Alex’s IM 150 EXT

[Alexander1312]

I'm nowhere close to many others here in exp or knowledge but I think you have a very tight range with the tests even counting 6 day shipping various temperatures the samples were exposed to along the route. Its probably
safe to say in my estimates the tests your using are accurate enough to notice differences in trends over time. It would be impossible and well beyond my capibilites to speak on the accuracy of the lab preforming the icp. I would hope they would have much better equipment and understanding of chemistry than our lowly hobbist available test kits. How do your personal numbers compare to the last few icps you done. If they look similar in range to these I would say Pat yourself on the back.

Just to clarify my post: I did not mean to say I am great at water testing, it was more a shout out to the potential ‘quality’ of certain home test kits which are probably not as bad as it is often said, despite their low price. At least those test kits which are referred to as ‘more reliable’ vs others depending on the parameter we are testing. I specifically like the relative accuracy of the Milwaukee for salinity, since I had issues with this in the past (other posts), and knowing that what the ICP use for salinity is rather advanced.

To Thomas’ comment: I also did not mean to say that either is correct in their actual value (except maybe salinity). As you know, I was inside the Fauna Marin ICP lab and saw which equipment they use to test, which seems signficantly more expensive, with very expensive testing/calibration solutions etc. So coming close to what they test with very different equipment does speak to the reasonableness of using home test. And this result was almost every single time for each of the five ICPs I have done in the past 6 months.

And to clarify: This only refers to the parameters we can test at home (except potassium, which I am currently not testing), not to the fancy other minor traces etc.

 

[SupraSaltyReefer]

Update on failed attempt to acclimate four fish:

The good news is that both Anthias are still alive (the Bellus is nowhere to be found). We have started feeding up to three times frozen food daily, including Mysis, which they like, according to Tu. They are both eating well but are very shy due to the lingering aggression from the Yellow Tang (hence no picture for now).

Glad to hear the Borbs are still doing well! That Yellow tang really sounds like a punk! My other previous Borb really liked TDO pellets as well.

 

[Alexander1312]

I believe this is widely known to improve the performance/durability of the ECOTECH MP wet sides, but I only learned about it last week. I lubricated my MP40s and MP10s with this, which are running better than the new ones.

 

[RandyC]

I believe this is widely known to improve the performance/durability of the ECOTECH MP wet sides, but I only learned about it last week. I lubricated my MP40s and MP10s with this, which are running better than the new ones.

View attachment 58714

Yes. Use this to grease peristaltic tubing and rollers as well.

 

[Darkxerox]

It's good for coating steel fragging tools to keep corrosion down. Great for breaking in the MP 10/40/60 wet sides too (highly recommend following their break in procedure, made mine a lot quieter last time).

 

[Alexander1312]

After approximately 7-8 months in operation, resolving the LCA/dino issues, and probably most of the cyano issues, and feeling good about most water parameters, including ICP results, the tank is ready for its next step. Will need to improve lighting (separate thread), and add more corals.

My aquascape is a bit odd, but I wanted to have a three-dimensional design to encourage viewing the tank from all three angles.

I would be happy to hear any ideas on what I should consider with placing corals, or which corals to add, etc. (refer to the video below (ignore the sump area, which I recorded for a different purpose).