my new red carpet!!!

[55semireef]

I wouldn't dose anything that says "purple up" or "coralline stimulator" because these additives usually don't do anything for corals and parameters tend to easily go out of whack if you don't does right. I would go with a two part additive. I use Oceans Blend. I don't know if you have heard of it or not but its very good and I get a ton of coralline growth.

 

[Zestay]

oceans blend? dont belive its available at my LFS.. have an online vendor?

and explain a 2 part additive to me =)


oh hey your in orlando.. .. hi from gainesville.. how bout dem gators..

 

[TOURKID]

boy. your tank is only 5 weeks old?? what are your cal and alk levels?

 

[Zestay]

up from 3 weeks ago which was 280.
calc is 450 just got it tested today..
i added some more " dead coral " base rock and i guess its leeching into the water. and my kalk drip i suppose is helping
i will have my LFS test my calc again in a few days.

he said my ALK level was 2... which im not sure what kind of reading that is. and my target range was 3.5 - 4.


im going to have my GF ( the chemist ) test it tonight and ill post with an accurate reading

all my other levels are 0.0 across the board.. every so often i see some trates, but its always because of that filter floss pad i have in my sump which i change about every 4 days..

 

[Zestay]

this set up look ok for 5 weeks? comments thoughts ... ? my biggest regret.. is starting this with out an RO/DI unit.

 

[55semireef]

A two part additive is two bottles where one supplies Calcium and the other bottle supplies alkalinity and keeps the pH stable. When you dose two part additives, you have to dose them seperately or they will cristalize. You have to dose them right before the lights come on or when the lights go off to prevent pH swings and add the additive in a strong current or in your sump. You have to dose in equal amounts so your parameters don't go out of whack and you don't add any other forms of additives such as "purple up" when your dosing a two part additive or you can create an ionic imbalance in your tank. You don't neccessarily have to dose daily unless you have a high demand for calc and alk in your tank.

The reason why you probably have never heard of Oceans Blend is because it is made locally in Orlando. The guy that makes it, Russell I think makes each bottle by hand!!! I don't know if the two part additive is nationally available. I was thinking since that you live in FLA that you may have heard of it. I guess not.

Anyways, this is what the bottles look like. I don't know of any website for them but I know there are much more two part additives out there. I would honestly stay away from Kent. From what I have heard, their additives are made cheap and are not good quality.

 

[Zestay]

next time i head down to orlando .. wanna cut me some frags? =D

 

[GSMguy]

i like my b ionic 2 part works great

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9495592#post9495592 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zestay
he said my ALK level was 2... which im not sure what kind of reading that is. and my target range was 3.5 - 4.

Your Alkalinity test is at 2 meq/L. Your target is 3-4 meq/L. I can't really help you on how to raise your alk because I am not sure how much it doses. Its hard to correct paramters when you don't use a two part additive. See my point? You may be trying to raise your alk by dosing but at the same time your raising your calcium which defeats the purpose because when you raise calcium your alk drops and when you raise alk, your calcium drops. I would switch to a two part additive.

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9495624#post9495624 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zestay
next time i head down to orlando .. wanna cut me some frags? =D

I am actually getting rid of a ton of Xenia tonight and taking it to my lfs. It grows like a weed in my tank. Not to mention, I don't like the look that it gives to my tank at all. Makes it look cheap. lol.

This is what my tank looked like at about 5 weeks. You make the comparison.

 

[Zestay]

only diffrence to me.. looks like you have blue lights and i have yellow ones.. we photoshop them together we get green!

 

[55semireef]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9495698#post9495698 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Zestay
only diffrence to me.. looks like you have blue lights and i have yellow ones.. we photoshop them together we get green!

I was running two individual PC lamps at the time because I didn't know anything about lighting. :lol: However, lucky me I was making a smart choice because it gave my corraline a great chance to grow under such blue lighting that is not so intense.

I figured your tank was new by the looks of it. Your algae bloom gave it away. Really keep down the algae by scrubbing it. Eventually you will win the battle.

 

[55semireef]

BTW, GO GATORS!!!

 

[Zestay]

i thought scrubbing it would only spread it.. and do you mean take a tooth brush to the rocks and everything?

 

[55semireef]

I always left the rocks alone. I scrubbed the glass and blew the sand with a turkey baster. I used a mag floadt for the glass. When I had a cyano outbreak, I would scrub my tank about once a week but right after that I would do a 20 percent water change to get all the spores out and to prevent any algae from resettling.

 

[Zestay]

carpet poop.. so
can someone explain to me what the carpet poop looks like?
i belive its doing it now.
little brown chunks / snot looking stuff is seeping from the nems mouth ( which is closed but its still seeping out )

this isint a placenta and im about to have baby carpets is it?

 

[55semireef]

Emitting waste.

 

[Zestay]

ok wasnt sure if i should expect a soild terd or well what its doing now.. or was doing. i believe it stopped ( lights are off )..

also my cleaner shrimp likes ****ing off the carpet.. it stays far away from it and lets it feelers brush against it just to **** off the carpet i beleive.. aside from stress.. im more worried about the carpet eating the shrimp..

need to find the right clowns for this thing to tell the shrimp to beat it

 

[O'Man]

Watch out with the iron and iodine additives, unless you like hair algae. Nice carpet!

 

[Zestay]

hrmm maybe thats why im fighting a losing battle...

=P