Help me with my system! (1 Viewer)

[mattb]

There are many species of acros that come from the Red Sea, but yes, there is little in the way of importation of livestock from their (despite most, if not all, NOT being CITES countries).

It could be salinity.... in the wild, many animals on the reef crest (aka acroporids) do get rained on during low tide. However, do they lose this ability (temperature also fluctuates significantly too) in captivity? Hard to say. I think if all things are equal, they should adapt, but we know this is not the case. Like Matt said, even Dissolved Oxygen levels will vary significantly in closed systems, far from supersaturation on the reefs. This could be at the root of a lot of issues, but may be not....

Get a standard solution... I know pinpoint has one, I use it (if you want me to run over some time, I would be willing to do that. But you're then at the mercy of my schedule - I start a new job next week, have a couple of Happy Hours from the previous job, and the Rage Against the Machine concert)..... May be Monday?!?

 

[mattb]

Also, one can add freshly mixed salt water if it is under 10% of the total volume as stated by Julian Sprung in Volume III of blah blah blah. Something like that. Anything more causes problems.

I don't think this is 'it' at all... I have done 30% water changes, mixing for barely 10 minutes, never had an issue with it. I could be wrong or a freak of nature, but I've done it soooo many times, I have a hard time believing it....

 

[spsick]

I got the salinty back in check for a couple weeks now. I have had the big skimmer back on for a while too, I'm just too stubborn to believe I could be overskimming with this skimmer. Meanwhile other things are thrivings...

Blue Ridge

Blasto

Point and shoot on macro mode Color is pretty close, but the blasto looks way better. White balance maybe?

 

[spsick]

I also got the experiment tank up and running.

20 long w: 2 24" VHO, 10 or 20lbs fiji I got from my mom and acid washed and rodded, 1 6025 that I may change for 2 mj1200's on a wavemaker. And get ready for it.... a seaclone :0 which I am going to try meshwheeling.

 

[wolmutt]

I don't think this is 'it' at all... I have done 30% water changes, mixing for barely 10 minutes, never had an issue with it. I could be wrong or a freak of nature, but I've done it soooo many times, I have a hard time believing it....

I'll go with the closest thing that we have to "the literature." Following best practices seems more reasonable to me, but to each their own. I have done as you stated many times too, but as I read I tend to lean towards best practices.

 

[wolmutt]

While I'm not going to argue that a reef can't exist at 1.030 because the Red Sea has a beautifully diverse ecosystem, I do think it should be noted that (1) the Red Sea is one of the most saline oceans and (2) most people don't model their hobby reefs after the Red Sea. Largely, the literature focuses reef keepers to maintain around 1.024-1.026. With that said, we should also remember that a lot of the corals that we're trying to keep, haven't come from the Red Sea. Many are coming from the Indo-pacific and Australia where the salinity isn't as high.

Just my two cents.

I do agree that the refractometer needs to be calibrated against a standard. All other parameters being stable, I think that salinity is the culprit here.

Eric, my tank sat at 1.030 for a couple months with no losses, or sign of stress. I did not do this on purpose, but it can happen if a guy such as myself doesn't change water for a long time, or just pay attention. I read a while back (can't remember what book) that having your salinity at basic ocean water is only problematic due to the limited oxygen in the water column. It was stated that the reason why we keep our salinity below that of natural sea water levels is based off the oxygen principal. Maybe someone can pipe in, and give better information that I am providing.