OU12004

Good to know about the uv, I should have asked about the buffer before I used something that I didn't fully understand. If it ain't broken don't fix it.

The corals originally bleached white but I reduced the lights to 25% blue and 20% white max and the color came back and the LPS opened back up. They were happy for a few weeks then I decided to change the ph and the with in a few days of the change 3 of 5 sps RTNed. I'm sure the change to LEDs did stress them and didn't help.

I used the Kent superbuffer DKH at a quarter teaspoon every other day and watched the ph until it hit 8 then stopped, but it went up to 8.15 after I stopped putting it in. I did not test or add anything to my 30 gallon tank and the only loses I had were from corals falling on each other or them attacking each other over a 2 year period. I got the Apex and figured I could keep everything inline if I could check it everyday for swings, but I am thinking about leaving it alone and just going back to weekly water changes. My concern would be that a drop back to 7.8 would do even more damage.

I have had 3 sps mini colonies die this week and I think it is because I increased my ph from 7.8 to 8.15 over a 2 week period. All of the other corals look stressed out now to. I tested my other tank and it is still at 7.8 with all of the coral looking good. I guess this is what I get for chasing parameters that are listed as ideal instead of keeping everything stable even if it is out of range.

I moved my Dragon Soul favia over to my new tank and in the process I accidentally broke the rocks it was growing on apart and split it down the middle. I usually see frags that follow along the heads and not split down the middle, should I be worried?

It is a neon green from Fishy Business, they had a colony but it was a little to big for my 29

Picked up these 2 today, hopefully I can figure out why my sps are bleaching out so I can move them over.

Yes the Dome had 2 Copperband Butterflies, one was swimming around and looked good the other was hiding behind a rock and was not very active. I asked Hunter to feed them and the active one did not eat and the shy one attacked the food. I guess that's why you should see them eat and not go off which one you think looks better.

Found a single Aiptasia so I added a Butteryfly, so far, Butterfly 1 Aiptasia 0. Does anyone know if the butterfly eats all of it or will it grow back?

I'm in the wrong business $940 from selling coral. Hopefully with this new tank and Apex I will be able to grow something big enough to sell it.

LPS side

Happy early Christmas and Merry New Year.

I have started moving coral over and the LPS look good but the Forest Fire and Seasons Greeting started bleaching out so I have moved them back. I have left some German Blue frags in, which bleached out, but are starting to look better. I have reduced the light to 25% blue max and 15% white max. Ramping up over 8 hours on max for 5 hours.

I went with shopping with the wife and kids today and I will list the fish requested in order. Can we get a shark? No their not reef safe Can we get a sting ray? No their not reef safe Can we get an eel? No, well maybe. Can we get the pretty black and white pokadoted one he's cool (clown trigger)? No he's aggresive Can we get the cool one with the horns (cow fish)? No, that will kill the whole tank, it has toxins Fine what what about the blue one(red tail trigger) Maybe but it is $150 and I think it eats clams. "Clams just sit there" we should get the other one (blue cheek trigger) We can get the black and blue stripped one (chalk bass). "That's boring like the fish we already have." How about the pretty blue one (Macneill's Assessor Basslet) "Boring!" Please note this was a discussion between my 10 year old dauter and my wife. My wife was the one asking questions!

Yea some times it is better to just admit you messed up and start over. Any ideas for black sand that is larger than 5mm

I am going to try and use a gravel cleaner to remove the lighter particles and then back fill with a larger diameter sand. The sand i used is .25-5mm does anyone know of a black sand that is larger?

I moved the power head and took it off of wave, sand is still being pushed to 1 side. Anyone know what to do with 80 pounds of sand?

I have the powerhead on the lowest setting and I was trying not to make a hundred dollar mistake. I was thinking of mixing in a heavier sand to see if that would keep it in place

I added 80 pounds of CaribSea black sand and it is way to light and is getting blown off all the way to the glass bottom, any ideas on what to do about this. Can't beleive I got to this part of the build and messed up on the sand. I really do not want to have to have to take it out and start over.

Do you have your reactor setup to recirculate the water? I currently have mine setup to run directly into the skimmer and will need to rework the plumbing to have it recirulate and go into the skimmer chamber. Do you think that is worth the effort?

Jestep, Thanks for the advice, what pellets worked for you? I was looking at the NP biopellets all in one or the BRS pellets, have you tried either of these? I wanted to go bare bottom but the wife is making me get sand because she thinks the bottom looks dirty, I currently have the return going into the skimmer chamber, should I rework the return to go directly into the skimmer?

Water and 50 pounds of live rock in

I finished the plumbing and turned all of the pumps on and everything seems to be working correctly. Time to pick up the few remaining pieces to the puzzle. Home Depot here I come for the 20th time.

Tanks on the stand, hoping to get water in it soon.

JeeperTy, do you think this will work? Also why did you take your reactor out?