Dropped's Reef

[dropped]

 

Something wrong with the balance, most likely precipitate somewhere. Either that or dosing pump inaccuracy exaggerated by the numerous small doses.

 

I just landed here ... are you dosing the same alk and calcium daily? Recent Mg test?

 

Those flatworm vanish as a tank matures, though it seems either a yellow tail damsel or pygmy wrasse will eat them.

 

Still climbing back in the thread. I don't see how a nopox overdose will hurt other than possibly crash PH and make a snotty mess.

 

PO4 swings can be as deadly as Alk swings, learned this the hard way. If you are really sitting at 0 then concentrate on increasing both import and export to get more food moving through the system. Colors looked fine a couple of months ago, nice and saturated.

 

Did you grow this coral in this tank?

 

 

If so then try and return to what you were doing when it looked like this because those colors are terrific.

 

Ok, obviously not a new tank, really looking forward to the new 90 gallon though.

 

I am anti GFO and anti filter socks, especially on a larger tank. Right now in my 150 I'm dosing 3 drops of PhosphateRx daily, into the sump without a care in the world, PO4 stays at .03. Nitrates also 0 so I will occasionally dose Acropower if I see colors fade. If you plan to stick to SPS you need to learn to judge health by the way the acros look AND testing.

 

Get yourself a tang and stop worrying about algae.

 

Here are my current levels, I check ALK ever few days and the rest are checked weekly

 

 

Those flatworms ive had in the past and flatworm exit gets rid of them pretty easy, however with the introduction of new coral im sure some things get past the seachem reef dip i use, i am going to switch to coralRX.

 

The Nopox overdose saw colour drop out pretty quickly, nothing was happy in the tank and now all my snails are slowly but surely dying off, this seems to be the only lasting effect.

 

Not currently running GFO at all and my nitrate and Phosphates are almost always zero, i do run a fuge with cheato on a reverse 12 hour lighting cycle.

 

The tank is now 13 almost 14 months old, i dose Red Sea A and B daily via a dosing Pump. ( A =Calc 15 ML B= Alk 45ML)

 

Over the weekend i did have a big clean up, i scraped the bottom back back of the tank and also did the sump. This could have removed quiet a bit of coraline which could be why im seeing the ALK uptake reduce...

 

And no I did not grow that acro, however im getting so good growth with white/blue tips all over it at the moment.

I also dont use nopox in this tank normally just picked up the wrong bottle when dosing mg.

[markalot]

A =Calc 15 ML B= Alk 45ML

 

 

 

Just no, but especially with a commercial mix. Test Alk, dose accordingly, and blindly match the calcium dose with the Alk dose and the tank will settle into an equilibrium. Mismatched dosing may seem like it works but can lead to all kinds of odd issues. I use Kalk at the moment but when I did two part I used a commercial mix and dosed equally. It just works.

 

I believe the Alk oddities are directly related to unequal dosing so I can't stress it enough. Measure Alk consumption only, dose equally, make sure Alk is steady and test calcium and see what you get. I think you'll find calcium stabilizes quickly. This will also help keeping Mg elevated since most Calcium parts also contain Mg and other goodies.

 

Looks like you are running at 9 KH? I prefer 6.5 to 7 with low nutrients but lots of success with lots of values. If you are fixated on mostly acros I would suggest lowering KH to more natural levels and getting rid of the fuge. In a 90 gallon you have more room to work, more options for fish. Should be a blast!

[dropped]

 

 

Just no, but especially with a commercial mix. Test Alk, dose accordingly, and blindly match the calcium dose with the Alk dose and the tank will settle into an equilibrium. Mismatched dosing may seem like it works but can lead to all kinds of odd issues. I use Kalk at the moment but when I did two part I used a commercial mix and dosed equally. It just works.

 

I believe the Alk oddities are directly related to unequal dosing so I can't stress it enough. Measure Alk consumption only, dose equally, make sure Alk is steady and test calcium and see what you get. I think you'll find calcium stabilizes quickly. This will also help keeping Mg elevated since most Calcium parts also contain Mg and other goodies.

 

Looks like you are running at 9 KH? I prefer 6.5 to 7 with low nutrients but lots of success with lots of values. If you are fixated on mostly acros I would suggest lowering KH to more natural levels and getting rid of the fuge. In a 90 gallon you have more room to work, more options for fish. Should be a blast!

 

So.... are you saying ignore my calcium for a while and just dose it at the same rate as my ALK? oh god this will kill me haha

 

I run my tank at 140ppm (7.8 DKH) however the 160ppm showing in that picture is from my latest reading post the change from 5 times a day to 23 times per day dosing.

[markalot]

 

So.... are you saying ignore my calcium for a while and just dose it at the same rate as my ALK?

 

I run my tank at 140ppm (7.8 DKH) however the 160ppm showing in that picture is from my latest reading post the change from 5 times a day to 23 times per day dosing.

 

Don't ignore it, just test weekly to make sure nothing crazy is happening. I think you'll find it moves a bit and then stays stable but trust no one but yourself in this hobby. I tested calcium weekly, then monthly, and now maybe every 3 or 4 months.

 

I have a bubble magus and used to dose hourly then switched it to every other hour calcium then alk. I think that maintains enough stability. I also really like Kalk for maintaining a higher PH and lowering the cost of 2 part to 0 until you get to the point Kalk can't keep up. Just be cautious if changing, it's really easy to make a mistake and spike Alk. One nice thing about running low Alk is more room to spike. Lots of folks report Acros don't tend to get upset during a spike until Alk goes past 7.5 or 8, and getting ti down fast can avoid a lot of damage.

 

Something to think about as you set up the 90. Oh, and if you decide to try Kalk remember you will have to dose Mg once in a while and either keep up with regular water changes or do small doses of traces to keep from depleting things.

[dropped]

 

Don't ignore it, just test weekly to make sure nothing crazy is happening. I think you'll find it moves a bit and then stays stable but trust no one but yourself in this hobby. I tested calcium weekly, then monthly, and now maybe every 3 or 4 months.

 

I have a bubble magus and used to dose hourly then switched it to every other hour calcium then alk. I think that maintains enough stability. I also really like Kalk for maintaining a higher PH and lowering the cost of 2 part to 0 until you get to the point Kalk can't keep up. Just be cautious if changing, it's really easy to make a mistake and spike Alk. One nice thing about running low Alk is more room to spike. Lots of folks report Acros don't tend to get upset during a spike until Alk goes past 7.5 or 8, and getting ti down fast can avoid a lot of damage.

 

Something to think about as you set up the 90. Oh, and if you decide to try Kalk remember you will have to dose Mg once in a while and either keep up with regular water changes or do small doses of traces to keep from depleting things.

 

Ive done some quick googling on equal part dosing of the Red Sea foundation supplements and found that its a 1:3 ration Calc:Alk so if you look at what i'm dosing Calc 15 ml and Alk 45ml, this is equal

 

 

Once again the source of the information is from the internet....

 

 

My plan for the 90 gallon is to move to a calcium reactor, i already have the bottle on hand and filled. Just need to save up to get the reactor.

 

Do you think removing a fair bit of coraline would spike alk as its no longer there to consume it?

[markalot]

 

Ive done some quick googling on equal part dosing of the Red Sea foundation supplements and found that its a 1:3 ration Calc:Alk so if you look at what i'm dosing Calc 15 ml and Alk 45ml, this is equal

 

 

Once again the source of the information is from the internet....

 

 

My plan for the 90 gallon is to move to a calcium reactor, i already have the bottle on hand and filled. Just need to save up to get the reactor.

 

Do you think removing a fair bit of coraline would spike alk as its no longer there to consume it?

 

Not sure on the coraline. I've scraped a lot before and didn't notice much. Most of my alk movement comes from SPS growth due to how fast they can use it up. I've got 150 gallons though so my experience is different from a much smaller tank. So sorry, I just don't know.

 

Interesting on the Red Sea doses. http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-sea-reef-foundation-2-part-question.243572/

 

Yep, RHF confirms. So again, trust no one but yourself. I had no idea they were unequal!

[dropped]

 

Not sure on the coraline. I've scraped a lot before and didn't notice much. Most of my alk movement comes from SPS growth due to how fast they can use it up. I've got 150 gallons though so my experience is different from a much smaller tank. So sorry, I just don't know.

 

Interesting on the Red Sea doses. http://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-sea-reef-foundation-2-part-question.243572/

 

Yep, RHF confirms. So again, trust no one but yourself. I had no idea they were unequal!

 

 

I guess ill put this down to coraline and dont mess with something thats working ok haha.

 

Now do i ride this out and correct the dosage or stick it back to dosing 9 ML 5 times per day...

[markalot]

 

 

I guess ill put this down to coraline and dont mess with something thats working ok haha.

 

Now do i ride this out and correct the dosage or stick it back to dosing 9 ML 5 times per day...

 

I would stop all dosing, measure the daily drop to calculate Alk usage, wait until 7.5 KH and then start dosing Alk at that level and calcium at 1/3 that like before.

 

I think 5 times a day for such a small amount if fine, no need to dose hourly.

[RollaJase]

And here is my Alk being dosed every hour on the hour for a 24 hour cycle. I did this purely to try and keep it all stable, didn't really think otherwise. I need to bring my Alk down a little though. Has been sitting at 8.3dKH for the last few weeks, I want it closer to 7.

[dropped]

And here is my Alk being dosed every hour on the hour for a 24 hour cycle. I did this purely to try and keep it all stable, didn't really think otherwise. I need to bring my Alk down a little though. Has been sitting at 8.3dKH for the last few weeks, I want it closer to 7.

 

 

that was pretty much my thought pattern

[dropped]

Well progress continues on the new tank, and im back to the idea of a straight move, no new rock etc.

 

Here is the new rear overflow i made and installed over the weekend.

 

 

 

[dropped]

I've found that my current tank is now at a point where i don't need to do weekly water changes as i get better growth without insetting the water perimeters. Unfortunately this little experiment came to an end on the weekend as i had to dose flatwormRX which requires a 20% water change which also increased ALK by 20 PPM which isnt ideal... This is what i get for using the Red Sea coral Pro salt.

[RollaJase]

Very nice work on the overflow. I think you should be fine doing a straight swap over when upgrading, that's what I did and I didn't have any issues. Keep your current rock and bolster it with dry rock if you need any additional. Definitely use new sand though, you don't want to stir up and detritus that may be stuck in it. I'd also recommend, in your case, that you try to get your hands on some NSW from the LFS or some red sea blue bucket salt so you don't fluctuate your levels too badly. Biggest piece of advice I could give is that you take adding anything new to the tank post upgrade very slowly, particularly if you replace the sand.

[dropped]

Very nice work on the overflow. I think you should be fine doing a straight swap over when upgrading, that's what I did and I didn't have any issues. Keep your current rock and bolster it with dry rock if you need any additional. Definitely use new sand though, you don't want to stir up and detritus that may be stuck in it. I'd also recommend, in your case, that you try to get your hands on some NSW from the LFS or some red sea blue bucket salt so you don't fluctuate your levels too badly. Biggest piece of advice I could give is that you take adding anything new to the tank post upgrade very slowly, particularly if you replace the sand.

 

You have read my mind! Ill be buying the blue bucket from now on as it matches the levels i run my tank at. Its just hard to get through 22KG of coral pro salt when you do 20L water changes each week haha.

[RollaJase]

 

You have read my mind! Ill be buying the blue bucket from now on as it matches the levels i run my tank at. Its just hard to get through 22KG of coral pro salt when you do 20L water changes each week haha.

I ended up selling my nearly new bucket of Coral Pro on eBay or Gumtree for $50-$60 from memory. Sucked that I took a hit on it but at least I got something out of it instead of letting it sit in the garage collecting dust.

[dropped]

I saw gumtree and realised your were and aussie.... rugby fan by any chance?

 

Yea once i realised it was spiking my alk every time i did a WC i cut my WC's in half... Could also just use it for fish QT tanks?

[RollaJase]

I saw gumtree and realised your were and aussie.... rugby fan by any chance?

 

Yea once i realised it was spiking my alk every time i did a WC i cut my WC's in half... Could also just use it for fish QT tanks?

No, not a huge rugby fan i'm afraid, we don't really follow it in South Australia. I'm more of a motorsport guy at heart . Yeah, you could use it for fish QT, should work just fine. At one stage I was using a 50/50 mix of CP and Blue Bucket when I was transitioning between the two, that worked pretty well also, didn't raise the Alk a whole lot.

[dropped]

Filled the new tank last night with fresh water as a test. Found a couple of problems which i kind of expected.

 

First issue was i didnt put enough glue in one part of the over flow so it was leaking a bit, this was quickly fixed after draining 300+ Litres of water.

 

Second issue was not enough thread tape on a few joints.

 

Second water test will be tonight where the tank will sit full for at least a week.

[dropped]

And we have success!

 

The new tank is currently completed with no leaks and sitting full of water for the next 5 days or so!

[pappadumplingz]

Are you just planning to continue the SPS reef in this new tank?

[dropped]

Are you just planning to continue the SPS reef in this new tank?

The new tank will be mainly be SPS but I'll likely put some LPS in there as well. I guess as things out grow my other tank I may move them into this one.

[metrokat]

I missed it - what is wrong about 24 hour dosing?

[dropped]

I missed it - what is wrong about 24 hour dosing?

 

 

Honestly no idea, but it seemed when i split my dose between 24 hours rather than 5 times in 24 hours ALK jumped up really fast. Ive since moved it back to 5 times per day and ALK is stable again.

 

I guess i would like to try 24 hours again and then just lower the dose to suit...

[metrokat]

 

 

Honestly no idea, but it seemed when i split my dose between 24 hours rather than 5 times in 24 hours ALK jumped up really fast. Ive since moved it back to 5 times per day and ALK is stable again.

 

I guess i would like to try 24 hours again and then just lower the dose to suit...

I'm slow today. What was your dosing schedule when it was not 5 times a day?

[teenyreef]

What kind of doser do you have? Many dosers are not accurate at minimum dosing quantities. That might be why you get different amounts when you go with more frequent but smaller doses.