its hip to be square....

[MarylandTang]

I had something similar happen, but for cosmically different reasons. I scraped all of my glass clean so the chocolate chip starfish that normally eats glass algae needed a new food source and destroyed my SPS frags. Confirmed from my tank cam. It was my own fault for not realizing it wasn't reef safe!

[iced98lx]

Sorry to hear about the bleaching, that is a frustrating situation, especially when you have been watching growth/coloration making positive moves.

[biecacka]

So with the added coral and coralline and who knows what else, I had a friend test my ALK and he got 7.7. I was getting 8.7-9.1. I do it a little faster than he does so I'm not sure if mine was that inaccurate the whole time or what. I could have had a large swing and that caused it. Everything else seems stable,

N03 5-10
P04 .021
Salinity 1.026

My mag is low at 1100 and I need a new calcium kit so I can test it tomorrow. I do run mag in my CaRx reactor so it might need adjusted for mag and alk.

But everything is stabilizing out and looking better, time will heal all wounds!

Corey

[biecacka]

Slowly bumping my alk back up, it was 8.0 today and my mag is 1150 or so. Slowly raising the numbers to get them back up. Some of my frags have been consuming alk (go figure) and mag, so I needed to increase to meet the demand. Everything has seemed to level out.

Also picked up a DOS to set up AWC system on my tank. I only have 1 water container so my plan is run the dose either Monday thru Friday, or only until the 28th of each month. Then I'll have the apex shut it off and use the weekend or last few days of each month to refill my container. Thoughts?

Corey

[biecacka]

Quick question, this afternoon my halide flickered and smelled like smoke a bit. I looked around and found where I had spliced the ballast cord to the mogul cord and fell off its hook and gotten wet and was causing the burnt smell. So I unwrapped the cords and separated them, respliced them and attached them back together. However now my halide isn't coming on. Not sure if it's my ballast or what. The ballast was working when it turned on and smoked, but nothing now. Any thoughts on what to check next?

Corey

[sirreal63]

Check fuse for ballast, if it has one, it should.

[biecacka]

Jack, where will I find that at?

Corey

[iced98lx]

I do AWC and have it change Monday through Friday so I have the weekend to mix salt. I can go 2, nearly 3 weeks without remixing so sometimes i mix every weekend, sometimes once a month. Works out well so far.

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[sirreal63]

If you don’t see a round fuse holder marked fuse, it is internal. To be safe, send it back for repair, if the fuse popped you may have other damage. What brand is it?

[biecacka]

Luxcore I believe. It is purple in color and does have 2 push buttons on it.

Corey

[biecacka]

Chris,

What pumps do you use for your AWC? Also care to share your programming?

Corey

[iced98lx]

Originally Posted by biecacka

Chris,

What pumps do you use for your AWC? Also care to share your programming?

Corey

I use a stenner dual headed pump. No programming, just a digital outlet timer set to weekdays. Downside to the stenner is noise: I run it when we I am out dropping off at daycare in the morning as it is VERY loud and a wall away from my office. It has however been dead reliable. Only thing I've done is ran vinegar through the lines a couple times to clean them out.

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[biecacka]

Ballast replaced.. radium kicking butt!

Corey

[biecacka]

Bulb died. I'm guessing when I blew the ballast, it damaged to bulb too.

But on a good note, I got my DOS AWC set up. 2 gallons a day

Corey

[MrsReefK]

I have DOS running our AWC. I have it running everyday from 0100 am to 6 pm. In the evenings on Sunday's I mix new. It was surprisingly easy to setup and what a difference it has made in our corals!! I'm going to up the AWC amount soon, right now it's doing 6 gallons a day. Our total volume is about 625 gallons, so only 1%, I can't wait to see what it impacts upping this to 2-3% per day!

Bonus is, I have the "waste water" that's being pulled from the system and dumps into our QTs which overflow into the main drain. So the QTs also get the daily water changes. I just move the waste tube to the main drain when I'm treating with meds or don't want water changes anymore in either of the QTs. Has worked wonderfully so far!

We have a second DOS that is going online to DOS from the kalk stirrer in the coming weeks.


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[biecacka]

That's a great idea. When space allows, I would want something like that.
I'm changing 2 gallons a day for now. We will adjust as/if needed. Hope this makes life easier and provides some extra stability for me.

Corey

[iced98lx]

I found regular daily water changes to be the best way to really make the tank set and forget. That said, it really pushed the need for me to test my mixed water and fueled a few salt mix changes. Going through 50+ gallons a week means that a batch of salt with sky high alk (had that with io RC) or sky high calcium (recently happened with Fritz) suddenly has a big implication. I got in the (bad) habit of mixing and letting it run without doing a battery of tests on my mixed saltwater like I used to prior to big stand alone water changes. Just something to keep in mind.

[MrsReefK]

Great point. I'm one that definitely lacks in my testing, I more so go off of if something looks off - then I test. I'll test my next few batches to start a good habit.

I also agree, it's a set and forget with having daily water changes. We're working on getting our ATK up and going as well, right now I'm manually producing the fresh RO water and can't wait to have it on a top off setup so I don't have to remember "water is brewing". Then I can erase the darn alarm clocks on my phone that are named "water is on". Haha


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[biecacka]

Yeah I don't test as much as one could. I have considered downloading one of these apps to see if the reminders and such help me stay on top of it a little better.

Corey

[biecacka]

Trying out a XM 10k bulb. Man this thing is crisp!!!!

Noticeably different from the radium in color though.

Corey

[JaySchulz]

Originally Posted by biecacka

Dave, that tank was my inspiration. That is by far my all time favorite aquascape.

Corey

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Agreed. Mines too. I’ve tried so hard to find pictures of his rock work prior to the coral being grown out. I was hoping to compare so that I could get some ideas for my rock work.


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[biecacka]

I have never seen pictures of the tank not fully stocked though. I would love to though!

Been running AWC for a few weeks now and I like it. Been monitoring parameters to see if any large or abnormal swings are going on. I had an Alk spike a few months back and things are just now looking to settle in again. No real growth, but no more recession so I take that as a good sign (fingers crossed)

Salinity 1.024 little low
Mag 1170 also a little low, I will dose this when I refill my water change vat
N03 5-7
P04 .13

I'm pretty happy with these numbers. But I am looking at trying to trade my mp40s for some MP60's as I think a little more flow will help out. Even if not now, down the road.

Still adjusting to the look of the 10k bulb. It's sunlight looking for sure. I don't have enough actinics to do much to the power of the 400 watt bulb. I will say this, if I switch to LED's at some point I could see myself running a 10k tank during the day when I'm not home for growth purposes. Then as the day progresses switching to a 14-20k look.


Corey

[biecacka]

salinity 1.024
mag 1160
n03 5-7
p04 .12
Alk 8.6

numbers seem to be pretty consistent here, which is desired. still trying to get acclimated to the 10k bulb but I am sure over time I will.
need to get some frag photos posted to start to document growth. what is everyone using now that PB is no longer free?

corey

[iced98lx]

Flikr for me.

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[biecacka]

17 days of my algae scrubber....IMG_0025.jpg


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