Do you have a link to this technique? If not, could you describe their technique for underwater gluing?
Thanks
Mark's 150 gallon
- Thread starter markalot
- Start date
Do you have a link to this technique? If not, could you describe their technique for underwater gluing?
Thanks
Myka
Reefing since '93
Sorry to hear about all the struggles in the tank as of late Mark!
Do either of your ideas have anything to do with this:
Reef Advantage is mostly Mg sulfate with Sodium chloride being the second ingredient. The product claims "proper proportions", but they wouldn't be the first to make claims that didn't pan out.
Let me try some maths...no guarantee on accuracy!!! :lol:
The label says Mg 80 mg/g minimum, or 8% Mg.
MgSO4 is 120.3675 g/mol
Mg is 24.3050 g/mol
So MgSO4 is about 20% Mg, or 200 mg/g.
If there is 80 mg/g Mg in the mix (minimum), then about 40% of the mix is MgSO4 which makes the label misleading (that's because the weight of the MgSO4 which is only 20% Mg and 80% oxygen and sulfur weighs more than the Sodium chloride in the product). Those sneaky guys!
NaCl is about 60% Cl or 600 mg/g, and 40% Na or 400 mg/g.
MgCl is about 25% Mg or 250 mg/g, and 75% Cl or 750 mg/g.
MgSO4 is about 20% Mg or 200 mg/g, 27% S or 270 mg/g, and 53% O or 530 mg/g.
The SeaChem Mg product is about 8% Mg, which matches the calculation of 40% MgSO4. Which means the product is 60% NaCl, so 60% of 600 mg/g and 60% of 400 mg/g means the product is:
Mg 80 mg/g or 8%
S 108 mg/g or 11%
Cl 360 mg/g or 36%
Na 240 mg/g or 24%
O 212 mg/g or 21%
A typical 5:3 of MgCl to MgSO4 is which is considered balanced for dosing 2 part + Mg is:
Mg 233 mg/g or 22.5%
S 101 mg/g or 10%
Cl 476 mg/g or 47.5%
O 199 mg/g or 20%
So you tell me if the product is balanced??? :crazy1:
Why did I do all this maths? I don't know... :uhoh2: Get a better product - you're paying for a whole lot of Na and getting only 35% of the Mg you should be getting.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
Hi Mark, when things aren't going well for your tank it makes me heartsick. I hat that you are struggling so much. I'm resolved to help you out with frags once your system is stable again. A couple of questions for you - can you post a current parameter value list? Are you still dosing MicroE and if so how much?
markalot
...
Hi Daniel, I think cutting is a good idea, and then maybe inspect the tips with a magnifying glass or macro lens to see if I see anything.
Check out their video on mounting corals:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edJ8Lorgxi8
Sorry to hear about all the struggles in the tank as of late Mark!
Do either of your ideas have anything to do with this:
Reef Advantage is mostly Mg sulfate with Sodium chloride being the second ingredient. The product claims "proper proportions", but they wouldn't be the first to make claims that didn't pan out.
Let me try some maths...no guarantee on accuracy!!! :lol:
The label says Mg 80 mg/g minimum, or 8% Mg.
MgSO4 is 120.3675 g/mol
Mg is 24.3050 g/mol
So MgSO4 is about 20% Mg, or 200 mg/g.
If there is 80 mg/g Mg in the mix (minimum), then about 40% of the mix is MgSO4 which makes the label misleading (that's because the weight of the MgSO4 which is only 20% Mg and 80% oxygen and sulfur weighs more than the Sodium chloride in the product). Those sneaky guys!
NaCl is about 60% Cl or 600 mg/g, and 40% Na or 400 mg/g.
MgCl is about 25% Mg or 250 mg/g, and 75% Cl or 750 mg/g.
MgSO4 is about 20% Mg or 200 mg/g, 27% S or 270 mg/g, and 53% O or 530 mg/g.
The SeaChem Mg product is about 8% Mg, which matches the calculation of 40% MgSO4. Which means the product is 60% NaCl, so 60% of 600 mg/g and 60% of 400 mg/g means the product is:
Mg 80 mg/g or 8%
S 108 mg/g or 11%
Cl 360 mg/g or 36%
Na 240 mg/g or 24%
O 212 mg/g or 21%
A typical 5:3 of MgCl to MgSO4 is which is considered balanced for dosing 2 part + Mg is:
Mg 233 mg/g or 22.5%
S 101 mg/g or 10%
Cl 476 mg/g or 47.5%
O 199 mg/g or 20%
So you tell me if the product is balanced??? :crazy1:
Why did I do all this maths? I don't know... :uhoh2: Get a better product - you're paying for a whole lot of Na and getting only 35% of the Mg you should be getting.
Ha, thanks for all the maths! I think my takeaway is to calibrate and double check my salinity tonight! That and get a better mag supplement.
Thanks Matt, much appreciated. The support from everyone here is fantastic and without it I would have probably gone back to freshwater a long time ago.
Supplements has only been Seachem Reef Trace because I like the ingredient list (no iron) and recommended dose is 1 cap per 20 gallons twice a week, which makes 1 cap a day for me well under the recommended.
I will once again do what I was told to do months back and return to the basics we know work. T5 only, skimmer, and water changes. On the fence about GFO and the Seachem Matrix. I don't think it's a good idea to take the matrix reactor offline right now but it is an extra point of failure if a pump should quit. The GFO flow is very low but not off.
This meltdown happened fast, so I still have a lot of ideas racing through my head.
Things like...
- If other SPS continue to do well is this now an acro only issue?
- Could it be a pest and my thinking a tip is melting is incorrect? (crab, Angel, something else)
- Is it lighting and my insistence on running blue LED for a few hours each day because I think it looks good?
I helped to talk the better LFS here into switching to SunPower T5's over their two SPS frag tanks (and they woudl carry my size bulbs as well). They switched 3 tanks and everything is doing fantastic, no LED supplements. This is the same store that runs their main show tank with two Radiums and ReefBright blue supplement. I think i said it before but I was reminded again how dim the ReefBrights are compared to my BML strips. My tank is bright blue with just the LED's on ... stupid stupid stupid.
Anyway the woman at the store reminded me how well everything has been doing since the switch. She can put corals just about anywhere and they do well, and this is under 8 bulbs x 60 inches of massive light.
I will retest things tonight to see if anything stands out.
I know
Calcium is 400
KH is 7.6
I have a new Alk and Mg test kit in the car just purchased over lunch.
markalot
...
New KH and Mg kits.
KH 7.6, check
Mg 1350 ... ok, now it's good ... at least not too high
Salinity 34ppt, calibration 34ppt so 35ppt. check
NO3 around 10 with Salifert and Nyos
Glass needs cleaning every other day.
Cut all dead tips off anything that had a dead tips.
Cleaned right side MP40 and the damn clowns already laid eggs again a day after the second hatch. Had to dodge Momma clown and was nipped once but she also ate out of my hand so I think we're cool.
Nothing looks worse and with the bad tips gone I can honestly say a lot of corals looking pretty darn good. Crossing my fingers everything heals up quickly.
KH 7.6, check
Mg 1350 ... ok, now it's good ... at least not too high
Salinity 34ppt, calibration 34ppt so 35ppt. check
NO3 around 10 with Salifert and Nyos
Glass needs cleaning every other day.
Cut all dead tips off anything that had a dead tips.
Cleaned right side MP40 and the damn clowns already laid eggs again a day after the second hatch. Had to dodge Momma clown and was nipped once but she also ate out of my hand so I think we're cool.
Nothing looks worse and with the bad tips gone I can honestly say a lot of corals looking pretty darn good. Crossing my fingers everything heals up quickly.
markalot
...
I think one solution to my problem is to quit worrying and wait it out.
I dared to take top downs and frankly I see a lot of positives.
The Lokani just won't quit.
My big Sarmentosa lost some branches but is now coming back.
The big valida, ignoring the few burnt tips, looks pretty darn good.
The Hawkins frag also continues to maintain some color.
Teal/Blue stag, this branch is in the best shape.
The multiple frags of the unknown acro are showing why I nicked named it Kentucky Bluegrass.
I'll end with the brightest branch on the slimer.
I probably should have cut the dead areas and remounted sooner rather than hoping things would recover.
I dared to take top downs and frankly I see a lot of positives.
The Lokani just won't quit.
My big Sarmentosa lost some branches but is now coming back.
The big valida, ignoring the few burnt tips, looks pretty darn good.
The Hawkins frag also continues to maintain some color.
Teal/Blue stag, this branch is in the best shape.
The multiple frags of the unknown acro are showing why I nicked named it Kentucky Bluegrass.
I'll end with the brightest branch on the slimer.
I probably should have cut the dead areas and remounted sooner rather than hoping things would recover.
markalot
...
Hi Perry, thanks!
You remind me that I did take a picture of my remaining Red Robin frag I moved from my smaller tank. I did not realize how much I bleached it, but I think it's ready to come back strong.
This is a cheap frag I got from a Tidal Gardens live sale called Purple Acro. I'd call it a test frag but I killed the last test frag so let's just leave it unnamed.
mhucasey
Acros & wieners, oh my!
You are probably right about cutting away the dead areas, it's hard to do in practice though. About 50% of the time when I do something to stop the damage it seems to speed up the end of the coral, but in this case it looks like the corals were ready to recover. I'm very happy that the corals seem to be doing better! What is your current regiment for filtration, water changes, and dosing, and will it continue?I think one solution to my problem is to quit worrying and wait it out.
I dared to take top downs and frankly I see a lot of positives.
The Lokani just won't quit.
My big Sarmentosa lost some branches but is now coming back.
The big valida, ignoring the few burnt tips, looks pretty darn good.
The Hawkins frag also continues to maintain some color.
Teal/Blue stag, this branch is in the best shape.
The multiple frags of the unknown acro are showing why I nicked named it Kentucky Bluegrass.
I'll end with the brightest branch on the slimer.
I probably should have cut the dead areas and remounted sooner rather than hoping things would recover.
markalot
...
Thanks Matt.
Seachem Reef Trace, 1 cap, once a day, and weekly 7 to 10 gallon water changes using AquaForest Reef salt at 35ppt (which mixes to 10KH or so).
Feeding is 3 times a day for fish, and I've been doing Reef Roids but lighter than usual and just three times a week. Feeding for me has never been exact so I'm trying to lock down a routine.
markalot
...
Thanks Matt, that Lokani is crazy for staying healthy.
Got an email this morning that the store in Cincy had gotten their SPS shipment in so off I went.
I think this is a tort of some ... sort.
Listed as a Rose milli but not on an ORA plug so who knows.
I think this is an SSC. I thought it was something else but really looks SSC'ish. Since I dipped it I expect full turdmungus in a few days.
Pretty sizable Red Dragon for $40.
Doesn't really show up well but 5 days since fragging the slimer has all but the center area encrusted.
A little slower than the last time I did this but not too shabby.
stevenmiller27
New member
That actually looks identical to my rose bud milli. My rose milli is just a deep red
Sent from my SM-G928R4 using Tapatalk
Sent from my SM-G928R4 using Tapatalk
DiscusHeckel
Acropora Gardener
Pretty sizable Red Dragon for $40.
This is a very nice piece and seems to be reasonably priced compared to what I had to pay to my lfs (£43 including delivery).
milsaltnewbie07
New member
Nice frags Mark, that scc looks amazing man. Hope the color hds after dip, mine seem to go turd after dip. Still trying to color some recent additions.
markalot
...
Thanks for the kind words all. Most everything is improving.
The Miami Orchid frag I made has not healed, a sure sign it's not in good shape IMO. I guess I should treat the corals like the animals they are and assume it's sick due to the poor conditions. The colony is suffering as well so I may have to chop out all but what appear to be the healthy parts. Lesson learned again, once they reach a certain level of stress chopping up is really the best defense.
I would not want to hear my doctor tell me that!
Most everything is improving.The Miami Orchid frag I made has not healed, a sure sign it's not in good shape IMO. I guess I should treat the corals like the animals they are and assume it's sick due to the poor conditions. The colony is suffering as well so I may have to chop out all but what appear to be the healthy parts. Lesson learned again, once they reach a certain level of stress chopping up is really the best defense.
I would not want to hear my doctor tell me that!
