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Beginner to SPS (1 Viewer)

David Grigor said:
On a 150W 14k bulb there is no hot spot intense enough to cause any problems if acclimated properly.
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Even if the coral is less than 1' from the light?

Is there a such thing as too much flow then? Not that I believe I have that, they just seemed fine till I moved them up higher, I know it's bad to keep moving corals, so I don't want to keep doing that.


Wes? Do you have any tips on adjusting the remora? I have got it a lot better than when I first recieved it, but I think it could do better.
 
your light is only 1" from the surface? If you move your coral up slowly, it should be fine. It's easy to acclimate slowly if you have a piece of egg-crate glued to a mag-float or the like; every day you can move it up just a touch until it's at the level you want to keep.

Adjusting the remora? All you do is set the collection cup level. You may want to clean the injector to make sure it's performing at it's best. I usually just fill a bucket with some kind of acid/water mix (I've used old acid buffers I knew I'd never use again, vinegar, diluted muratic acid etc.) and let it run for a day or two. You may also want to take out the screw above the injector and clean that area out with a pipe cleaner. Once you have figured out how wet/dry you like it, make a line on the cup with a crayon. Take out the cup and put a couple rubber bands at that level. Then you can drop it back on there without having to find the 'sweet spot' again. I skim wet and clean out the cup every other day or so, but I enjoy doing that kinda routine maintenance.
 
Wes, 1' = 12"

150W at 14K isn't intense enough to be too much light even at 12".

Too much flow, depends on how diffused the flow it, if flow is concentrated yes if can be strong enough to just rip the flesh off. Only other real issue is that if a coral gets more flow from one direction vs. the other, you will see it from the growth as they will lean. I try to alternate my flow best as possible to keep them growing in a more symetrical manner. I don't really care for leaning corals.....
 
David Grigor said:
Wes, 1' = 12"

150W at 14K isn't intense enough to be too much light even at 12".
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lol. give me a break, it's early out here!

I have my viper 150 less than an inch from the surface of the water, so it seemed feasible. it's rather apparent that I gotta go get another cup o' coffee. ...nevermind me, you certainly won't have any issues with too much light. :stupid:
 
David Grigor said:
Wes, 1' = 12"

150W at 14K isn't intense enough to be too much light even at 12".

Too much flow, depends on how diffused the flow it, if flow is concentrated yes if can be strong enough to just rip the flesh off. Only other real issue is that if a coral gets more flow from one direction vs. the other, you will see it from the growth as they will lean. I try to alternate my flow best as possible to keep them growing in a more symetrical manner. I don't really care for leaning corals.....
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In the past I have rotate corals, but sometimes the branches will grow out all funky at every step you rotate. David's 8/8/8 timing schedule for flow works really well.
 
Ok thanks again guys.

Wes, I have never ran it through an acid/water mix, so I'll have to do that. Oh, and yes, 1 foot man, haha. I understand the early thing, usually it's a late thing for me these days.

David, it isn't constant flow, I have my returns from my sump on a "Switching Current Water Director." I have the flaired loc-line end, with a turn over rate of about 300gph. It was only a couple inches from this particular acro that was getting the most bleaching. I also have 2 koralia nanos, which aren't doing much, I need to get a K1 soon.

I have been doing a lot of reading about DIY calcium and alk dosing. Using dowflake for calcium, and baking soda for alk, has anyone tried this?

Also, i was reading about feeding. Do you guys recommend phytoplankton? Besides that, what else should I feed? I was told to hold off on the coral frenzy.
 
Yes. Lots of people use the 2 part you describe. I've been using for about 3 years now. In summer, Kalkwasser keeps up with my demand but in winter I do have to supplement with 2 part.

Bulkreefsupply is here in Golden Valley which you likely be getting the stuff from. Saltwater Empire also carries their stuff through retail.
 
Used too, The Alk part is easy just Arm&Hammer baking soda. You do have to bake it if you want to increase PH, over time that gets to be a pain. Worth the few extra bucks to just get the soda ash from BRS or SWE and its ready to go no baking.

The Calcium chloride is more difficult to find yourself than it used to be several years ago. Dow changed the way they produce it and now contains to high of bromide. So again best to just buy it from BRS or SWE because othewise you don't really know if its old batch ( the good stuff ) or newer ( the bad stuff ).

Magnesium Chloride portion is also hard to find and not really worth the trouble. You have to really watch for non Israel stuff as part of the process can have high ammonia.

Magnesium Sulfate, that's easy though just Epsom salt. Walmart and Target carry it for about $2. I don't suggest using just Epsom because of high sulfate. Should be mixed with the Magnesium Chloride.
 
Thank you so much David. I would have been on a wild goose chase it sounds like.

So I am between getting the 2 part, or just putting kalk in my ATO reservoir.
 
I'm a big kalkwasser fan. I do it on all my tanks but..........

It can also be your worst enemy. Usually just putting in your autotopoff is not sufficient. I highly suggest time based vs. water level based and also use a PH controller to ensure PH doesn't get too high. Using dosing pump or very slow pump like a aqualifter to help ensure you don't add too much too fast as well.

If you don't or can't afford the additional safety/redundancy for kalkwasser then I highly suggest 2 part.
 
Buying a dosing system, or ph monitor probably isn't in my budget anytime soon. So I guess I'll have to do the dosing.
 
So I did some testing last night with salifert and an API pH kit.

Mg - 1290
Cal - 470
Alk - 8.5
pH - 8.2



I found out that I was running my salinity at around 1.028, I calibrated my refractometer with RO water, which I know isn't accurate. When I tested calcium, it was off the charts, and that is why. I slowly brought it down the last few days, I'm at 1.026, where I might leave it.

Well my main question is, should I dose at all. My alk should probably be a little higher, and maybe my magniseium could be a little higher too. I use coralife btw.
 
Those values themselves are fine providing your test kits are accurate. Don't have to do anything at this point but for sure test midpoint prior to a water change and then just before a water change so you can track how far it is falling in between. Ideally you want to keep pretty stable so if it stays above ALK 7.0+ dkh the whole duration then dosing is optional until your consumption load gets higher.

You can pretty much throw the PH reading out the window. Test kits are pretty worthless IMO. It's all going to depend on the time of day you take. If you get to a point where you really need to monitor PH you will want a meter to get realtime data so you can track the trends over a 24hour period. As long as ALK is kept stable its not really important to measure PH with a test kit.
 
Ok, thank you David, I will do another test tomorrow and see where I'm at and post it. I did do a 4 gal waterchange on my 25g of water in my system about 12 hours prior. I have been looking into getting a Reef Keeper2 system.
 
So your testing numbers are more of a best case. For sure want to get some midpoint readings and a reading just prior to water change and start logging them. I suspect, your numbers will gradually drift downwards because your while the numbers go up at each waterchange they can't bounce completely back without a 100% waterchange.

ReefKeepers are okay. Aquacontroller by Neptune is a bit more robust and flexable IMO/IME and cost the same.
 
Ok, I'll look more into Neptunes. :)

I started a spread sheet on testing, I'll do it over the course of the week and post on here. I will do daily tests, I'm sure that's overkill, but I don't mind doing them.
 
Your tests kits aren't that fine. Any shift you see from day to day will likely be testing errors. Since API ALK will only measure in full DKH and you likely don't drop a full dkh per day since you have very little consumption. CA regardless of what kit you use only measures down to 20ppm so your kits aren't going to pick up a slight change. Twice a week should be fine.
 
I'm using salifert for Ca/Alk/Mg, I only used API for pH. I tested, each twice, tonight, here is what I got.

Mg: 1270
Ca: 470
dKH: 7.7


My alk is dropping a lot, is that normal?
 
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