Matt Carden
Valuable Member
I use a wet-dry vac to change water!
Turtle's Fairy Tale
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OP
OP
Alk holding steady at 8.3dKH. Tested this afternoon before work. I dosed 14ml on the 15th when I tested 7.8, which should have been enough to get back to 8.0. I was at 6ml dose per day, but decided to go to 5ml a few days after... alk was 8.3 on the 19th and on the 21st. It seems my tank likes that number, that's where it was running before the dip. Corals are healthy so I'm not going to try and adjust it any.
OP
OP
When your lights are so bright, your monti cap scrolls down... meh, looks healthy, I'll let it grow.
HairyGary
Why do all your fish look like trout?
Looks good! I wish i was only dosing 6 ml per day but I guess it all depends on what you are dosing. I was at 8.0 alk before vacation last week and now am at 6.5. I am chalking it up to adding 3 torches the week prior! Probably not the best move but have great polyp extension etc. Slowly raising it back into the 7's.
OP
OP
I contribute it to low SPS load, and stunted growth from poop water quality. After I did a water change I saw a jump in coloration and growth. My next water change is this week, so I'm expecting another jump as water quality improves.
HairyGary
Why do all your fish look like trout?
Nice! Yeah I try to do about a 10-15 gallon change on mine every two weeks. Its amazing how the corals kinda plump up more.
OP
OP
I have decided once every 4 weeks (swing shift schedule, 4th week is my week off) I'm going to empty the sump and shop vac all the detritus and clean the skimmer if needed. Then refill with new salt water. It's a trigger cube 20, so I'm estimating around 25 gallons of salt water or 25% total volume. Last time I saw a huge improvement in coloration and growth that has maintained these past 4 weeks.
I really wanted to do the whole limited water change thing, but it just wasn't working. At all. I'll stick to a scheduled water change from now on.
najer
Valuable Member
When your lights are so bright, your monti cap scrolls down... meh, looks healthy, I'll let it grow.
That is going to be a great shape, watch that centre section go! ;)
Interesting and no I am not a master, just a bloke running a tank a bit more simply!
The Turtles said it above, what I would suggest that people try!
If you water change every week, try every other week, see what happens! If you are doing waterchanges to control nutrients then something is out of balance?
"Do I really need to do this water change? Why?" :)
It is not all sweetness and light chez Simon, aefw are ongoing! :)
OP
OP
That is going to be a great shape, watch that centre section go! ;)
Interesting and no I am not a master, just a bloke running a tank a bit more simply!
The Turtles said it above, what I would suggest that people try!
If you water change every week, try every other week, see what happens! If you are doing waterchanges to control nutrients then something is out of balance?
"Do I really need to do this water change? Why?" :)
It is not all sweetness and light chez Simon, aefw are ongoing! :)
I think once a tank has been running for at least a year, you can back off on water changes. One of the only ways to get trace elements back and keep them in balance with where they should be. Hand dosing 80 something elements gets expensive and test kits don't exist for most of them. Speaking of trace elements, I need to mix up my ATI Essentials and start using it... but I still have a good bit of the BRS 2 part left and the thing mixes 10L of all 3 parts. I dont have containers to hold 30 liters of dosing solution.
I may just abandon it and get the new Essentials Pro, which is 2 instead of 3 parts and mixes to 2L each instead of 10L.
Fudsey
Jack of all trades, Master of none ;-)
I just bought the perfect thing for just that. I bought the essentials kit a while ago and am about to start it as I am about to run out of BRS 2 part. I went to a restaurant supply and got one of these with lid for under $16 to mix it in. Might get a couple more for the other 2 parts as well.
OP
OP
I just bought the perfect thing for just that. I bought the essentials kit a while ago and am about to start it as I am about to run out of BRS 2 part. I went to a restaurant supply and got one of these with lid for under $16 to mix it in. Might get a couple more for the other 2 parts as well.
Hmm, I bet Amazon has something like that. You wouldn't happen to have the BRS to ATI conversion handy would you?
Fudsey
Jack of all trades, Master of none ;-)
Nope, I found a PDF file explaining the essentials and how much to use to raise dkH.
This is what I found:
With this I can calculate what I should need to dose. Right now I am using Dry Soda Ash from BRS but the dry measurement and mixing everyday after testing. My calcium usage is still pretty low and I still have BRS for that. I am trying to maintain 8 - 8.5 right now and daily that is ~1 teaspoon/day dry soda ash. It drops ~ .75/day so for me that should be about 136ml/day with my 100 gal of water.
This is what I found:
With this I can calculate what I should need to dose. Right now I am using Dry Soda Ash from BRS but the dry measurement and mixing everyday after testing. My calcium usage is still pretty low and I still have BRS for that. I am trying to maintain 8 - 8.5 right now and daily that is ~1 teaspoon/day dry soda ash. It drops ~ .75/day so for me that should be about 136ml/day with my 100 gal of water.
OP
OP
I told you I had an explosion of growth and coloration... this guy here, bright green base with blue tips and polyps. It reminds me of a blueberry bush.
The rest of the SPS are looking great as well.
This stylo is getting too much light. Still full polyp extension and not bleached, but it has lightened up a good bit. It needs to go closer to the sand bed, like next to the sand. I'll find a rock on the bottom of the tank for it tomorrow.
Birds nest are doing well(look at the Nirvana zoas behind the birds of paradise, whole frag is covered)
Monti setosa is branching down and not encrusting, but colorful. Needs just a little lower spot. The spongodes is starting to take off... I may need to isolate it somehow.
Last but not least, my canary coral, the first to let me know the tank isn't happy, the green trumpet. Polyps full and feeding.
The rest of the SPS are looking great as well.
This stylo is getting too much light. Still full polyp extension and not bleached, but it has lightened up a good bit. It needs to go closer to the sand bed, like next to the sand. I'll find a rock on the bottom of the tank for it tomorrow.
Birds nest are doing well(look at the Nirvana zoas behind the birds of paradise, whole frag is covered)
Monti setosa is branching down and not encrusting, but colorful. Needs just a little lower spot. The spongodes is starting to take off... I may need to isolate it somehow.
Last but not least, my canary coral, the first to let me know the tank isn't happy, the green trumpet. Polyps full and feeding.
Brew12
Electrical Gru
I think once a tank has achieved the growth you want you can cut back on water changes. I wouldn't dare cut back water changes on my 14 month old system.
Matt Carden
Valuable Member
I have decided to do regular biweekly water changes also. However I will be trying to make as many of those NSW water changes as @Paul B does.
OP
OP
While I think most of his ideas are completely asinine, I do like the idea of using NSW... ran thru a 5 micron sediment filter(NSW on the SC/NC coast is brown) and buffered to my tank's parameters of 425ppm Ca and 8.3dKH Alk.
I have the truck for it... I just need to get a big nurse tank and set on my trailer. Head down to the beach and pump some water. The creeks around Little River, SC are a pretty good natural filter, and in the winter the water changes and is swimming pool clear. Probably cost $50 in fuel for a few hundred gallons of sea water. A bucket of salt is around the same cost... and it's right up the road.
OP
OP
So.. uh...
1/29-2/27
1/29-2/27
Brew12
Electrical Gru
I would do NSW in a heart beat if I wasn't 6 hours from the ocean!
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