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Origami

President Emeritus
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Posts posted by Origami

  1. Great review! Thanks.

    Marcos has been great supporter of the club and it's members both as a hobbyist and small business. Of late, he's been posting alot of new stuff in the ERC forum. Definitely worth checking out.

    Or, if you want to be notified when any of our club sponsors post about new stuff, subscribing to their WAMAS forum.

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  2. If it's a deposit, then it's likely a strong acid solution will dissolve it. Put the tank on its side and add the acidic solution and let it set awhile. Heat might help move the process along. On the other hand, if the glass is etched or the deposit is tightly bound in microscopic pores, you might be able to remove the haze using a polishing bob and a fine glass polish like cerium oxide. It's hard work and can take awhile. Don't go crazy, though, if you polish too much in one spot, it's possible to introduce slight distortions in the glass if you don't polish evenly.

    I've found, though, that once you have water in the tank, these deposits largely disappear from view.

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  3. I'd probably start by adding 1 cup to the stirrer. As the kalk dissolves (remember, only run fresh water thru a kalk stirrer), it's level (depth) drops. Add more as needed. See how much you consume in 1 week. Typically, I'd advise you to keep no more than 10 days worth of kalk in the reactor at any one time to avoid a really disastrous spill should that occur.

    Other precautions you can take include limiting the rate / volume of water that the reactor can deliver by using a peristaltic pump; never tying the reactor directly to your Rodi system, monitoring your pH and shutting down the stirrer feed if pH climbs too high.

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  4. And yet another donation to the raffle courtesy of our wonderful sponsor, Reed Mariculture (maker of Reef Nutrition products)!

     

    Alexie over at Reed has generously provided...

     

    One gift card valued at $100 (plus an additional $40 to cover shipping costs) AND

    Two more gift cards valued at $50 (plus an additional $40 each to cover shipping).

     

    These are great products that, once you've tried them, you're bound to love. Our most sincere thanks to Nancy and Reed Mariculture for their generous support!

     

     

    reef_nutrition_logo.jpg.20afbf5f3d2ca63e391a24fb62b3ad29.jpg

     

    giftcard_100.thumb.png.e187df8bf96e8fc1d2475e46a51882b0.png

     

     

    giftcard_50.thumb.png.da9e2d6d17b211ecc4fa88625ec1b5e4.png

  5. Salinity is on target at 35 ppt.

    Ammonia and nitrite are both zero. That's good.

    Nitrate looks to be about 20 ppm. That's OK.

    Alk is 9.75 dKH which is on the high side of the normal range, so OK.

    Calcium is a tad on the high side, but OK given the higher alkalinity concentration.

    Phosphate is just high of the normally acceptable range but, given the 20 ppm nitrate, this should drop as nutrients are taken up.

    All in all, these numbers are good. As long as any other pollutants that we're previously discussed are under control, things will hopefully be better.

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  6. DaJMasta's right. The refractometer is reading really high compared to your conductance meter. A high reading might explain the high alkalinity and calcium (depending upon whose salt your using). Calibrate the refractometer with a marine saltwater standard and let's see what that turns up.

     

    Your phosphates are still very high and may make keeping some corals difficult for you. 

     

     

  7. Your alkalinity (174 ppm CaCO3 = 9.78 dKH) is acceptable for a reef tank, but kind of high if you were going FOWLR (fish only with live rock).

    Your calcium is a bit on the high side, too. Acceptable, but high for my tastes. Your phosphate level is on the high side, too (170 ppb or 0.170 ppm). OK for FOWLR, but kind of nutrient-rich for a typical reef tank.

    Do you have a calibrated refractometer that you can measure salinity with?



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  8. You're sure that your topoff water is fresh?

    Also, have you tried recalibrating your refractometer before each measurement? If so, are you finding that you have to adjust it each time?

    Can you do a big water change and then turn dosing off for a few days while closely monitoring parameter trends?

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  9. Event: WAMAS Spring 2023 Meeting (In-person, not streamed)

    Saturday, May 6, 2023

    Time: 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM (Speaker starts at 3 PM)

    Where: North Bethesda Middle School, 8935 Bradmoor Drive, Bethesda, MD 20817

     

    WAMAS members get in free. Guests are $5 each (paid at the door). Join WAMAS at this link

     

    Refreshments provided by WAMAS.

     

    Speaker: Marc Levenson, founder and owner of Melevsreef.com

    From Ft. Worth, Texas, Marc “melev” Levenson has been in the hobby since 1998, blogging about his experiences with his own reef on melevsreef.com to help others learn husbandry skills. More recently, Marc has become an online personality with tens of thousands of followers on his YouTube channel (melevsreef) aiming to help other reefers through his personal experiences. His website features articles, blogs, and Critter ID and covers topics like pest control, feeding techniques, working with acrylics, reef photography and water chemistry to name a few. Twenty years ago, Marc added an online store to his website, making it his full time job in 2009. In it, he carries many products like his RODI systems, custom sumps and even includes some items that he himself invented as clever solutions to make reefkeeping easier.
    Marc is a nationally recognized speaker (including 6 times at MACNA); and recommends supporting local club events, shopping local fish stores, and interacting with others via social media. Marc is an avid DIYer and builds what he can’t buy, often out of acrylic. And, he loves seeing what others can accomplish or have tried to move the hobby forward. His other hobby is diving, exploring natural reefs. His current tanks are a 400-gallon reef and a 60-gallon anemone cube, filled with captive bred fish and aquacultured corals. 
     

    Topic: Sump & Plumbing Considerations You Need To Know

    Planning out your sump setup and plumbing in advance is the best way to avoid all sorts of headaches later. Is your plumbing a mess or a work of art? Is it quiet or loud? Are you just avoiding it? Updating it now will be better for your fish and corals during an emergency. In his talk, Marc will delve into what types of solutions you can implement to keep things running smoothly, in good weather and in bad.

     

    image.thumb.png.18553d0c217244aac0dbc943c8339842.png

     

    Agenda:
     
    1:00 Sign-in / socialize / frag sales
    2:50 Club business
    3:00 Speaker: Marc Levenson
    4:00 Break
    4:30 Raffle!
     
    Directions to North Bethesda Middle School:
    - NOTE: The school is just inside the north edge of the beltway near Old Georgetown Road.

    Here's a map from Google Maps:

    https://goo.gl/maps/bKz79Y9HmQF2

    Special thanks to theses sponsors. Please support them & say thanks next time you shop with them. You can find their website address by visiting their forum or the sponsor page on the WAMAS website.
     
    WAMAS Platinum Sponsors 

    Air, Water & Ice

    - AquaHaus

    Avast Marine
    Blue Ribbon Koi
    Capital Aquarium
    ChemiPure (Boyd Enterprises)

    - Coral Magazine
    Dr. Mac's Pacific East Aquaculture

    - Exotic Reef Creations
    FishnReef.com

    - Frank's Tanks

    - ICP Analysis

    - Maxspect
    Premium Aquatics
    - Puddle Aquatics
    Reed Mariculture (Reef Nutrition)
    - Reef eScape

    - Reef Nerd Aquatics
    SaltwaterAquarium.com

    Supreme Reefs

    WAMAS Banner-Only Sponsors 
    Cobalt Aquatics
    Jellyfish Art
    MASNA
    Two Little Fishies

     

    2023 virtual meeting support provided by Eureka Strategic Consulting, Discover the Extraordinary.

     

    Raffle Prizes 

    • Fritz Blue RPM salt, 200G size.  Donated by ERC. Five chances to win!
    • 1-year subscription Coral Magazine. Donated by Reef2Rainforest Media. TEN chances to win!
    • Coral Packs worth $150.  Donated by Reef Nerd Aquatics.  Two chances to win!
    • TLF Coral Dip & Foods Pack, $40 value. Donated by SaltwaterAquarium.com
    • 2-pack of 120 grams of Maxspect Professional Coral Putty, a $40 value (2 chances to win!)
    • $50 Gift Certificate for Reef Nutrition products (with $40 bump-up for shipping). (2 chances to win!)
    • $100 Gift Certificate for Reef Nutrition products (with $40 bump-up for shipping).
    • 4kg of REBORN Calcium Reactor Media ($40 value)
    • $50 Gift Certificate donated by Puddle Aquatics.  (2 chances to win!)
    • $50 livestock Gift Certificate donated by Blue Ribbon Koi.  (3 chances to win!)

     

    More raffle prizes to be announced.

     

    Sponsors On Site, Selling

    Reef Nerd Aquatics

    More to be added. Stay tuned!

     

    Members On Site, Selling

    @Samayoa

    @Mr.Chalice

     

    More to be added. Stay tuned!

     

     

    Stay tuned to this post for updates!

  10. 2 hours ago, WheresTheReef said:


    It will be ok just to set the heater to 76 immediately. Depending on the tank size it could take a while to get up to temp. I’ve done this numerous times with no ill effects.

     

    I agree.

     

    In the future, you might consider running multiple heaters that are staged. For example, your primary heater might be set at 76 and a backup is set to come on at 73. That way, as long as the primary heater is working, the temperature in your tank is controlled while the backup remains off. If the primary fails, the temperature will then drop to below 73 and the backup heater will turn on. You can set an alarm, then, to notify you of the lower temperature and won't find yourself in a bind because the backup will hold things down for you.

  11. Excellent! I'm glad to hear they're not causing any issues. Did you get them locally? I think I'm going to start looking for one. 
    No. It's been ages, but I think that I got them all as part of other CUC buys back then.

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  12. I've got three in my tank. One donkey dung and two tiger tails. The oldest (DD) is close to 15 years old. The other two are over 10. Good for the sandbed and good tank mates.

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  13. .... Live Aquaria is owned by Petco now, right?  We have known the folks there for a long time, and it seems like if they put out something with their name on it we should be able to trust it, assuming those people are still in charge.


    Yes, Live Aquaria was bought by Petco.

    The most prominent name that I remember from Live Aquaria (Rhinelander facility) was Kevin Kohen. Kevin moved on from LA in 2021,though,and now works for Quality Marine.



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  14. You'll want your alk under 8.5 for a ULNS system. "Burnt" SPS tips are typical when this guideline is exceeded by much. To be safe, keep it at 8 or lower.

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