~ My Shallow Masterpiece ~
- Thread starter CRJ
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CRJ
Member
So now im chasing MAG levels. My ALK is at 8.9dkh, cal is above 500 (due to cal in my ATO water) and my mag is at 1080. it was at 1050 jan 20, added 20ml of solution and got to 1110 on jan 21. added 40ml, today i found it at 1080ppm. ive added another 40 ml and will test it tomorrow night. I ran out so now its time to order a BIG bottle. i noticed my SPS seem happier, so thats a sign im in the right direction. I love having control over this and figuring it out. my notepad is getting crowded though! lol.
for future refference, my ALK solution is at 1ml=0.4dkh and my Mag is at 1ml=3ppm. those numbers are for my 75 gal system.
slowly trying to bring up my salinity, at 1.023 now, going to do some top ups with mixed slat water till i get where i want to be.
any advise, tips, whichever would be great! im also bringing my temp up from 76 to 78-79.
for future refference, my ALK solution is at 1ml=0.4dkh and my Mag is at 1ml=3ppm. those numbers are for my 75 gal system.
slowly trying to bring up my salinity, at 1.023 now, going to do some top ups with mixed slat water till i get where i want to be.
any advise, tips, whichever would be great! im also bringing my temp up from 76 to 78-79.
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sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Once Mag reaches 1250, I stop chasing it. In new tanks, or tanks with rocks etc recently added, I've noticed the Mag really does need to be dosed lots. My tank is now 1 years old and I no longer need to dose Mag, water changes keep it up. However, when the tank was new, I was dosing like 20mls a day to keep it from dropping too low!
I would let the Ca drop by itself via usage or carry out water changes. Its not too bad, but you can expect some Ca buildup on pumps etc.
You can run your temp around 77'F which is just fine. Why waste electricity heating the water up?
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Looking good. :thumbsup:
You might want to locate that Brain Coral at the front to elsewhere, or place a small rock to take the water flow that is causing the flesh to be pushed up (on the right side of the Brain Coral).
Your PO4 is good, Ca was high, but I see its dropped now. Keep the alk tight. You also need to keep the Salinity a lot more stable. - Any idea why Salinity is fluctuating?
Otherwise keep up the good work!
You might want to locate that Brain Coral at the front to elsewhere, or place a small rock to take the water flow that is causing the flesh to be pushed up (on the right side of the Brain Coral).
Your PO4 is good, Ca was high, but I see its dropped now. Keep the alk tight. You also need to keep the Salinity a lot more stable. - Any idea why Salinity is fluctuating?
Otherwise keep up the good work!
CRJ
Member
Looking good. :thumbsup:
You might want to locate that Brain Coral at the front to elsewhere, or place a small rock to take the water flow that is causing the flesh to be pushed up (on the right side of the Brain Coral).
Your PO4 is good, Ca was high, but I see its dropped now. Keep the alk tight. You also need to keep the Salinity a lot more stable. - Any idea why Salinity is fluctuating?
Otherwise keep up the good work!
i relocated him a few minutes ago, as well as moved my nem as it was being buried by my goby. Im dosing 2ml a day and alk seems stable. as for salinity, im more rounding between marks on my refractometer. and it went up today as im using saltwater ive been mixing for manual topping off to bring my salinity in the tank up slowly.
i had a bad algae outbreak when i was away, i was running a marineland carbon. i am thinking it was leeching phosphates, because as soon as i took it offline the growth dropped to nothing.
thank you for the help!
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Carbon can leach some PO4. But these days as far as I know most brands are acid washed carbon, rather than a phosphate based wash.
Here is a RHF article that might interest you: http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2012/3/chemistry
As long as you use a bit of GFO and change it out regularly, keep up the water changes, try manual removal during water changes, baste the rocks before a water change and have a decent CUC then it might take a month or two, but the algae will go away.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Your Mg is a little low, that can be a cause of an imbalance between Ca and Alk.
I would pickup a cheapo API Ca test kit or even a Salifert one just to check that the Hanna isnt reading incorrectly. Or maybe you are dosing too much Ca? - Best to check with another test kit to eliminate unknowns.
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CRJ
Member
thats the thing, i dont dose any calcium. now i have been topping the tank off (2 gallons per day) with saltwater, which i can understand might make it creep up, but to get that high of a reading is crazy! ill keep testing and watching.
is there a high concentration mag solution? im using red sea at the moment, and they call for 1ml per 1ppm, which im my case means i need to dump in my entire $20 bottle to get to whre i need to be, and i seem to be dosing 40-60ml per day and staying near the same levels still. last two days ive dosed 60ml.
alk seems stable with 2ml of solution per day dosed.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Why are you topping off with Saltwater? This will cause the Salinity to rise slowly towards the end of the week...at which point I think you correct it with a water change? Why not top off with RODI?
I would figure out first if that Hanna Calcium checker is working properly...I know in the UK some poeple got weird results from that meter.
No No No. Dont waste your money on these off the shelf pre-made liquid solutions for Alk, Ca and Mg. They are plain ripping you off.
Have a look at Randys Two Part...linked somewhere in the Chemistry forum I think. Or look at getting hold of stuff like the BRS Two Part additives. You will also need the 3rd part which is something like Magnesium Chloride Salt. I bought a 2Kg bucket of Magnesium Chloride. Cost me £12 which is like $16US. This will last me like a year (or probably more) with my 47G tank full of SPS!
I'm not sure which retail outlets you have in Canada...but in USA places like MarineDepot, BRS etc have this stuff for cheap.
Well, at least when compared to the bottled stuff...
CRJ
Member
i was looking for a powder form to make but had no luck and was out of mag.Why are you topping off with Saltwater? This will cause the Salinity to rise slowly towards the end of the week...at which point I think you correct it with a water change? Why not top off with RODI?
I would figure out first if that Hanna Calcium checker is working properly...I know in the UK some poeple got weird results from that meter.
No No No. Dont waste your money on these off the shelf pre-made liquid solutions for Alk, Ca and Mg. They are plain ripping you off.
Have a look at Randys Two Part...linked somewhere in the Chemistry forum I think. Or look at getting hold of stuff like the BRS Two Part additives. You will also need the 3rd part which is something like Magnesium Chloride Salt. I bought a 2Kg bucket of Magnesium Chloride. Cost me £12 which is like $16US. This will last me like a year (or probably more) with my 47G tank full of SPS!
I'm not sure which retail outlets you have in Canada...but in USA places like MarineDepot, BRS etc have this stuff for cheap.
im topping with salt to raise the salinity slowly. im looking for that 1.025-1.026
Salty Dog24
New member
Your amonia is a problem. And is probably due to You are way overcrowded for such a small tank, it looks like you plan on adding even more fish that are still in QT. You also have Tangs! Bad idea for such a small tank. Your salinity should be at 1.025, for the corals you have. Using Salt water to top off is a bad idea to try and bring it up slowly.
Are you using RO/DI water? You need to mix your salt water to the correct salinity level, and only use fresh RO/DI to top the tank.
Are you using RO/DI water? You need to mix your salt water to the correct salinity level, and only use fresh RO/DI to top the tank.
sahin
Ultimate Reefer
Wow, I completely didnt catch the Ammonia reading! Well spotted Salty. :thumbsup:
CRJ
Member
did you read anything, or just see pictures and test reading and start talking? my ammonia is up as my new diamond goby has been making a mess of the sandbed for the last week, as i dont vac my sandbed during waterchanges, its collected some crap. my tank is perfectly stocked, as i have a large footprint for gallon size and very minimal rockwork, leading to fine swimming space. If you read back, you would realise that the fish in my "QT" are a friends that i have had for the last 6 weeks, keeping them as she lost power for 4 days. my salinity is at .024, which is coming up, and using saltwater to top off once a day is a perfectly fine way of doing it, and has been working great as ive raised .003 over the last week. (you do the same thing when you acclimate anything)The tank runs on RO water (also mentioned before) that i purchase as we are in a rental house. Ive always been running my tank at 1.020-1.021 for over a year, just never ventured into SPS as much as i am now.
But thank you for helping me with nothing i dont already know or have long been aware of.
and to calm your nerves, the ammonia has already dropped to zero in the tank, now that the goby has had a chance to go through all my sand and stir everything up. my skimmer did a great job removing everything from the water.
as for my tangs, a Tomini is rated for a 70 gal, this is a 75 gal system, so hes fine. the hippo os about 2.25" long, and is doing fantastic. and i have every intention of upgrading in this next year, to a 150+.
:blown:
Salty Dog24
New member
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