pbnj

Also, weren't the corals on the site supposed to go to a 30% discount today?

What time do you open tomorrow?

These Hot Pink Chalices were always getting covered in sand at the bottom of the tank and they'd get knocked-off the rocks when I'd try to move them up higher, so I got a little creative with the glue, some branching tonga rock, and a ceramic reef plug:

The 14K 250W Plusrites are now 8 months old....coral growth and color still impressive:

April:

September:

What are your readings now and how much are you currently dosing?

The BRS dosers dose 1.1 ml per minute (or 66 ml per hour), so just figure out how many ml you want to dose each day and set the Apex accordingly.

Shoot for 9-10 dKH for Alk and 400-420 ppm for Calcium.

For Alk, I use BRS Soda Ash.

For Calcium/Mg, I use Seachem Reef Complete.

Keep in mind, I have a 135g full of SPS, so I dose pretty heavily. It also took about 3 months of patiently changing the increments to get these dialed-in. I still have to tweek these a little every few weeks as consumption increases:

Soda Ash Pump:

=============

Fallback OFF

Set OFF

If Time 06:00 to 06:45 Then ON

If Time 12:00 to 12:45 Then ON

If Time 18:00 to 18:45 Then ON

Reef Complete Pump:

=================

Fallback OFF

Set OFF

If Time 09:30 to 10:35 Then ON

What equipment is your Apex controlling for dosing, e.g., BRS dosing pumps?

The short answer is "no", but that really depends on several other things:

How often do you plan on doing water-changes?

Is the tank filled with base-rock, newly cycled live-rock, or old live-rock?

How tightly packed will the rock be, i.e., will there be good flow or can detritus build-up?

How much do you plan on feeding?

What kinds of food do you plan on feeding?

What kind of sand will you use for the sandbed?

How deep will the sandbed be?

These will all contribute to nitrate/phosphate levels....it's just a matter of how much (without a skimmer).

Yeah, I'm fine with the API test kits.

I hardly ever test for anything, other than calcium & alk. It's just that I went so long without doing a water-change that I started to feel guilty. I was just pleasantly surprised with the test results, thus this thread.

The acceptable ranges for most of these test results is so broad, why pay so much more (some of the test kits are really expensive) for "accuracy"?

I mean, proper pH is important, but there's not much you can really do there anyway. I figure if my alk is good, so is my pH. I haven't even set-up my pH probe from when I bought my Apex controller.

Oh, and my old swing-arm hydrometer is just fine, thank you.

I know, I know, this is reef blasphemy. What can I say, I'm a rebel without a refractometer.

Cute, but these will eventually end-up in a box in the attic/basement right next to the old "Big Mouth Billy Bass". You remember those, right?

ditto what jestep said. The API kits are the worst, but hey, they are cheap!!

Here's my hands on experience with API summed up: A Tale of Two Test Kits

The API kits are my back-ups....I rely primarily on the "eyeball test"!

This same test kit was reading higher phosphate levels (1.0-2.0) a few months ago.

Hey, phosphates/nitrates, who's your daddy?

BTAs that are hosted by clownfish do receive a steady supply of "marine snow".

How long have they been in the tank?

Hmmmm, Mr. Saltwatertank said otherwise. Oh, well.

...wattage applies to the ballast, not the reflectors.

You would still need to use 400W bulbs...just dimmed to 250W.

Lumenarcs...Large or Mini's?

Ballasts....250W adjustable?

That is funny....at the end of the day, these reef tanks are just a crapshoot, aren't they?

Save your money...I get these results with $13 Plusrites (14K):

http://www.austinree...35g-pics-aug11/

Overflow standpipe mufflers.

Any updates/pics?

Those foam pads that are used in sump baffles or that blue/white foam padding that is used in wet/dry filters.

I see now....3:00pm.