My First Softy Tank... which has turned into a mixed reef

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New&no clue

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Any update on the doser? I’ve dosed by hand for 1.5 years now, but think my tank would probably appreciate the added stability of 12 small doses a day instead of one large one ;Dead

Soooooo... I don't know. I started just dosing ALK as that is all my tank seemed to consume. I was dosing 2 part and used their calculator to determine how much I needed. I tested day one and then tested again the next, saw the drop, and calculated how much I would need to replace each day. I set the amount and then tested again 3 days later, and my ALK was steady. YAY!!! I then decided to buy another one for Calcium. I set it up and the same steps as above. When I tested 3 days later, Calcium had still dropped. So I adjusted it up some tested 3 days later, and Calcium was steady. YAY!! But then I tested Alk, and it had dropped. ;Bored

So, I don't know if my tank is using more or if the doser isn't accurate. I also can't rule out a testing issue.

My initial thought on it is that I enjoy the simplicity of the App. It is very easier to set your daily amounts and break it up into smaller portions. I test after a water change and then make a 1-time adjustment to bring the water back inline, and doing that is very simple.
 

fishguy242

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by recalibrating every few days,will learn consumption,and adjust dosers more accurate :)
 

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Soooooo... I don't know. I started just dosing ALK as that is all my tank seemed to consume. I was dosing 2 part and used their calculator to determine how much I needed. I tested day one and then tested again the next, saw the drop, and calculated how much I would need to replace each day. I set the amount and then tested again 3 days later, and my ALK was steady. YAY!!! I then decided to buy another one for Calcium. I set it up and the same steps as above. When I tested 3 days later, Calcium had still dropped. So I adjusted it up some tested 3 days later, and Calcium was steady. YAY!! But then I tested Alk, and it had dropped. ;Bored

So, I don't know if my tank is using more or if the doser isn't accurate. I also can't rule out a testing issue.

My initial thought on it is that I enjoy the simplicity of the App. It is very easier to set your daily amounts and break it up into smaller portions. I test after a water change and then make a 1-time adjustment to bring the water back inline, and doing that is very simple.
It’s very possible that not much calcium is being consumed in relation to alkalinity, but when you dose alk (add extra, as opposed to just doing a water change where everything is already in balance) Ca is consumed. I don’t really understand the chemistry behind the “why”, just that if you only increase dkh your Ca will fall. (And vice versa). From personal experience, I ended up with a 310 Ca reading after initially only dosing alk. Switched to 2 part, dose equal amounts, and things have been stable ever since.

in your case, once you get things close, find whatever alk dose you need to keep things steady and dose exactly the same amount of Ca. (@fishguy242 if this is bad advice please chime in!)

but if your doser is staying consistent, not malfunctioning, and dosing when and what you tell it to...I’m ordering 2 of them immediately!
 

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It’s very possible that not much calcium is being consumed in relation to alkalinity, but when you dose alk (add extra, as opposed to just doing a water change where everything is already in balance) Ca is consumed. I don’t really understand the chemistry behind the “why”, just that if you only increase dkh your Ca will fall. (And vice versa). From personal experience, I ended up with a 310 Ca reading after initially only dosing alk. Switched to 2 part, dose equal amounts, and things have been stable ever since.

in your case, once you get things close, find whatever alk dose you need to keep things steady and dose exactly the same amount of Ca. (@fishguy242 if this is bad advice please chime in!)

but if your doser is staying consistent, not malfunctioning, and dosing when and what you tell it to...I’m ordering 2 of them immediately!
depending on consumption,between cal and alk ,i always had to add more alk than cal,.but sps dom tank :)
WP_20160312_009 (1).jpg
 

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depending on consumption,between cal and alk ,i always had to add more alk than cal,.but sps dom tank :)
WP_20160312_009 (1).jpg
Interesting, would have thought it might be the other way around! Also, what solution do you use? I know that not all of them are equal in concentration.
 

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brs a+b hand pour,doser :rolleyes: ;)
 
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It’s very possible that not much calcium is being consumed in relation to alkalinity, but when you dose alk (add extra, as opposed to just doing a water change where everything is already in balance) Ca is consumed. I don’t really understand the chemistry behind the “why”, just that if you only increase dkh your Ca will fall. (And vice versa). From personal experience, I ended up with a 310 Ca reading after initially only dosing alk. Switched to 2 part, dose equal amounts, and things have been stable ever since.

in your case, once you get things close, find whatever alk dose you need to keep things steady and dose exactly the same amount of Ca. (@fishguy242 if this is bad advice please chime in!)

but if your doser is staying consistent, not malfunctioning, and dosing when and what you tell it to...I’m ordering 2 of them immediately!

I am currently dosing 24ml of 2-part Cal and 27ml of 2-part Alk, and everything seems to be holding steady, I think. I say, "I think" because once I felt like I had it really dialed in, my Hanna Alk tester broke:eek:. I have a backup Salifert test, but it shows a different number. Hanna was 8.2, and Salifert has been 8.6, but a consistent 8.6. So I think they are working well. They were straightforward to set up and connect, and they definitely does when they are supposed to. I checked the calibration of both of them and it was accurate.
 

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I am currently dosing 24ml of 2-part Cal and 27ml of 2-part Alk, and everything seems to be holding steady, I think. I say, "I think" because once I felt like I had it really dialed in, my Hanna Alk tester broke:eek:. I have a backup Salifert test, but it shows a different number. Hanna was 8.2, and Salifert has been 8.6, but a consistent 8.6. So I think they are working well. They were straightforward to set up and connect, and they definitely does when they are supposed to. I checked the calibration of both of them and it was accurate.
Salifert tests are what I use and they are very consistent for me. I’m ordering those dosers as soon as I finish typing this post! Thanks for the feedback :)
 
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Sometimes this thing happens to me where I blackout, and when I come to packages start to arrive. Usually, it is during a Live Sale or Black Friday/Cyber Monday, oh or Amazon Prime Day. It's bizarre, and I should probably have a medical professional weight in... Still, until then, we will just chalk it up to one of those unexplainable things.

It all started with my office tank. I wanted to add a couple more zoas to it. My office tank is an actual softy tank with mostly zoas and mushrooms. While perusing the sale forum, I saw someone selling many different zoas for a very reasonable price, and I decided to pick up some for my office tank. They arrived on a Friday, so I brought them home to dip them and make sure they were okay over the weekend. Well, they were so pretty that I just fell in love and had to keep them for my home tank.

I am definitely an addict. Once I start, I just can't stop. Next, I saw another person selling SPS for a reasonable price. I have only had luck with one SPS so far and didn't want to spend too much to try others out, so this seemed perfect. I bought a couple from him. As if the perfect storm was coming, WWC had a Halloween costume contest, in which I won a $150 gift card, and if that wasn't bad enough, they were having a live sale the next weekend. Which means I bought more from them. And then to top it all off, I was on my local forum and saw someone selling some Acans for cheap, so I picked those up as well. At the end of the day, I believe I bought 20ish corals.

I swear I'm taking a break from it now—no more corals... until Black Friday/Cyber Monday.

DA158390-9EB7-4EF5-BE6E-6FC7B12E5A02.jpeg
297B12BC-0676-46C8-8568-0B91B73EEEB9.jpeg
6EEBB79C-F8F9-4E19-B6C2-79C88FAA93CD.jpeg

 

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hi,beautiful tank ;Drool ...but looks like plenty of room for more:oops::)nice additions :cool:
 
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I put a couple cheap SPS in the tank, and they all are doing terribly. Not surprising as my lights are not great. I looked at lights but decided I should figure out where I want this tank to go in the future. As all good reefers do, I concluded that I really want a bigger tank, like 6 feet. But where oh where to put this tank. Initially, I was thinking of the basement family room. However, that is the kid's playroom right now, and with two rough and tumble boys, I don't really want a fish tank anywhere near their wrestling ring. My current tank is in the dining room, and I love it there. Thinking of maybe doing an inwall tank. I started to look at the WaterBox 7225 but found a local company that makes customer tanks and reached out to them for their opinions. They will be out next week to take some measurements and give me a quote. Now that my mind is set on this tank, I started search Black Friday sales, and boy, did I get some good stuff. The UPS guy was not too impressed with me today.
UPS delivery.jpg
UPS delivery2.jpg


You can see the current tank here and the new tank would go on the other side of the red wall. Then I would cut a window to see it.

Dining room.jpg


With all the new corals I rearrange some to create a Acan Garden and Goni Garden.


Goni Garden.jpg
Acan garden.jpg


Again the seller forum pulled me in and I bought two hammers, sadly one didn't make it. Still in search of my gold.
hammer garden11.28.20.jpg


Also last month I got a new fairy wrasse that has been in QT, just last week she was put in the tank. The coral beauty and clowns were picking on her the first couple nights, but after about a week it seems to have settled down and everyone is getting along.
Fairy Wrasse.jpg
 
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The New Year has not been kind to my tank. I've lost several corals, and I think I have explanations for all of them, but the continued loss makes me question if something else isn't going on.

I lost two of my larger hammers to Brown Jelly, for starters, and my green hammer is not looking great. I believe that was caused by the addition of a couple of new hammers. Either these new hammers upset the original, or because when I was putting them on the rock, it shifted closer to the anemones, and they got stung.
hammer garden3.28.20.jpg
hammer garden11.28.20.jpg
hammer garden1.3.21.jpg

My cristata melted away almost overnight. I'm not sure if the brown jelly caused this on the other end of the tank or possibly too close to the sinularia.

cristalla 1.3.21.jpg

My Favia is currently melting away. Directly below it is a galaxea, which I was warned could start to sting corals. It has been a model citizen so far, but I have seen stinger tentacles come out at night, so it could have gotten the favia.
Toxic Golbin Favia.jpg
favia 8.28.20.jpg
favia 1.3.21.jpg

I've had this sylo for over a year. It is the only SPS to grow in my tank. It has inspired me to put many others in my tank, only to see them melt away. I just tried again with another round of them after I got the dosers think tank stability was the issue, but I've just decided my lights aren't strong enough. Even so, this little stylo has continued. But recently, it has started to melt away as well. It's frustrating as it has been doing so well for over a year. I think the culprit is I changed my T5 lightbulbs all at once. I've read that it is best to change them on a rotation because all at once can cause light shock to your corals.
Viper Strike Stylo2.jpg
Viper Strike Stylo 8.28.20 2.jpg
Viper Strike Stylo 1.3.21.jpg

The only one I have no other explanation for is my Space Invader. It was growing nicely for a couple of months, but I see it starting to recede. At first, I thought that might be okay. It was merely new growth. However, it has now begun to turn brown with algae, which seems to mean it's not doing okay. I have no idea why this one is unhappy.
Space Invader.jpg
Space Invader 1.3.21.jpg


Even with the disappointment, my youngest still finds it mesmerizing.
fishtank kid.jpg
 
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