Palting's 125 gal build. Advise sought.

[Palting]

Nothing to do, with a belly still full of turkey, decided to play with the camera and the album here at RC. Hope you all like the pics.

[iwishtofish]

Gorgeous photos. Everything looks very happy!

[allsps40]

Ok first off nice tank and good looking corals. You asked for suggestions so here is my 2 cents. Get rid of the bio wheels in the sump they are nitrate factories, I promise it will help your tank to remove them. Seems like you have a nutrient issue with all the algae growth and crap on the rock. The Marine Land skimmer you have is not really a good skimmer, in fact it is an overpriced piece of junk compared to other skimmers in the same price range. They compare to a Coralife Super Skimmer. You could also stand to increase flow to keep the rock clean and the sps will be happier.

[Palting]

Thanks, Iwishtofish.

Allsps, I'm never one to turn down good advice. In this forum, as in any other forum, I need to know the basis for advice to decide for myself whether it is good or not, however . I already have 42X turnover on my tank. You can see how the SPS polyps are extending and flowing in all the amount of water movement if you check my prior videos. So, what makes you say I need more flow? Have you seen how much thick skimmate the skimmer is producing? Again, check my prior posts , and pics of the skimmate on this thread. What makes you say it's no good? Algae? What algae problem? I don't see one. That "crap" you see on the rock is what a real reef looks like. I'll take you scuba diving sometime. The tank's only 2 years old, wait until all the rock is covered in coral. And the way the coral are growing, it won't be too long.

But, like I said, I'm never one to turn down advice, particularly if it's good. Maybe I can learn from you. What's your turnover rate for flow? How fast are your SPS growing? How thick and how much skim does your skimmer produce? How about some pics or videos of your tank? I can't seem to find your build thread even if I click on your avatar. I saw your album, but the FTS picture there must be old because I did not see much SPS coral. Why not give me a link and maybe we can compare notes? A current FTS would be nice. There are certainly a lot of tanks out there that are much, much better than mine, and I am eager to learn from anyone with good experience and results.

[Palting]

Thought I'd share some dosing experience as I try to figure it out.

My parameters had been stable, with alk at 7-8, calcium rock steady at 440, mag at 1350, pH at 8.2-8.3, for almost a year with just weekly 10% WC with the high alk/cal salt RC. Alk was the first to start coming down, to the point where I lost almost all my coraline. So I started supplementing with soda bicarb, shooting for an alk of 9-10 dKH. Coraline started to come back, and so my calcium started to come down. So I switched to 2 part.

I gotta tell you. When the need for dosing starts, it takes off!! After several weeks, I am now dosing 60cc a day of the 2 part just to maintain my parameters: alk 8-9dkH, cal 440. I am pretty sure the demand will keep rising exponenetially. One of these days, I will be forced to set up a dosing system to spread that future large dose over 24 hours rather than blasting it once a day.

One more thing. My alk demand seems to be higher than what the 2 part in equal doses can supplement. So, I supplement the alk with soda bicarb in the ATO.

Any thoughts from anyone? Thanks!!

[Palting]

Went by one LFS on the way home from work yesterday to pick up some supply items and dogfood. As usual, I stopped by the coral display. I saw this metallic green bubble coral, with about a 4" skeleton. Had an interesting conversation.

Me: Nice bubble coral. How much is it?
Kid: Not sure. I think it's 30 bucks.
Me: Nah. That can't be right. That's a least a 4 incher. Why don't you make sure and ask Brian, the manager.
Kid: Brian's off today. Let me ask Josh, the assistant.

Kid brings Josh over.

Josh: Yeah, he was mistaken. That metallic green Bubble Coral is not 30 bucks.
Me: I thought so. So........how much is it?
Josh: 24.99.
Me: Ehh, you sure?
Josh: Yeah, I'm sure. I checked the invoice.
Me: OK. I'll take it then.

So, I took it home. I am actually running out of space in the substrate for a low/moderate light placement, so I put it on the rocks by the back, under some shade by the twin return spouts. And here it is, the bargain 4" metallic green bubble coral:

[Palting]

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

My Christmas gift: a scribbled Maxima.

[Oldcabin]

Nice! I love Christmas gifts to myself! Makes the season tolerable
Just recently picked up a new crocea, and I really like yours....think I'm catching the clam bug.

[Reefing Newbie]

Ohhh, Palting you are one lucky reefer! I put a bunch of aquarium related things on my list and didn't get any of them! I guess I will be buying my own powerheads lol! Anyways I love your tank and it looks quite amazing. Your tank is pretty much going to be my inspiration, I mean you have the same dimensions for a foot print and have a Lieutenant tang and I think a purple(sorry kind of blanking out right now lol) which I plan on having both in my tank. Great tank and I love coming by this thread and looking things up.

[Lynnmw1208]

nice bubble coral!! Feed it and it will get really green mine is ALWAYS hungry! It will eat just about anything! Love the clam too! Merry Christmas to you!

[Palting]

Thanks, guys. Clams add another dimension to the tank oldcabin . Glad to be of help, ReefingNewbie.

What do you feed your bubble coral, Lynnmw1208?

[Reefing Newbie]

I normally don't like th browner colored clams but that must be because I don't see any that look healthy like yours is. My tank will defiantly be having a maxima, just have to aquascape for it because they can get fairly big. Where in your tank did you put the little guy?

[Palting]

It's more a deep maroon color in real life. And I've seen a lot of clams, but have never seen a scribbled one like this one, that's why I got it despite the price. I put the little guy on the substrate. It is usually recommended to put them on a rock, and they have high light demand so recommendation is to put them higher up as well. But, my first Maxima, a deep blue speckled and lined with green, kept falling off the rockwork. So I left it on the substrate. It has been there for over a year, grown at least 2 times it's original size, and happy as a clam can be! You can see him in the first pic in post #301. So, I put this next little guy in the opposite side of the tank, to mirror the placement of the blue one.

As far as size and placement, they take a while to grow. Size is also a reason I left them on the substrate. They can grow as large as they want down there. I am just lucky enough that the light I have can sustain them even if they are 27" deep!

[Reefing Newbie]

Wow that is pretty good that your lights are supporting a lot of high light loving organisms! I plan on putting my clam on the substrate, but that shouldn't matter because I will hopefully have LEDs by then. I have seen that they can reach pretty deep!

I am curious, how big is your lieutenant tang now?

[Good_GReef]

I can't believe the bargain you got on the bubble coral. I can't even find a frag of it locally - it's all big stuff and expensive - tank's looking great!

[Palting]

Double post. Sorry

[Palting]

Originally Posted by Reefing Newbie

Wow that is pretty good that your lights are supporting a lot of high light loving organisms! I plan on putting my clam on the substrate, but that shouldn't matter because I will hopefully have LEDs by then. I have seen that they can reach pretty deep!

I am curious, how big is your lieutenant tang now?

You should be good with the LED's in the 125. I think those tanks are 22" deep.

I would guesstimate the lieutenant tang to be about 5"-6". I purposely left the upper third to half of the tank open, and a deep open valley in the middle, for these big boys. Even then, I may have to transfer them out in a few years.

Originally Posted by Good_GReef

I can't believe the bargain you got on the bubble coral. I can't even find a frag of it locally - it's all big stuff and expensive - tank's looking great!

It is often hard to find reason or logic behind these LFS prices. Just keep an eye out for bargains. I kept chuckling all the way home .

[Reefing Newbie]

I will have to do an open scape like you have to keep my future lieutenant. The 125s are 24" deep, I only remember because the only difference between them and a 180 is the front to back depth.

I think the LFS prices are there to get the newbie coral keepers like me to think that is cheap lol. I have an LFS I plan to use for fish and a different one for corals. The one I plan on getting fish from has extremely expensive corals which they are really tiny to be charging that much.

[Palting]

Ok, after one week of daily 75 cc each of 2 part, alk and calcium again are again starting to drift downward, especially alk. Demand and dosing really seem to be leapfrogging one another. There is definitely a noticeable increase in stony growth since I started dosing and getting the alk up.

Starting kalk this weekend. I scored a feeding bag from work. It's a sealable plastic bag, 2 gallon capacity, with a drip chamber. Not pretty to look at, but it will at least get me acquainted with the intricacies of kalk dosing. Once I feel comfortable, I'll get something more presentable. I'll drop the doses into the remote refugium drain. That way, the dose gets mixed in with the water draining out of the refugium, and that water then gets mixed in with all the water coming from everywhere else in the return chamber. It will be well diluted by the time it gets to the DT.

I'll start at 4cc's/h, about 1 drop/2 min. It's a macrodrop chamber, couldn't find one with with a microdrip chamber. That's about 100cc's day of the solution, so one bag of 2 gallon solution should last me about 40 days. Unless the demand leapfrogs again. I will keep dosing the 2 part at 75 cc's/day each.

What do y'all think of the plan? Seems simple enough.

[IridescentLily]

Hi Palting your tank gets more and more gorgeous.

[Palting]

Hi and thanks, April . Have had some good luck. Had a few stumbles along the way. This dosing business is an example of a stumble. I did it backwards. Should have started with the kalk first, then moved on to 2 part as a supplement, not the other way around.

[Palting]

A follow-up to the switch to kalkwasser.

After 48 hours, the ATO has dispensed about 5 gallons of the 1tsp/gal kalkwasser solution. My alk went from 8.2 DKh to 7.6 DKh!! In 48 hours! After 5 gallons! I didn't even bother to check calcium, as I am sure it has gone down as well. I think I've built a monster! Shoulda started with a nano!! LOL!!!

I am bothered by that film of insoluble calcium developing on the top of the ATO water due to exposure to the CO2 in the air. I am now afraid to open the reservoir cover to check the level, lest I intoduce new CO2 into the container.

Put the order in for the TLF kalkwasser reactor/stirrer. That way I can go fully saturated kalkwater solution and not have to worry about CO2 in the air making that film and making some of the calcium insoluble. In the meantime, I have to go back to suplementing with the 2 part, in addition to whatever kalkwasser is doing, "sigh".

The flipside to this is that all the SPS and stonies are definitely blooming and busting out with new growth. I started dosing, growth responded and demand skyrocketed, and demand and supplementation have been leadfrogging one another ever since. Love the growth, hate the increased demand and need for more "stuff" to meet the demand!!

[Palting]

Well, after almost 2 years, the consumption of alk, calcium and magnesium has skyrocketed. Within the last month or so, I've gone from no supplements, to using some 2 part, to full dosing with full saturation kalkwasser. The stonies are responding with accerated growth. In retrospect, I was probably behind the eight ball and could have started dosing sooner. I am now up to 2-3 gallons a day of kalkwasser, plus about 45 cc 2 part just to maintain an alk of 8 and a calcium of 440. Magnesium and pH seem to be holding at 1350 and 8.4-8.6 respectively.

[Palting]

Just thought I'd share the scary accelerated growth of the coral since I started dosing and keeping the alk and calcium numbers up.

Nov/December 2011:


January, 2012, about 6 weeks later. Check out the green slimer on the left, both the original frag and the piece I fragged and plugged unto the rocks lower down. And the green mille to the right. I chopped off the top to the back because it was encroaching into where the tenui used to be, now there are like a dozen fingers growing where maybe 2 were removed. And what used to be a tiny frag of pink birdsnest with 3 growing points now looks like spikey the porcupine.

[Mussin]

Awesome Tank, where do you live? What LFS do you visit?