Caleb's first reef tank

[That Crusso Kid]

I think I read the whole thread last night but cannot remember.

Anyways, following along now. (Mostly to give @tbrown a hard time but may throw in a serious post now and then.)

 

[Impunitus]

I use the big bag of Arm and Hammer. I use it as needed in my pool, my wife uses it for baking, I use it in the reef... Lots of uses so we buy the big bag.

Make sure you get Baking soda, not Baking powder.

Figured the big bag was the choice here. Used to use that when I helped dad with our pool before I moved out, but will add it to my shopping list!

Do you bake it at all to make bicarbonate? The ph boost may help me out which is why I ask

 

[tbrown]

Figured the big bag was the choice here. Used to use that when I helped dad with our pool before I moved out, but will add it to my shopping list!

Do you bake it at all to make bicarbonate? The ph boost may help me out which is why I ask

I just use it as is. The pH would be a good thing for my tank as well but I have this rare disease called "laziness" where I rarely premix or prepare anything ahead of time...

 

[Impunitus]

Figured the big bag was the choice here. Used to use that when I helped dad with our pool before I moved out, but will add it to my shopping list!

Do you bake it at all to make bicarbonate? The ph boost may help me out which is why I ask

I just use it as is. The pH would be a good thing for my tank as well but I have this rare disease called "laziness" where I rarely premix or prepare anything ahead of time...

I too have this disease. It has been made worse since the baby! I often find myself being nap trapped...like right now. Such a shame I can't do anything productive

 

[tbrown]

I too have this disease. It has been made worse since the baby! I often find myself being nap trapped...like right now. Such a shame I can't do anything productive

 

[Impunitus]

Alk dropped to 8.4 from 8.6. Dosed up to 8.75.

Will continue testing alk daily for a week to see if ~.2 is my daily consumption.

 

[Impunitus]

Not sure how I forgot this, but it appears I had bought a Hanna all tester and just never used it. Pretty sure the reagent came expired since it expired 9/2025 and I don't even think I had any Hanna testers at that point...

ANYWAYS...ran it anyways cause what does it hurt to see if it's testing something in line with my Salifert test results. Hanna was 8.3 today and Salifert was 8.45. So close enough but will get a new bottle of reagent ordered to see if I just suck really bad at reading the Salifert tests.

Nitrates still bottomed out. Phosphates at 0.16 so climbing a little bit. Corals all still look happy.

Dosed a little more than I have been doing of alk buffer, letting that rest for 15-20 minutes before testing to see where we get.

I see why people do this with baking soda...this is by no means a large tank and I would be absolutely ripping through this bottle if I wasn't taking it super slowly with the increases.

Some sad news from earlier this week though. We ended up taking our boxer Honey to the emergency vet after the holiday weekend. We had thought maybe she got stung by a bee over the weekend but she has some serious drooping on the right side of her face. Emergency vet believes it to be something neurological, whether that be a brain tumor, cancer, or something else is not really known. All her other bloodwork came back within norms, so points to something in her brain. Next option for getting a more complete diagnosis would be an MRI but she may not come out of anesthesia in tact given what the issue may be. Closest MRIs are also a multiple hour car ride in one direction. She is a 10 year old dog and still getting around good enough so we are just going to keep a good eye on her and continue to let her live a comfortable life with us. We just need to be careful around stairs and put lubricant in her right eye as she isn't blinking it normally at this point. You wouldn't know anything is wrong with the way she acts for the most part. Still jumping around like a puppy, even with a loss of balance in her rear!