WheresTheReef

Leathers sometimes take a little bit to be happy again after being pissed off. They do this too on occasion so not a big deal if other corals are looking ok. How are your tank’s params trending? Are you dosing? I had to drop my tank’s salinity to 1.024 since I have an LPS dominated tank and the params kept drifting up with weekly 10% water changes. I’m not dosing anything. The tank’s Alk with regular IO was around 10.5 and rising. Corals were looking stressed, but now much happier with Alk around 9.5. Last time I measured, the Alk reading for newly mixed IO saltwater at 1.026 was 11+. Reef crystals might be even higher. If you’re in a similar situation as me, you may consider dropping the salinity of newly mixed saltwater if your tank’s consumption of trace elements is less than what water changes introduces. This will slowly lower your tank’s params.

Tank is coming along nicely. Thanks for sharing.

Nice! More room for you = more corals for us .

Beautiful fish, but that’s the reason I haven’t gotten one for my tank. Those are expensive meals. Glad he’s off to a new home.

Thanks for sharing

Yea then not a good idea to drill. Often times the short panel isn’t tempered. I have a DeepBlue 120g standard dimension tank and I drilled the short side after confirming it wasn’t tempered. What are the dimensions of the tank, and who is the manufacturer? That HOB skimmer should get you going for a bit, but will likely be undersized in the long run. Since you will have various electrical cords running down the back of the tank make sure you have drip loops, especially with saltwater tanks. The skimmer and live rock will be your primary forms of filtration. The canister filter can give you some mechanical filtration and a place to run media, but will need to be maintained regularly. Can you tell us a little about your experience in the hobby? Please do take our comments simply as suggestions based on experience and figure out what works best for your tank. There many ways of reefing. Most of us in the hobby have had success and failures regardless of what path we take.

Welcome to WAMAS and thanks for sharing your tank. Feel free to ask questions. Many of us have tried lots of equipment, methods etc. and are happy to share our experiences so you will hopefully learn from our mistakes. The for sale forum is also a good source to get equipment and livestock at good prices. Since you’re just starting this out I would highly consider ditching the canister filters and drilling the tank (if not tempered) and adding a sump. A sump will allow you to hide equipment for a more natural look. Eventually you may want to add a skimmer, ATO, reactors, dosers etc. A sump can make it easier to do so. Also, you will have a way to skim that nasty protein surface layer that you will hate. Looking forward to seeing your tank build out.

I hope you figured it out and it was user error. It happens! I’m curious how your new tank’s dosing demands compare to your nano, albeit with a larger water volume? I’m sure you’ll continue to monitor this closely. If you find the salinity still creeps, then you can look at alternatives to supplementing the tank. Mixing salt at a lower salinity is one alternative, but it also lowers trace elements. I won’t pretend to fully understand all the nuances of our reefing water chemistry. I’ve read a little on the Balling Method if dosing. A kalk reactor would be a good alternative, but with a little more maintenance. A calcium reactor would also work if your tank if fully stocked with SPS and you find yourself spending a ton in dosing solution. Would need to do a cost and maintenance analysis to see what the best alternative is.

I still feel like the 2 part dosing can be contributing to your salinity issue. NaCl is what’s left behind from dosing sodium carbonate and calcium chloride after your corals take up the carbonate and calcium. RHF provides an estimate in his write up, which he summarizes in a post here https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/two-part-dosing-and-salinity.782769/

Is what you’re seeing precipitation for sure or detritus? If it’s precipitation then you need to address that. That Mg level seems ok. Are you seeing precipitation on the sump walls, heaters and/or pump? If it’s precipitation then consider spacing your dosing more than 5 mins apart, maybe at least 30 mins. At your dosage it’s overkill to have such small dosing and it’s better to space them apart. I’m also not sure how accurate the DOS is at such small dosages. It’s perfectly normal for you to be dosing more Alk than Ca due to an incomplete nitrogen cycle. Can you provide a picture of your tank? With a fully cycled tank, I would expect a tank mostly stocked with LPS to be able to replenish consumption of elements through water changes. Once the anaerobic bacteria establishes then you will see Alk consumption stabilize and maybe reduce. Do you have any clams? They can consume lots of trace elements when it’s happy and growing.

At what salinity are you mixing your salt to? Looks like at 35ppt the alk should be 8-9dkh. At a lower salinity the alk level would also be lower. A newer tank like yours will consume alk due to an incomplete nitrogen cycle. It takes much longer for the anaerobic bacteria to establish, and it is this final step that returns the consumed alk back into your system. It took my tank a year to complete the cycle. What is your tank’s Mg level? If it’s too low it could be one reason why the Ca was dropping as you dosed just alk due to precipitation. Make sure and space alk and Ca dosing far enough apart (e.g. 0.5-1hr apart) to reduce precipitation. It also helps to put a powerhead in the sump chamber you’re dosing into so the solution mixes well with the tank water.

Very nice fish collection. Is that a Tiger Angelfish?

Welcome back to the hobby. Looking forward to seeing this build out.

Looking good. Can’t wait to see the new tank!

Glad to hear!

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.

Thanks. Will do. Unfortunately, I lost colonies of it. I'm down to 4 heads but they are doing well. Hoping they grow well for me again. It's a beauty and really bright yellow.

So true. They definitely keep you on your toes.

Me biting my tongue trying not to discuss how the quality of their fish has changed...

Are you dosing a lot of 2 part? It can certainly raise your salinity over time.

Thanks Thanks. It can be tough. I just let the tank settle until it and I were both ready to start again. Glad you're back at it again as well.