The wifes tank update new pics 4/4/16

I use IO Reef Crystals. Tank is the innovative 30. I was doing 10 gallons every other week(or so..bad me) but am changing to 5gl a week religiously. I am hoping the 5gl a week will assist stabilize levels.

I also intend on fully testing all params of fresh salt mix to make sure they are where I want the tank to end up. That way I am not creating more issues when doing the WC.

 

Chris, check out the aquavitro line for dosing. It really is worth the little extra money. I saved money and switched products for a few months and I regret it big time, aquavitro is the only supplement brand I dose now. It's funny about the coralline algae growth though. I dose my reef to keep levels stable but my 125 doesn't get dosed at all and it's covered in purple where my reef only has purple rocks......weird right.

 

So prepped my water change last night and ran all tests so I now what params my IO Reef Crystals are really providing before I do the actual WC.

I use 5gal water bottles
2.5 cups in 5gal water only gives. 1.021 SG(that is exactly what the box says). So I added 1/4 cup and then added a tablespoon to get me 1.024 which in the end is what I had decided to shoot for.

So then decided to run CAL, ALK, PH, MAG test. Water is 77degrees
CAL 460 happy with that
MAG 1500ppm well that is lower than current 1600 so any reduction is fine
ALK came ion at 158ppm (using hanna ALK checker) so 8.848DKH which is low(I want to maintain 11 range) and another reason why I am battling low ALK.
PH put it around 8.0 range (Red Sea PH)

Added 2ml Red Sea Reef Foundation B let mix for hour and retested alk which came in around 10(did not use the hanna) Just Red Sea kit
Decided to add 2ml more Red Sea Reef Foundation B let mix for hour and retested alk which came in at 199ppm(hanna checker) 11.144dkh (happy with that)
Checked PH with Red Sea came out around 8.3. Used Plastic cup with WC water and used tank probe which came out at 8.35(which is fine with me)

So I definitely found another source of my low PH and ALK. Should have tested my mix along time ago. This was the end of a box so will need to do it again with next batch. Also will be researching other salts.

 

I was getting low alk when testing fresh batches of reef crystals and average was at 7-8dkh so I switched back to coral pro. That salt makes it easier for me to keep my alk steady at 10.

 

oh what I could do with a few hundred bucks extra this month.

Current status is I am still trying to dial in correct dosing amounts to maintain consistent alk, cal and ph levels.

Corals seem to be very happy. I am constantly dripping something to keep things some what stable as ALK and Cal are getting used up pretty rapidly.

I am not positive why my Mag went up(not dosing that) but I wonder if the Seachem Reef Complete had something to do with it. It does say it would help maintain levels. Still hoping as I drop SG to 1.024 it will help drop Mag as Coralline mentioned.

May need to take a run to the LFS tomorrow and see what they have for calcium options.

 

Have you thought about running limewater with your ato? I noticed a calcium boost a couple times and lime will replace the calcium, alk, and raise your ph. I recently started running lime through my ato, was having an issue with my alk not wanting to stay up and my ph was hovering around the 7.8~9 mark (i didn't like this either) and my alk would drop to 7~8 as well. Running the lime has solved those problems along with not having to dose cal either to keep it stable. My coral seem as though they are rejoicing in the change.

As far as the salt mix goes, I too really like the RS Coral Pro but I think there is no problem with the reef crystals you are using( many people use it with great resluts) but supposedly if you buy 200g worth of salt and use only a portion at a time, some of the elements settle so the top may have higher alk than the bottom because some of the element in the mix concerning alk shifts to the bottom. It is recommended to stir/mix the salt before hand but i have never had much luck with that either.

Hope this helps.

 

Never have thought of using limewater but will do some reading.

It could be settling so next WC I will shake the salt bucket up first and then run some tests. Generally I mix a couple bags together at first but not eachtime I make up water.

 

Starting to dial in the #'s I am looking to maintain.
Corals have noticeable increased growth
Hopefully staying consistent on 5gl WC will help drop the Mag also.
Once I have a little more consistency I am considering Mrs Wages or Kalk dosing to assist keeping levels in check(mdbostwick put that thought in my head). Need to do a bit more research but I believe this will assist me keeping things stable.

Ideally would like to see my #'s around
430/440 cal
10.5 DKH (backed off from 11)
8.0 - 8.3 PH range
1500 MAG

Also I read in someone thread they believed that GFO was causing their cyano breakouts.

Has anyone else thought this was possible cause of their cyano?
Reason I ask is a have small little patches cyano pop here and there. Most of the time is seems to be based around time I change out the GFO.

 

two weeks growth is noticeable.
pic on left from Jan 3rd Pic on right today. Slightly different angle but maybe you can see the difference



pics taken same dates as above.
Jan 3rd on left and today on right.





couple other shots

 

Looks great. Nice polyp extension