem all along. It is nearly impossible to keep alk and calcium in a good balance without appropriate mg levels.

 

When tackling reef chemistry issues IMO solve the mg issue first and the others will be much easier to correct and keep stable.

 

Sorry to hear about the light issue, that sucks!

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Ok, so here's what's been happening.

 

My mag was low, about 1100, so I unloaded half a bottle of Tech M over 2 days to get the mag up to 1350, then dosed 2 part to get KH at 10 and Calcium to 440. Now I'm losing about .5 KH a day, maybe a little slower. I've just started measuring day to day numbers so I'll know for sure next week.

 

I stopped adding limewater at night for these tests since my evaporation is so low anyway. I'm considering dosing my topoff water with Seachem Reef Builder (KH, Mag, Stro...) and dosing calcium manually. A little more risky since things can get out of balance without careful measuring and testing.

 

Next, I combined my AquaticLife 2-bulb T5 fixtures (they come with hardware to attach the fixtures to each other) and put on the legs so now I have a 4 bulb fixture sitting on legs over the tank. I removed all extra LED except a low power blue strip for morning and evening. I miss the LED shimmer, and the tank looks a lot darker, but I believe the lights sitting right on the glass were too much for some of the corals, and there was not enough spread. Time will tell.

 

Now to the annoying part. After doing all of that and putting in the ATI bulbs, the GFI tripped when I turned the lights on. WHAT! I spent 2 hours trying to figure out the issue, turning bulbs, trying different combinations, etc. The only thing that worked was using the stock AquaticLife bulbs. Grrrrr. I googled this issue and it seems others have this problem as well. I will be looking to either install a new GFI outlet to see if that fixes it, or running a non GFI cord from somewhere for the lights.

 

It's always something. :)

Wierd....light bulbs should not have cause that......but yer right...it's always something!

 

So sounds like you got this dosing thing ironed out!

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Heavy duty extension cord now handles the two T5 fixtures, everything else remains on the GFI. As long as I avoid dropping the fixture in the water ... everything should be fine. :)

 

Now that Alk is more stable at 9 growth is really starting to pick up.

 

My favorite coral, forest fire Montipora digitata.

 

dsc0174edit.jpg

 

11 days ago:

dsc0009edit.jpg

 

FTS with new 1.8 lens

 

dsc0186edit.jpg

 

 

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The digi grew pretty well in 11 days. It doesn't have yellow or green skin?
Not yet. There might be a hint of green on some of the tips but not much.
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Playing around with my new extension tubes and various lenses for macro shots.

 

Forest Fire Montipora digitata

dsc0202edit.jpg

 

 

Superman (so I was told) Montipora

dsc0204edit.jpg

 

Purple Polyp Green Birdsnest

dsc0212edit.jpg

 

A faded ORA Orange Montipora digitata (why did I place this on the very top???)

dsc0221edit.jpg

 

Strawberry colored acro

dsc0223edit.jpg

 

The 'test' acro

dsc0227edit.jpg

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