Bobbyb3 Posted July 19, 2016 Share Posted July 19, 2016 I will have to get a pic up of the Coral Beaty from a rehoming. My levels today before my water change was Salinity 1.023 Ammonia 0.25 Cal 360 ppm Mag 1040 ppm Alk 4.2 Meg/L 11.8 dKH Nitrate 12 ppm pH 8.4 Phosphate 0 ppm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 22, 2016 Author Share Posted July 22, 2016 Ooooops! Sorry! Forgot I need to follow this! With your calcium and magnesium really low right now it's real important to make note of how your corals are looking and use the birdsnest as a gauge for growth. As your system matures you most likely will see issues with stony corals when magnesium drops this low but it is going to depend a great deal on species. But what you want to be doing is getting an idea or feel for hwo your animals are reacting. They are often much better at telling you when there is a problem developing than your tests may show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Salinity 1.023 Ammonia 0.25 Cal 350 ppm Mag 1240 ppm Alk 3.6 Meg/L 10.1 dKH Nitrate 10 ppm pH 8.2 Phosphate 0 ppm I ordered a set of the 2 part BRS. Though everything is looking good fish and coral. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted July 26, 2016 Share Posted July 26, 2016 Here is the update on the birds nest Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted July 31, 2016 Author Share Posted July 31, 2016 We definitely need to be adding calcium. Corals usually don't start dying until calcium drops down in the 200's mg/l but anything below 360 mg/l will slow down calcification. We need to keep it above 360 but since calcification rate does not increase with calcium increase any higher than 360 mg/l how high is kinda personal choice. If I remember correctly saturation is around 600 mg/l and calcium will start precipitating out on plumbing and pumps. I haven't seen it with high calcium levels in any of my systems but there are anecdotal reports of pump issues with calcium issues around 500. If you have a lot of corals growing trying to keep calcium that high will be a challenge though. Right now your alkalinity is very good and you magnesium is acceptable. As you increase the available calcium you should see increased growth. This increased grwoth is going to start pulling more bicarbonate and magnesium so don't be surprised you need to increase the amounts of those. Looking back through the test readings adding a balanced supplement and extra bicarbonate we did see a jump in magnesium but a drop in calcium and alkalinity. What this tells me is we're seeing the corals trying to grow faster but we're not adding stuff fast enough. This is where we get to play mad scientist a bit but we'll need to see what combination is going to work as far as keeping it easy and keeping enough stuff available for your corals. It's not just stoney corals that can use up availablecalcium, bicarbonate and magnesium. octocorals (soft and leather corals) also use it. Sinularia is one of the heavier users making thousands of calcium spindles that are incorporated into the body of the colony. And the non photosynthetic species use it also. Hidden cup corals and chili corals being two examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted August 4, 2016 Share Posted August 4, 2016 Sorry has a busy weekend but been slowly raising the levels. I did my normal water change on Monday. The leathers have been looking better since I raised the magnesium. The only problem I noticed today was the one of the yellow tails were missing. Though I must admit I don't count them everday Salinity 1.023 Ammonia 0.25 Cal 370 ppm Mag 1360 ppm Alk 3.2 Meg/L 9 dKH Nitrate 15 ppm pH 8.3 Phosphate 0 ppm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 I meant to do my update on Monday after my water change but my clown that was in QT died. It was doing fine just at the end it decided to host the inlet for the UV pump and I probably didn't see until it was to late. Other than that the tank is looking good. except for one anemone that has mode swings all the time. as you can see the others are doing fine. Salinity 1.023Ammonia 0.25Cal 430 ppmMag 1350 ppmAlk 3.5 Meg/L 9.8 dKHNitrate 12 ppmpH 8.4Phosphate 0 ppm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 Here are some pics so show growth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 FTS you can see where the leather is starting to frag itself from where I injured it when it was young. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted August 26, 2016 Share Posted August 26, 2016 My wife doing artsy shots Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted September 9, 2016 Author Share Posted September 9, 2016 Looking good! Especially since it's only been 4 months since we put water in it. What's the total now with the new light strips you got? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted September 9, 2016 Share Posted September 9, 2016 We are at $1082 now. Everything is looking good but the pink acan. Think since I didn't feed it but ordered some reef chili hope it helps with the green one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Here is a video update Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Shows a lot pink birds nest has joined together and must thank mFrame I believe for the brain. It is looking very well. Tim moved the hammers down hope that helps them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted October 20, 2016 Share Posted October 20, 2016 Sorry Tim corrected me it was Dan and Meg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted October 21, 2016 Author Share Posted October 21, 2016 Looking good! It kinda bothers me we still have a little cyano but it's not running rampant and we still really haven't had any issues with Briopsis or Derbersia as is common so it's good. Seeing some decent growth on the corals which is good also. Remind me if I've misremembered bit PAR readings with the 2 new light strips is ~175 at the tops of the rocks, ~150 across the middle of the tank and the front 2/3rds of the sand is ~90 correct? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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