Megabite's 180 Reef - Round 2

skey44 · Dec 24, 2025

MegabiteOG said:
Moved a couple of my probes (PH & ORP) last night from the back chamber to the return chamber of the sump. Easier to get to to clean and I think I'm getting a more accurate reading with the better flow. Wish I can get my PH up some.

I do a little pH chasing. I add 2tsp/8ga kalkwasser to my top off water and I get a solid ph boost without going full kalk dosing. I’ve been doing this for 6 months now. My tunze osmolator pump is still kicking, and I snagged a backup recently in case of early failure.

MegabiteOG · Dec 24, 2025

skey44 said:
I do a little pH chasing. I add 2tsp/8ga kalkwasser to my top off water and I get a solid ph boost without going full kalk dosing. I’ve been doing this for 6 months now. My tunze osmolator pump is still kicking, and I snagged a backup recently in case of early failure.

Thanks for the suggestion. I ran Kalk on my old tank and did very well. I was holding off on this one until the corals matured a bit, but considering going that route soon. I’m currently dosing 95ml daily of soda ash and calcium along with 1% daily water changes so I think I’m getting there. I do like the ph boost with kalk and going through about 1.8 gallons of evaporation daily.

skey44 · Dec 24, 2025

MegabiteOG said:
Thanks for the suggestion. I ran Kalk on my old tank and did very well. I was holding off on the one until the corals matured a bit, but considering going that route soon. I’m currently dosing 95ml daily of soda ash and calcium along with 1% daily water changes so I think I’m getting there. I do like the ph boost with kalk and going through about 1.8 gallons of evaporation daily.

I’m doing all for reef and just topping off with that tiny bit of dilute kalk for ph boost. I may eventually go full kalkwasser but my method is working very well for now. Saw lots of increased growth when I switched. Kinda kick started the tank. I also feel like it’s so dilute there’s very little chance to nuke your tank with it the way I use it.
Soda ash is a ph booster too isn’t it?
I honestly don’t calibrate my pH probe. Just look for trends with it, but I like my current pH numbers so I’m gonna believe it bc I like it

MegabiteOG · Dec 24, 2025

My goni garden in the morning sun. I have a window near the tank. I was worried about algae but no problem so far.

skey44 · Dec 24, 2025

Goni garden looking great! I’ve had a tank with a lot of natural light before, near a window and it wasn’t a problem at all. Corals seemed to love it.

MegabiteOG · Dec 24, 2025

skey44 said:
Goni garden looking great! I’ve had a tank with a lot of natural light before, near a window and it wasn’t a problem at all. Corals seemed to love it.

Clam looks, well, happy as a clam.

Is that a Borbonius Anthias in the background?

MegabiteOG · Dec 24, 2025

skey44 said:
I’m doing all for reef and just topping off with that tiny bit of dilute kalk for ph boost. I may eventually go full kalkwasser but my method is working very well for now. Saw lots of increased growth when I switched. Kinda kick started the tank. I also feel like it’s so dilute there’s very little chance to nuke your tank with it the way I use it.
Soda ash is a ph booster too isn’t it?
I honestly don’t calibrate my pH probe. Just look for trends with it, but I like my current pH numbers so I’m gonna believe it bc I like it

Yes, Soda Ash is a booster as well. It helps but I'd like to see a higher PH. Maybe if I calibrate my PH it can be like yours

MegabiteOG · Dec 26, 2025

Quick update on the new rainbow. Still pretty stressed but doing okay. Not much PE but hopefully will settle down in a few days.

MegabiteOG · Dec 27, 2025

That Crusso Kid said:
Stalker alert!

I've been stalking, er, um, watching your thread ever since you showed up over on @skey44 's build thread. So, I guess I've been standing in the shadows for about a month, or so, now. It's been a test for me and I must admit that keeping my mouth shut for so long has impressed even me. (There are a couple other reefers following you that will attest to this.) Especially because you are really killing it and have such a nice system. However, after seeing the post above about paying $45 for that frag, I can no longer keep quiet. It's so nice to see that there are still places out there that aren't trying to completely rip people's wallets from their pockets. Unfortunately, in recent years, these have become so few and far between that I just had to say something. It helps restore my thoughts that there are some great LFSes still in action. Thanks for sharing.

WARNING: you may come to rue the day that I broke my silence. Right, @kingranch2003 ?

Man, I totally missed your post. Sorry about that! Welcome aboard and thanks for the compliments on the tank! Yeah, got a great deal on that frag. Hopefully it finds it likes the tank and does well for me.

Looks like you're in the Tampa areas. I'm a native Floridian born and raised in Miami. Also lived in Orlando for a few years, and frequent Florida and the Tampa area all the time.

Feel free to be you and say what you want. I'm too old to be offended anyways.

MegabiteOG · Dec 27, 2025

Anytime I get near the tank, the tangs are the first to see what's going on. I really like those suckers.

That Crusso Kid · Dec 27, 2025

MegabiteOG said:
Man, I totally missed your post. Sorry about that! Welcome aboard and thanks for the compliments on the tank! Yeah, got a great deal on that frag. Hopefully it finds it likes the tank and does well for me.

Looks like you're in the Tampa areas. I'm a native Floridian born and raised in Miami. Also lived in Orlando for a few years, and frequent Florida and the Tampa area all the time.

Feel free to be you and say what you want. I'm too old to be offended anyways.

Either you can't sleep or you're a late night person. Perhaps, though, you're both, like me.

I'm about 2 hours south of Tampa in Cape Coral.

MegabiteOG · Dec 27, 2025

That Crusso Kid said:
Either you can't sleep or you're a late night person. Perhaps, though, you're both, like me.

I'm about 2 hours south of Tampa in Cape Coral.

Been to Cape Coral a few times years ago. Hurricanes have been screwing with you guys for a while not. Hope nothing too bad at your place. The one one the kicked my butt was Hurricane Andrew and 1992.

I'm a late night person like you, but can usually sleep in on the weekends when I have nothing to do. I will be up until at least 4 am tonight. I guess I average about 4 - 6 hours a night.

That Crusso Kid · Dec 27, 2025

MegabiteOG said:
Been to Cape Coral a few times years ago. Hurricanes have been screwing with you guys for a while not. Hope nothing too bad at your place. The one one the kicked my butt was Hurricane Andrew and 1992.

I'm a late night person like you, but can usually sleep in on the weekends when I have nothing to do. I will be up until at least 4 am tonight. I guess I average about 4 - 6 hours a night.

Hurricane Ian ripped us up when it made landfall here. Took some doing and headaches but the insurance company finally paid the money owed to us.

I, generally speaking, get about 4 -5 hours a night. Often times, it's less than 4 hours. Been like this my whole life so I don't know any other way.

MegabiteOG · Dec 27, 2025

That Crusso Kid said:
Hurricane Ian ripped us up when it made landfall here. Took some doing and headaches but the insurance company finally paid the money owed to us.

I, generally speaking, get about 4 -5 hours a night. Often times, it's less than 4 hours. Been like this my whole life so I don't know any other way.

Been there on both accounts.

Scallopking · Dec 27, 2025

your sailfin looks fat! They all look good in the vid in fact. The fish make up a big portion of my tank for me anyway. I’ve thought about a FOWLR to get the fish I can never have. But love the corals way too much. And that rainbow is insane!

MegabiteOG · Dec 27, 2025

Scallopking said:
your sailfin looks fat! They all look good in the vid in fact. The fish make up a big portion of my tank for me anyway. I’ve thought about a FOWLR to get the fish I can never have. But love the corals way too much. And that rainbow is insane!

Yup, all my fish are pretty fat as I tend to feed on the heavy side. Keeps the aggression down and provides lots of food (fish poop) for the corals as well. I like both too much to just have one or the other and only want one tank to maintain. Having a very mixed tank is more of a challenge to keep everything happy but that's part of the fun for me.