Mark's 150 (72x18x27)

The 10K bulbs that came with these pendants are uuuugly. I don't think I really gave them enough time to settle in but I just could not take the color. :) In addition they have a pretty obvious hot spot directly below the lamp. A fool and his money ...

So my KH has continued to climb to 10.5 and I've turned off the doser until I figure out what the heck is going on. I am using kalk now with vinegar but I did not think making it 1/3 more saturated would do this much for the params. Not going to complain if it means I can stop 2 part for a while. I made a post in the chemistry forum asking for advice on the subject. I'm still fairly green.

Alk 10.5
Calcium 460
Mg 1600
 
markalot said:
The 10K bulbs that came with these pendants are uuuugly. I don't think I really gave them enough time to settle in but I just could not take the color. :) In addition they have a pretty obvious hot spot directly below the lamp. A fool and his money ...

So my KH has continued to climb to 10.5 and I've turned off the doser until I figure out what the heck is going on. I am using kalk now with vinegar but I did not think making it 1/3 more saturated would do this much for the params. Not going to complain if it means I can stop 2 part for a while. I made a post in the chemistry forum asking for advice on the subject. I'm still fairly green.

Alk 10.5
Calcium 460
Mg 1600
Click to expand...

I'm no reef chemist since I'm just starting out. But, I'll take a stab at it.

I've been using kalk on my system and from what I remember during my :reading:... a carbon source (such as vinegar) will allow more pickling lime to be dissolved into the ATO/kalk. You can actually supersaturate your kalk mix with vinegar compared to what will normally dissolves into solution. So while you may be using the same amount of lime, more may be dissolving into your ATO water then previously due to the carbon source. Which would in-turn, cause your Alk to rise if the demand has not changed.

I know in my ATO, I don't dose anywhere near full saturation on my kalk (I dose about 1/2 tsp x15 for my 20 gallon barrel), but despite how much I mix and stir a new batch, not everything dissolves. Whether that is precipitate or leftover lime, I am unsure. I think it's leftover lime, but have never inquired further.

This is just what I can remember from reading. So it may not be exactly accurate, but from what you're saying, I could see something similar to that going on maybe. Might be worth looking into or try cutting back your lime dose in your kalk by just a bit next time to see if that slowly starts to drop your levels back down. :-)
 
troubadour11 said:
I'm no reef chemist since I'm just starting out. But, I'll take a stab at it.

I've been using kalk on my system and from what I remember during my :reading:... a carbon source (such as vinegar) will allow more pickling lime to be dissolved into the ATO/kalk.
Click to expand...

I think you're right on Troub. :) I am just shocked how much more Alk and Calcium I'm getting out of Kalk just by adding vinegar. I think what I'm seeing is the fact that not only does vinegar allow kalk to be more concentrated it also aids in mixing, and I was probably over mixing when making batches and ending up with a very weak solution.

KH only down to 10.1 this morning, which might just be part of the daily cycle. I won't know for sure until this evening.
 
I did a search for BML threads and found this in the process; DANG I was not the biggest SPS fan but may have to convert my tank to a full mixed reef now!

I am very impressed sir, very impressed. And your macros are great.
 
toothybugs said:
I did a search for BML threads and found this in the process; DANG I was not the biggest SPS fan but may have to convert my tank to a full mixed reef now!

I am very impressed sir, very impressed. And your macros are great.
Click to expand...

Thanks Nate! My tank pales in comparison to some of the great SPS tanks out there. Visit the SPS forum and have a look at some of the awesome SPS pics.

Do you have BML strips yet? I really wish I had one more strip to help light the front of the tank. I really think the secret to LED lights is to use them more like T5 and less like Halides, with multiple strips lighting the corals on all sides.
 
You sell yourself short when you say your tank pales Mark, it's looking really natural and i think your coral placement is spot on in regards to contrast. :thumbsup:

When are you going to paint the back mate, that background really detracts from your FTS and i think you'd be blown away at how the display looks if you put a temp color across the back. I'd try black or maybe black........ you could even go nuts and try black. :p

Your yellow tangs have that 'go on put your hand in and see what happens' look Mark..........:uhoh2:
 
biggles said:
You sell yourself short when you say your tank pales Mark, it's looking really natural and i think your coral placement is spot on in regards to contrast. :thumbsup:

When are you going to paint the back mate, that background really detracts from your FTS and i think you'd be blown away at how the display looks if you put a temp color across the back. I'd try black or maybe black........ you could even go nuts and try black. :p

Your yellow tangs have that 'go on put your hand in and see what happens' look Mark..........:uhoh2:
Click to expand...

Thanks for the nice compliment Biggles. :)

I'm just darn lazy. I have a big piece of black plastic to place on the rear and just haven't done it yet.
 
Ok, so I did it. The black backing is installed, but it was not pretty and I invented a few choice phrases while trying to tape it on.

J6uXJF.jpg


I am recovering from an Alk spike as a result of increasing my Kalk saturation with vinegar and not reducing the two part dosing. It climbed over a week to 10.5 before I turned off the doser and has been falling a rather consistent .25 daily. I'm at 8.6 now so tomorrow I will turn the doser back on starting at 25ml each part daily and work from there. I was dosing 90ml a day!

Some corals have browned out, I lost one tiny acro frag, some corals like the SSC actually look a lot better. :fun4: The slimer put on another 1/4 inch and a few new branches. :D

I have to admit that I'm very tempted to buy an ATI Sunpower 60" 6 bulb fixture for this tank. I'm going to let the corals recover from the spike but if I can't get nice colors on the front of the corals by using my BML strip angled back I'm going to make the switch.

Must resist the temptation for now. :dance:
 
I failed.

60" Sunpower T5 fixture and ATI bulbs ordered. I'm going to miss the sleekness of these Razors and the ramp up and down feature, but I'm in this to see coral colors without having to look from the top down. :)
 
You're going to ditch the LEDs for T5? I thought everything was looking pretty good there. Why not trying supplementing what you have with some T5?

Based on the macros showing growth you looked to be getting not only good growth but good color too.

Oh well I'll check back to see how the T5s work out :)
 
Bilk said:
You're going to ditch the LEDs for T5? I thought everything was looking pretty good there. Why not trying supplementing what you have with some T5?

Based on the macros showing growth you looked to be getting not only good growth but good color too.

Oh well I'll check back to see how the T5s work out :)
Click to expand...

Thanks. The Razors don't allow me much flexibility. If I had to do it all over again I would buy fixtures that allow me to aim back. I really like your Kessil + BML solution, for one. The biggest issue for me is how dim the tank looks at a PAR level of 300 for the highest SPS.

But yea, we will see. Not getting rid of anything yet. :D
 
So let's review how to crash a tank, version 1.1

Fortunately I don't think I crashed the tank, but I have a lot of injuries.

First I underestimated the power of saturated Kalk and vinegar in the topoff. and not reacting fast enough when I detected a daily KH rise. Why did I want to go this route in the first place when I can afford to keep buying two part every other month? Because I'm an idiot?

Next up is why it's so dangerous to use a potent kalk solution in the topoff. I carelessly adjusted the topoff timing (I used timed topoff, not floats) to match a higher evaporation rate and golly, the KH spiked from 8.8 to 9.8 in one day because increased dosing of a highly saturated mixture WILL DO THAT. :headwally:

My most colorful acro is now a brown mess and has started receding from the base and it might be a goner. My Purple Fuzzy acro, my second largest acro, has numerous dead tips and is showing some significant necrosis. :headwallblue:

I've refilled my topoff with just RO/DI and am monitoring the KH fall so I can restart my doser. I also did a 20 gallon water change and am hoping I can get back to stable so what survives can heal up.

During all of this the Green Slimer has put on another 1/4 inch of growth.
 
I have completed the switch to T5s as my primary lighting.

This is an ATI 60"x6 bulb Sunpower fixture.

BML 18K Custom strip in front running at 50% brightness.

Bulb selection, front to back ...
Coral+
Blue+
AquaBlue Special
Purple+
Blue+
Coral+

This produces 350 PAR around the upper rocks on the right, 290 to 300 on most of the other acros.

MeMNMA.jpg


P9sVQu.jpg
 
Palting said:
I researched BML. Which BML fixture did you get?
Click to expand...

I made a custom fixture similar to their 20K but I did less cool white and more warm white. Their 20K looks really nice and is quite bright, a lot brighter than my custom fixture. I have a smaller 20K I used to use over my nano tank and it looked really good. I'm betting 2 20K strips and 1 blue strip would be good for this tank, but costly! :)
 
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