A Water Change A Day...
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OP
OP
mcarroll
10K Club member
Water change #40!
Things are busy, busy again, so having to drip a pretty hefty makeup dose again: 300 mL of each part.
Heheh.
Gonna drip them seperately this time so I can (comfortably) drip them a little faster. (Mostly speaking of the alk. part.)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
-Matt
Things are busy, busy again, so having to drip a pretty hefty makeup dose again: 300 mL of each part.
Heheh.
Gonna drip them seperately this time so I can (comfortably) drip them a little faster. (Mostly speaking of the alk. part.)
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
-Matt
OP
OP
mcarroll
10K Club member
Water change #43!
Sampled Mg today and it has already dropped to 1200 ppm.
I haven't been tracking closely, but I'd guess I've gone through about 1 gallon of Recipe 2. (This is what actually prompted me to test Mg again.)
It would appear (based on tests for Mg, alk and Ca) that I have to dose about 1.2 liters of Mg, 714 mL of Ca and 175 mL of alkalinity.
Gonna start with 1 liter of Mg and 350 mL of Ca and retest.
-Matt
P.S. I finally started removing some of the "dead frag wood" from the tank and freeing up space for water movement last night....skimmer has been going crazy.
Also got the idea in my head that I may save my big monti rock DRY as a kind of trophy instead of busting it all up and trying to "replant" on it as I had been thinking. I might follow suit on all my populated rocks: Frag off a piece of everything I want, then yank the whole rock and let it dry out, bleach it and save it somewhere. Anyway, it's an idea....
Sampled Mg today and it has already dropped to 1200 ppm.
I haven't been tracking closely, but I'd guess I've gone through about 1 gallon of Recipe 2. (This is what actually prompted me to test Mg again.)
It would appear (based on tests for Mg, alk and Ca) that I have to dose about 1.2 liters of Mg, 714 mL of Ca and 175 mL of alkalinity.
Gonna start with 1 liter of Mg and 350 mL of Ca and retest.
-Matt
P.S. I finally started removing some of the "dead frag wood" from the tank and freeing up space for water movement last night....skimmer has been going crazy.
Also got the idea in my head that I may save my big monti rock DRY as a kind of trophy instead of busting it all up and trying to "replant" on it as I had been thinking. I might follow suit on all my populated rocks: Frag off a piece of everything I want, then yank the whole rock and let it dry out, bleach it and save it somewhere. Anyway, it's an idea....
OP
OP
mcarroll
10K Club member
Even in its present state there's still a large quantity of SPS and a couple of LPS laying down THAT MUCH skeleton every day.
(And why daily dosing is really the way to go vs what I'm doing at the moment.)
-Matt
(And why daily dosing is really the way to go vs what I'm doing at the moment.)
-Matt
glb
7500 Club Member
Even in its present state there's still a large quantity of SPS and a couple of LPS laying down THAT MUCH skeleton every day.
(And why daily dosing is really the way to go vs what I'm doing at the moment.)
-Matt
I'm doing daily dosing now too. But I have a 12g nano so not so much. Lol
buddythelion
2500 Club Member
So after doing this for about a month and half, what would your opinions be on daily water changes vs dosing? Sounds like it's doable for nanos to replenish the parameters but in a tank with much more corals growing at a rapid rate it might be easier to just dose?Even in its present state there's still a large quantity of SPS and a couple of LPS laying down THAT MUCH skeleton every day.
(And why daily dosing is really the way to go vs what I'm doing at the moment.)
-Matt
OP
OP
mcarroll
10K Club member
I wouldn't look at it as a water changes vs dosing thing, but what you say about light load or tiny tank vs heavy load is true.
Regardless of my dosing regiment, I've mostly always done 20% weekly water changes for their independent benefits.
"Water Change A Day" is really all about me finding a way/time to do ANY water changes.
If I break them down to this size, they are so fast and easy to accomplish that even I am still getting about 20% per week done.
Others might find the fast and easy aspects desirable for different reasons, of course. Or they may simply like the stability it brings.
-Matt
Regardless of my dosing regiment, I've mostly always done 20% weekly water changes for their independent benefits.
"Water Change A Day" is really all about me finding a way/time to do ANY water changes.
If I break them down to this size, they are so fast and easy to accomplish that even I am still getting about 20% per week done.
Others might find the fast and easy aspects desirable for different reasons, of course. Or they may simply like the stability it brings.
-Matt
bknapp
Has been left unattended
Nice work!
I'm still on this train, been doing at least six five gallon changes a week but more often than not all seven days. I'm too lazy to count how many. According to my calendar I've only missed two since October 6th.
I'm still on this train, been doing at least six five gallon changes a week but more often than not all seven days. I'm too lazy to count how many. According to my calendar I've only missed two since October 6th.
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OP
OP
mcarroll
10K Club member
Water change #47!
Well I broke out the power head and 1/2" hose again to blast out the rocks and siphon as much crud as I could.
HOLY COW it's surprising how much c**p builds up! I pulled a measuring cup or even a cup and a half of muck out!*
And I only have three little one-inch fish!
And I JUST did this how many posts ago? (#200) At least it took ~5 years to get this way, I guess. :xd: And at least having the tank bare-bottomed makes cleaning it up a pretty simple exercise.
To all you folks with fish jammed in your tank....(wait for it)...up to their gills...I can only imagine the buildup you get - and how quickly. I recommend every last one of you go bare-bottomed with your tank asap!
-Matt
* That's only what a regular fish net recovered from the siphon stream....there were a lot of fines as well. Gotta do this "filtering" of the waste stream to save the bigger stuff from going down the drain...sandy material can block a drain trap pretty bad.
Well I broke out the power head and 1/2" hose again to blast out the rocks and siphon as much crud as I could.
HOLY COW it's surprising how much c**p builds up! I pulled a measuring cup or even a cup and a half of muck out!*
And I only have three little one-inch fish!
And I JUST did this how many posts ago? (#200) At least it took ~5 years to get this way, I guess. :xd: And at least having the tank bare-bottomed makes cleaning it up a pretty simple exercise.
To all you folks with fish jammed in your tank....(wait for it)...up to their gills...I can only imagine the buildup you get - and how quickly. I recommend every last one of you go bare-bottomed with your tank asap!
-Matt
* That's only what a regular fish net recovered from the siphon stream....there were a lot of fines as well. Gotta do this "filtering" of the waste stream to save the bigger stuff from going down the drain...sandy material can block a drain trap pretty bad.
bknapp
Has been left unattended
I think that sounds like a great policy!
What's your bio load like, btw?
-Matt
I wouldn't consider it a heavy bioload, but not as minimal as yours. Mostly smaller fish (wrasses, chromis, gobies) and a couple of medium sized tangs in a 110 tall. I want to add plenty of more. I'm also utilizing pellets and a turf scrubber. I'd consider it a medium on the heavy side of medium (if that's not vague enough.)
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