HotRocks SPS Dominant 425XL. Yes, Another Tank...

[HotRocks]

When those frags grow out- OH boy. . . watch out

I’m so impatient though! Lol I want them to grow faster!

 

[HotRocks]

That's like trading majanos attached to frag plugs covered in dinos. Lol.

Grats on the trident! Holy grail system coming together!

Hahahaha what a great analogy! Thanks man I’m liking the system just still trying to get things dialed in and all the corals thriving!

 

[Brew12]

I’m so impatient though! Lol I want them to grow faster!

Have you tried asking nicely? ;Smuggrin

 

[HotRocks]

Have you tried asking nicely? ;Smuggrin

I’ve tried everything. Including cussing some.

I’m not sure what exactly it is that I can’t find the sweet spot for. Now if got my self all jacked up on test kits lol.

 

[Brew12]

I’m not sure what exactly it is that I can’t find the sweet spot for. Now if got my self all jacked up on test kits lol.

Finding that sweet spot is the hardest part of reefing imo. You need stability for corals to thrive, but you need to change stuff to get it dialed in. I've also found that once an event happens that shocks a coral and stops growth it won't always grow again when conditions are restored. I've found I have to break branches off or even scrape tissue away to trigger growth again. Makes no sense to me, but it has worked.

 

[HotRocks]

Finding that sweet spot is the hardest part of reefing imo. You need stability for corals to thrive, but you need to change stuff to get it dialed in. I've also found that once an event happens that shocks a coral and stops growth it won't always grow again when conditions are restored. I've found I have to break branches off or even scrape tissue away to trigger growth again. Makes no sense to me, but it has worked.

Yeah I don’t know what to think about my calcium now...
Hanna 385
Red Sea 440
Salifert 430
Trident 400
What to do what to do...

As far as alk goes my Hanna, Salifert, and Trident are all reading within .1dkh of each other. I didn’t test Red Sea alk since they are all so close.

 

[Flippers4pups]

Yeah I don’t know what to think about my calcium now...
Hanna 385
Red Sea 440
Salifert 430
Trident 400
What to do what to do...

As far as alk goes my Hanna, Salifert, and Trident are all reading within .1dkh of each other. I didn’t test Red Sea alk since they are all so close.

I wouldn't worry too much about those numbers for calcium. It's at levels available to your coral. Now alkalinity needs to be stable, long term.

I let my calcium run as high as 500 and my alkalinity stays at 9.5 consistently. Thanks to kalkwasser.

 

[Brew12]

Yeah I don’t know what to think about my calcium now...
Hanna 385
Red Sea 440
Salifert 430
Trident 400
What to do what to do...

As far as alk goes my Hanna, Salifert, and Trident are all reading within .1dkh of each other. I didn’t test Red Sea alk since they are all so close.

This stuff drives me nuts! I want all my test kits to read the same, or at least reasonably close. I would dose to get my Trident reading 425 and call it good. All of your readings would be in an acceptable range at that point imo, and I figure that will be your main testing method going forward.

I ended up getting an alkalinity standard so I could check my test kits against it. I picked that up before BRS started stocking this.

Saltwater Multi Reference Solution

The only reference solution based on a saltwater matrix that includes 8 of the most popular parameters for saltwater aquariums in a single solution. Fauna Marin’s Multi-Reference Solution is used to check your home water test kits for accuracy. Using your water test kits at home, you can measure...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I keep meaning to order it, but I recommend getting it so you can verify your test kits against it and see which is the most accurate.

 

[Willy315]

Nice looking setup!

 

[Flippers4pups]

This stuff drives me nuts! I want all my test kits to read the same, or at least reasonably close. I would dose to get my Trident reading 425 and call it good. All of your readings would be in an acceptable range at that point imo, and I figure that will be your main testing method going forward.

I ended up getting an alkalinity standard so I could check my test kits against it. I picked that up before BRS started stocking this.

Saltwater Multi Reference Solution

The only reference solution based on a saltwater matrix that includes 8 of the most popular parameters for saltwater aquariums in a single solution. Fauna Marin’s Multi-Reference Solution is used to check your home water test kits for accuracy. Using your water test kits at home, you can measure...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I keep meaning to order it, but I recommend getting it so you can verify your test kits against it and see which is the most accurate.

In all due respect to you guys, all that cross reference testing would drive me nuts! I honestly don't think you could ever know which test to believe.

Devil's advocate, @Brew12, how sure are you that the fauna test solution is accurate?

God, I'm starting to sound like Richard Ross! Lol!

Hope you guys don't take offense in what I just said.

 

[Crabs McJones]

In all due respect to you guys, all that cross reference testing would drive me nuts! I honestly don't think you could ever know which test to believe.

Devil's advocate, @Brew12, how sure are you that the fauna test solution is accurate?

God, I'm starting to sound like Richard Ross! Lol!

Hope you guys don't take offense in what I just said.

You've met kyle IRL, you know hes nuts!

 

[Flippers4pups]

You've met kyle IRL, you know hes nuts!

I was thinking the other way around about me! Lol

 

[HotRocks]

I wouldn't worry too much about those numbers for calcium. It's at levels available to your coral. Now alkalinity needs to be stable, long term.

I let my calcium run as high as 500 and my alkalinity stays at 9.5 consistently. Thanks to kalkwasser.

My alk runs consistent at 8.5 (I do test daily with my Hanna once at the same time) and I know it’s very early in the trident game. I am still running on the factory calibration as it’s recommended to run it out of the box for a few days then run the calibration procedure with the standard they include. So after 24 hours my alk is staying within .1dkh.

 

[Brew12]

In all due respect to you guys, all that cross reference testing would drive me nuts! I honestly don't think you could ever know which test to believe.

Devil's advocate, @Brew12, how sure are you that the fauna test solution is accurate?

God, I'm starting to sound like Richard Ross! Lol!

Hope you guys don't take offense in what I just said.

Well, I guess the reference solution could be wrong. The mix up a big batch of saltwater and have it tested at a lab. They include the lab results for the batch of water your bottle was filled with in the box. Hopefully it is much more accurate than we can do as hobbyists.

I do agree though, as I've grown in the hobby I worry about the sampling accuracy less and less. I've gone back to the API nitrate test and will probably switch to the API calcium test. They are much easier to use and I'm not overly concerned about accuracy anymore. It's only the Alk that I still stress over.

 

[HotRocks]

This stuff drives me nuts! I want all my test kits to read the same, or at least reasonably close. I would dose to get my Trident reading 425 and call it good. All of your readings would be in an acceptable range at that point imo, and I figure that will be your main testing method going forward.

I ended up getting an alkalinity standard so I could check my test kits against it. I picked that up before BRS started stocking this.

Saltwater Multi Reference Solution

The only reference solution based on a saltwater matrix that includes 8 of the most popular parameters for saltwater aquariums in a single solution. Fauna Marin’s Multi-Reference Solution is used to check your home water test kits for accuracy. Using your water test kits at home, you can measure...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

I keep meaning to order it, but I recommend getting it so you can verify your test kits against it and see which is the most accurate.

I drives me insane. I’m a numbers guy and I knew better than to even do it, but here we are lol!

In all due respect to you guys, all that cross reference testing would drive me nuts! I honestly don't think you could ever know which test to believe.

Devil's advocate, @Brew12, how sure are you that the fauna test solution is accurate?

God, I'm starting to sound like Richard Ross! Lol!

Hope you guys don't take offense in what I just said.

Oh I am so offended! LOL Whatever! I am probably one of the hardest people in the world to offend (as long as you leave my family alone).

@Thales is a good person to sound like IMO. I know he runs a trident and per the videos I’ve seen of him speaking about it he concerns himself much less with the actual value and worries more about seeing trends or changes to the number at hand opposed to what the actual value is. This includes all things monitored by Apex not just trident values.

 

[Dominic Prezwanski]

Nice! I love my 425xl! I just recently removed most of my lps coral and am starting over with sps. I also changed my lights, was on the verge of buying the Aquatic life 48" with 2x XR30 pros but decided to build my own light box instead. I had two kessil ap700 previously.

what material did you use for the light box?

 

[Flippers4pups]

I drives me insane. I’m a numbers guy and I knew better than to even do it, but here we are lol!

Oh I am so offended! LOL Whatever! I am probably one of the hardest people in the world to offend (as long as you leave my family alone).

@Thales is a good person to sound like IMO. I know he runs a trident and per the videos I’ve seen of him speaking about it he concerns himself much less with the actual value and worries more about seeing trends or changes to the number at hand opposed to what the actual value is. This includes all things monitored by Apex not just trident values.

Just being PC. I'm never one to purposely try to "offend" anyone! Now I'm sounding like the Rev! Lol

Well, I guess the reference solution could be wrong. The mix up a big batch of saltwater and have it tested at a lab. They include the lab results for the batch of water your bottle was filled with in the box. Hopefully it is much more accurate than we can do as hobbyists.

I do agree though, as I've grown in the hobby I worry about the sampling accuracy less and less. I've gone back to the API nitrate test and will probably switch to the API calcium test. They are much easier to use and I'm not overly concerned about accuracy anymore. It's only the Alk that I still stress over.

I'm the same. API for everything except alkalinity, I use salifert and P04, I use Hanna.

 

[HotRocks]

Just being PC. I'm never one to purposely try to "offend" anyone! Now I'm sounding like the Rev! Lol




I'm the same. API for everything except alkalinity, I use salifert and P04, I use Hannah.

You should keep it more interesting Don! Get multiple test kits and drive yourself nuts!
I use salifert generally. For the big 3 and Nitrate. Hanna for alk and phosphate. I dislike the Hanna calcium checker the test couldn’t be any more of a pain... LOL

I have the Red Sea kits for iodine, potassium, and iron but rarely test them.

 

[Flippers4pups]

You should keep it more interesting Don! Get multiple test kits and drive yourself nuts!
I use salifert generally. For the big 3 and Nitrate. Hanna for alk and phosphate. I dislike the Hanna calcium checker the test couldn’t be any more of a pain... LOL

I have the Red Sea kits for iodine, potassium, and iron but rarely test them.

Kyle, I should have started out saying that I've done the same with kits. Same result, migraine and "nuts"! Lol

Then back to sensibility and just sticking to one kit. If it wasn't for using kalkwasser, I would be chasing alkalinity every week. I use to dose by hand alkalinity solution every couple days before kalk. Was driving me "nuts". Went back to my roots and started adding it to my top off reservoir like I did when I started the hobby. If I had a bigger tank, I'd go calcium reactor. Still might someday.

 

[HotRocks]

Kyle, I should have started out saying that I've done the same with kits. Same result, migraine and "nuts"! Lol

Then back to sensibility and just sticking to one kit. If it wasn't for using kalkwasser, I would be chasing alkalinity every week. I use to dose by hand alkalinity solution every couple days before kalk. Was driving me "nuts". Went back to my roots and started adding it to my top off reservoir like I did when I started the hobby. If I had a bigger tank, I'd go calcium reactor. Still might someday.

There will always be a million ways! That is for sure! I’m just dosing 2 part