Sawdonkey's 220 Progress Thread

sawdonkey · Sep 12, 2015

I really wish this BC Xmas would quit encrusting and grow up already!

sawdonkey · Sep 12, 2015

And my @Battlecorals Therman's Rainbow has really taken off. This started off as a tiny frag, but it's developed lots of branches.

Efflo's gonna Efflo. Copp's

I've had this psamacora for a few years:

I've had this setosa for a long time too:

And a BC Gary's Yellow Slimer. Interesting clustered growth pattern:

coral reeftank · Sep 12, 2015

sawdonkey said:
Saw a discussion about the Thanos Acro on the @spspirate thread earlier today. Here's a few shots of mine.

Looks to be growing good for you!!!
Did your angels ever pick at your acros?

sawdonkey · Sep 12, 2015

coral reeftank said:
Looks to be growing good for you!!!
Did your angels ever pick at your acros?

I never see the Angels nip the acros, but from time to time, I notice a tip missing off of an acros. It's strange, I'll not see it happen for a while, then I'll come home from work one day and there will be 4-5 clipped tips. I suspect it's the emperor. He only goes after certain corals though. My Blue Matrix seems to be his favorite. It will start to grow new branches and then one day they are just gone. They also seem to pick at tenuis corals a lot too.

I like the Angels enough that I'm not considering getting rid of them. As my acros grow out I think they will disperse their damage over more corals.

sawdonkey · Sep 13, 2015

coral reeftank said:
Looks to be growing good for you!!!
Did your angels ever pick at your acros?

Oh, I think my angels nip at the Thanos from time to time too. You can see some clipped tips in the picture above. I never get food PE on the Thanos either. It grows quickly enough that I don't really mind.

My emperor provides enough entertainment that he's worth it. Every night, he and my Niger trigger jocky for position in the best sleeping hole. I can hear the emperor grunting from upstairs and my tank is in the basement.

sawdonkey · Sep 14, 2015

Discussed how weird my growth pattern of the @Battlecorals Xmas is on a different thread earlier today. Another one that has a similar growth pattern is my BC Hyperberry. This one also looks like melted ice cream. No real growth on the frag, but a big base. Not all of my acros do this, just a few. Any thoughts?

sawdonkey · Sep 24, 2015

I've been mixing up my kalk solution stronger and stronger and my alk has been slipping. I tested tonight and it has dropped to 5.1 dkh. Corals all look fine, but I'm slightly worried. I dosed some baking soda tonight to get back to safe levels. I've also pointed another return at the surface to get more evaporation. I also added a few extra spoons of kalk to my normal solution plus a few cap fulls (technical measurement) of vinegar to supersaturate.

Does this sound like the proper remedy? I usually only test alk once per week, but I guess I need to be on top of it as my sps continues to grow. Maybe a calRx might be closer to my future than I thought. I was planning on six more months or more on the kalk.

Tahoe61 · Sep 24, 2015

Boy that value would scare me big time. You're not doing a two part, just kalk? I have to use both to maintain a value from 8-9 and your tank looks much more grown out. You obviously know what your doing, but you're not running this system as an ULNS with those fish types? Perhaps that value is a testing error?

sawdonkey · Sep 24, 2015

Tahoe61 said:
Boy that value would scare me big time. You're not doing a two part, just kalk? I have to use both to maintain a value from 8-9 and your tank looks much more grown out. You obviously know what your doing, but you're not running this system as an ULNS with those fish types? Perhaps that value is a testing error?

Believe me, that value scares me. I did have low mag a while ago and dose it up to the high 1300s. I haven't checked for a while, so maybe it's low and allowing my alk/cal to get out of whack.

I do run pretty low nutrients by running bio pellets, but how would that impact alk?

I tested twice using my Hannah checker and got 93 and 92 ppm, so it's at least consistent. I believe it to be correct.

I don't want to do 2-part. I like the simplicity of kalk. I think I have a while before kalk doesn't do the job. I can still add vinegar to the solution once I'm fully saturating, but I don't even think I'm fully saturating my kalk solution yet. After that, it's calRx time.

I'm gonna run a full test of all parameters tomorrow night. I suspect mag may be the issue?

Tahoe61 · Sep 24, 2015

A ULNS is more tolerant of lower Alk levels in my experience.

I would not be surprised if your Ca has crept up to over your desired value. And yes I would bring the Mag up but not drastically.

Once I get a decent collection of sps growing and using Kalk solely I have not been able to keep up with consumption. Currently I am dosing Kalk each am, and adding part b later in the day and my tank is only a 30 gallon so your obviously doing something I am not to maintain an acceptable alk level.

What is your secret? Such beautiful sps.

sawdonkey · Sep 24, 2015

Tahoe61 said:
A ULNS is more tolerant of lower Alk levels in my experience.

I would not be surprised if your Ca has crept up to over your desired value. And yes I would bring the Mag up but not drastically.

Once I get a decent collection of sps growing and using Kalk solely I have not been able to keep up with consumption. Currently I am dosing Kalk each am, and adding part b later in the day and my tank is only a 30 gallon so your obviously doing something I am not to maintain an acceptable alk level.

What is your secret? Such beautiful sps.

Thanks. My nutrients stay pretty low because of the biopellets, GFO, and big skimmer. I have big fish, but only eight of them.

I mix my kalk into my 25 gallon top off container. I only count the spoons of kalk I put in and I don't even know what size spoon it is. I just measure alk every time my ATO runs dry and add a spoonful more or less than the previous time depending on which way alk went from the previous measurement. Lately, I've been adding an additional spoon each time I mix kalk and it's still not keeping up.

I suspect that I'm getting close to the saturation point of the kalk solution. I'll start adding vinegar to the mixture to super saturate and that should buy me a few more month of kalk only (I hope).

sal · Sep 24, 2015

Great tank, I love the stand and hood!

sawdonkey · Sep 24, 2015

Yep.....Mag was at 1150. Woops!

sawdonkey · Sep 25, 2015

Dosed a bunch of Mg sulfate/chloride tonight and got it up to 1230 ppm. Obviously still too low. I'll give it another dose tomorrow and shoot for 1350. I dosed a bunch of baking soda last night and my alk is only up to 5.6 dkh. Still have quite a bit to go before I feel safe. Luckily I'm around this weekend. Funny though, all of my acros look great with good PE.

sawdonkey · Sep 26, 2015

Dosed a whole bottle of Kent tech M today. My alk is up to 7.0 dkh, so I think I'm in the clear. Coral are showing good PE, so I believe I made it through this unscathed.

sawdonkey · Sep 28, 2015

w.gurney77 · Sep 28, 2015

Glad to see you got your parameters in check. Could have been trouble for all those beautiful acropora you have. You will probably see a growth spurt now. Keep us updated!

sawdonkey · Sep 30, 2015

w.gurney77 said:
Glad to see you got your parameters in check. Could have been trouble for all those beautiful acropora you have. You will probably see a growth spurt now. Keep us updated!

Looks like my alk was never out of balance

My alk has been testing low with my Hannah checker 93 ppm or 5.1 dkh. I've been going crazy trying to remedy the problem. I tested mag and it was down to 1150, so I dosed a bunch over a few days and got it to 1250. I also dosed some baking soda to bring up my all and made my kalk solution a decent amount stronger than usual. After a few days, I got my alk up to 126 ppm or about 7.0 dkh. I tested tonight and my alk was back to 93 ppm or 5.1 dkh. Ran the test again and got the same. What the heck!???

So I broke out my salifert alk test and tested twice. 10.5 dkh both times. My Hannah reagent has either gone bad or my tester has gone bad. I never had an alk issue this whole time! I did have a mag issue, but that's another story.

All of my corals actually look good. Decent PE and everything. Right now, I'm filling up my top off container with RODI to dilute my kalk solution. I'll let my alk fall back down to around 7.5 to 8.0 over the next few days. I run biopellets so I don't want to be above 8.0 or so. Sound good?

w.gurney77 · Sep 30, 2015

Wow! Its always good to double check when you get a reading that's way off like that. Maybe give them some extra aminos. When my alk is a bit high I do the same, dilute the lime water in my ato.