nbgen12

Everything in my tank has been improving nicely, but since the addition of a toadstool leather followed by a 6 hour power outage caused by Sandy, one of my zoa frags and some of my lps has been looking a little unhappy. Toadstool looks great, my birdsnests look fine. Tested parameters: Ca: 430 Alk: 8.3 Mg: 1410 Ammonia: 0 Nitrite: 0 Nitrate: Lower than 1 Phosphates: not sure because salifert sucks, but I know its in a lower range because of several good sized water changes since the poweroutage I also tested copper which was also 0 Additional info: - my tds was reading 001. I hadn't changed the carbon filter for over 6 months and the DI Resin which looked pretty expired. Could some chloramines have slipped into the water? I'm just confused as to why this is going on with everything steadily moving into the correct ranges. I even finally have coraline algae growing on the powerheads now which I figured was a good sign, but the looks of some of the lps is singing a different song. Everytime I think things are rolling forward, something seems to throw a stick in my spokes. Rollin with the punches... Anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing these issues?

I highly recommend the overflow(cant remember the name off hand) which uses an aqualifter pump to keep the siphon after an outage. It is great, as long as you leave room in the sump for the back siphon which wouldn't be bad in the rsm tank. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Not too sure how to plumb one into that setup, but i have a 40g breeder which is a nice fuge size, if you need a tank for it. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

+1 Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Just got power back on here in Vienna. Not nearly as bad a storm as it could have been, luckily that thing picked up speed and got out of here. Let me say, putting a blanket over the tank kept the heat in so incredibly well I was shocked. My tank water was still at 74-75. Battery powered air pump was a lifesaver.

Best of luck to everyone

I'm sure just about any of the LFS's probably have a couple most likely

Check with quantum reefs, I know I got one from them yesterday. They should hopefully still have a few left. Petco also had some. I stopped by the Petco in Tysons and they had several. I would definitely make moves quickly to get one though because it's only a matter of time before theyre gone today.

Love that mobile xenia LOL

Looks like I'm going to have to head to Lowe's or HD tomorrow and see what they've got left....I don't need two tank crashes in one year lol

Minor equipment update as well: I'm replacing my clip on home depot light with the CFL bulb on my fuge, with a 2ft gooseneck clamp on lamp which will be powering a 6500k 24w par 38 LED bulb. I bought the gooseneck lamp from boostled, and got the par 38 bulb off ebay, with the total cost for both combined at about $70 roughly. As long as the cheap par 38 bulb doesn't crap out on me, I think this is a pretty darn good deal for the package. There is quite a few problems with bubbles in the fuge splashing up to the CFL bulb, which ultimately weakens the intensity over a pretty short period. I'm also worried about the rust possibilities with the home depot lamp, and the possibility of it slipping off the side of the sump into the water. Hopefully having a 2 ft gooseneck clamp on lamp will solve all these issues, plus the light should be good for macro growth, I just hope the intensity is not overkill.

Thanks surf&turf.....once I get through this rough month of school/work I'll get in touch with you...I'd love to check out your tank in person and just talk reef also. Jimlin-I would take pictures, but since the parameters were good when I first took the pictures, taking some now would probably look quite a bit worse than the ones I had taken when they first got in the tank. They are just beginning to show good signs of recovery so it may be a few weeks before anything is picture worthy lol. The growth tips on the ORA birdsnest aren't as good as the first picture of it, but I must say in the course of a week, it went from no growth tips at all to showing a whole bunch, just not as pronounced yet as the first picture. Not a bad change over the course of about a week and a half at most. I'm just pleased to have something worth updating in the positive direction lol.

I suppose it's time to update since it's been a month since all sorts of catastrophe was going on lol. I found out from Steve that my magnesium was very high(about 2000), and that was after a water change. I guess I had some value wrong when I used the tech-m reef calculator to figure out how much I needed to dose to get to 1800. So that was the first issue which needed solving. The second problem, was my phosphates being at something like .18(maybe even higher than that). In addition to both of those things, my salinity was also a little bit high since my conductivity probe, refractometer, and hydrometer were all reading different values leading me in the wrong direction. It's no wonder why my sps frags were crapping out on me. Everything looked terrible before getting things straightened out. Steve was a great help getting things back in line. Since then, I've done several water changes. Things are finally becoming stable for the first time in the life of this system. I use the salifert PO4 test kit, so the accuracy of it has a little to be desired, but from what I can tell, my phosphates are just about unreadable. Sure wish I had a hannah checker to use instead of the salifert test though. Either way, I'm noticing a DRASTIC difference in the health of the corals in the tank. My zoas are beginning to grow quickly, I'm finally seeing some growth tips on my birdsnest frags. On my lone remaining millepora frag which was a brownish color when I got it, is now beginning to show some extremely bright green spots as it is beginning to color up. It is sure a nice feeling to see things moving in the right direction. The fish on the other hand, are still showing signs of black ich. Fortunately, they are all still eating very well and absolutely love Jan's food. I have all the meds needed coming in this week to put them in QT for a couple months to treat them and get the DT fallow. Just need to find some time between school, work, and having interviews for accounting positions since I am unfortunately at the end of my college career. Bitter sweet. For now, I don't plan on adding anything until after thanksgiving at the earliest. It will probably be the end of my semester more than likely before I try to put anything else in there. By then, at least everything should be very stable, and my fish will hopefully have been in QT for a couple months. Sure is nice to see things going in the right direction Hopefully the days if killing corals are passed now that I've encountered almost every water quality disaster possible lol. Knock on wood of course

Make sure to let them know others are interested in ordering as well, they will more than likely organize everything and get a better price than we can with more people involved. Count me in!<br /><br />Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2<br />

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May be worth checking in with Quantum Reefs also because I know they had a group buy signup sheet at their shin-dig on Saturday trying to get some things figured out. I may just wait on them to get a group buy going and just hop on board with them, since I put my name down on their list and like dealing with those guys a lot.

I am a big fan of the apex...you can set it up for access anywhere outside the home network, and it is extremely easy to use once it is set up. The smart phone app is awesome to have. Customer service is also top notch. It has endless possibility for upgrade and expansion also. Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I guess they havent changed much..... Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

Hopefully they are better than they were when the store was in vienna.....the guy who runs it was always unfriendly, items were overpriced, and the fish never looked as healthy as most other lfs's. Im sure with a fresh location maybe they are going for a fresh start and changing their ways.<br /><br />Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2<br />

Definitely get in contact with neptune systems....one of the guys over there remotely accessed my computer and set it up for me in 2 seconds Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I have one but it hasnt touched any of my birdsnests. My acro frags died because of numerous other problems not relating to the blenny(alk nuking, salinity problem, high phosphates). I think he should be fine....<br /><br />Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2<br />

Impressive Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

LOL Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

I am also slightly suspicious about the salinity still. My conductivity probe is now reading 35.7 ppt after reading between 34.4 and 34.6 over the last several days and I've done nothing to get it jacked up that high. My refractometer still says 1.025 after calibration. Maybe 2 problems going on? At least I will find out tonight..... Just tested the Mg and it's still over 1600 after a 15-20% waterchange last night. Certainly could have been around the 2100 mark Steve.

Steve - big thanks.... you are the man. Loading up the corals and taking them his way in a couple hours for some emergency housing. Moral of the story, beware of dosing tech-m to kill off bryopsis and getting it to high levels.....certainly doesn't do any good from what I can see