Mike M.

So Jason, you are in fact, culturing bacteria with your zeoliths to create the "holy zeo mulm" to feed your corals. That is the heart of the zeo system. I'm pretty sure it is beneficial.

APEX-Neptune Systems

They lost the marketing war to DA. They are a bunch of engineers, not business oriented at all and its why they lost the marketing race. They DO, however, have a good product. I have run the Apex controller over a year, I've added a WXM module and a Dimming module and an HD4 outlet box in addition to a second Energy Bar 8. I did have a heck of a time with the HD4 box so I won't lead you to believe that I haven't EVER had an issue, but we were able to get it straightened out.

I CAN recommend the APEX controller and Neptune Systems. I have been satisfied overall and have a fairly complicated application of the controller with 20 outlets plus WXM and Dimming functions. The system runs well as long as you program effectively. The advanced programming language is not entirely intuitive and does require one to use their noodle to make sure an outlet works properly. That said, the advanced programming language allows you a great deal of flexibility.

I hate hearing how much trouble you had Stephen. WIth a system like yours, appliances should make your life easy, not add hassles. I would recommend the Neptune systems controllers to you and I know you have probably talked at length with Mark about your DA woes.

Mike

I would not worry about your possibly high calcium level. It won't poison anything to my knowledge. Get the facts about all three parameters before you DO anything.

Having just gone through the nightmare of bad test kits, let me assure you, it is better to not over react to your test readings than it is to be HYPER reactive to one or two testing parameters that seem to be high for no good reason. Have a friend test your water...take it to a LFS and have them check the alk, calc, and mag. Do anything to verify water parameters before you go doing a big water change or dumping anything in that will rock the boat.

Let to itself, the calcium level will drift down on its own. That would be my recommended way of dealing with the imbalance should it prove to be the truth.

Get a magnesium test kit. Use it. The Calcium/Mg/Alk marriage is a three way. All three are vital in making things work.

As far as your current water...the calcium will continue to drift down. I wouldn't DO anything about it.

Now, my suspicions are that your calcium is not actually that high or your alk is not that LOW. I bet your magnesium is way off, high or low, and that is influencing the outcome on the Ca or Alk test. So get the third test kit. The Elos Kit is most worthwhile in my experience for consistent and reliable results with Salifert a number two. NO API-EVER!

When we know your magnesium levels, we can give you better advice about the chemistry three way in your tank!

Magnesium 1250-1350 is where I run my tank.

Calcium 400ish

Alk 7-9 (9 right now)

One more...the most quiet external pump out there is a Poseidon T1 or T2. SILENT!

I'm running one and it is whisper quiet compared to other externals I have "heard".

If the TDS of your RO water is zero or near zero, pH of the filtered water is relatively unimportant. Mix the salt, bring it to 1.026 and check your pH. Due to the buffers in the salt mix, it will be near the 8.1-8.5 you'd like to see.

The vent hole you drill should be on the bottom of the return line up in the tank. That way, the little pee stream of water is directed towards the tank. Should the return pump fail, it will back siphon until air is pulled through the very small hole which will then arrest the back siphon.

See Mark's link below!

You are welcome to come check it out Friday-Sunday. I got Bruce to order me a DSA at Aquatek. Had to be patient, but glad I was. It is a very nice tank.

What benefit? I have a loaner SOL unit. One, not two....not even the right configuration. At the end of our "experiment", I have to give it back. Not like AI just gave it too me because of Mark. I own two other 400W ballasts so I didn't even need the SOL unit, just thought it would be fun to play with.

Discounts? Freebies? None...ask Mark. I've paid for all other equipment/livestock that he and I have ordered together.

You took the first stab at my friend Derek. You shouldn't be surprised that I poked back at you and so did PBNJ and Will.

No hard feelings on this end, but just realize who threw the first punch buddy.

NO PH CHECKER. USELESS DATA IN MY OPINION.

Another place to save money.

Mike

I have the old, larger, way more expensive unit. I'd bet the guts are the same though. Same reagent. Buy the $60 checker. Save the cash. THis is one of the few times you'll hear me give that kind of advice!

Since you don't have experience with advanced progamming of an Apex, I'd order your Apex and Sol from Callahan. He will be willing to supply the after sales service to help you avoid setup headaches. It'll be worth the 10% or so more in cost you might save by price shopping. He is an APEX rep and quite knowledeable. I think he also reps the SOL fixtures. PM him.

There isn't a correct answer on this one. LPS will do fine under compact fluorscents. They also thrive under VHO's and lower wattage MH. Your three best bets for LFS's would be in my mind:

South: Aquadome

North Central: Aquatek:Craig and Bruce know way more than I have forgotten about lighting and reef tanks in ten years

NorthWest: River City

I've not been a big fan of Gallery in eight years of dropping by there. I think their primary interest is in birds and cichlids.

If you have any interest in LED lighting, Mark C. has a pretty deep knowledge base on available products and pros and cons of each. He would be a good resource.

If you just have to have lighting right away, a four lamp t5 fixture would be an okay start. If you are going to grow SPS, you might want to consider a little more horsepower.

Here's the nut from the article:

Finally, there is the very real problem of the mixed fauna and flora found in many of our systems. Aquarists tend to mix animals from different geographical areas with joyous abandon. This results in a tank full of animals with a variety of ranges of tolerance depending on whether the animal was from the very warm waters of Indonesia or the cool subtropical waters of the northern Gulf of Mexico. A modification of an old saying would apply here. As a “Jack of all trades is a master of none,” generalized conditions are not good for any tank inhabitant. Maintaining a tank in the upper 70 degree Fahrenheit (24 to 26 degrees Celsius) range will stress any reef inhabitants from the central Indo-Pacific, as it is too cold. And, because this is near the upper limits for subtropical organisms, it will stress them as well. It would be better for all concerned if aquarists concentrated their efforts on maintaining separate systems for organisms from geographically disparate areas.

So as you review the article, we see that our IndoPacific creatures probably don't care too much for our 77-78 degree tanks. Since we are sliding into the summer months and the drought seems to have started, I'm amenable to sliding my temp control up a degree or two to the near 80 mark so maybe our new Aussie colonies and frags will feel more at home!

Hey buddy,

The WAYBACK machine isn't pulling up the page for me. Can you briefly, I mean brief and tersely summarize the article?

Who says you have to be 80 degrees year round Hydro? Run it warmer during the summer months and then ease if down in to the mid to upper seventies from November to March.

did your tank in the "tank of the month " CRASH Mike?

Not a total crash Jeremy, just lost about 1/3 of my colonies to what appears to be a chemistry roller coaster gone wild! I lost my yellow and purple millie colonies, a Cali Tort colony, four nice maricultured colonies, a loripes that I had grown for two years, and ton of other new frags that couldn't stand the lack of stability. I've traced the problem all the way back to a Sera and an API alk test kit. Both kits were given to me as birthday presents back in November. I guess they were old to begin with, but by the time I began using them in February, they were bad. Acutal alk of like 3 would read as 10 with the API and about 8 with the Sera. That's why I am preaching about Stephen's use of an alkalinity standard solution to verify whatever test you are using. I am also big on the Hanna checker now because of the difficulty in calling the endpoint with the ELos test kit that I experienced. My tank is stabilized now though and I have some cool things going on in both the frag/colony department, and the equipment setup. Once it is all in place, I'll share for sure.

When I used one of the pink wavepoints, I found it's spectrum degraded faster than the Fiji Purple KZ lamp. Makes me think of the saying...you pay for what you get!

Brian,

As for how to set up, there is no one right way or best way. There are just a bunch of different ways. Here's my two cents....

Buy two dosing pumps. Maybe those Bulk Reef Supply pumps which Mark C. can secure for you since he is a dealer. Set up the tank with JUST the two part method. If you want to go high end, buy a Liter Meter and dose with that. Here's why....with the kalk method, your daily additions are evaporation dependent. You have no good way of know how much goes in and so your overall control of the process is limited. With the dosing pump and two part method, it is very, very, very easy to CONTROL what goes in the tank and make adjustments both in dialing in the intiial setup and also over time as the tank's needs change. Yes, there will be some cost on the front end, but we are talking about the absolutely most important aspect of your tank operation here. Set it up right from the start and avoid the new guy blues with stuff going wrong. Yes, you can do it a zillion other ways that are less expensive or require less equipment or less front end investment, but you will not have the control that I believe is important for keeping a tank "in the zone".

A more complicated method would be do the kalk thing and monitor the tank and later add two part. Lot less control going this route. Not recommended from my point of view.(I have killed lots of stuff over the years)

Mike

how much did you get paid to post that link?

cynic!

Hydro is the real mad scientist in the group. That Strontium test kit is a bear to run! You have to really pay attention to the dilutions to get the results.

The least you can get away with is Calcium, Alk, Magnesium and Salinity.

You can start with just kalk in your top off water, but your livestock will increase its demand for calcium as they grow and ask Mark, you'll reach a point where you'll have to introduce a two part solution protocol for alk and calcium.

Finally...there is no set it and forget it in reef keeping. Hate to make such a black and white statement, but it really is true. You have to stay on top of water parameters if you are going to keep the tank in growth mode. Things get out of whack and your corals may not lose color, but their growth will slow down significantly.

I firmly beleive ALK ought to be tested daily, but if you can't do that, then 3 x a week.

Calcium 1-2x per week

Magnesium 1 x per week

Phosphate-1 x per week minimum twice a month

Magnesium can run at such a broad range that micro management is not necessary.

Calcium shouldn't drift appreciably once you have dialed in your dosing so same thing.

ALK-it's got to be stable. Daily testing to detect drifting and allow for immediate correction if variation is detected.

Having just crashed what I thought was a pretty nice SPS tank, I'll jump right out there and tell you I now beat the drum of the Hanna Alk Checker. Use that and a periodic check with a standard solution to verify the test kit is still accurate relative to a standard.

Magnesium-ELOS or Salifert-Once Hanna has a mag checker, I'll use that for sure.

Calcium-same as magnesium.

DO NOT USE API ALK KITS! DON"T EVEN THINK ABOUT IT!

That was not a dumb question by the way. This stuff is not intuitive in my opinion.