Reef Central Online Community

Go Back   Reef Central Online Community > Coral Forums > SPS Keepers
Blogs FAQ Calendar Mark Forums Read

Notices

User Tag List

Reply
Thread Tools
Unread 09/13/2007, 07:05 AM   #26
Horace
Registered Member
 
Horace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 5,009
Quote:
Originally posted by MammothReefer

Alk - Unknown but I believe if I had ALK issus my Ph would be off.
DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING DING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Alk is the single most important thing to test, while PH is the least important thing. You MUST test for alk. If your alk is not between 7.0 - 10.0 your growth will suffer greatly, if not cause coral death all togeather. You should be testing Alk a min of weekly to ensure its still at your target. You should pick a number between 7.0 - 10.0 dkh and stick with it. Try not to let it get +- 1.0dkh from that target, which is why its probably best to pick a number inbetween like 8.0 - 9.0.

BTW, 400w XM20k put off a TON of PAR. More so than many 250w 10k which put of more than enough par for anything out there. I run the XM20k and growth is great...my buddy uses them exclusivly on his 240g and his growth was unreal.

Just to give you an idea... I have a dual 6" chamber CaRx on my 75g (rated for like 500g) and Ive gone through 6" of media in my first chamber in less than 6" months, thats a hell of a lot of media for a 75g.


__________________
-Horace Pinker

Current Tank Info: New 180g Mixed SPS Build in progress
Horace is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 10:15 AM   #27
MammothReefer
Registered Member
 
MammothReefer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA
Posts: 3,442
Hmm, but correct me if i'm wrong here, if my alk was out of sync w/my Calcium wouldn't my PH be low? I thought having a good ph (8.3) was a sign of having balanced Calcium and Alkalinity? No? But ya something is wrong I've had the same media in my calcium reactor for years, and my tank calcium is always +400. When I check my effluent ph it's around 6.5 or so, so it does melt away but I need so little of it, it goes so slow because nothing is really pulling calcium out of my water,(that or my weekly water changes keep calcium in check).. I figured though with a 12"+ calm and a few smaller ones I would be sucking down calcium like no tomorrow..

Thanks Horace, I'll give it a test and see what I come up it, I hope it's something as simple as me just overlooking that.


__________________
Reefin @ 8298'

Current Tank Info: 105 Peninsula
MammothReefer is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 10:36 AM   #28
conorwynne
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2006
Location: Dublin, Ireland
Posts: 433
I would say that alk is fine, since you do weekly changes, but we absolutely cannot rule it out.

It is far more important to test alk than calc.
I only ever test calc and alk to be honest, my other kits are only used if I suspect something is up.

You can have good calc, and good PH yet have bad alk. This will cause havoc for your SPS. There are some excleent (but heavy going) articles on reefkeeping magazine (a while ago now)

Later
Conor.


__________________
New tank (468L or 120G) has salt and rock, just add coral and fish!

Current Tank Info: New tank in progress....
conorwynne is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 10:49 AM   #29
MJAnderson
Premium Member
 
MJAnderson's Avatar
 
Join Date: May 2006
Location: East Bay, CA
Posts: 2,633
Quote:
Originally posted by Tennsquire
Sacrificing a virgin goat gives much better growth IMO....
Do you know how hard it is to find a virgin these days? Try 2 goats instead.


MJAnderson is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 10:54 AM   #30
GSMguy
Registered Member
 
GSMguy's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Northern New Mexico
Posts: 17,420
Horace when mentioning CA uptake, and comparing your tank to a 500g you should remember you have more coral in your tank than most people do in their 500g LOL


__________________
Nick.
Conehead.
Shallow Reef club.

Current Tank Info: 48"x27"x14" Envision Acrylic rimless, 6x39w ATi Sunpower, Custom ATB Deluxe Skimmer, 4x tunze nano stream,ATB flowstar 1500, ACJR, Tunze osmolator.
GSMguy is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 11:15 AM   #31
MammothReefer
Registered Member
 
MammothReefer's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2006
Location: Mammoth Lakes, CA
Posts: 3,442
lets continue in this topic , I shouldn't have posted and hijacked this thread.
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1206143


__________________
Reefin @ 8298'

Current Tank Info: 105 Peninsula
MammothReefer is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 11:51 AM   #32
Horace
Registered Member
 
Horace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 5,009
Quote:
Originally posted by GSMguy
Horace when mentioning CA uptake, and comparing your tank to a 500g you should remember you have more coral in your tank than most people do in their 500g LOL
While this is true, it simply cannot be ignored that measuring your alk is extremely important. Simply doing water changes to keep your alk up just will NOT cut it unless you have a super low demand for alk/ca. I dont care how much water you have, over time your alk will drop. Also, we are assuming that the salt your using to change is perfectly balanced wth alk/ca. If your using WCs to maintain alk/ca, you had better be damn sure your ca/kh are properly balanced or your tank is goign to get out of whack in a hurry.


__________________
-Horace Pinker

Current Tank Info: New 180g Mixed SPS Build in progress
Horace is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 11:53 AM   #33
jaefei
Awaiting Email Confirmation
 
jaefei's Avatar
 
Join Date: Oct 2003
Location: Sidoarjo.Indonesia
Posts: 436
Quote:
TW, 400w XM20k put off a TON of PAR. More so than many 250w 10k which put of more than enough par for anything out there. I run the XM20k and growth is great...my buddy uses them exclusivly on his 240g and his growth was unreal.
what ballast do you using now to firing that?


jaefei is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 12:19 PM   #34
Horace
Registered Member
 
Horace's Avatar
 
Join Date: Mar 2005
Location: Atlanta
Posts: 5,009
Quote:
Originally posted by jaefei
what ballast do you using now to firing that?
M59, Sanjay says they put out 128 PAR. Measured par in my tank inside lumenarc reflectors is about 1600 PAR peak at 8" away from the bulb.


__________________
-Horace Pinker

Current Tank Info: New 180g Mixed SPS Build in progress
Horace is offline   Reply With Quote
Unread 09/13/2007, 04:06 PM   #35
scuba connor
Registered Member
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: N.J.
Posts: 435
i just orderd 2 10k 175watt XM bulbs and a Salifert Calcium Test Kit and a Salifert Alk Test Kit .

good ?


scuba connor is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Thread Tools

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is On



All times are GMT -6. The time now is 06:59 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Powered by Searchlight © 2024 Axivo Inc.
Use of this web site is subject to the terms and conditions described in the user agreement.
Reef CentralTM Reef Central, LLC. Copyright ©1999-2022
User Alert System provided by Advanced User Tagging v3.3.0 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2024 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.