JHunt's 30x30x18 SPS Shallow Cube

[Rakie]

Glad I stuck with it. Was demoralizing to say the least for a couple weeks there, and depressing to look at the tank for months. But I've learned A LOT since then. I feel pretty dang stable now, so I better be on my toes haha.

I've always looked at things as an opportunity to learn. It's really unfortunate when it's costly though

 

[jhuntstl]

Woke up nice and early today. Need to take night time shots more often.

 

[Sean Clark]

Amazing photos!

 

[jhuntstl]

Amazing photos!

Thank you, Sean! I upgraded phones recently. It's amazing what these things can do nowadays.

 

[chipchipbro]

awesome progression man!

 

[chipchipbro]

I am jealous man.. this yellow/purple acro looks stunning.. whats that?

aaaand the 3 gonis there are spectacular.. love that! Gonis are so nice

 

[Stang67]

Thank you, Sean! I upgraded phones recently. It's amazing what these things can do nowadays.

Interested in the phone you are using for the pics. Mine is junk at photos.

 

[jhuntstl]

I am jealous man.. this yellow/purple acro looks stunning.. whats that?

aaaand the 3 gonis there are spectacular.. love that! Gonis are so nice

This one?

That was sold to me as a red planet. That's an older pic. I can see bryopsis which I eradicated almost a month ago. It's a little different looking now, I'll try and get a pic later today.

And ya I'm going goni crazy lately. Torch crazy too.

 

[jhuntstl]

Interested in the phone you are using for the pics. Mine is junk at photos.

I was using a Pixel 4, which was fantastic. I upgraded to a Pixel 6 Pro, which is even more fantastic. I have the Orphek filter kit too.

 

[jhuntstl]

Also happy to report this alve is slowly opening back and recovering. @fishguy242

 

[jhuntstl]

Been a while since I've updated.

Since I last posted I've managed to stabilize my pH between 8.3-8.34, day and night. I am using kalkwasser to dose based on pH using my Hydros. This has resulted in pretty high alkalinity. Last tested at 11.4. Calcium 430. Magnesium 1320. I am roughly 7 weeks into this new method and so far the results have been positive.

My only real struggle right now is aiptasia. My filefish just won't eat them anymore. Their numbers are growing and many are getting too close to my acros. I've thought about swapping for a different filefish, but I'm admitedly too lazy and I've become a bit attached to that goofy looking thing.

I have a few peppermint shrimp in the frag and at least one up in the display. The frag is clean of aiptasia as far as I can tell. I believe I'm going to order at least 6 more from Reeftopia and hope they get to work in the DT.

Some recent tank shots.

I got three Smatfarm G5 LED fixtures for this tank a couple months back. The 50w COB leds just weren't cutting it. I'm very impressed so far. I haven't taken par measurements yet. I am just judging by growth, which has been good!

My mandarin is getting FAT in this frag tank. There is a large population of pods living amongst the tiles.

Some other random pics.

 

[jhuntstl]

Sorry. I have no idea how to get rid of this lol

 

[Projects with Sam]

impressive!
click the '[ ]' button in the editor to get rid of the corrupt image.

 

[jhuntstl]

impressive!
click the '[ ]' button in the editor to get rid of the corrupt image.

Thank you! Was getting worse and worse anytime I tried to edit haha.

 

[Gedxin]

Getting close to reef tank of the month caliber here! Love the photos and thriving frag tank shots.

 

[chipchipbro]

awesome work brother!
Props to you! Thats shows what you can achieve with dedication and will.

Stunning!

 

[Gedxin]

Your tank and it's subsequent insane growth (which I think we all suspect is related to your sustained pH) rate has motivated me to try out Kalkwasser in my peninsula. Just bought an Avast Marine K1 kalk stirrer. Goal is to use a dosing pump along with my A4F. I've seen a few posts of people successfully using both. What limewater brand did you end up going with?

 

[jhuntstl]

Your tank and it's subsequent insane growth (which I think we all suspect is related to your sustained pH) rate has motivated me to try out Kalkwasser in my peninsula. Just bought an Avast Marine K1 kalk stirrer. Goal is to use a dosing pump along with my A4F. I've seen a few posts of people successfully using both. What limewater brand did you end up going with?

Avast K1 is a great stirrer! I used one for a bit and loved it. I had it stirring 24/7. Let me know if you have any questions when setting it up.

I use the fancy Captiv8 stuff. It's supposed to be of very high purity. There are much cheaper options out there.

https://www.championlighting.com/reef-blueprint-isol8-ca-oh-2-2500g-kalkwasser.html

 

[Gedxin]

Any details about how you're adding your Kalk? You mentioned Hydros, so I assume you're dosing and not going the ATO route. Are you using a slurry or a mixed set amount per time period? How often are you rinsing/cleaning your reservoir? Do you only dose at night, and have a max pH to stop? What about evaporation, did you measure your evap and alk drop in a day to calculate how much kalk to add? Ahh so many variables!

I ended up buying the kalk you linked. Thank you! Everything should arrive Monday next week!

 

[jhuntstl]

Any details about how you're adding your Kalk? You mentioned Hydros, so I assume you're dosing and not going the ATO route. Are you using a slurry or a mixed set amount per time period? How often are you rinsing/cleaning your reservoir? Do you only dose at night, and have a max pH to stop? What about evaporation, did you measure your evap and alk drop in a day to calculate how much kalk to add? Ahh so many variables!

I ended up buying the kalk you linked. Thank you! Everything should arrive Monday next week!

I dose fully saturated kalkwasser out of a 44g brute. Any calcium hydroxide that doesn't dissolve, settles on the bottom. My feed line is above the sediment to avoid dosing any slurry. I have only cleaned my reservoir once so far. Probably something I'll do every couple months.

I dose all day since I have opposite light cycle tanks on the same system. I'm using a peristatlic pump to dose based on pH. On at 8.3 and off at 8.34(contolled by hydros). The peristaltic is set to about 15ml/hour. I'm dosing roughly 3g/day. This will give you an idea of how often it kicks on and off.

No calculations. I'm just letting pH decide how much to dose. I am no longer shooting for a specific alkalinity. Although I have found alk is relatively stable day to day with this method. It's just been higher than most people would comfortably run. I started at 7.4 and climbed quickly over a couple weeks maintaining 8.3pH. At peak I was nearly 13dkh, then mid 11's for a while, most recent test was just over 10. There has been a gradual and slow drop in alkalinity over the last couple months as consumption increases. Wouldn't be surprised if I'm in the 9s now. No big swings that I've seen, but I don't test alk often, so could be wrong.

You could set your K1 up to your ATO pump and dose your kalkwasser that way. I know a local guy who's been doing this for years with no issues. You could also get a separate dosing pump or peristaltic and feed your K1 from say a 5g bucket of RO water. I think this might be the safer route to go if you want to use it alongside AFR. You will have more control to maintain whatever alkalinity you're aiming for.

Can't help you with calculating exactly how much to reduce AFR and replace with kalkwasser. To be honest I found balancing the two to be a PITA. But I'm also kinda lazy and stupid. :) There's a lot of people successfully using both of these in sync with beautiful tanks.