Renton's Upgrade

A short video of a Kuiteri Wrasse's introduction to the tank from a week ago. It is now out and swimming and eating during the day.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/B6VntoyNxno" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
BKREEFBABY said:
Your fish are nice and fat. How often do you feed?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

I feed relatively heavy twice a day. I would say each feeding averages about 2 cubes of frozen food (pe mysis, spirulina enriched brine, ova, rods food) and pellets.

I also feed a half sheet of nori every other day.
 
I have an agreement with my wife to only have people over that I know or have met at other various hobby events (fragswaps/meetings/ect). Sometimes friends will bring someone new (after a vetting process :) ). So, I am not open like a public aquarium but if we swim in similar circles we are bound to meet or make mutual acquaintances.
 
Renton777 said:
I have an agreement with my wife to only have people over that I know or have met at other various hobby events (fragswaps/meetings/ect). Sometimes friends will bring someone new (after a vetting process :) ). So, I am not open like a public aquarium but if we swim in similar circles we are bound to meet or make mutual acquaintances.
Click to expand...

FYI, Craigslist counts.
 
Renton777 said:
I have an agreement with my wife to only have people over that I know or have met at other various hobby events (fragswaps/meetings/ect). Sometimes friends will bring someone new (after a vetting process :) ). So, I am not open like a public aquarium but if we swim in similar circles we are bound to meet or make mutual acquaintances.
Click to expand...

What if I invite you to my house first to give me pointers on my set up?
 
Lol, maybe. But I require everyone I give tank tips to sign a non-disclosure agreement as well as a contract that they will fully comply with my tank advice.
 
Working on getting the Alkatronic setup in the next few days.

Pro Tip: Have PH calibration fluid of 7.o and 4.0 on hand for setup. Unfortunately, I do not, so I have this awesome machine but cant put it to work you quite yet :(

HpRYnQHh.jpg


cIEDsTWh.jpg
 
Well, I have the Alkatronic up and running. I am very happy with it thus far.

What is the Alkatronic? It is an automated Alkalinity testing device and dosing device (if you so choose to use that function) desinged by @JonasRoman . More about it here: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2643204&highlight=alkatronic

Was it hard to setup? No, not really. A couple tips, you will probably want to have packs of ph probe calibration fluid, 4.0 and 7.o in case you need to calibrate it more then once. When setting up go to http://www.focustronic.net/manuals for the latest manual.

I currently have it setup to test every 2 hours (with some random tests I run between that interval), I plan to back that down to 6 hours once I have had it up and running for a while. I am dosing Alk with my apex and a dosing pump set on a timer and am now using the Alkatronic to supplement and fine tune Alk levels. Currently my Alk is lower then I would like it, so I am slowly adjusting it back up to 8.5dkh.

Here are the test results as well as how much Alk was dosed by the Alkatronic, as seen on their cloud website. I have also been dosing manually to raise the overall Alk level and then adjusting the Alkatronic to keep stepping up. You can see here where I manually dosed between the 7:13am test and the 7:56am test. Within the week I expect to have the Alk up to 8.5 and holding steady at the level.

aQhLlFVh.jpg


It will also relay the Alk reading to 3rd party controllers via the ph probe socket. Here is mine hooked up to the Apex Classic. One of the selling points for me was that I did not have to upgrade to the new Apex to use this device.

DXWWPCxh.jpg


A short video of it in action. Note: Alkitronic will be shipping out quieter pumps at no cost to replace the screeching banshee pumps.

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Alkatronic Update

I dose about (edited because the amount was totally wrong and I dont want to lead people astray :) )ml of Alk solution (the BRS Sodium Bicarbonate recipe) each hour using the Apex and a 1.1ml/minute dosing pump. Then the Alkatronic supplements that dosing with its own adjustments to keep the Alk at my specified targets. The big jumps in the graph below are when I manually dosed and then adjusted the targets up. I am now at a target of 8.4dkh.

Its interesting to see how much more the tanks demand for Alk increases as the lights come on and light intensity increases. Not unexpected, but still interesting.

PaxfeFph.jpg
 
Last edited:
Renton777 said:
Alkatronic Update

Its interesting to see how much more the tanks demand for Alk increases as the lights come on and light intensity increases. Not unexpected, but still interesting.
Click to expand...

I am surprised, I'd expect the opposite. Photosynthesis turns CO2 into O2 which raises pH. I'd expect this would more than offset the Carbonate uptake forming new skeletons, but I guess not.

Right now, I dose equally all the time, but I've previous set my doser to only run at night, and I've seen a lot of people do this. Better to do the opposite.
 
Update: My Alk dosing pump was not hooked up correct today. So, the Alk levels are correct on the graph but my overall dosing amounts were not. Hope to have that all sorted away correctly tomorrow.
 
Are you adjusting your apex dosing schedule? Or can the tester change your apex coding?

Or, how is it compensating or adjusting your dosing?

Example: My alk doser(brs 1.1ml) is coded as...OSC 000:00/000:30/029:30 then ON

Do I adjust that dosing schedule or can the alkatronic adjust it? If not how does it raise or lower you ALK?

Also, why the Alkatronic over the Kh-guardian? The guardian pro is down to $599, just curious.

Thanks
 
Last edited:
I am adjusting my apex dosing schedule as I go based on test results.

Today was the first day I started the day at my target of 8.5. After each test is reported throughout the day I have been going in to adjust the apex dosing schedule and increasing the amount when needed. So tomorrow hopefully the Alkatronic does not need to make as many or as much corrective doses.

The Alkatronic does not change anything with the Apex, just provides data via a PH probe socket. (I think you could actually program the apex to take certain actions based on those readings, but that is now how I am running it currently) The Alkatronic has its own dosing pump built in that is uses to bring that Alk level up to my stated target of 8.5

After looking at the Kh-guardian and Alkatronic the Alkatronic just resonated more with me. Thus far, I am very happy with it.

Here is the updated Alkatronic test results. The red dots indicate each time it doses with its built in dosing pump to bring alk up to my target.




And here is my up to date Apex dosing pump programming. I expect to make more adjustments after seeing the rest of todays test results and then doing it all again tomorrow to fine tune it. As you can see, ALK demand increases significantly when the lights are on.

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 01:30 to 01:32 Then ON
If Time 02:30 to 02:32 Then ON
If Time 03:30 to 03:32 Then ON
If Time 04:30 to 04:33 Then ON
If Time 05:30 to 05:33 Then ON
If Time 06:30 to 06:37 Then ON
If Time 07:30 to 07:37 Then ON
If Time 08:30 to 08:39 Then ON
If Time 09:30 to 09:39 Then ON
If Time 10:30 to 10:39 Then ON
If Time 11:30 to 11:41 Then ON
If Time 12:30 to 12:41 Then ON
If Time 13:30 to 13:44 Then ON
If Time 14:30 to 14:44 Then ON
If Time 15:30 to 15:42 Then ON
If Time 16:30 to 16:42 Then ON
If Time 17:30 to 17:40 Then ON
If Time 18:30 to 18:37 Then ON
If Time 19:30 to 19:37 Then ON
If Time 20:30 to 20:35 Then ON
If Time 21:30 to 21:35 Then ON
If Time 22:30 to 22:33 Then ON
If Time 23:30 to 23:33 Then ON
If Time 00:30 to 00:33 Then ON
 
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