First Time Build

[Planeden]

New Update. Speial thanks to Brian.Srock, Chad and Belinda, Niko/Stang, RCA, and Aquadome (no partiular order)

Picked up the Nikon D5000 from Chad and Belinda...so, these pictures are a new endevour for me. New inhabitants in the DT inlude: 2 porcilin crabs, skinuk cleaner shrimp, sexy shrimp (no picutured), RBTA, purple hammer, green w/purple hammer, and small maxima clam,

FTS: (bags are temprorary)

skunk cleaner shrimp

purple hammer

green and purple hammer - got a deal on this because two of the heads had died. (toppish of picture)

RBTA hosting the clown while being hosted by a paly.

Bubble Coral - this has never been happy in my tank. i'm still playing with locations to see if i can find it's happy place. hnuter said it may have been damaged during shipping. since it was fine the store, this would be defined as my driving it home. but when i mentioned that different polyps are extended at different times, it seems more likely that it is environmental. when i suggested that it may be trying to communicate with differentiating polyp extension, he sort of that it was unlikely. anyway, here it is.

Blue maxima (kinda minima right now though, but he has growing room). i read online that the maximas like to have their feet on solid ground (rock, not sand) so i put him on my handy little QT rock. i like the rock because i could place frags on it and they would sit solidly on the ground. but, i didnt realize the extent to which a clam would attach to it. all indicationis are that it is his rock now and i just have to figure out a way to get that to fit in the DT. possible ideas are burying it or breaking it. scrapping the clam off is not a risk i am willing to take.

Porclin Crabs

I have duncans that brian gave me in quarentine. they haven't opened up yet, but they were thinking about it today. i also have some zoas in QT.

in preperation for the end of the need for a permanent QT tank. Two peppermint shrimp, two purple firefish, and a pom pom crab have taken up residence in my QT tank.

also, the pom pom crab in my DT has made an apperance for the first time in three+ months! hurrraaay.

[+KimP]

Everything is looking so good! I hope that bubble coral comes around. And yay for seeing the pom pom crab! Mine is in a 3g tank and I don't see it much. The rbta is beautiful.

[bige]

Looks real good. The pics look great too.

[Planeden]

Everything is looking so good! I hope that bubble coral comes around. And yay for seeing the pom pom crab! Mine is in a 3g tank and I don't see it much. The rbta is beautiful.

Thanks Kim, I love the nem. He's so funny with all his bubbly antics (thanks to Jamesl for pointing it out so I don't mistake it for dying). Although your Pom Pom in the 3 gal is not making me hopeful for the one I just put in my 10. The lights are out now, so I'm thinking about dumping plankton in to see if he comes and eats. Hunter says he sees his out eating plankton sometimes.

Looks real good. The pics look great too.

Thanks bige. The new camera is feeling pretty good.

[JamesL]

Off to a great start with the pictures! And the tanks and new critters look great.

Hoping also for a recovery on the bubble coral.

[Planeden]

Thanks James. I've got a friend in law that is a photographer so I'm thinking I may take the contraption to her and say "show me how this works". But according to my girlfriend she's a "canon girl". I didn't realize there were cliques. But it was a giant leap forward when I figured out how to turn off the auto flash .

[Planeden]

Dose log:

Dosed 2-8 and 2-10 Ca 25 mil, 2-9 and 2-11 Alk 40 mil

2-11 readings: Salinity 1.022, Ca 400 ppm, Alk 9.0 dkh

I'm in target range.

Next step: top off and test 2-12 prior to dosing to figure daily drop (if dosing is required).

Ca: 50 mil over 4 days increased 20 ppm

Alk: 80 mil over for days increased 0.9.

Not certain how that helps, exactly. But I figure it may be good info to have on hand.

Prev post 450

[subsea]

It is always a good idea to establish quantitative tank uptake of elements. I am doing the same thing but am tracking nitrogen only. Because of the high alkalinity of the Trinity Aquifier, I am fortunate in not having to buffer. As your tank matures, the uptake will increase.

With no partial water changes, I was perplexed for the longest time as to why my salinity has not increased when continually adding makeup with dissolved minerals from Aquifier. The macros and corals are absorbing it into their biomass. I am glad that they know what to do with it.

Dennis,

I am glad you got a Cannon. When you learn how to use it, come show me how to use my G12.

Patrick

[Planeden]

It is always a good idea to establish quantitative tank uptake of elements. I am doing the same thing but am tracking nitrogen only. Because of the high alkalinity of the Trinity Aquifier, I am fortunate in not having to buffer. As your tank matures, the uptake will increase.

Well, i know i need to calculate my uptake so i can dial in the dose. i guess i haven't figured out yet how. there are two things changing at once. i am adding the element and then it is being used at the same time. so, if i can figure out how much i'm adding then i will know how much is getting used. i can either break out the magnifying glass and try to read it off the bottle, or i can test before and (an hour or two) after dosing to figure out what my dose is adding. then i can use the numbers above to figure out my usage.

With no partial water changes, I was perplexed for the longest time as to why my salinity has not increased when continually adding makeup with dissolved minerals from Aquifier. The macros and corals are absorbing it into their biomass. I am glad that they know what to do with it.

it is nice of them to make up for our ignorance . i guess it falls into timfish's "whadaya know, it works" thing.

Dennis,

I am glad you got a Cannon. When you learn how to use it, come show me how to use my G12.

no no, i got a nikon. it's just that everyone i thought might help has a nikon. i did try to read the manual a little bit, but not knowing what all the things (fstop, aperture, shutter speed, etc.) really do made it a bit confusing. i got discouraged pretty quick and moved on to Xbox. but, i woke up this morning and my girlfriend as telling me things about how to change settings. i asked her if she looked at the manual and she looked at me funny and said "youtube". oh kids today. never occurred to me to go to youtube. which to her was kinda dumb .

Patrick

Dennis

[Planeden]

Dose log:

No dosing today.

Salinity 1.022, Alk 8.7 - 9.0, Ca 375-380 ppm

Dropping less then 0.3 per day in Alk and 20 - 25 ppm per day in calcium.

That seems like a lot of calcium. I'm going to remeaure tomorrow before any dosing.

Prev post 457

[Planeden]

Dose log

Today tested calcium at 360 ppm and Alk at 8.4 dkh.

Losing 20 ppm calcium a day. Daily dose to maintain is 10 mil.

Losing 0.3 dkh (0.1 meq /l) per day. Daily dose to maintain 8-10 mil.

It's seems odd (compared to bottle) that my Ca is going away so much faster than Alk. Theoretically I should be dosing twice as much for Alk as I am calcium.

After testing I dosed 30 mil of Ca which theoretically brings me to 420 ppm. so tomorrow I'll be at 400.

2-14 dose 20 mil Alk

2-15 dose 20 mil ca.

2-15/2-16 test with salinity at 1.025. Maybe professionally.

2-17 go watch other people test and dose at Austin aquarium.

Prev post 460 (ehem, up one...)

[JamesL]

Dose log

Today tested calcium at 360 ppm and Alk at 8.4 dkh.

Losing 20 ppm calcium a day. Daily dose to maintain is 10 mil.

Losing 0.3 dkh (0.1 meq /l) per day. Daily dose to maintain 8-10 mil.

It's seems odd (compared to bottle) that my Ca is going away so much faster than Alk. Theoretically I should be dosing twice as much for Alk as I am calcium.

After testing I dosed 30 mil of Ca which theoretically brings me to 420 ppm. so tomorrow I'll be at 400.

2-14 dose 20 mil Alk

2-15 dose 20 mil ca.

2-15/2-16 test with salinity at 1.025. Maybe professionally.

2-17 go watch other people test and dose at Austin aquarium.

Prev post 460 (ehem, up one...)

The meeting at the Dome is today, 2-16. The Aquarium visit is on the 17th.

[+KimP]

Have you tested magnesium?

[Planeden]

Dose log

Today tested calcium at 360 ppm and Alk at 8.4 dkh.

Losing 20 ppm calcium a day. Daily dose to maintain is 10 mil.

Losing 0.3 dkh (0.1 meq /l) per day. Daily dose to maintain 8-10 mil.

It's seems odd (compared to bottle) that my Ca is going away so much faster than Alk. Theoretically I should be dosing twice as much for Alk as I am calcium.

After testing I dosed 30 mil of Ca which theoretically brings me to 420 ppm. so tomorrow I'll be at 400.

2-14 dose 20 mil Alk

2-15 dose 20 mil ca.

2-15/2-16 test with salinity at 1.025. Maybe professionally.

2-17 go watch other people test and dose at Austin aquarium.

Prev post 460 (ehem, up one...)

Right. I may take a water sample to the meeting with me and get it tested to verify my tests. But tomorrow may include some testing at the aquarium. Not my water, but it'll be nice to take a day off the annoyance and watch someone else do it . I may be a little tired of testing water.

The meeting at the Dome is today, 2-16. The Aquarium visit is on the 17th.

Have you tested magnesium?

That test is more of a pain than the others. When I started dosing it was 1200 so I haven't been dosing (or testing) it. The Ca dosing I have actually dose a little mg and something else, too. So, it should still be ok. But, I can say that every time I run a test I tell myself that tomorrow I'll do mg...I lie to myself a lot it turns out. Maybe I'll do it today .

[Planeden]

I have finally gotten a new picture of the duncan that Brian.Srock gave me.

Fun Things: I got a new white sailfin molly in the tank. both of my procilin crabs are now living in my RBTA. that guy needs to grow fast since he is currently supporting a clown fish and two crabs. the crabs get really peaved when i feed him, though. one day they'll probably grab me, but so far no. maybe they will get used to the giant shrimp filled hand.

Sad thing: After trying to find a happy spot for the bubble coral I decided to take it to the meeting on sunday to give it to a loving home that may have been able to save it. sadly, when i picked it up it was dead. i'm not certain if i will try again or if i just have too much flow in my tank for something so fragile. i'd rather go without the bubble than try to fiddle with the flow that is currently making everything else happy. maybe i'll just wait and put it in my next tank.

[Planeden]

Just a few pictures. I don't remember the last time i got a decent picture of my royal gramma. and a picture of my molly. the sexy shrimp is still a little out of focus, but it is hard to tell the camera to do the tiny little thing inside and behind all the big palys.

[JamesL]

On my Canon, when you move into the manual shooting modes, you can then select the focus point. You probably have that same ability.

[Planeden]

On my Canon, when you move into the manual shooting modes, you can then select the focus point. You probably have that same ability.

Good point. I'll have to look for that. I think I've accidentally found it and just turned the camera off to fix it .

[Planeden]

Sorry Brian. Thought this was done

My frogspawn has not been as happy as he had been. Expanding about half what he'd been before. Everyone else is happy as ever. So, I did a 10% water change a few days ago. No change.

Also, I've been feeding heavy since some of my macro melted and had 0 nitrates and 0 phosphates. So I wanted to get nutrients back up a little. Feeding mysis, cyclopease, and phyto daily. Biggest change is I'm not target feeding phyto, just pouring in a several teaspoons. Macro in the sump is growing slowly, but growing again.

I am surprised by the results. So without further delay:

dose log:

Nitrates 20 ppm

Phosphate 0 ppm? Unreadable anyway.

calcium 390 ppm

Alkalinity 10.5 dkh ?!?

Magnesium 1260 ppm

Notes:

1. I need to stop being lazy and take timfish's advice and test my top off water and make up water. Perhaps it is higher in nitrates than phosphates so the algae uses the proportions of nitrate to phosphate, but nitrate is introduced faster. Not a major concern, just a curiosity.

2. I either severally miscalculated my Alk usage/dosing, or my water tests will reveal a high Alk in added water. Based on 5% addition in top off and a 10% water change, I'm leaning towards user error.

3. High Alk may be causing frogspawn displeasure?

Things to do:

1. Listen to Tim

2. Stop dosing Alk for a week

3. Continue dosing calc as normal.

4. Retest next weekend.

5. Keep feeding heavy. Shop for additional swimming bio loads.

6. See if anyone else has alternate advice.

Ps: Brian, on a good note your Duncan is very happy. I'll move it to the display soon.

[+KimP]

Did you retest alk? Alk swings can definitely make coral unhappy. If that's right,I think you have the right idea to skip dosing until it comes back down to where you want it. I like your "listen to Tim" step, I need to do that too! And yes to getting more swimming bioload

[Planeden]

Did you retest alk? Alk swings can definitely make coral unhappy. If that's right,I think you have the right idea to skip dosing until it comes back down to where you want it. I like your "listen to Tim" step, I need to do that too! And yes to getting more swimming bioload

Retest? You must think I like testing way more than I do. . I should do that tomorrow when I test my source water or something. Alk is by far the easiest test.

But getting more ish will be fun. Now to decide what. Obviously a jawfish.

[Planeden]

Got Aquadome to proffesionally check my water.

Ca = 400-410 ppm

Alk = 8.0-8.2 (yay, back on target)

Mg. = 800 - -820 ppm (uug, this seems to flucuate with no rhyme or reason)

Nitrate = 0.25 ppm

Phosphate = 0.02 ppm

Took some of timfish's advice. Checked top off water and make up water for Alk.

Top off = 4.0 to 4.5 or something. had to use a dip stick for freshwater, so results are a bit iffy

Make up water = 15.0 (yowsa, that's high).

Since nitrates and phosphates are back in order i suppose i see no reason to check supply water for those.

[Bpb]

That's all very good news. Fwiw when my magnesium was low early on, I had to dose massive amounts to bring it up to range and it would fall really quickly again. Kept dosing and keeping it in range and eventually it stopped falling. I don't know the chemical mechanism that causes it but perhaps it needs to react with something in the water until the reaction is sufficiently satisfied and completed, then it is able to be elevated without disappearing. I dunno, I just know I experienced the same thing. Dose it, get it to range, a day or two later, it falls through the floor again. I think I used about a gallon or so over a couple months before it held stable.

[bige]

I've been having the same problem. What salt are you using? I can dump mg in my tank everyday and it goes down quickly throughout the day. I also get high reading of alk on my new made water. I had this problem before with redsea coral pro so I changed to fluval salt. Then it all evened out and stopped fluctuating. Everyone made me think I was crazy so I went back to redsea. Now problems are back. It's real frustrating. My coral have all stopped growing.

[Planeden]

That's all very good news. Fwiw when my magnesium was low early on, I had to dose massive amounts to bring it up to range and it would fall really quickly again. Kept dosing and keeping it in range and eventually it stopped falling. I don't know the chemical mechanism that causes it but perhaps it needs to react with something in the water until the reaction is sufficiently satisfied and completed, then it is able to be elevated without disappearing. I dunno, I just know I experienced the same thing. Dose it, get it to range, a day or two later, it falls through the floor again. I think I used about a gallon or so over a couple months before it held stable.

thanks bpb. I've noticed since i started dosing that i've been getting little white spots on the rocks, glass, and coral stems. they are perfect little circals, all the same size, and look kinda hard. it doesn't look like it'd be any sort of life or eggs, but what do i know. maybe that is my mg collecting for some reason. who knows. i will dump mg. in (when i buy some) and see what happens.

falling throughout the day, though? sheesh. i promise i will not be testing mg. throughout the day. drip cap shake, drip cap shake,...nope, not me. once a day will be pushing it.

I've been having the same problem. What salt are you using? I can dump mg in my tank everyday and it goes down quickly throughout the day. I also get high reading of alk on my new made water. I had this problem before with redsea coral pro so I changed to fluval salt. Then it all evened out and stopped fluctuating. Everyone made me think I was crazy so I went back to redsea. Now problems are back. It's real frustrating. My coral have all stopped growing.

thanks bige, i too am using red sea coral pro. i have about a years supply left (unless i up my water changes to keep mg. in check instead of dosing). i'm thinking it is because i did not adequately stir the dry salt. i'm down to half a bucket and when i took the bag out to give it a nice shake i found that i had a hole in it. when i went to dump the salt into the bucket i found that it had been smashed and has a gaint hole, too. fortunately i found it before i poured it in. so, it still aint shook well.

anyway, after the salt thread, i'm thinking about going to instant ocean. if ima gonna dose anyway, why pay extra for the salt? with my bimonthly (if i'm generous) water changes, i doubt i'd see much of a change in my dosages.

@all: do i need to slowly up the magnessium or can i just dump 400 ppm worth in tomorrow and be fine?