Urgh seriously.

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

So I had the chance to get two new acros today one is called frog skin and the other is a new coral called Carl’s coral. I haven’t found anything on it but they came from ora. They look really good alresdy. I may try the yellow tip again as well, (tried once and I had an salt swing and it went south fast). These look really amazing under blues but my phone hates blues so here are two pics with just normal lights on. My lfs has great deals on coral specially sps so both total were 45. They are both encrusted and almost three inches (which I cut the plugs).

I definitely did a more in depth cleaning this time as well. Now I will not let them even accilmate in my tank. Since I don’t want anything I now fill a gallon bucket up with water from my sump. Set the bags in there and add water etc. Then I use fresh saltwater with coral dip and I let them stay 15 min roughly then rinsed in fresh water. I’m hoping this reduces the risk even more but again anything wet makes things a little hard. But I do love new corals and my tank is slowly going sps dominant. Still love softies and lps but like scolys etc and other ones, but they seem to have probelms with clean water. I even feed them coral food once to twice a week.

 

[Sarah24!]

Always look forward to seeing your tank. Amazingly beautiful!

You mentioned hand dosing 1.5 teaspoons of calcium.

Do you just dump it in the sump? Sprinkle in a little at a time?
Dose 1/2 in the morning and 1/2 at night?

Lol, we still have mostly softies and a few frogspawn. Water changes take care of everything we need for now.
Getting an ATS up and running to work on the high nitrate. Hoping to add sps at some point.

Thanks!

Hello,

Ahh thanks and always glad to hear from you guys. I dose approx 1.5 of alk and calcium daily. How I do it is I use rodi water in a lemonade pitcher. I then add 1.5 of alk and mix it up and pour it into my middle section of my sump. I then do the same for calcium and nopox (great for high nitrates (there is a catch though), they all go into the middle section. I do not suggest you dump it in the display or even return section. Corals that are in direct fire of the return lines will get overdosed with dosing. This allows it to mix even more and still has to go through my two micro fiber pads that are right before my return pumps. The trace elements since it’s 1 mg I just squirt into the return section.

Softies and lps want higher nitrates (specially anemonies), like 15-20ppm is probably ideal for them. With sps they want 2 ppm to 5 sometimes lower. Mixed reefs are very hard, and mine is still mixed but leaning towards sps now. Some softies I can’t keep alive to save my soul, and that’s feeding them daily by hand. Some lps have struggled in my tank because they are to clean. I have one scoly doing great the other struggled for months and they were two inches from each other. I use to be able to keep nice acans and then suddenly I couldn’t, now I have two sections doing well and I have no idea why. If your going to do sps, you will have to monitor the tank daily.

Most people say sps will always do great if the tank is super stable. That’s kinda true but more false than true. Yes your alk and cal should always be in the middle of 7-8 alk and 420-440 cal. But allowing the tank to swing slightly, maybe mid 6 for a day then back to 7-8 or go high to 9 then let it come down slowly, actually builds your immune system for the corals. If you keep your system super stable the corals will become extremely sensitive and then if you have anything go off even a tiny amount things will die. Corals are too expensive so I allow my tank to swing just a tad a few times a month. It has paid off and I can definitely tell the difference between farmed corals, ocean corals and tank corals. I have found tank corals are usually the best at being not sensitive, as ocean are extremely sensitive.

I do everything manually by hand because lol I’m terrified something will break etc. As much time as everything automated would save me, it also makes it where I don’t know my tank as well. The larger tank I will have to because my 240 is pretty demanding of me. It actually isn’t much (since I do it daily but it’s about 45 min a day now). Minus when I have to clean the pumps and everything else. Making sure when I get some hair algae I scrape it off and I try and keep things at bay. So it has its pay offs but little demanding demons as well. If I had to do the same on the 425 I’d pull all my hair out. It is just tooo big to do not auto some things because it will take longer to clean etc.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

So normally my tank uses between 40-50 ppm of calcium per day, and I can go from 8 -6 in alk in a day as well. However yesterday and today my parameters were exactly 440 calcium (I dose every evening, and alk was right at 8 yesterday and only 7 today.). Guess it’s good it is a little more stable but is there a reason the corals just suddenly stop errr eating or using the nutrients in the system? I’m curious if my trace elements are too low, but I dose 1ml daily and saw I should have been dosing probably 5ml per day based on how my tank is.

Nitrates don’t really show up and I know phosphates are below .25. So far a scoly doesn’t like my tank all of a sudden so that makes me worry. I do spot feed once a week sometimes twice to each coral. So I know they are getting food because they get an eye dropper full. Just wanna see what else will make my corals healthy and keep growing and maintain color etc.

@GoVols im assuming since my alk didn’t change much and my calcium is 460 Instead of 440, would probably mean no dosing any of the trace elements.

It’s been one of those days I keep forgetting what I should post then after I hit okay then I remember. The other issue is now that my wave makers and returns are clean, at the same levels or turn rate my sand goes from point .A to point B daily. The goby doesn’t help and sadly if I turn all the wave makers on then nothing happens. If I turn the rest on one by one then it does , but here is what’s hard if I leave the wave makers off and do the same thing and turn them on last, then it moves my sand bed. Any ideas how to not make it bury my corals (goby isn’t helping today either).

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Well I feel really dumb despite the fact I never knew to ground my tank with a probe. Thanks to @Brew12 that has caught my attention. I’m curious as if I can plug these into power strips since I have very limited outlets and I do not have a single gfi outlet in my entire house. I’m assuming I
Will need to hire and electrician or @Erica-Renee to wire in some gfi outlets.

 

[Erica-Renee]

Hello,

Well I feel really dumb despite the fact I never knew to ground my tank with a probe. Thanks to @Brew12 that has caught my attention. I’m curious as if I can plug these into power strips since I have very limited outlets and I do not have a single gfi outlet in my entire house. I’m assuming I
Will need to hire and electrician or @Erica-Renee to wire in some gfi outlets.

The grounding probe can be connected anywhere there is a Valid ground The best ones are 3 prong and also use the Outlet Plate screw... So this would not be available on a power strip.. But yes if the power strip you could use that.. The only issue is most of them have a breaker on them. If that trips because of a short your ground probe will not trip the main breaker.. SO Its best to plug it directly onto a outlet and use a ground probe with a screw flange ......

Sorry i have not been around that much Super busy and when i am not at work i am working on the POND.. It has WATER And Frogs have moved in ..... Creek rock work starts this morning.... Check out the pics in my pond thread.....

Lounge away Erica Reneee .......

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Holly beck princess’s turning to evil and becomes allies with their nemis. Your still out there yay, and thanks for the info I will get some ground probes and find away to make them work . Shouldn’t be tooo hard .

It still won’t fix the device that is broken, but at least I won’t bbq myself one of these days since I’m always in my tank.

 

[Hemmdog]

Hello,

So normally my tank uses between 40-50 ppm of calcium per day, and I can go from 8 -6 in alk in a day as well. However yesterday and today my parameters were exactly 440 calcium (I dose every evening, and alk was right at 8 yesterday and only 7 today.). Guess it’s good it is a little more stable but is there a reason the corals just suddenly stop errr eating or using the nutrients in the system? I’m curious if my trace elements are too low, but I dose 1ml daily and saw I should have been dosing probably 5ml per day based on how my tank is.

Nitrates don’t really show up and I know phosphates are below .25. So far a scoly doesn’t like my tank all of a sudden so that makes me worry. I do spot feed once a week sometimes twice to each coral. So I know they are getting food because they get an eye dropper full. Just wanna see what else will make my corals healthy and keep growing and maintain color etc.

@GoVols im assuming since my alk didn’t change much and my calcium is 460 Instead of 440, would probably mean no dosing any of the trace elements.

It’s been one of those days I keep forgetting what I should post then after I hit okay then I remember. The other issue is now that my wave makers and returns are clean, at the same levels or turn rate my sand goes from point .A to point B daily. The goby doesn’t help and sadly if I turn all the wave makers on then nothing happens. If I turn the rest on one by one then it does , but here is what’s hard if I leave the wave makers off and do the same thing and turn them on last, then it moves my sand bed. Any ideas how to not make it bury my corals (goby isn’t helping today either).

What is your mag at. That sounds like a low mag issue.

 

[Sarah24!]

What is your mag at. That sounds like a low mag issue.

Going to re test mag today but normally it’s 1390 but I usually give it 10ml every two weeks. I don’t have the test kit for magnesium so my lfs does it for me. I will have them test everything as well to make sure it where it needs to be. But I usually test 3 times a week so I stay on top of my alk and calcium.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

So wow this week has flown by so fast and for the first time I am think I’m brain fried from studying for my step 3. But I finally had to frag my massive birds nest, as it was showing way to many sps, and taking up tons of prime sps space. But the good news is I love instore credit, and they get new sps tomorrow.

With my water parameters, it looks like a daily chore until my tank decides to stay on a diet or eat everything. I have stepped the feeding up, for the corals to twice a week, which also makes me test nitrates etc. the joys of having an ocean in your living room.

Today needless to say as I was in a hurry to get with my study group etc. stopped at Taco Bell just to get something to drink. (It was the closest place). Anyway I asked the drive thru girl five times for a value water and it kept coming to 3.99, for a value water? I finally asked if I could speak to someone smarter on the subject. However to my surprise lol I simply meant someone with more experience. In which their boss said I called them stupid which I didn’t. But as I tried to explain I just wanted a cup of water, he told me I was demon sent by the devil and I can’t be at a holy place. Am I missing something here other than my water which I paid for and still didn’t get?

 

[Hemmdog]

Hello,

So wow this week has flown by so fast and for the first time I am think I’m brain fried from studying for my step 3. But I finally had to frag my massive birds nest, as it was showing way to many sps, and taking up tons of prime sps space. But the good news is I love instore credit, and they get new sps tomorrow.

With my water parameters, it looks like a daily chore until my tank decides to stay on a diet or eat everything. I have stepped the feeding up, for the corals to twice a week, which also makes me test nitrates etc. the joys of having an ocean in your living room.

Today needless to say as I was in a hurry to get with my study group etc. stopped at Taco Bell just to get something to drink. (It was the closest place). Anyway I asked the drive thru girl five times for a value water and it kept coming to 3.99, for a value water? I finally asked if I could speak to someone smarter on the subject. However to my surprise lol I simply meant someone with more experience. In which their boss said I called them stupid which I didn’t. But as I tried to explain I just wanted a cup of water, he told me I was demon sent by the devil and I can’t be at a holy place. Am I missing something here other than my water which I paid for and still didn’t get?

If you say a cup of water it costs money, if you say a cup for water it’s free. That’s the stuff I learned in college lol.

 

[Sarah24!]

If you say a cup of water it costs money, if you say a cup for water it’s free. That’s the stuff I learned in college lol.

Lol yes but I was in the drive thru lol. Didn’t think they had self serve water outlets in th drive thru Section. Usually when I ask for a value water lol it’s like a little kids cup with water.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Was curious does anyone’s tank have growth spurts or usage spurts? Normally my tank takes 1.5 tablespoons of alk and calcium daily. Recently this week, it has leveled off and I was at 1/2 tablespoon for alk and calcium was at 440. Which I always dose at night so I have been testing daily to see where my levels end up. Normally I would drop from 8-7 and 440 to 390 in one day. All the corals look nice and happy and haven’t changed. Maybe I need to feed them more? Because I carbon dose and know I’m low on nitrates and phosphates, I feed a tad heavier, along with coral food. May finally try reef roids since my lfs just now decided to carry them, but wow are they proud of their product lol. I was holy cow 30 dollars for this tiny thing lol.

 

[Brew12]

Hello,

Was curious does anyone’s tank have growth spurts or usage spurts? Normally my tank takes 1.5 tablespoons of alk and calcium daily. Recently this week, it has leveled off and I was at 1/2 tablespoon for alk and calcium was at 440. Which I always dose at night so I have been testing daily to see where my levels end up. Normally I would drop from 8-7 and 440 to 390 in one day. All the corals look nice and happy and haven’t changed. Maybe I need to feed them more? Because I carbon dose and know I’m low on nitrates and phosphates, I feed a tad heavier, along with coral food. May finally try reef roids since my lfs just now decided to carry them, but wow are they proud of their product lol. I was holy cow 30 dollars for this tiny thing lol.

Mine absolutely does and I have no idea why. One week I'll need 7ml to 10ml more of alk solution per day than the next week.

 

[Sarah24!]

Mine absolutely does and I have no idea why. One week I'll need 7ml to 10ml more of alk solution per day than the next week.

Hello;

Now it makes testing parameters even more important than before because of how much they can swing. Mine can handle a little but not that much. Specially more than one day in a row. What’s even more of s mystery is that with my Maximus clam, I should be going through calcium like crazy. The clam is doing amazing and seeing new growth, but still makes me wonder why.

 

[cshplumber]

Is this post sponsored by Neptunes new Triton system?

 

[tdlawdo]

Is this post sponsored by Neptunes new Triton system?

Hahaha!!! Good point!!

 

[Sarah24!]

Is this post sponsored by Neptunes new Triton system?

Hello,

Huh ! What post lol. Sadly as embarrassing as this is I have no clue what Neptune’s systems are actually. As far as triton I don’t use any of their products, I mainly use redsea and seachem lol. I’m only testing often now because my tank is being a drama queen teenager and can’t make its mind up. To bad I can’t prescribe it some mood swing medications,
That would be amazing.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

As I did my daily tank chores, I have noticed that my dosing is still on the decline. Does this mean my tank is becoming more stable and constant, or does it mean my corals are not growing as fast. The water parameters are good where my calcium is staying pretty close to 440 and alk is at 8. I haven’t tested magnesium but pretty sure is pretty close to 1390. My nitrates are pretty low, around 2 probably and; phosphates seem low but can’t be that low because I still have some hair alage growing. I’m pretty sure hair alage needs nutrients to feed off of, and I still feed the same and I am spot feeding corals twice a week. So I know they are getting nutrients. These mystery changes are always the ones that worry me. This is why I’m testing daily now to see where my parameters are moving to.

 

[crusso1993]

Hello,

As I did my daily tank chores, I have noticed that my dosing is still on the decline. Does this mean my tank is becoming more stable and constant, or does it mean my corals are not growing as fast. The water parameters are good where my calcium is staying pretty close to 440 and alk is at 8. I haven’t tested magnesium but pretty sure is pretty close to 1390. My nitrates are pretty low, around 2 probably and; phosphates seem low but can’t be that low because I still have some hair alage growing. I’m pretty sure hair alage needs nutrients to feed off of, and I still feed the same and I am spot feeding corals twice a week. So I know they are getting nutrients. These mystery changes are always the ones that worry me. This is why I’m testing daily now to see where my parameters are moving to.

There are some mysteries as to why uptake fluctuations vary from time to time but I do not know that anyone has absolutely identified reasons why, as of yet. 440 and 8 are solid levels but the 1390 is high as NSW has 1285, although up to about 1350 is supposedly okay.

 

[crusso1993]

Hello,

As I did my daily tank chores, I have noticed that my dosing is still on the decline. Does this mean my tank is becoming more stable and constant, or does it mean my corals are not growing as fast. The water parameters are good where my calcium is staying pretty close to 440 and alk is at 8. I haven’t tested magnesium but pretty sure is pretty close to 1390. My nitrates are pretty low, around 2 probably and; phosphates seem low but can’t be that low because I still have some hair alage growing. I’m pretty sure hair alage needs nutrients to feed off of, and I still feed the same and I am spot feeding corals twice a week. So I know they are getting nutrients. These mystery changes are always the ones that worry me. This is why I’m testing daily now to see where my parameters are moving to.

Also, here is an interesting recent thread on parameter swings...

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/alkalinity-and-calcium-fluctuate-through-out-the-day.607829/