Mike's 200g

Nano_reeflover said:
I don't like the red sea alk test and I've heard that the hanna checkers can be finicky. I use salifert and haven't had any issues.
Click to expand...

+1

Hanna has a few bad batches out there...forgot which forum, maybe here but one reefer lost LOADS corals after using a bad batch of alk test reagents which were recalled but he wasnt aware.

Redsea dont always read very good reports.

Love the Salifert Alk test kits. My older Salifert test kits all came with ref solution as well so you can see how good the kit is. The new one I bough last week doesnt have it, but I tested with the ref and the old test kit and its bang on.
 
Update.
Things in General have been going fine.

The issues I am having:

A few weeks ago now I noticed one of my milli colonies had a branch turning white. I took it out and noticed some horrible little orange eggs... Nooooo.. Well I dipped it and off came 3 of them. I'm sure they have been in tank for a long time as I have seen bites etc in the past but never eggs before.
Any way a couple weekends ago I decided I would take out a bunch of the easier to remove acros to dip. Well I hate dipping in Bayer as I can't see if anything actually comes off.. So I decided to try a different dip that many around here have been recommending, ME coral wash off. Well I can tell you I don't know if I mixed too much or what but most of those acros completely browned after the dip and are still recovering, possibly will loose a couple. I did notice some eggs on one other acro 2. The corals still looked fine before the dip but I just wanted to dip the easy ones to remove... Now I kinda wish I hadn't.

From here not sure how to go about the AEFW, removing and qt is not really on option, too many corals are way to encrusted. Any ideas here on what to do will be appreciated.

I have started using the Aquaforest components system but mixing my own instead of pre mixed (save a few bucks). It has taken me a while to dial in dosage and still not there yet. Am up to 320ml of each component per day. There has been a little instability in alk during this time but no major swings. Got down to like 6.3 at one point... But still using the Hanna so it's always a question over my head of how accurate, but double checked with a new bottle reagent and other kits (elos) and they seem fairly similar. Right now I have slowly got back up around 7.3 and will see over the next few days if it holds.

FRUSTRATIONS:
The Hamilton t5 kits have STILL not arrived! Been 8 weeks since ordering!
My inline frag tank seems to growing quite a bit of algae. Not sure if it's just the new plastic etc of the black egg crate frag rack kinda going through a mini cycle or maybe my tank is not any where near as low nutrient as I thought (and test) but the display still remains pretty much algae free (could be the fish in there? No fish in frag tank yet)

Sand will not stay still

Power heads RW8s cheaply made and stop working

Positives:
All the coral I didn't dip looks great! Some brown newer additions are starting to show some new nice color

Growth must be really good considering amount of dosing needed.

Some new additions in coral... However not all mine unfortunately
I very nice large ssc that has some coloring up to do, another ssc type coral but blue in tips, was kinda pale at first but now gaining nice color, a fluro green table colony and a nice stag type and a blue tenuis. I had dipped them in this new dip (prior to the AEFW dip episode) and then some of them when I put in tank expelled all zoos and went almost white and completely clouded my water, never seen anything like it. I thought I had just killed my whole tank it was like you couldn't see into the tank it was so cloudy and you could see clouds of whatever just coming off 2 of the new acros. Well things cleared up fine and both those acros have gained more color now than when I got them. I originally put this down to the acros getting dipped 2 times in a matter of days and being super stressed (they just arrived from OZ like he day before. This is why I tried the same dip again when doing the AEFW did on my other acros.... But as they also reacted very poorly I may not use the dip again .
I also added about 7 peppermint shrimp recently

I will be switching to AF probiotic salt pretty soon. Be interesting to see if that makes any difference.

Any way. Pics to follow, taken over the weekend, so after I dipped and browned some corals. As you will see despite the few problems acros in most part look good.
 
Holy Cow Mike!
The corals are glowing buddy, that Pearlberry, PL, Efflo, all of them just looking super healthy! I think what is happening is that we are both trying to keep up with growth rate, that is why the consumption is hard to lock in with component system. I am close :) Maybe a CARX will be something to consider? You could always add the trace like Matt does. I too am thinking of this as an option, but it will be several months before I can do that type of investment. Anyway, how many 5L batches would you say you can get out of a tub of each product? I may have to go this route too:) The reef is just amazing, I love the scape, position of corals and colors too! Great job my friend!
 
Damn Mike, you've brought all kinds of the hotness here! This is a spectacular update, so many amazing corals!!!! I'm totally intrigued by the AF components now, what with the success that you Perry, Debora, etc are seeing with them. What do you estimate that the dosing costs you per month at your current rate?

On some of the other points- AEFW- add more Springeri damsels and maybe a Leopard wrasse if you don't already have one, I know where you are coming from when it comes to inability to remove colonies for dipping.

Jaebo pumps- you get what you pay for I guess. I don't want to turn this into a thread about their right to exist or not, but IME there are better and more honest brands to choose from out there.

I'm still shocked that you have been able to make this happen with LEDs - you are in the elite for that alone. Congrats, it will be interesting to see what happens when you add T5s to the equation...
 
Thank you everyone for the kind words. So to respond to a few of the comments.

A calcium reactor might be something to consider if I have to, however I would prefer not to. I have really really low ph naturally in this tank and would be worried to drive it down any lower. Also my father in law used to have a calcium reactor and it was just a complete PIA. Now I know it may have just been that model or whatever...

When mixing the components I mix 10 liters at a time and store in 5 gallon buckets. So far I have made 20 gallons but I am also making it for my father in law. You know I have no idea how many I would get from each tub, I'm sure the math could be done by weight of tub and amount in bucket etc but I'm too lazy. The most expensive part of it I'm sure is the components strong as I use an entire box each time I make 10litres. I haven't worked out a monthly cost of it... Not sure I want to know.

As for the fish to control AEFW.. I have a leopard wrasse, here he is



However he is fat and too lazy by now to hunt for food as he knows it's coming from the top consistantly! I have 6 springer I damsels in the tank, I might add some more maybe it could add more help, however, I have never actually seen any of them pick anything off any coral. The pep shrimp I have also never seen doing anything.. In fact hardly even seen them.

I completely agree about the pumps. I have 4 in my tank and had 2 stop working now. My father in law has had one stop working. He recently upgraded to the Neptune wav pumps so I got a couple of his old ones to replace my broken ones for now... Eventually they will be changed out for something better ... Eventually.

Yes I wish the t5 fixtures would hurry up and arrive! It's been a long time waiting.

Did any one have any ideas about the algae growth in the frag tank? The water is shared but I have no algae in display. Any ideas for a fish that would eat it that can go in a 2ft by 10 inch frag tank?
 
I have seen a video about a tank using a carx that had low pH in their tank. What they did to fix it was they took a piece of pvc tubing (around 2" I think) and filled it with araginite. They left the tube out of the water and let the effluent drip into the pvc. As the effluent would trickle down the aragonite the co2 would would gas out. They did a test over a week and their pH came up and yet they were able to maintain their water paremeters.
If your interested in this pm me and I'll tell you the site. I'm not sure if I can link it without an infraction.
I run a 2 stage carx and I don't worry about ph. I have thought about trying it but haven't had the time.
 
Yeah I have seen where people "gas off" the co2. However my ph is around 7.8 normally. Don't really want to do anything that might make it lower
 
MichaelW said:
Yeah I have seen where people "gas off" the co2. However my ph is around 7.8 normally. Don't really want to do anything that might make it lower
Click to expand...

When you add the T5s your pH will rise significantly, I can almost guarantee it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

adova
300g DIY Acrylic Tank Recommendations
Replies
5
Views
131
griss
griss
Jyetman
Need protein skimmer help
Replies
3
Views
99
griss
griss
G
Adding fish: need advice
Replies
2
Views
412
OrionN
OrionN
Anemone
Kessil AP700 FS
Replies
0
Views
195
Anemone
Anemone
Z
5.7ft tank stocking
Replies
7
Views
249
ZanaZoola14
Z
Back
Top