OP
OP
Going to try and get some new pics up soon.
Unfortunately I did just lose two new acro frags. They went RTN the day after I removed from plugs and mounted them. I'm not sure if I stressed them with clumsy mounting (just used the standard glue - epoxy - glue setup) or due to a salinity swing. My DOSE for AWC was a little bit off of calibration and I was pulling more saltwater out than I was adding so salinity dipped from my steady 35ppm to 34.5 over the course of a couple days. Not a huge swing but I don't know what else could be the reason. Another acro had some STN on the tips but after a trim that one seems fine. Montis and my other acros all look fine so fingers crossed.
I have been battling some lowish PH. It's been dipping down to 7.6/7.7 lately overnight. I'm not really sure why. Tank is in the living room but the airflow is solid and we don't spend much time in there either way, plus I have a ton of houseplants around. Perhaps not using a skimmer in this build is contributing.
I'm struggling to get my macro algae (sea lettuce and chaeto) really growing. Phosphate and nitrate levels are sufficient at about 15 for nitrates and around .4 for Phosphates so it's not that. My corals are all tiny so it's not an elemental and I've been doing 15% WCs a week so that should more than cover that. Lighting is plenty adequate with a Kessil Tuna Flora 160 and a 18W chaeto max. I actually had to off set them as the lettuce was getting bleached.
So yesterday I switched from sodium carbonate to sodium hydroxide. Used goggles and arm length gloves for safety. I mixed using half gallon glass jugs that I had leftover from home brewing. The solution did get quite warm so be careful if you use plastic. Drilled a little hole in the cap for the tubing so I feel pretty good about the level of safety. The containers are in my office anyway so kids/dogs aren't around to mess with it.
First time having a decorator urchin and I have to say it puts in more work eating algae than any tang I've owned. In two days it cleaned all the hair algae from my fuge. It's spotless!
Unfortunately I did just lose two new acro frags. They went RTN the day after I removed from plugs and mounted them. I'm not sure if I stressed them with clumsy mounting (just used the standard glue - epoxy - glue setup) or due to a salinity swing. My DOSE for AWC was a little bit off of calibration and I was pulling more saltwater out than I was adding so salinity dipped from my steady 35ppm to 34.5 over the course of a couple days. Not a huge swing but I don't know what else could be the reason. Another acro had some STN on the tips but after a trim that one seems fine. Montis and my other acros all look fine so fingers crossed.
I have been battling some lowish PH. It's been dipping down to 7.6/7.7 lately overnight. I'm not really sure why. Tank is in the living room but the airflow is solid and we don't spend much time in there either way, plus I have a ton of houseplants around. Perhaps not using a skimmer in this build is contributing.
I'm struggling to get my macro algae (sea lettuce and chaeto) really growing. Phosphate and nitrate levels are sufficient at about 15 for nitrates and around .4 for Phosphates so it's not that. My corals are all tiny so it's not an elemental and I've been doing 15% WCs a week so that should more than cover that. Lighting is plenty adequate with a Kessil Tuna Flora 160 and a 18W chaeto max. I actually had to off set them as the lettuce was getting bleached.
So yesterday I switched from sodium carbonate to sodium hydroxide. Used goggles and arm length gloves for safety. I mixed using half gallon glass jugs that I had leftover from home brewing. The solution did get quite warm so be careful if you use plastic. Drilled a little hole in the cap for the tubing so I feel pretty good about the level of safety. The containers are in my office anyway so kids/dogs aren't around to mess with it.
First time having a decorator urchin and I have to say it puts in more work eating algae than any tang I've owned. In two days it cleaned all the hair algae from my fuge. It's spotless!
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