Cali Kid Corals

NanoCrazed's Lazy Tank(s) Journal

SPS Frag
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ARGH!!! Killed myself installing a riser and fitting a Vertex 130 i had laying around into the tight clearance and awkward location of my sump. Probably threw out my back... then realized the skimmer won't work for my setup!!!

  1. Too wide for the mid section of the eshoppe rs200 gen 2 sump. Has these stupid ridges in the middle section that requires a platform/riser
  2. Way too many micro bubbles produced if one a riser... the outlet is at water line
  3. Putting in first chamber sucked. Space is way too small.
Wound up swapping it out again, and sticking a Bubble Magus Curve 5 in. But much noisier than the Vertex 130.

Let's see if I can tune the BM5 for this tank. :mad:
 
SPS Frag
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I keep putting off placing this tank into production, so to speak. Wanted to get conditions right, remove dinos, operational skimmer, dial in lights, etc. etc. etc.

But finally decided to throw caution into the wind and pulled the trigger. Wired in my Trident, DOS, and DDR last night. Took my first auto Trident reading and dumped a whole ton of Mg and Alk solution to match my DT (surprisingly Ca was 529 already for an ignored system I've had running with dirty water for shrooms for years with no water change). Figured out the right amount with the benefit of a reef chem calclulator (http://reef.diesyst.com/chemcalc/chemcalc.html). End result was slightly off but close enough.

Moved in a few SPS colonies and frags after some dips and chem bath as a trial run... So far so good...

Lots of PE... even more than in my DT.

Let's see how they go over the next 2 weeks before I fully commit.

I still need to take a PAR reading later and dial in the lights... but that'll be later! :)
 
SPS Frag
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Two quick connect elbows, poly tubing, 2 fish eyes and some left over thin acrylic tubing later... viola!
Added dosing lines

My params are exactly matched to my DT for seamless transfer. Just need to double check NO3 and PO4.

Also finally had a chance today to dial in PAR to match sweet spot in my DT.

20210322_205001.jpg
 
AquaJapan 85
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Well that sucks, my second attempt at BKChem Crack Juice also resulted in a RTN overnight after 1.5 months. :(

Dunno if I can afford to try a 3rd... need to ignore my stubbornness in refusing to be denied by said piece!

Everything else in my tank has been coloring up beautifully... though I did have 2 rtns recently. One that's a stressed piece to begin with and another that was brown, turned colored, turn white. Maybe my nitrates have bottomed significantly again as I have been lax at dosing and have restarted using a filter sock to resolve some issues (typically run sockless)
 
AquaJapan85
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Something is definitely going on in my system. Just looked at my tank, and my TSA Bill Murray rtn'd over night.

Suspect on my list are:
  1. Bad batch of Kent Marine Coral-vite. I have been dosing this for years... but since starting this new bottle... been nothing by problems. My last major problem was also after dosing from this bottle -- but that result was burned tips and not rtn. Is it possible that they go bad?
  2. Dr Tim's eco balance... my rainbow poci is slowly dying since adding it.
  3. Nitrate dosing solution? mixed in some KNO3
  4. I had a 4 hour alk drop after my water change -- didn't realize alk was so low in my stored water. but at same time, 4 hour dip shouldn't have such a big impact typically... who knows.
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OK -- ruling our nitrates as well. it's hovering around 15 - 25 ppm. (darker than 10ppm , lighter than 25 ppm on salifert). And I don't have the patience to whip out my hanna nitrate.

Ruling out K as it tested fine.

when i did my water change, my alk dropped from 9.1 to 7.84. 1.26dkh difference... There was a 6.5 hours difference before I managed to get it back up close to teh starting point... dunno if that's big enough of a swing to make the diff... this was a week ago. Typically, it takes about 2 -3 weeks for alk related rtn. but maybe...

by process of elimination, it is probably the trace dosing as the likely culprit. my coloration of some pieces has been off...similar to how it was the last time. and my chalices are showing erosion from the edges. grr....
 
Just remember... could be a temp swing making things worst on the rtn piece... I unplugged one of my heaters the other day and accidentally left all my windows / doors open for most of the night... Temp dropped to 75... a 5 degree swing, 2 weeks back. I've noticed swings like that causing RTN in my tank...

1619832354205.png
 
Combination of less than ideal things. Large quick Alk swings and temp swings together isn’t good. Maybe one by itself ok, but maybe both is too much?
 
Coral reefer said:
Combination of less than ideal things. Large quick Alk swings and temp swings together isn’t good. Maybe one by itself ok, but maybe both is too much?
Click to expand...
Yeah, may... though i suspect the tenp drop alone was the real culprit. I've lost pieces before due to temp drops.

Sadly, this was my 3rd try at keeping a TSA Bill Murray. After having it for so long this time, i thought I got it right this time. Nope! Doh
 
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