120 peninsula build
- Build Thread
- Thread starter fragit
- Start date
- Tagged users None
OP
OP
fragit
2500 Club Member
Nope it's all dry Pukani from BRS. Thanks, she's coming along. Yeah it would be nice to have a real camera for the tank photos. I may have to try some yellow folder tabs to use as a filter.
Fudsey
Jack of all trades, Master of none ;-)
Reef Squad
Excellence Award
Reef Tank 365
Photo of the Month
Hospitality Award
NHFS Member
My Tank Thread
Looks like you are on your way to a great tank. Like the choices too 
OP
OP
fragit
2500 Club Member
Looks like you are on your way to a great tank. Like the choices too
Thanks Fuds, Adam @Battlecorals hooked me up! He some how read my mind and sent me 4 of my must haves in my Battle Bag. It was so fun to open that box and not know what was waiting for me. I will definitely do another soon.
OP
OP
fragit
2500 Club Member
I started dosing KNO3 via spectraside stump remover on Friday. It works great! I followed @twilliards dosing instructions and as of today have my nitrates at 1.5. I'm shooting for 2. I have dosed a total of 40mL since Friday. Which has brought nitrates up to 1.5ish from 0.35ish with Red Sea Pro nitrate kit. I will check levels again tomorrow evening. All has remained very stable at 7.6dkh. The GHL doser has helped tremendously in keeping parameters steady(obviously). I can't believe it took me this long to get one.
OP
OP
fragit
2500 Club Member
Woke up this morning, and my Reef Ready Grape Juice for some reason is showing some polyp bail out. I didn't have time to cut, and attach to a new plug because of the baby and it being a Monday. So I used my nursing skills and super glued the tissue in a pretty big margin sort of like surgical glue. Moved it to a lower flow spot, and am crossing my fingers. I have no idea why, and it's just this one frag. I then went down to the sump to dose my Probio S, and NP Pro and my skimmer was overflowing, and going nuts, the water level in the sump was probably 1/2-1 gallon over where it should be. Shut down and restarted the skimmer opened it up so it would not over flow. Checked salinity 1.025, and again crossed my fingers. Asked the wife to keep an eye on the skimmer, and unplug it if it starts to overflow again. Going to check some parameters when I get home to make sure everything is okay. Checked stuff yesterday and all right where I like them.
Chriscrna
Valuable Member
Yeah man....how is parenthood treating you?
OP
OP
fragit
2500 Club Member
@USMC4Life and @Chriscrna it is awesome thanks for asking. Enzo is 1 1/2 months old already! He is growing like a weed. Just started smiling at us the end of last week. He's a very good baby, sleeps well. Last night he slept for 7 hours between feedings. He is so cute, very snuggly, and just a cool little dude. We couldn't be happier or more fortunate.
OP
OP
fragit
2500 Club Member
So I'm at a total loss with my tank right now. Back in October or so I picked up 5 sps frags from my LFS. At the time I was dosing BRS two part for alk and calc demand. All those sticks were doing great, growing, great color, and polyp extension. Then at the end of November I switched to the full AquaForest line, which was always my plan. After a week all of my sps died. I thought that I had an alk spike, and low nutrients were my issue. No signs of any pests, or disease just paling corals and STN. So I figured out my dosing, got some new test kits, a dosing pump, and got all of my levels dialed in to where I want them. Every thing perfect. I got some corals for Christmas from Cultivated Reef, and a gift card to Battle Corals along with some cash. Last weekend I got 12 frags between the two vendors. They looked great for a day after I put them in the tank. Then this last week slowly, I've seen polyp retraction fading color, and have already all but lost two frags to STN. The exact symptoms I experienced in November. The rest are not looking all that good. My parameters test great, I have no stray electrical current, no pests, etc. I am at a loss and all I can think of is that this all started when I switched over to the AquaForest Balling components. There has to be a chemical imbalance that I am unable to test for from component 3 which are the mineral salts. I should probably get some Triton Tests and see what is off. I am strongly considering dumping most of the AquaForest products as it's just killing all the sps I put in the tank.
Parameters
Temp 78-79
PH 8.2
Salinity 1.025
Alk 7.6 (bringing it up to 8dkh to see if that has any positive effects. Increasing it with BRS two part)
Calc 460
Mag 1340
Nitrate 2-3
Phosphate 0.037
I've also been reading on the tanks based on AquaForest thread that somebody has been testing freshly mixed salt water and has been getting readings on mag in the 1600s. I'm starting to loose a little faith in their products. Anybody have any ideas/recommendations of what to do. I'm bummed, frustrated and out of ideas.
Parameters
Temp 78-79
PH 8.2
Salinity 1.025
Alk 7.6 (bringing it up to 8dkh to see if that has any positive effects. Increasing it with BRS two part)
Calc 460
Mag 1340
Nitrate 2-3
Phosphate 0.037
I've also been reading on the tanks based on AquaForest thread that somebody has been testing freshly mixed salt water and has been getting readings on mag in the 1600s. I'm starting to loose a little faith in their products. Anybody have any ideas/recommendations of what to do. I'm bummed, frustrated and out of ideas.
G8trBait16
Well-Known Member
I am having a similar issue, but different at the same time. I had a BIG alk spike 2 months ago and 29 of my SPS died. Someone told me on here(can't remember who it was though) that even though a coral is still alive it is still stressed and can later die. Well I had that, I fragged my WD bc the main colony was dying. Thought I could save it, it seemed to be doing better, then out of nowhere it started dying. Also I have a cheap red monti cap that went through the spike also and it has been slowly dying for the last month. I have kept it in the tank, just in case it might come back, but I am thinking that I might just take it completely out today when I get off of work.
Are you using the probiotic or reef salt?
Also a lot of the 1600 reading are at a salinity of 1.026 when the test sheet in the bucket is done at 1.024. Honestly I have never had that issue with the 5 buckets of reef salt and the 4 buckets of probiotic salt I have gone through. I do roll the bucket before I use it, to make sure everything is mixed properly (don't know if it help, but only takes a minute or so to do). I mix my water to 1.025-1.026. My reef is starting to come back from my alk spike, slowly but surely, at least things are looking stable.
Are you using the probiotic or reef salt?
Also a lot of the 1600 reading are at a salinity of 1.026 when the test sheet in the bucket is done at 1.024. Honestly I have never had that issue with the 5 buckets of reef salt and the 4 buckets of probiotic salt I have gone through. I do roll the bucket before I use it, to make sure everything is mixed properly (don't know if it help, but only takes a minute or so to do). I mix my water to 1.025-1.026. My reef is starting to come back from my alk spike, slowly but surely, at least things are looking stable.
USMC4Life
Well-Known Member
Did you change salt mix ? Also do you have anemones ?
OP
OP
fragit
2500 Club Member
I've been using the Probiotic salt. I usually mix to 1.024-1.025, I use a refractometer, and calibrate it regularly. I'm gonna get some new calibration fluid just to rule that out too. My mag has never tested higher than 1360.
I have not changed salt mixes. I've been using AquaForest Pro bio since September. No anemones.
Similar threads
