Megabite's 180 Reef - Round 2

[MegabiteOG]

This got me thinking and going to reduce the Vodka and see what my nitrates do. Thanks again guys.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

Thanks! I dose 16ml a day of Vodka to help keep NO3 at bay. Going to move the dosing head to the return chamber and see if that’s it.

Now I have to ask, what series?

DTF St. Louis. It's a bit strange but I like strange. It's also one of these series where they did not release all the episodes. We're all spoiled now with having to see all the episodes instead of having to wait until next week. Young people, these days, will never know the anticipation.

This got me thinking and going to reduce the Vodka and see what my nitrates do. Thanks again guys.

This is what I was going to recommend and to reduce it slowly.

 

[SonOfaGoat]

Did you end up watching A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms? My wife and I watched that maybe a month back, loved the more gritty medieval feel to it.

Love the tanks past and present. Beautiful home too. Im in Ontario Canada, we had snow early November and its just melted this week, but were still hovering around freezing at night. I think I would appreciate the weather where you are, im tired of the 5+ months of winter here. The pictures of your property and gardens have me excited for spring.

 

[MegabiteOG]

DTF St. Louis. It's a bit strange but I like strange. It's also one of these series where they did not release all the episodes. We're all spoiled now with having to see all the episodes instead of having to wait until next week. Young people, these days, will never know the anticipation.


This is what I was going to recommend and to reduce it slowly.

Thanks Chris. I cut the dose in half and will go from there. From 16ml to 8ml on 170 gallon water volume shouldn't do too much. Read quite a bit about it last night. Thanks again for the ID. I feel like I've had enough experience that I should have known this. But, I know now and learned something else.

I will check DTF St. Louis. We're always looking for a new series to watch. And yes, I hate waiting now. Love to watch a few shows most nights and continue the next day until it's all done. So spoiled!

 

[MegabiteOG]

Did you end up watching A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms? My wife and I watched that maybe a month back, loved the more gritty medieval feel to it.

Love the tanks past and present. Beautiful home too. Im in Ontario Canada, we had snow early November and its just melted this week, but were still hovering around freezing at night. I think I would appreciate the weather where you are, im tired of the 5+ months of winter here. The pictures of your property and gardens have me excited for spring.

Thanks man. Love the handle!

I really do like the weather here. There are season and not very extreme. Summers do get hot and humid, but nothing like Florida where I grew up. 5+ months of winter is a bit much for me. Closest I got to that was living in Wichita, Kansas for about 3 years. Talk about a crazy windy place, but the friendliest people from anywhere I've lived.

Enjoy the spring and summer!

 

[MegabiteOG]

This is what I was going to recommend and to reduce it slowly.

By the way, I've designated you my honorary Reefsquad guy. CONGRATULATIONS!

Or is it onery?

 

[That Crusso Kid]

By the way, I've designated you my honorary Reefsquad guy. CONGRATULATIONS!

Or is it onery?

Ohhhh, well shucks and golly gee willickers. I am flabbergasted. Onery and flabbergasted.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Spent the day at Georgia Aquarium. They truly have amazing displays there.

 

[MegabiteOG]

This young racoon got really curious with my woods cam last night. Thought it was funny.

 

[That Crusso Kid]

This young racoon got really curious with my woods cam last night. Thought it was funny.

Some people cannot stand raccoons. I've never really understood why because I think they're really cool and interesting animals.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Some people cannot stand raccoons. I've never really understood why because I think they're really cool and interesting animals.

They are pretty smart and interesting but can be nasty critters. They love chasing my wife's chickens and killing them. They don't even eat them either. At least the Bob Cats that roam around here eat them when they kill them.

 

[skey44]

Trying something new to me.

My PH has never been ideal no matter if windows are open or bringing in outside air through the skimmer (that I currently do). I dose BRS 2 part + part C and currently dosing 135 ml Soda Ash and Calcium to keep my ALK at 8+ and CAL in the 400+ range. As you can see from the chart, my PH doesn't even break 8 at peak and dips below 7.8 nights. I was adding the soda ash from 12:30 AM to 9 AM.

As of tonight starting at 9:00 PM I'm replacing the Soda Ash with Sodium Hydroxide and continue dosing the same amounts. The mixture is 283g per gallon of Sodium Hydroxide that should be the equivalent of my Soda Ash mixture. The difference is the Sodium Hydroxide is supposed to boost the PH by about .2. If it does that, I will be a happy camper. I'm going to add the Sodium Hydroxide from 9 PM to 9AM.

Hope this helps without crashing the tank!

Interesting, your wave form looks good, but your numbers are a bit lower than I’d expect. I wonder if you need to calibrate? Do you have any alternatives to testing pH? By the looks of your Acropora and growth your getting I’d expect pH has to be higher than indicated by your apex. Just my .02
Your tank looks so good, with the growth I just don’t think pH could be that low. Either way. I dose dilute kalk in my top off water and it is a great little pH booster. 3tbsp/8gallon. Works wonders for boosting growth in my system. I barely had to change my all for reef dose because of the increase in uptake.

The 3d printed apogee holder is a game changer, makes it so much easier to focus on the sensor placement not having to figure out what to do with the display.
-TY!

 

[MegabiteOG]

You're welcome on the holder. Glad it's working as intended.

I run two PH probes and both calibrated recently. They both read within the margin of error to each other. I also have a handheld PH probe as well and reads a bit higher. I'm going to calibrate that one and see what it says.

I'm not overly concerned with my PH as like you said things are growing well. It just bugs me. I'm a numbers guy and when something aren't "optimal", it just bugs me. The Sodium Hydroxide as worked out well and has bumped my PH by about .15 on average. I also reduced the daily dosing to 140ml and dKH holding steady at 9. I had recently bumped from 135ml to 155ml but was too much for my demand. I dose the same amount for each of my 3-part.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

You're welcome on the holder. Glad it's working as intended.

I run two PH probes and both calibrated recently. They both read within the margin of error to each other. I also have a handheld PH probe as well and reads a bit higher. I'm going to calibrate that one and see what it says.

I'm not overly concerned with my PH as like you said things are growing well. It just bugs me. I'm a numbers guy and when something aren't "optimal", it just bugs me. The Sodium Hydroxide as worked out well and has bumped my PH by about .15 on average. I also reduced the daily dosing to 140ml and dKH holding steady at 9. I had recently bumped from 135ml to 155ml but was too much for my demand. I dose the same amount for each of my 3-part.

Would it be possible for me to snag a holder or the file to print it?

 

[MegabiteOG]

Would it be possible for me to snag a holder or the file to print it?

Absolutely. If you can print it, it's much easier to send you the file. Is it an Apogee meter and what size glass will it be hanging on? I can send one as well if that works best.

 

[TDehler]

14 week comparison shot. That digitata is growing like a weed.

Looks great and same with your other pictures, are you still using the Meridian's? Apologies if I missed something, I haven't seen every page of this thread yet.

 

[MegabiteOG]

Looks great and same with your other pictures, are you still using the Meridian's? Apologies if I missed something, I haven't seen every page of this thread yet.

Sure am and they've performed very well. I have the original version. But many like the new shallow reef version.

 

[TDehler]

Looks great and same with your other pictures, are you still using the Meridian's? Apologies if I missed something, I haven't seen every page of this thread yet.

Sure am and they've performed very well. I have the original version. But many like the new shallow reef version.

I just got my regular version(non shallow reef) Meridian 45 for a water box tank on the way, I’m super excited. It seems like everyone gets really good coral growth and par from these lights. What color spectrum side bars did you end up getting?

 

[MegabiteOG]

I just got my regular version(non shallow reef) Meridian 45 for a water box tank on the way, I’m super excited. It seems like everyone gets really good coral growth and par from these lights. What color spectrum side bars did you end up getting?

The bars are 14k. Keep in mind that the bars are VERY powerful. I had to turn mine way down to not cook the corals. On page 29 of this thread I have a par test and different intensity if you haven't checked it out. It will give you a good baseline for what intensity you want to run on your tank.

And the below video will give you an example of how powerful these are when working in tandem getting about 1200 on the surface and 600 on the sandbed with both at 100%.

Meridian OG 24" + Edge Bar 24" @ 100% all channels: Youtbe Link

 

[MegabiteOG]

I just got my regular version(non shallow reef) Meridian 45 for a water box tank on the way, I’m super excited. It seems like everyone gets really good coral growth and par from these lights. What color spectrum side bars did you end up getting?

Exciting stuff getting a new setup. Congrats and hope you have lots of success! I see you're in Clearwater. Beware, @That Crusso Kid is not too far from you.