jamal

my ph is between 8.0 and 7.7. i got the kalk rx because of my ph. i feed two cubes of frozen at 6pm and i feed a quarter size piece of pe mysis at 10ish with a nickel size piece of cyclopeeze. the reactor is on 23hrs a day. it is dumping on the opposite end of my 100 gal rubbermaid sump as my kalk rx. the kalk is going in near a gravity fed fuge on one side of the sump. i noticed that as well chip but what can i do? i want higher calcium out of the mix. i wasnt having problems with IO and think its a good salt except for cal and mag. maybe if i do a 50/50 mixture of IO and RC it would bring up the cal a little without precipitating. what do you guys think of that?

that was good reading. thanx aurora

i was using the aqualifter for my kalk rx and that didnt go well either. many people havee trouble with these pumps. it will cut on but it will not always cut off. it must have to do with power consumption or a design flaw. i banished the one i was using in avor of a peristaltic pump that is much more reliable.

well for one thing i dont have a calcium reactor so that makes a huge difference. my ph is low so i cant have one. since my demand is raising rather quickly with the corals i am adding i find that my calcium is low because of the salt not a lack of maintenance. my alk stays at about 9.5dkh. my mag goes to about 800ppm after 2 or 3 water changes. i tested the magnesium at 1.020 specific gravity and the magnesium was 810ppm. i usually dont mix it low but it still wouldnt be more than 1000-1100ppm at 1.026 which is where i keep my sg. also it would be easier and cheaper to maintain cal if it was higher out of the box. as of now i am using turbo calcium to raise it but i would just need to buffer if it was already higher. also when i was using RC salt before i got better polyp extension. so i am going to see if it was the salt or some other factor. lastly i will probably be switching to bi weekly water changes in a few which will change the estimation as well. if i get better results from RC i will stay with it but if i dont i will probably go back to IO salt. anybody on here notice a difference in coral health or behavior do to using a salt meant for reef tanks especially RC salt?

well a good question to ask is what do you have in your tank now? do any of your fish eat copepods?

i use the third part of randy's recipe. 5 cups of magflake and 3 cups of epsom salt. i had to put about half a 1 gal container to bring it up from IO levels. is it on sale at drsfostersmith regularly and if not how often?

i got her from scales. i had a bit of trouble finding a female but i went there and they happened to have one so i lucked out

it actually seems to take alot to get it up after a water change. i change about 35 gal a week so its a little more than 10%. my alk is fine but it takes almost a whole bottle of magnesium for one water change and according to the calculator it takes about 60 oz to get what reef crystals will give me what i get out of the box. also the additional trace elements you get are hard to calculate.

my newer mandarin has decided that fish can not live by bread or copepods alone and chose to sample mysis shrimp today. yay!

as garrett said i decided that the time and effort required to bring the IO mix up to par makes it a little much. so i am just going to go with RC salt. my ph is low at 8-7.7. i use a kalk reactor that stays on all day. my magnesium as of yesterday was 1450ppm. i am still using randy's 2 part and will continue to do so. my thought is that since i do weekly water changes it is easier to have a salt that is right on from mix so i can just maintain it rather than using the mix to bring it up as well. right now my calcium is 350ppm and i would like about 400-420ppm.

i do use randy's recipe. my alk stays at around 9.5 dkh. my magnesium is at 1500 usually so that is not a problem. im saying that the water is deficient of the 3 params sps keepers care about and i wanted to know is it cheaper to just get a salt with more of those things or just buffer it myself.

i was having a problem keeping my calcium up especially with weekly wc's. i use instant ocean but i was thinking of switching to reef crystals. my question is which is easier and cheaper. since reef crystals has more of what i need in the ca, alk, and mag areas. should i just add turbo calcium and baking soda to my new water or switch to reef crystals which is about 50 bux here compared to 34 for the 200 gal box of IO salt

trying to go to my first macna this year and i know the area so there is no excuse.

neither the skimmer nor the pump should be loud. i have a standard 8 and it is the quietest skimmer i ever had. have you opened the pump? maybe the impeller is off center. it happened to me.

iso is more important for fish pictures and faster moving objects

i hope this works long term on a large scale. thanx for sharing this

i read that there is a point where it passes optimal size. it can stress the algae which is one reason why calerpa can sometimes go sexual.

last year i got mine at the home depot at the brentwood shopping center in dc

these were just a test. when i get my watanabei pair i will do more and longer videos

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee67/da...flamewrasse.flv http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee67/da...lamewrasse2.flv

egg crate keeps my fairy wrasses in

for those who have this size tank on a ca reactor how much does it take to fill it?

i'd be in if i wasnt going to be out of town

well it sux for you energy bill but its great for the tank. i have two windows open and it topped out at 8.17. either way if you have females in the house the heat must be on. if it were up to me i would only run the ac. o well. i would love to have that ph if it makes you feel better

if you dont believe its important here is some info for you. my ph during the day never exceeds 7.95 with a kalk reactor. i was obviously concerned and read an article written by randy holmes-farley about excess co2. long story short i opened a window and in 2 hrs my ph went from 7.95 to 8.1 and it is still climbing. so if you have ph problems start here. thank you