Diving The World's 80g Acro Wonderland!

ScottB

7500 Club Member
View Badges
Joined
Mar 5, 2018
Messages
7,888
Reaction score
12,169
Location
Fairfield County, CT
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
RRU Event Horizon Milli

542.JPG
That was one of my favorite pieces. Sadly, not so resilient though. Years ago, so cannot recall what I did to kill it but I did. Vaguely think it was a dip for aefw.

I know I will replace it sometime.

Keep the pics coming!
 
OP
OP
DivingTheWorld

DivingTheWorld

Acroholic
View Badges
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,396
Reaction score
7,375
Location
NorCal
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
That was one of my favorite pieces. Sadly, not so resilient though. Years ago, so cannot recall what I did to kill it but I did. Vaguely think it was a dip for aefw.

I know I will replace it sometime.

Keep the pics coming!
It’s definitely a nice Milli but it’s stalled out a bit in my tank. It has a good base but hasn’t started branching…
 
OP
OP
DivingTheWorld

DivingTheWorld

Acroholic
View Badges
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,396
Reaction score
7,375
Location
NorCal
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Well, since picture posts aren't working on the forum right now, I thought I'd do a quick write up on my WC procedure....

If you follow my thread, you know I only use regular IO (no not that RC stuff!). I do 10g/week so those costs can add up. After reading research RHF did in an old article I can no longer find, it was either Tropic Marin Pro Reef or IO and IO is a lot cheaper. And with the recent developments with the former, I think I made the right choice.

So how do I mix it up?

I make my own RODI (0 tds) using a BRS system and mix up 40g at a time in a 44g Brute with a powerhead that runs 24/7. I dump in 20 cups of salt to garage temp water which is generally cold. Once it mostly clears which takes an hour or two, I add a heater to bring the temp up to 77 degrees. In the winter this can take overnight.

Once I have the temp right and the water is crystal clear, I test for salinity (Tropic Marin Pro Hydrometer) and Magnesium (Salifert). At this point both are generally a bit low, so I boost both until I get to about 1.0258 (I run my tank at 1.0264) salinity and 1500 Mag. My tank tends to increase salinity over time due to dosing so doing WC with a slightly lower salinity keeps my tank salinity even.

Next I test for Alkalinity (Hanna) and Calcium (Salifert). Calcium is generally right at 400 or a bit above, but on the rare occasions it's lower I boost it to 400. Alkalinity is generally around 9.5-10 so I drop it to 7.5 using HCL Acid from a pool supply store. Adding the acid drops the pH, so I then run an airstone in the brute for 24-48 hours to bring it back up.

Finally, I do a test of all available parameters to double check. Here's a recent example of what my WC water tests out at:

Salinity - 1.0258
Alkalinity - 7.504
Calcium - 400
Magnesium - 1530
Phosphate - 0.0460
pH - 8.4

I then turn off the heater and only turn it back on the evening before each water change. The water stays crystal clear with solid parameters for the next month of water changes.
 
OP
OP
DivingTheWorld

DivingTheWorld

Acroholic
View Badges
Joined
Sep 6, 2018
Messages
2,396
Reaction score
7,375
Location
NorCal
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I made one of those mistakes today that really makes you question yourself. I was in the middle of testing parameters in a brand new batch of 40g WC water and everything was spot on. At the same time I had the lid off my RODI water in a brute right next to it and I was topping off my DT reservoir. At the same time my 9 year old daughter was following me around telling me all about some other girls at school and everything they're up to (if you have a young daughter you know what I'm talking about). :rolleyes:

So I walk out to the garage to get another scoop of RODI and I notice that my WC water is down about an inch...

I put 2 and 2 together and realized I've been topping off my reservoir with saltwater... ;Facepalm

An hour and a few choice words (under my breath) later and my reservoir is totally cleaned, wiped out and refilled with fresh RODI. My WC brute is back up to proper volume and calculation is about another 1/2 cup of salt and I'm good.

Kids, fish tanks, life, throws a curve sometimes. Would I change a thing? Nope.
 

JCOLE

Grower of the Small Polyps
View Badges
Joined
Mar 12, 2018
Messages
4,081
Reaction score
11,033
Location
Charlotte, NC
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
So I made one of those mistakes today that really makes you question yourself. I was in the middle of testing parameters in a brand new batch of 40g WC water and everything was spot on. At the same time I had the lid off my RODI water in a brute right next to it and I was topping off my DT reservoir. At the same time my 9 year old daughter was following me around telling me all about some other girls at school and everything they're up to (if you have a young daughter you know what I'm talking about). :rolleyes:

So I walk out to the garage to get another scoop of RODI and I notice that my WC water is down about an inch...

I put 2 and 2 together and realized I've been topping off my reservoir with saltwater... ;Facepalm

An hour and a few choice words (under my breath) later and my reservoir is totally cleaned, wiped out and refilled with fresh RODI. My WC brute is back up to proper volume and calculation is about another 1/2 cup of salt and I'm good.

Kids, fish tanks, life, throws a curve sometimes. Would I change a thing? Nope.

I know it sucks man but it made me laugh when you talked about your daughter. I have three boys and I know how it goes with distractions. A couple weeks ago I was filling up my saltwater reservoir from my freshwater Reservoir and I walked away to do something for a second and my five-year-old started talking to me and I had to go and check on something. Needless to say, I went back into the garage 5 minutes later to the sound of overflowing water. I had emptied my entire fresh water reservoir into my saltwater Reservoir which then flooded my garage. SMH!
 

spsick

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
1,433
Reaction score
1,681
Location
Mpls, MN
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Beautiful reef you have here! Silly question but for your 2 bulb section of the photoperiod are they 2x blue plus? I run a very similar system to yours but you have me beat on colors!
 

spsick

Valuable Member
View Badges
Joined
Feb 17, 2018
Messages
1,433
Reaction score
1,681
Location
Mpls, MN
Rating - 0%
0   0   0
Thanks! For my 2 bulb channel I run 1 Blue Plus and 1 Actinic.

Right on. I’ve been running 1 c+ 1 B+ on that channel for a while just because it‘s nicer to look at for more of the day but I feel like my corals aren’t quite as healthy as when I did strictly actinic for the start/end of the photoperiod.
 

When to mix up fish meal: When was the last time you tried a different brand of food for your reef?

  • I regularly change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 29 27.4%
  • I occasionally change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 35 33.0%
  • I rarely change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 33 31.1%
  • I never change the food that I feed to the tank.

    Votes: 7 6.6%
  • Other.

    Votes: 2 1.9%
Back
Top