Isaac's Cadlight 70 Gallon Artisan II Build

[Isaac Alves]

Wow. What are you doing to match your tank levels? I found that getting a salt closer to my tanks parameters helps a lot as well as doing smaller water changes more frequently. RTN can be caused by a few things. Are you starting your sps down low to acclimate them to the lights? Do you dose alk and calcium? I was definitely more successful when I was able to keep my chemistry tight.

I've been dosing to match what is depleting from my target parameters of

9dkh
450 calcium
1359 mag

Admittedly my nitrates are 9-10 but phosphates at my most recent measurement was at 0.14ppm. Still trying to bring this down... It is falling. I purchased a Hanna phosphorous checker last week so i think my measurements here area pretty accurate.



PH fluctuates between 8.01-8.2 in a 24 hour period. I was hoping that running an airline to the outside would help push this up or stabilize but I have not seeing any real difference. I dose alk around the clock. My refugium light runs at a reverse schedule, with only 6 hours of dark for the plant respiration.


My guess is the phosphates are still causing distress. That, and light acclimation.


Regarding checking parameters of newly mixed saltwater I'm just using the hanna alk checker and ph probe. Then making sure salinity and temps are matched.

 

[Mal11224]

I've been dosing to match what is depleting from my target parameters of

9dkh
450 calcium
1359 mag

Admittedly my nitrates are 9-10 but phosphates at my most recent measurement was at 0.14ppm. Still trying to bring this down... It is falling. I purchased a Hanna phosphorous checker last week so i think my measurements here area pretty accurate.



PH fluctuates between 8.01-8.2 in a 24 hour period. I was hoping that running an airline to the outside would help push this up or stabilize but I have not seeing any real difference. I dose alk around the clock. My refugium light runs at a reverse schedule, with only 6 hours of dark for the plant respiration.


My guess is the phosphates are still causing distress. That, and light acclimation.


Regarding checking parameters of newly mixed saltwater I'm just using the hanna alk checker and ph probe. Then making sure salinity and temps are matched.

Yeah, I think if you do smaller water changes perhaps more frequently, you may not need to do the dosing as mentioned above. It seems like a lot of work. I assume you are using math to get the numbers you need. the ph issue is probably unavoidable. You are in a warm climate and your tank is in a living space where the oxygen is used by the people in the house. I thought the airline would help.
I suspect that the sps corals may have been affected by the lighting more than anything. With high nutrients, sps tend to brown a little and from my experience, RTN usually occurs from strong lighting or sudden changes in alkalinity and calcium. Did you place the corals near the bottom of the tank?

 

[Isaac Alves]

Kalkwasser overdose due to skimmer overflow and me taking out the APEX code to limit run time [emoji37] pH spiked to 9.8 while I was out with the kids. Luckily the APEX texted me and we ran home.

Brought the pH down to 8.4 within an hour with initial emergency 10% water change and muriatic acid slowly dripping while APEX monitoring sump pH and hanna probe monitoring tank pH. ...pH stable now. Extra carbon running to help clear water.


Not fun...

 

[Isaac Alves]

So today was all about dumb luck.. So far. Fish look good and the tank cloudiness is clearing. I think I caught the error in time.

Current APEX dash board as of 8:20pm

 

[Isaac Alves]

I was just lucky...at this point. I worry that there could be damage that I have not seen yet. But I was able to bring the pH down to a stable 8.4 within that hour.

Except for a coating of dust, the animals appear healthy, my anemone garden appears plump and happy. Only my yellow tang appeared to have some distress but is now swimming around calmly.

Going back now and refining my apex programming and looking at the issues at hand I had three things occur: First, I switched wireless carriers and the APEX needed to reset the SMS provider in order to send a text...which I did not get; It was actually dumb luck that I looked at my phone when I did. Second, I didn't have the time limit 'When ON' script in the program. Most importantly, and third, I coded my skimmate overflow cup backward so that the FMM Module turned the PMUP pump on into my kalk stirrer instead of off.

 

[Isaac Alves]

For reference, but if anyone sees issues with my scripting please let me know.

My current coding now (as shown above):

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If pH > 8.35 Then OFF
If lvlH20 OPEN Then ON
If Hi_H20 CLOSED Then OFF
If FeedA 005 Then OFF
If Power Apex Off 005 Then OFF
Defer 000:30 Then ON
Defer 000:10 Then OFF
Min Time 015:00 Then OFF
When On > 000:40 Then OFF
If CupFul OPEN Then OFF
If pH > 8.35 Then OFF​

Now, if I believe my ordering of this code is correct. I'm making sure that its natural state is to remain off. The outlet is set to off. I notice I have two "Watch if my pH is greater than 8.35 then turn off" scripts....not sure if I need that. But the 'When ON > 000:40 Then OFF" should only allow the ATK to run for 40 seconds at max then shut off...then it will need to defer 10 seconds to actually turn off...then it will not turn back on until 15 minutes go by.

If anyone sees issues with my scripting please let me know.

 

[Isaac Alves]

The strangest event in all this was the second Coris Wrasse made an appearance! After almost 2 months of being thought of as dead, he makes his entrance in all the chaos. Literally unseen for two months.

 

[Second Shot]

Oh man hopefully you don’t see any issues. May be too early to tell right now though.

 

[Isaac Alves]

https://instagram.com/p/Biini0yBlNy/

I love keeping saltwater aquariums. Simply because of the amount of life that appears as if from nowhere to become prolific.

My marine shoal tank, aka my marine planted tank, originally my Mandarin Goby tank --- Who's fat and happy feeding on what I'm guessing is a plethora of zooplankton and amphipods --- is now a self sustaining ecosystem.

This one corner of the tank is the seedy under world's town center. That's bristle worms, spaghetti worms, mini stars, orphaned but street smart fry, amphipods, magically surviving white worms, etc...

 

[Isaac Alves]

https://instagram.com/p/BipcD3vljCa/

 

[Isaac Alves]

2 years and 4 months and I think my little reef ecosystem is thriving and going strong.

 

[Isaac Alves]

HOMEMADE MASSTICK HOW TO!! It works great. I made this in an accident but I love it. There are four short vids here.

Let me know if you guys do this? Great way to use up food that hasn't been used.


Just remember, seal your food bags. Look at the expiration. Always add vitamin supplements. You can also bind meds using Focus and Metroplex.
#happyreefing [emoji4]

https://www.instagram.com/p/BkisrUUBFkT/

 

[Isaac Alves]

Laser gun for Apitasia killing....

https://instagram.com/p/Bk_-laRBb75/

 

[Isaac Alves]

‪Sure, I can keep more than two ‬
‪clowns in an 80 gallon reef. [emoji23]‬

 

[sikorskys]

2 years and 4 months and I think my little reef ecosystem is thriving and going strong.

Is this green star polyps over staghorn skeleton?

 

[Isaac Alves]

Is this green star polyps over staghorn skeleton?

Nope. These are *Briareum Asbestinum*, aka, Branching Star Polyps. Very cool looking and spread just as quickly.

 

[Isaac Alves]

 

[Isaac Alves]

Home Made-Made Masstick-like Marine Food

I pack this with Selcon, Garlic extract, APEX Crossover Diet, SeaWeed Extreme, PE Mysis Pellets, Sustainable Aquatics Pellets, and Reef Chili. Everyone loves it.

 

[BigAl07]

2 years and 4 months and I think my little reef ecosystem is thriving and going strong.

First off your tank looks PHENOMENAL! I started reading this thread late last night and just now finished. It's quite the journey and I've enjoyed reading it along every step of the way.

I'm going to have to read up on your Branching Star Polyps as they look awesome.

Thanks for keeping the updates coming.

Allen

 

[Highgrade]

Nope. These are *Briareum Asbestinum*, aka, Branching Star Polyps. Very cool looking and spread just as quickly.

Tank is looking good. I often have debates with people about Briareum. They never seem to believe that it branches and its GSP growing over acro skeletons. Given it can be evasive if not manage its a great coral. Love mine I picked up from ASD.