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Joe's SPS 2.0

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horseplay

NJRC Member
I came across a great deal so here we go I am setting up a tank again. Tank has the perfect dimensions I am looking for the spot.

The tank will be SPS dominate again. A few old favorites come to mind, hawkins, shortcake, milles are must haves. Would love to get a WD when the time comes the ones I saw at Reef-a-palloza are just insane.

Tank was wet since 7/13 (hopefully a lucky day). I will try to document the up and downs. For now, a couple of pictures.
 
H

horseplay

NJRC Member
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horseplay

NJRC Member
With the tank running for two weeks now it’s time to think about nutrients export. Currently there are five small fish and a couple of snails. There are very few corals. Bioload is low. With feeding the equivalent of half a cube a day phosphate has gone up to .29 and nitrate 5ppm. I use salifert nitrate test kit it is quite difficult to tell the difference in color between 2.5 and 5ppm but the N to P ratio of 16:1 seems to be spot on. Anyways nutrient levels have gone up pretty fast. There is little algae in the tank. A very minor diatom outbreak has passed. shining flashlight in the dark there is a shade of green on the rock. the light is kept low and photo period short it must have an effect on algae growth, time will tell. the light is currently run for 6 hours at 25% peak. The water is very clear.

At this point I try to get the nutrients to desired levels hopefully warding off an algae outbreak. lower light level seems to have helped so thinking about turning off the light on the left for a month or too. Over the years I have tried carbon dosing and refugium, both in the sump and dedicated. Everything does work and they work better together. A dedicated refugium is out of the question now there is no room for it. A refugium in the sump is an option but I don’t like the mess of running a light in the sump. I do have room for a macro reactor in the skimmer section or even outside of the sump so that will be a future addition. For now, I have started vinegar dosing, cheap and easy.
 
Mrx7899x

Mrx7899x

Nice !

2 weeks is still pretty new nutrient levels will probably settle down once it matures.
 
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Juano908

Juano908

horseplay said:
In the meantime, the 25 Lagoon finally showing signs of maturing, after months of struggle with green slime. You can see the green slime still. The tiny rainbow nem and elegance from reef a palooza have survived.

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Click to expand...

Miyagui Tort looking good Joe, glad the tank is settling buddy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
H

horseplay

NJRC Member
My attempt at kalk dosing has resulted in a messy ATO reservoir. I only used half tea spoon per gallon. Any suggestions? Tips?

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Sponge

Sponge

To be upfront. I am not presently nor have I ever used kalk. However I am prepping to do so and have done a considerable amount of reading. But since I am not speaking thru experience I would suggest you listen to others as well.
If you can, look into a kalk stirrer. They are a clean long lasting metered devices (but not cheap)
Kalk in the ATO has a lot of issues... it does work. It is simple probably the cheapest solution. Down side is. Possible pump clogging and messy. But the single biggest issue is you are counting on evaporation and evaporation is not consistent. So the more you evaporate the more kalk goes in and obviously less on days that evaporation is less. Ask anyone. The greatest thing you can do for a reef tank is consistency. You are better off having a parameter constantly a little off than chasing it up and down trying to perfect it. In my opinion, kalk in ATO. Is by nature a built in inconsistency.
Now with all that said. It does work. And chasing kalk is not as bad as chasing Alk and PH. So take all this negativity with a grain of salt :)
 
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horseplay

NJRC Member
Tank still new so just want to do something easy. Raise PH a little in the process. Kalk stirrer is an investment. Long term I still want to do two parts.

Going to try dripping from a bottle.
 
Sponge

Sponge

Totally get that and makes sense. It’s exactly why I haven’t got a stirrer yet. But I will some day for sure
 
H

horseplay

NJRC Member
So I was away for two days. I have an apex jr and a Wyze camera I could see the tank remotely. Nowadays many manufacturers have made their equipment accessible through the cloud so the need for a dedicated controller like an apex has diminished. I have the pump, powerhead and lights all controlled by ecotech smart and I do not use a heater. But I still end up getting an used apex jr to monitor the temperature and ph. I am used to monitoring these parameters. Plus I can use it to control the dosing pumps when the time comes.

I do have a story to tell after all the rambling. I noticed the ph has crept up which I was away. This is quite unusual. Ph is affected by alkalinity and the atmospheric co2 level. I do not dose and I didn’t have the window so there is no change in co2 level. On the contrary the ph level should drift lower due to alkality consumption, albeit very little.

I didn’t figure out what’s happening until I came home then all of a sudden I realized I have not dosed vinegar for two days. The tank was simply using up the excess vinegar. Indeed the phosphate level was basically zero the day I left. What this means is I can monitor excess vinegar using ph as an indicator.

Tank is almost one month old and carbon dosing has kicked in. The few corals are doing great as well, except I see an aiptasia!

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