The setup is only a few weeks old, and just got its first bit of diatoms 2 days ago. Now at an equilibrium between algae and cleaner consumption.
To my knowledge, a tank this new is not stable enough for sps.
im not really new to the hobby. me and my dad maintained this tank until sandy killed it. after a year of nothing im setting it back up on my own.
so i know basic coral care and such.
my Ca has not deviated from 420 at all (yet), my kh is mostly at 11dkh and once went to 10dkh for a day, Mg is a bit low though (1100 was the lowest) so i have to figure that out before i get sps. temps and ph are perfectly stable.
bubble algae was taking over, so the tanks lifespan was limited. the animals i am sorry for though.Gotcha, and sorry to hear that. I am looking towards winter and I am debating on getting a generator myself.
As long as you have the right mag, your kh and calc will most likely stay in line. There are a lot of factors that can affect KH, for example time of day. Once you start adding some more calcifying corals, your calc will likely go down. Nothing to worry about though since all those elements are covered in water changes.
Here is a good article on balancing mg, kh, and calc. Hope it helps.
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/
thank youOh, I really like this tank!!
bubble algae was taking over, so the tanks lifespan was limited. the animals i am sorry for though.
yup. i read almost all the reefkeeping.com chemistry articles, and have to know a lot of that stuff for school anyway - im an animal sciences major.
and i remember some from the last setup. we had this one massive (compared to the size of the tank) red m. capricornis, and couldnt keep Ca and KH up. after fragging it heavily to be able to maneuver around the tank, Ca and KH stabilized. that one coral accounted for at least 75% of our calcification.
so you dont dose Ca++, CO3--, or Mg++; but rather rely only on water changes?
i was under the impression that dosing Ca and KH was SOP, using either a calcium reactor, or 2 part solutions, or kalkwasser and just the KH solution of the 2 part. thats what i was always doing. i use water changes just to keep trace elements i cant test for in line.
thank you
i got 2 part solutions for now. maybe later ill switch to something else. but until i see a problem, why change? i thought about calcium reactor, but never looked too far into it.
i picked up a helfrichs firefish from AO a short while ago. he is acclimating right now. thanks mnat for the heads up on AO, btw.
ill post pics of the gorgeous guy later today.