rigleautomotive's Tank Pics Thread

[RynosReef]

Thank you and I have always said I will keep posting if you guys keep looking.

I grow whatever will grow basically.I am not picky with my algea and a mix seems to do best for me.If nutrients are high enough ,chaeteo alone will do best I assume but tends to go stagnant when the #'s get close to zero(P and N)so a mix works best in my system.

The water change water is made up with Io which has a somewhat lower and stable alk (in the 8 to 9 dkg range) and beefed up with cal chloride and mg.The cacl tends to lower the alk a bit more when added and after 24 hrs of aeration and strong agitation ,the # are about what I need.

Interesting.. I was wondering the same thing. I try to do larger water changes as well but use reef crystals, which has a higher alk than other salts out there. I fear doing a large water change with reef crystals might create and alk spike. I've been doing a 15g a wk change on my 75 and have dropped it down to 10. And I don't dose on water change day to level it out.

Dan, do you feel you vho actinics have make an improvement on growth? or just color? I'm thinking of adding some vho actinics and or daylight t5's to my 20k radiums to help fill out the spectrum.

 

[rigleautomotive]

Interesting.. I was wondering the same thing. I try to do larger water changes as well but use reef crystals, which has a higher alk than other salts out there. I fear doing a large water change with reef crystals might create and alk spike. I've been doing a 15g a wk change on my 75 and have dropped it down to 10. And I don't dose on water change day to level it out.

Dan, do you feel you vho actinics have make an improvement on growth? or just color? I'm thinking of adding some vho actinics and or daylight t5's to my 20k radiums to help fill out the spectrum.

Yes,my thought process is similar.I discover back a few years ago when I began toying with lower P and N levels, that running a lower DKH then my previous school of thought helped with coral health and mortality.The alk spike that would occur in a reef tank with a average alk of say 10 dkh to 11 dkh would be minimal(using RC) but for the lower nutrient process,maintaining a lower alk (closer to nsw) it becomes problematic.Given this I began to run alk in the 7.5 to 8.5 range and searched for a salt closer to these params.When IO changed there formula it became suitable for this but needed a bump of mg and cal to get the minerals where I needed them.So long and short of it is if you are running alk closer to NSW levels then doing larger water changes and not param matching the mix becomes a negative in stead of a positive.

I have ran tanks with and without these VHO actinics(many tanks) and I definitely get better growth and color with UVL VHO super actinics vs without them.Specifically using the same MH on all systems.T5 does not give me what I am looking for in terms of color with the half dozen or so actinic(so called) bulbs I have tried so I will be sticking with VHO until the day(which I hope never comes) when I cannot get UVL VHO super actinics.

 

[lolgranny]

Hey Dan!

Tanks still looking good boy, excellent job. I sent ya a PM as i have a few questions but i also am curious as to where your keeping your JF Rainbow delight?

On the topic of salt ive been border line swapping from RC to IO although i dont know if i want to spend the extra time dosing it to get it where i need it. Have you used both?

Keep up the good work bud

 

[mightymizz]

Hey Dan, I bought a bucket of Instant Ocean Salt and mixed up a batch to 1.026, and the Alk tested to 10.5 range on my Hanna Checker. You mention you typically run your Alk at ~8.5 Dkh if I remeber correctly.

When doing your large water changes, do you feel that the differences in the Alk levels between your tank and new saltwater is minimal? Or do you somehow lower the new saltwater's Alk?

It appears, even in the Chemistry forum here that this salt is known to mix at around 11 Dkh, so I don't feel I have a bad batch of salt.

Thanks for your time!

 

[psusocr]

I also mixed at 10.5 last night with the same salt.

 

[x2uranium]

oh boy... now you have a watermark... this is serious.

 

[rigleautomotive]

Sorry I didnt get back sooner.I have not been on the web as much lately

oh boy... now you have a watermark... this is serious.

Serious about people in other countries not using my photos on fb without permission.

Hey Dan!

Tanks still looking good boy, excellent job. I sent ya a PM as i have a few questions but i also am curious as to where your keeping your JF Rainbow delight?

On the topic of salt ive been border line swapping from RC to IO although i dont know if i want to spend the extra time dosing it to get it where i need it. Have you used both?

Keep up the good work bud

JF Rainbo delight lives in the dark shaded bottom of my tank,under the tabling acro overhangs so it is not getting much par at all.It does not fare well with changes in light intensity and bleaches right quick.

Hey Dan, I bought a bucket of Instant Ocean Salt and mixed up a batch to 1.026, and the Alk tested to 10.5 range on my Hanna Checker. You mention you typically run your Alk at ~8.5 Dkh if I remeber correctly.

When doing your large water changes, do you feel that the differences in the Alk levels between your tank and new saltwater is minimal? Or do you somehow lower the new saltwater's Alk?

It appears, even in the Chemistry forum here that this salt is known to mix at around 11 Dkh, so I don't feel I have a bad batch of salt.

Thanks for your time!

No you are right.10 DKH is about right and what it starts at when I begin mixing.I add a 75 to 100 ppm bump of cacl along with the required Mg addition and mix and aerate overnight.The alk usually will come down a bit when the cacl bonds and when tested again usually ends up in the 9 dkh range which is still a bit elevated but has minimal impact on the DT during the WC. It would be at most,a .25 DKH rise which IMO does not negatively effect the animals.Compared to the super high dkh of some reef salts (12dkh to 13 dkh) this becomes the lesser of the evils.I like IO because it is always available,consistent params,has minimal junk, and tweeking Mg and cal becomes less problematic then dealing with elevated alk.Truthfully there is no perfect reef salt IMO for every instance and adjusting your params at each water change to better suit your consumption and DT parameter deficiencies makes much more sense to me then going at it blindly.Not knowing what your WC mix is at ot what your goal are in relation to your DT #'s

 

[mightymizz]

Thanks Dan, appreciate the reply! One of these days I hope to get some of your frags out here on the West Coast!

Keep up the good work!

 

[rigleautomotive]

Thanks Dan, appreciate the reply! One of these days I hope to get some of your frags out here on the West Coast!

Keep up the good work!

No problem.Gotta laugh at this one.more then a decade ago I was collecting acros with great color and many old school colonies I have now came from CA.Too funny that now I have been planting them back where they came from.Lots of CA peeps have gotten packs from me in recent years so you may not have to look too far to find that lineage

 

[mightymizz]

Dan, How's everything been looking?

Just out of curiosity, any frag packs coming up?

 

[rigleautomotive]

Awesome bro.thanks for askin.I have rescaped a bit and opened up some of the overgrown tabling acros and its all enjoying the extra breathing room and flow.I have been waiting a bit to get the corals to grow back in to the empty spaces and not shooting many photos but will resume in the near future.

 

[rigleautomotive]

 

[rigleautomotive]

 

[x2uranium]

outstanding bro. been waiting for pics know you have been busy with the downstairs lol

 

[D' kingfisher]

as always awesome pics and corals.

 

[psteeleb]

I always look forward to your updates - awesome job as usual

 

[dvanacker]

^^ I agree!

 

[mobyreef]

Hi Dan,
How often are you feeding your tank, and what do you feed it? Do you target feed or just disperse the food with circulating pumps off? Just curious to your method and what you feed.

Thanks!

 

[rigleautomotive]

outstanding bro. been waiting for pics know you have been busy with the downstairs lol

yea-yea.gettin there
Thanks

as always awesome pics and corals.

TY

I always look forward to your updates - awesome job as usual

Thanks bro,glad to see your still lookin

^^ I agree!

see above

Hi Dan,
How often are you feeding your tank, and what do you feed it? Do you target feed or just disperse the food with circulating pumps off? Just curious to your method and what you feed.

Thanks!

what do I feed?
Everything and nothing,lol
I feed heavy when my PO4 is low (.02ppm or lower on hanna)and corals look hungry(5 or 6 times a day) and nothing if PO4 is .1ppm or higher for a day or so until I see the PO4 go down and/or the sps lightening I notice when ULN is achieved.

I feed 4 or so different flakes,(Spectrum,OSI,Omega,Ocean nutrition,and for frozen,PE mysis,sallys brine,marine cuisine,cyclopeeze and nori.I may have missed something but you get the Idea.Varying the diet with high quality brand foods is my method and feeding and exporting heavily with weekly water changes,wet skimming,macro harvesting,micron bags changed often etc...

I do not recommend feeding heavy unless you can effectively monitor PO4 and use strong export similar to my method to control,or you will experience negative results.

 

[mobyreef]

Thanks, I have an auto water changing system, macro harvesting in place and use micron socks ect.
Do you test with your Hanna daily for PO4 or, have you noticed a pattern in PO4 so you check weekly? How fast have you notice the PO4 spike after a feeding?

I sincerely thank you for your time answering.