Recent content by droog

I've been having problems with my salt mix recently, so came back to this super useful thread. If the OP has the latest version of the data as an excel or .csv file, that would be a very useful resource, I would certainly like to download. Also, for salts that have multiple readings, I think...

Doubt its related. I think the main risk is starting the dose too quickly which can cause a bacterial "bloom" resulting in cloudy water and a low oxygen environment. Did that happen in your system? If not I'd say it was unrelated. Vinegar is the safest/weakest of the carbon dosing sources. -droog

Love the aquascape! :-) Skimmer can go before or after, I'd go with it after given you sump design. Once the skimmer is dialed in you don't need to "access it" very often anyway... -droog

Cool, glad it's fixed. I didn't realize dirty source water could have such an impact on dKH. Not as bad as my mistake... I got the RO lines mixed up and used the reject water instead of the clean water. The algae in my tank had a field day! -droog

Just curious... what happened in the end? -droog

You could try running al algae reactor instead of GFO. -droog

Testing dKH of RODI water using a saltwater test kit might not give a "valid" result. Testing TDS of your RODI is absolutely valid. TDS of water from your RODI water should be close to zero (or actually zero if you run a DI stage). If you never change the DI resin, I believe it can leak ions...

ph is basically function of Alk and CO2 (I know you know this). Increasing Alk to fix ph doesn't really make sense and despite the name there's no such think as a ph "buffer" - those products are simply alk additives. So you're left with CO2 as the only "independent variable" in the equation...

The inline meter is good - the cheap and cheerful way is a simple "pen" type device, like this one for $7 and simply test the water coming out of your RODI unit. Test your tap water too! Maybe your RODI unit needs replacement, some of them ship with built in TDS meter(s) -droog

Yes, let it drop naturally/slowly. -droog

Test the make up water. Red sea salt blue bucket mixes to a dKH of 8.1 pretty consistently for me. (Red Sea Coral pro is much higher) Maybe your test kit went bad, it does happen, either the alk test or the salinity test method. Hanna checker I think is the best for Alk and the digital...

Hi, I feed the fish in my 120g reef twice daily and would like to ask the more experienced reefers 1 - Skimmer. Leave it running or turn off (and if so for how long?) 2 - Return pump. Leave running or turn off? Everything is automated via Apex so it's easy enough to do either way. -droog

+1 Note that rocks will "buffer" phosphate and reach an equilibrium over time. You can use LC into a filter sock as a one-time level correction, and you may need to do this 2-3 times about a month apart. For a tank that size, I think it's best to run a GFO reactor with media changed monthly...

Your nutrient levels must be high if the algae grows on the glass that quickly. It should take between a few days and a week for the glass to develop a layer like that. The algae is consuming the nutrients from the water which is why your test kits are reading low levels. You might want to move...

Put a top on the funnel so that it's airtight. Better still... venturi is not needed. Run a circulating loop from sump through the fridge using a small pump. Inside the fridge, use a (say) 1" diameter PVC pipe with the top section cut out. As the cube melts, food is flushed along the pipe into...