Bpb Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 It appears so. I'm confused. Been using this test kit since day one and I always keep everything well washed and clean. I'm stumped. Time for second and third opinions. Reagent refills should actually be arriving today too so that's good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 I would get 2nd opinions on everything if possible, so the 2nd battery of tests would be most beneficial to you. That way you can at least confirm your results before making any drastic changes. I will be all over the place saturday but if you drop off some water at the front door, I can test when I get home from everything that day. I like using the phosporus Hanna meter, reads down to the ppb if you don't mind converting your results each time as it gives you phosporus, not phosphate. It's a simple multiplication to convert. Personally, I'd replace the DI resin, as I remember vaguely reading somewhere that some things can make it past the DI resin and not show up on your TDS. I could be totally wrong but as a paranoid SPS person, I would replace it personally. In general I'm suspicious of the CaCl additions to the water to lower the alk... as I understand you are trying to precipitate the alk out of solution to lower it. For some reason, I feel like this process may have some unintended repercussions... but I'm no chemist. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 I'll look into the phosphorous meter and being a water bottle filled with tank water for you and leave it on your porch. lol please instruct your family members to not drink the water. They may grow polyps and/or hallucinate. Correct. Dr Randy has suggested in a number of essays and forum posts that dosing calcium chloride may have alkalinity lowering effects via precipitation, the new salts low magnesium should have helped facilitate this further. May work on paper, didn't work in practice for me. I'll test the calcium in the brute cans here in a bit to make sure I didn't make things worse. Results pending... I've been toying with di replacement lately as well since it's been so long. Couldn't hurt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 Calcium in each brute container 600 ppm. It's high but hopefully it'll precipitate some. Everything I've read and studied has basically pointed to calcium levels that high only being dangerous because of the amount I precipitation that can occur. Kind of what I'm aiming for. Maybe this is just a sign. That it's time to start over with sps. Cherry pick a frag of my favorite ones I have and send them off to come home later. Let the rest go. I'm starting to accept that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Part of me wishes I should have done this in the first place... just ship them all off to a nice tank somewhere else and get them all back once everything is stabilized in the new tank. Ideally, getting all parameters in line would be the best situation before moving everything over but its during the corrections and over corrections, that the coral pay for it and you end up losing stuff. With so many parameters that could fluctuate, it's quite more difficult than I would have anticipated myself. On the bright side, it made me involuntarily narrow down some of my SPS and make room for some exquisite pieces to join my new tank. Naturally all my LPS and zoas made it just fine. I wonder sometimes why I put myself through all of this trouble just for colored sticks... but then again, I look at the colored sticks in my old tank video and online and then I remember why. I'll make sure my wife doesn't take a swig of Bpb's special tank brew water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 Right there with you Ty. I consider going Lps dominant all the time. Just can't do it. I'm prepared to lose a lot of my growth but that'll allow me to aquascape more carefully. I have a lot of new rock to work with that is ALOT more attractive than my current offering. That will all be moved to the refugium. I have a friend in Houston that I do business with a lot who is holding about 7 species of much nicer things than I have right now b. 4-5 different smooth skin acro varieties, purple slimer, strawberry shortcake, blue Millie. Good stuff. Excited to pick those up. They're just waiting for when I'm ready. Already paid for. This will look bleak temporarily bit will be a big upgrade sps wise in a couple months Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Just a note Bpb, make sure that you prerinse that bottle a few times with tank water and fill it allllll the way to the top with no headspace (emptiness) so that your results are more accurate. Depending on how long its left out, what the temperature is, how much headspace is left, etc you can get some undesirable parameter variability. I'm further south, but I could help test if ty is out of pocket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 Pay heed to victoly's advice... he's paid his dues to the water sampling gods! I don't worship them anymore but at one time, I paid my dues as well. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 5, 2014 Author Share Posted June 5, 2014 Good call Vic. I'm solid on the rinsing in tank water. But didn't think about no air in the bottle. I'll be in south Austin (I think). I've got a gig at Little Woodrow's wherever that is. Played there once before but as I'm not an austinite an was coming in from Houston and following people , not positive on what area of town it's in. I'll go wherever is closer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted June 5, 2014 Share Posted June 5, 2014 If youre coming in 71, I'm that far south (think aquadome), just further west out in oak hill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Good call Vic. I'm solid on the rinsing in tank water. But didn't think about no air in the bottle. I'll be in south Austin (I think). I've got a gig at Little Woodrow's wherever that is. Played there once before but as I'm not an austinite an was coming in from Houston and following people , not positive on what area of town it's in. I'll go wherever is closerI think it's in Southpark Meadows, I35 and slaughter Ln.Oh, not an austinite, so southeast of aquadome 10 minutes away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 I like how we base out of town directions to fellow reefers using a local fish store as a point of reference. If you still want to drop it off to me Bpb, I'm 15 mins North of Fish Gallery, 7 minutes north of Aquatek, 2 mins NE of Fish Gallery, 4 mins north of Austin Aqua Farms, 10 mins south of Niko's Reef, and 15 mins east of RCA, and 25 mins north of the Dome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Planeden Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Sheesh So many lfs up north you can triangulate ty's house with lfs drive times. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 Sounds like your in the sweet spot Ty...I'll be up Sunday and will probably be going by nikos first if somebody wants to meet me there and Jonathan wants to send a fresh sample Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 6, 2014 Author Share Posted June 6, 2014 I'd love it if someone in Austin whom I trust would babysit some frags, but as my time in Austin is normally rushed and I'm in town inconsistently, the logistics of me recovering them would get tricky. I'm actually cutting mini colonies up of my favorite things and bringin them to a friend in Houston tomorrow. Goodbye Hawkins Goodbye Red Planet Goodbye Red Millie Goodbye Cali Tort Goodbye Northern Lights Goodbye Lime in the Sky Goodbye Purple Meridiana My roughneck crew of montipora caps and digis will be the ground troops sent in as the first wave of sps. They're gonna make the direct transfer over. Nobody wants to buy them, even at a ridiculous discount, so they'll be sacrificial lambs. If they make it...fantastic. I'll try to sell them later. If they die, I'll know I made a wise decision and it'll be making of room for nicer sps coming Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dustin Pedretti Posted June 6, 2014 Share Posted June 6, 2014 If they die they will make cool skeletons for your new better stuff to grow on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted June 7, 2014 Author Share Posted June 7, 2014 Well. I've come quite a way psychologically since my new tank build started. Initially, I didn't want to get rid of anything and would be devastated at any loss. At this point I'm actually trying to get ALL of my sps out of the tank. So, going with better judgement I took the bone cutters to my favorite sps colonies. That first cut was tough, but each subsequent cut got easier. Since I have a bit of nuisance algae I opted to dice the corals up and mount fresh flesh to fresh plugs to reduce the chance of spreading algae to others. I'm keeping the bases I suppose. First two rounds are gone. Tank looking significantly emptier A big thanks to Manny for taking the first pack. And a big thanks to my buddy Logan in Houston for taking in the grand daddy pack. He even bought a new frag rack just for my stuff. Couple other friends may watch a few more large frags for me and I have a couple people ordering large frag packs as well. I stand to make a few hundred bucks hopefully and ensure my sps live on and will return to me one day. Today was sad and happy sending these off. These are pics he sent to me after putting them in. Polyp extension good. A little pale/brown from the move but his tank is killer so I know they'll adjust. Species list I parted with today: ORA Stuber Stag Rainbow Montipora Tyree Lime in the Sky Acro Purple Meridiana Acro Cali Tort Acro Raspberry Cheesecake Acro ORA Hawkins Blue Echinata Acro Red Planet Acro ORA Tricolor Valida Acro Northern Lights Acro Nasuta Still need to rehome lots of montipora (caps,digi, rainbow, spongodes) Huge ORA Stuber Stag, Huge Northern Lights Nasuta, some birds nests, remainder of my Millie, Cali tort, tricolor Valida, and red planet. Wish there were more sps fanatics close by. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted June 7, 2014 Share Posted June 7, 2014 To greener pastures my friend, and think of all the fun you'll have restocking this time. At least you didn't watch everything slowly die for 5 months before you realized chopping them up and shipping them out was the better option. Sent from my SPH-L710 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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