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Polarcollision's Nuvo 24: March FTS


Polarcollision

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:-) Thanks Mark! I was about to say my alk has been steady until I checked it again tonight. 5.5 again. Ugh. That bird growth is making me chase alk too much. I added the max 1 dKH to bring it to 6.5. At least it was caught before the forest fire digi bit it again!

 

If you want colorful acros 1KH is too much, you need to get down to no more than .25, maybe less. Some species (is it species or varieties?) of acros are worse than others. I just went through a pretty big Alk spike and my Strawberry Shortcake, one of the slowest corals to color up, actually looks better while the "Katropora" I got from Kat browned out. It can be frustrating, to say the least!

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Polarcollision

 

If you want colorful acros 1KH is too much, you need to get down to no more than .25, maybe less. Some species (is it species or varieties?) of acros are worse than others. I just went through a pretty big Alk spike and my Strawberry Shortcake, one of the slowest corals to color up, actually looks better while the "Katropora" I got from Kat browned out. It can be frustrating, to say the least!

Oh man, sorry to hear about your katorapora. I'm sure it will be back soon under your care.

 

So, this is my fault. I had the dosing numbers dialed in steady, maybe a tiny higher than desired, but didn't expect the green bird would take off so much once settled in. Then... I didn't check last week since everything was looking good overall. I used my eyes instead. Well, at least this is a good problem to solve. :-)

 

Mark, when alk is so low --5.5-- is it still best to move up at only .25 at a time? I was worried that prolonging life at 5.5 would do more harm than raising it 1 dKH?

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Polarcollision

New page, new pics...

 

November FTS and updates. Pictures! Notice the WHITE sand?? So happy the diatom bloom is done.

 

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More recovery progress: This one had about a pea-sized nub left after the crash. Now it's about the size of a quarter and one of the fastest growing SPS in the tank. It had huge problems with the coral pro salt alk swings and I almost gave up on it. Fortunately the regular RedSea salt levels make it happy. I think there's even a haze of green base threatening to make an appearance. Crossing fingers...

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Growing. Polyps are out quite a bit more. Still not completely happy. Wish I knew what to do to get the purple base back.

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Oompa Loompas. You can see remnants of red algae that traps detritus and contributed to the diatom and dino bloom

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The red is starting to come out in the rainbow stylophora.

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Green slimer is happy. Camera sensor gets overloaded by the color. It's a little less glowy in my tank

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Help me get this lokani to color up. It should be a pretty blueish purple, instead of the glorious poopy brown. It is growing, but just barely.

 

 

 

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Same problem with this one. Should be a hot pink/magenta. I've got poop. :-( What do I do to color it up?

 

 

 

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Took the tour- great thread- that worm was nasty looking- is that still around? That pic you got of the clowns face to face is awesome- good catch what's the little green encrusting coral on the left side under the powerhead? The large picture of it is really nice. Enjoyed your photo dumps. Really good shot of kissyface too.

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Oh man, sorry to hear about your katorapora. I'm sure it will be back soon under your care.

 

So, this is my fault. I had the dosing numbers dialed in steady, maybe a tiny higher than desired, but didn't expect the green bird would take off so much once settled in. Then... I didn't check last week since everything was looking good overall. I used my eyes instead. Well, at least this is a good problem to solve. :-)

 

Mark, when alk is so low --5.5-- is it still best to move up at only .25 at a time? I was worried that prolonging life at 5.5 would do more harm than raising it 1 dKH?

 

Sorry, I missed this. Yes, still advisable to go very slow to raise it back up. Quick corrections often do more harm than the original problem.

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Polarcollision

great looking tank!

Thanks! And glad you dropped by to check it out. :-)

 

Sorry, I missed this. Yes, still advisable to go very slow to raise it back up. Quick corrections often do more harm than the original problem.

Got it - thanks for letting me know!

 

Took the tour- great thread- that worm was nasty looking- is that still around? That pic you got of the clowns face to face is awesome- good catch what's the little green encrusting coral on the left side under the powerhead? The large picture of it is really nice. Enjoyed your photo dumps. Really good shot of kissyface too.

 

It's shows up now and then, but it's not a scary bobbit worm. Actually it's pretty sweet little hitch hiker that mows down algae. I won't be going after it with a blow torch. :-) There are two over there. One is a green plating monti with little red polyps, not sure the name. Maybe christmas monti? or chili pepper monti? I hoped the polyps would cover the flesh in red like the other montis do, but no dice. Will probably be re-homing it. The other green one with peach/pink spots is a bubble gum monster chalice--my second-fav coral in the tank. Really forgiving of the alk swings and pretty growth pattern. Thanks for dropping by!

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Polarcollision
Sounds like you will be getting a mandarin? :)

 

Love the latest photos :wub:.

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Polarcollision

Heads up for anyone wishing Ova was in stock -- just received an order for viable decap'd baby brine shrimp eggs. The mandy snarfs them up like candy.

 

 

 

***Also should I panic? We left the heat off today and house temp dropped to 61. Noticed the 2-part alkalinity has a cloudy residue at the bottom of the reservoir. Is this bad news?***

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Heads up for anyone wishing Ova was in stock -- just received an order for viable decap'd baby brine shrimp eggs. The mandy snarfs them up like candy.

 

 

 

***Also should I panic? We left the heat off today and house temp dropped to 61. Noticed the 2-part alkalinity has a cloudy residue at the bottom of the reservoir. Is this bad news?***

 

I have that in both my containers, doesn't seem to effect anything. I suppose it may weaken the mixture a little bit so maybe testing just to check is in order?

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Polarcollision

I have that in both my containers, doesn't seem to effect anything. I suppose it may weaken the mixture a little bit so maybe testing just to check is in order?

 

Thanks - much less worried now. :happy: Luckily I've been checking every day and adjusting timers--that might explain weird results. I put the container in heat like with the original concentrated solution but it didn't mix back up clear.

 

Have you ever made your own 2-part from recipe #1 here? http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/#3

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Thanks - much less worried now. :happy: Luckily I've been checking every day and adjusting timers--that might explain weird results. I put the container in heat like with the original concentrated solution but it didn't mix back up clear.

 

Have you ever made your own 2-part from recipe #1 here? http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/#3

 

Nope, I buy these: http://premiumaquatics.com/products/fishies-balance-2-part-gallon-concentrate.html

 

You get gallon jugs that you have to add RO/DI water too. Not the cheapest by far, but easy and contains more than just Alk, Calcium, and Magnesium.

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Polarcollision

Nope, I buy these: http://premiumaquatics.com/products/fishies-balance-2-part-gallon-concentrate.html

 

You get gallon jugs that you have to add RO/DI water too. Not the cheapest by far, but easy and contains more than just Alk, Calcium, and Magnesium.

 

ESV says it maintains seawater ratios of major, minor and trace ions, but it doesn't break down what's in the bottles and my understanding is that you need to dose magnesium sulfate in order to actually maintain seawater ratios (ESV is just 2-part).

 

Two little fishies at least says they balance magnesium and strontium.

 

Got curious what other options were out there and found this one: http://www.tropic-marin.com/riff/de-bio-calcium-original-balling-en-bio-calcium-original-balling-fr-bio-calcium-original-balling/?lang=en Part C claims to balance balance all ions including trace and they list what's in it. (FULL/ORIGINAL BALLING METHOD)

 

Fauna Marin Balling Light + Balling trace elements (BALLING LIGHT METHOD)

http://reefbuilders.com/2009/09/11/instructions-fauna-marins-light-balling-method/

 

Edit: I never test magnesium because it's always spot on... just occurred to me that this could be from the ESV 2-part.

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Polarcollision

Look forward to pics or video of the new mandy. :wub:

 

Tank is looking awesome!

 

Soon! and thanks! She's in a fish hatchery inside the tank so it's about impossible to get any photos of her.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
Polarcollision

OK, so the theme of the last several weeks has been "hey, your tank is depleted of trace elements!"

That brown lokani frag above was starving for iodide. After starting with 1 drop a week and now 2 drops a week of Lugols, the flesh has grown in thick and mostly purple. There are even a few new coralite buds and a little bit of growth happening! Yay! Even more, zoas have suddenly gone from faded and a little crinkly to full and vibrant. Even some that were just shrinking away have come back. Turns out zoas are pretty tight with iodine, too. It got me thinking about a set of RedSea trace elements I'd purchased a loooong time ago and then stashed away. Too much of a pain to test for and you don't dose anything you don't test for, right? Well, I noticed that the dosing instructions always link to calcium usage. huh. interesting.

Also, my ESV 2-part was running out and I didn't really want to spend so much on dosing. ESV 2-part is great, BTW. It's gotten me through the first 2 years of reefkeeping with good results. :-) Happened across a great 2-part recipe article by RHF for mixing up your own. Using recipe #1 with part 3A for magnesium maintains the reef's ionic balance. For every gallon of each 2-part, I add 2.5 cups of the magnesium part 3A and ionic balance should stay balanced.

Current daily balanced dose: 23 mL Calcium, 23 mL Alk, 3.6 mL Magnesium solution

On the price front, with black friday discounts, I paid 2/3 total the cost for a gallon each of ESV 2-part, but instead have enough mixture for 4-5 gallons each of 2-part. Roughly 85% savings.

Table 2. Elements present (mg/L) after one year of additions and after adjusting for salinity changes. Calculations assume no water changes take place.
Element Seawater Concentration Final Tank Concentration (w/ Part 3A) Final Tank Concentration (w/o Part 3)
Chloride 19,350 19,440 19,710
Sodium 10,760 10,730 11,360
Sulfate 2,710 2720 2170
Magnesium 1,290 1270 880
Calcium 420 420 (assumed) 420 (assumed)
Potassium 400 384 405

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-11/rhf/index.php#1
Remaining component of seawater (mg/L)
HCO3- (bicarbonate) 110
Br- (bromide) 67
CO32- (carbonate) 20
Sr2+ (strontium) 7.9
B(OH)3 +
B(OH)4- (borate) 5 (as Boron)
F- (fluoride) 1.3
Organics 1 to 2
Everything else
combined (except
dissolved gasses) < 1

Remaining minor ions in seawater (mg/L)
Li+ (lithium) 0.17
Rb+ (rubidium) 0.12
H2PO4- + HPO42- +
PO43-(phosphate) 0.0 to 0.3
IO3- (iodate) 0.03 to 0.06
I- (iodide) 0 to 0.03
Ba+ (barium) 0.004 to 0.02
Al3+ (aluminum) 0.00014 to 0.001
Fe2+ + Fe3+ (iron) 0.000006 to 0.00014
Zn2+ (zinc) 0.000003 to 0.0006


It just so happens you don't have to buy all the components from home depot and walgreens because bulk reef supply has pharmaceutical grade chemicals already nicely packaged in moisture resistant containers. They're even the exact chemical form RHF mentions in his article - I checked each label just to be sure. Combining info from the RHF article and BRS product webpages, I finally have estimated numbers for concentration of additives - something you don't get with ESV. No idea what to do with this info for now, but I'm sure it will come in handy some day:

BRS calcium: ~37,000 ppm
BRS soda ash: ~5,300 ppm dKH (1,900 meq/L)
BRS magnesium: ~47,000 ppm
BRS sulfate: ~70,000 ppm
BRS chloride: ~86,000 ppm

000300-recipe-1-total-package-large_1.jp


Also turns out Fauna Marin makes a trace element supplement intended to ad to their own 2-part mix. What's great about this is that you don't have to take time out of your day to test and supplement each individually. They all get added to either the calcium or the alkalinity component in ratios the reef should use up with the alk and ca. Everything was easy to mix up and has been on line since Sunday.

Fauna-Marin-Ultra-Balling-Light-Trace-1.



BRS 2-part might have a different concentration than ESV, or maybe it was just selling off the giant green bird using up so much alkalinity, but my alk shot up from a steady 8.5 to 10.5 in one day. I took the dosers off line and let the tank settle back down to normal levels. So far, none of the recovering acros seem to have noticed the swing. Should have everything dialed in by the weekend. Looking forward to seeing how trace elements hold out with the new system! Fingers crossed!



Synthetic sea salt from RHF (taken from "Chemical Oceanography" by Frank Millero)

It makes a recipe that matches 35 ppt seawater in terms of major ions, but does not try to match all minor and trace elements, most of which will be present as impurities in the major elements.

23.98 g sodium chloride
5.029 g magnesium chloride
4.01 g sodium sulfate
1.14 g calcium chloride
0.699 g potassium chloride
0.172 g sodium bicarbonate
0.100 g potassium bromide
0.0254 g boric acid
0.0143 g strontium chloride
0.0029 g sodium fluoride
Water to 1 kg total weight
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Polarcollision

FOREST FIRE DIGI GROWTH UPDATE

 

45 days from this

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to this

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GREEN SLIMER GROWTH UPDATE

 

45 days

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RED PLANET GROWTH UPDATE

 

9/8/14

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12/10/14

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GARF BONSAI RECOVERY

 

9/8/14

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12/10/14

cdv6cOG.jpg

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Polarcollision

STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE RECOVERY

 

This one has been super slow since it's coming back from literally just a handful of polyps.

 

trom 9/8/14

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to 12/10/14

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  • Polarcollision changed the title to Polarcollision's Nuvo 24: FTV & new Apex

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