22bfan

This stuff started showing up in my tank about a year ago after I moved some Zoa's to a different spot (might be coincidental). Any idea what it is and if I should try to eliminate it?

Great tip. Ill get things adjusted and work on maintaining with kalkwasser.

BowieReefer84 - Thanks for the chart!! For clarification, your saying I should scale the kalkwasser mix back a bit and dose calcium only solution until levels balance. RW09903 - Thanks for the info on white vinegar. I had no idea it would breed bacteria. I always assumed it would kill/prevent bacteria because it is acidic. Thats the problem with assuming . .

I have a small Tunze ATO with float sensor that has been working wonderfully (except for when the feed pump burned out after about a year). I brought a number of SPS corals into the tank, then added a Two Little Fishes Kalkwasser reactor inline with my ATO. My experience over about 4 months of use is that calcium stays around 400 but DKH can be a little high (9-11). I'm wondering if I added a small amount of vinegar to my ATO bucket full of RO water, if that would keep PH and DKH balanced while still reaping the benefits of the additional Calcium? Anyone try this?

To answer some previous questions, my tank has been set up for about 2 yrs now. Mainly soft corals and snails inhabiting. I added the sps corals about a month ago. All sps frags came from a much larger tank (400+ gallons) with high end LED's. The previous owner mentioned having his lights up too high before I picked them up. That shock combined with moving to my tank may be the issue. I'll keep an eye on the pollips over the next week and see if they start waking up. Is there a "recovery" protocol I could follow to sort of give this guy a 1 time boost to help it survive? I did a 5 gallon water change yesterday and will continue to monitor. I occassionaly spot feed my coral with "Coral Frenzy". Would my sps benefit from spot feeding?

You are correct on the Toadstool Leather. I also have some Kenya Tree, Candy Cane, Zoa's, Paly's, Pulsing Xenia, and other smaller leathers. Maybe I'll try moving the Toadstool further away.

The return pump has been upgraded to an MJ1200 and there is a Hydor Nano 425 attached to the rear wall blowing toward the coral in question. I have it hidden in a rock cave. My dkh and calcium levels were much lower and seemed to deplete noticeably within 2 weeks. So I started doing 2 gallon water changes every week and a half and dosing with a buffer booster and trace mineral suppliment. I got tired of messing with that so I added a Kalkwasser reactor from Two Little Fishies and it has remained high ever since. I just added the Kalkwasser reactor so maybe i need to do a few water changes before all parameters moderate. The reason I'm thinking it isn't happy is because the blue polyps seem to have retracted a bit. Im not sure but I'm afraid they might be dying off or being burned with too much light.

About a month ago I introduced a few small sps frags to my reef. All of them seem stable with the exception of the small branchy guy in the center of the attached side view picture. I'm not sure what type of sps this is but it doesn't seem happy. My parameters are stable as follows: Cal: 440 DKH: 11.4 PH: 8.4 Salinity: 1.025 Temp: 80 I have LED lighting with control knobs for the white and purple spectrums. I've never measured output with a PAR meter but I usually have the purple spectrum set at 1/3 and the white spectrum set at 1/4. Purple are on for about 12 hours while the white lights are on for about 10. I have no fish, a large Reef Octopus BH1000 skimmer, InTank Filter Rack with a bag of Purigen and a bag of Chemipure, as well as the InTank Fuge rack with a ball of cheato that is lit with LED shop lights for 12 hours overnight. Any ideas??

Lutz - Agreed. I thought water changes every week and a half would suffice. And no i don't have a huge colony of anything. YHSublime - I need to figure out how to best take pictures of my setup then I'll post some pics Origami - Thanks for the advice!!

Thanks Dave

Very good to know Origami!! Thanks. I remember reading somewhere that you shouldn't dose Alkalinity and Calcium at the same time. Any recommendations for a dosing schedule?

I'm fairly new to reef keeping and am noticing some strange behavior with my dKH readings. Details regarding my setup are as follows: BioCube 29 Highly Modified D120 LED Array (Not sure what specific model these are but chinese D120 looks similar). Actinic spectrum @ 50%, white spectrum @ 15%. Lights on from 8am - 8pm. Stock filtration and horizontal baffles removed and replaced with "InTank" 2nd chamber acrylic media basket with filter floss up top, a bag of Chemi-Pure Elite and a bag of Purigen. Also in the 2nd chamber is an Tank Fuge Basket with a ball of chaeto (lights on the chaeto from 10pm-6am). Stock return pump replaced with a CA-MJ1200 Tunze ATO Reef Octopus BH1000 hang on back skimmer (HUGE!!) Hydor Koralia Nano 425 I have about a 1" sand bed, live rock, and basic corals (candy canes, toadstool leather, zoa's, frogspawn, pulsing xenias, kenya tree) covering maybe 5% of the rock. I do 2-4 gallon water changes ever week to week and a half and use RO-DI water with reef crystals. I occasionally feed the coral with Coral Frenzy, maybe once a week. After water change my parameters are as follows: dKH: 8.3 Mag: 1650 Cal: 450 I add about 20ml of Fluval's Alkalinity supplement. This bumps dKH up in the 10's. A week later my parameters are the following: dKH: 8.4 Mag: 1400 Cal: 440 Seems strange that Alkalinity is dropping so quickly but Magnesium and Calcium are barely effected. I'd like to see my Zoa's and other corals grow a little more rapidly as well as maintain stable enough parameters to add SPS varieties. Any comments/help appreciated!!

I bought a pair of these aquarium light hooks: http://www.amazon.com/Aquatic-Life-2-Pack-Fixture-Aquarium/dp/B004K7XBAA/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1390229307&sr=8-2&keywords=aquarium+light+stand After mounting and elevating the light array I removed the glass top cover. The coverage seems to be dispersed a lot better and not nearly as intense. I've been feeding my single yellow tail 3-4 pellets of food a day which keeps him just as happy. After a 4 gallon water change the algae is much slower to recover, even without peroxide dosing. Thanks for all the advice!! Now to add some coral

I sure do Was this your old setup? Arkonen (Dave Cameron from Inwood, WV) bought it for me It had a UV sterilizer but the bulb was blown when I bought it, so it has been discarded. I haven't modified the sump area so it is the stock size behind the black plastic wall baffle.

Thanks for the advice Reefopotamus. I'll try cutting lights back to 5 hours instead of 7 and keep the intensity really low. What would be good practice for feeding a single yellow tail? I use Ocean Nutrition Formula One small pellets. About three times a day I drop a small pinch (about 15 sugar crystal sized pellets) into the back of the tank. Most of the time the little guy isn't even there to grab the food as it sinks, and certainly doesn't dart to the surface to grab what floats. Too much food???? Another quick question. I'm seeing a lot of well priced skimmers on ebay: http://www.ebay.com/itm/150-gal-Aquarium-Protein-Skimmer-w-530GPH-Pump-Filter-Powerhead-Tank-Salt-Water-/400349877351?pt=Fish_Filters&hash=item5d36b65467 http://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-AQUARIUM-Protein-SKIMMER-up-300Gal-Fish-Tank-PUMP-Filter-WATER-Powerhead-X-/261327655434?pt=Fish_Filters&hash=item3cd857920a http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-SC-Aquariums-SCA-301-65-Gallon-Protein-Skimmer-Atman-Pump-Free-Shipping-Gift-/251387097477?pt=Fish_Filters&hash=item3a87d6b185 Are any of these worth trying?

Location: Martinsburg, WV Early on, before adding fish, I ordered a Quick Clean 29 crew from ReefCleaners.org. Follow the link below to see what it consists of: http://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php?page=shop.product_details&product_id=223&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=130 I have a Salt Water Master Test Kit from API to which I added a phosphate test kit. When I test my in tank water I get 0 Phosphate. I get the same when testing my RO water after mixing in the instant reef crystals before a water change. The person I bought my setup from just let me know that the light setup is a D120 LED fixture. This might be a bit overkill for my small 30 gallon tank. Yesterday I turned down the intensity on both light spectrum adjustments to their lowest setting. Hopefully the lower light, manual algae removal, less feeding, and peroxide dosing will eliminate the algae in a few weeks so I can start placing coral. Any recommendations for good starter coral and where to get it? Thanks so much for everyone's help and support!! I was considering breaking the tank down and selling it just before joining. I'm encouraged with some new ideas and tips for getting my setup where I want it to be!!

I forgot to mention, I'm on a well which has whole house sediment and carbon filtration along with a water softener. For drinking and marine tank water changes, I use a 3 stage RO setup from Lowes.

Oh, do you guys see a need to for a remote sump/refugium underneath in the cabinet? There are a few chambers in the stock BioCube rear sump that don't seem to be moving water well.

I just finished a hefty algae harvest, removing most of the long strands and scrubbing rocks that have carpet growing on them. The peroxide turned the algae brown but there are still other patches growing. I will try the lights out regimen to see if that helps as well. I'm probably over feeding a bit and should cut back. I don't have any other fish in the tank currently but would like to get a pair of clownies. Do you guys recommend false percula or real ones? I want the main focus of the tank to be elaborate corals. I'm going to have to do a lot of reading and get good advice on how to create an environment for lots of coral to flourish in only a 29 gallon tank.

I'm new to WAMAS and the marine aquarium hobby. I purchased a used BioCube 29 about a year ago that included an upgraded LED array (dual spectrum adjustable), as well as an upgraded in sump protein skimmer. After adding a course sand bed and live rock I allowed the tank to cycle for about 3 months (work was very busy then added 3 yellow tail damsels. The healthier of the 3 picked on the remaining two which resulted in their death after about 2 weeks. As well I've added a small low light LED string that acts as a night/moon light. No coral yet but big plans, once I get an algae issue under control. So far Ive reduced my lights-on duration to about 7 hours, added a mesh bag of Phosphate absorber, added a mesh bag of carbon, and consistently perform water changes of about 3 gallons weekly. I think my skimmer may be a little undersized and I may switch to a pump fed external unit. Otherwise my levels all seem to be good (ie. no excess ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, PH is rock solid at 8.1, and temp is at 78). I added a "cleanup crew" snail collection, but I must not be paying them well since they don't seem to be doing the job. Any advice is welcome. I'm currently attempting a peroxide dosing regimen of roughly 10ml per day dumped directly into the circulating tank water. I'm excited to enter this hobby. It will provide lots of entertainment for my 3 little boys and a good ongoing project for me