PSEUDOREEFER
Premium Member
I have a 400 gallon system which includes a 100 gallon fuge, 150 gallon prop tank and 150 gallon display. My question is that I top off with limewater and run a MRC CR-6 Dual calcium reactor with ARM media, but my calcium and alk is barely maintained at 11 dKH and 450 ppm. This isn't bad, but I've hardly reached my planned stocking level yet. I'm running the reactor using tank water input and am getting about 70ml/min output through a aqua medic dosing pump (with some back pressure from the feeder pump). I've maxed out the flow, lowed the PH as much as possible in the reactor and I'm still barely able to maintain calcium. The PH inside the reactor is around 6. The output Alk is 18 dKH. Is there something I'm missing here? Inhabitants include mainly sps, but there are a total of 4 clams including a 5" gigas and 12" derasa (these are the hogs I believe). Is there any way I can increase the output of my reactor or raise calcium further?
My second question: In one of my first groups of corals I found several species of acro crabs. All are breeding and spread to new corals as soon as they come, but there is a hairy species of crab. These hairy crabs move in and out of corals that already have acro crabs (I've seen them living cm's apart). The part I'm curious about- the crabs don't bother each other and there have been no negative effects on any of the corals. There is no tissue damage on any of the corals, so what are these crabs feeding on and if they are feeding on the coral mucus like the acro crabs, wouldn't they be fighting each other?
My second question: In one of my first groups of corals I found several species of acro crabs. All are breeding and spread to new corals as soon as they come, but there is a hairy species of crab. These hairy crabs move in and out of corals that already have acro crabs (I've seen them living cm's apart). The part I'm curious about- the crabs don't bother each other and there have been no negative effects on any of the corals. There is no tissue damage on any of the corals, so what are these crabs feeding on and if they are feeding on the coral mucus like the acro crabs, wouldn't they be fighting each other?
