nextlevel808

I agree here as well. I personally have Kessil's which I like for a few reason. I love the shimmer aspect but they are single point and shoot so coverage isn't spread out as well. That's why I run 2 360we and 2 160we on a 4' 120g. I get great growth on lps and sps. They also have probably the best customer service I have come across in this hobby. Now the Radeon I've heard are really nice but you will pay twice as much as any other light. Next would be AI are nice but pricey as well and I would go with Ecotech or Kessil's over them but that's me. Then for price Black boxes all day and there are a few brands way better then others in this category. For black boxes I would check out SB Reef lights they come with upgraded fans, LEDs, and come with 2 year USA warranty. There site is sbreeflights.com if want to look into them.

That's awesome to get it done from so far away. And Tom your a class act guy and good for the hobby.

I think the bucket head shop vac is only $20 plus a $5 bucket if don't have one but let's be honest who in this hobby doesn't have a 5g bucket. I have same one and use it ever 4-6 months or when really dirty.

Last link isn't for the gel though.

I 2nd this. Bill is a pro at big tanks even though a 500g is like a 5g nano to him. Guy has a 20,000g tank in his house if you don't know. He specializes in tanks over 1000g. But there have been some other real good suggestions already.

Ok yeah my coralline has taken off like crazy. I'm going to switch to brs products and stop dosing for few days and check my levels. Thanks for all the help and advice. I'll have to figure out the brs mixing but if I have any questions on that I'll ask then.

I use RoDi water and Red Sea Coral Pro salt. Thanks Tom for all the advice and info that was very helpful.

Thanks Tom for the help and sorry to voice my frustration. I know we all have a lot of time, money and love into our tanks and they can be stressful at times. I'll look into everything you mentioned as well. Also thank you AlanM for your help now and in the past. I also probably should have included that bit of info in the statement as well that I tested every day same exact time for 2 weeks straight just trying to monitor the thing. I know I don't like to chase numbers and probably shouldn't be as long as my coral and fish are happy.

Ok yes I'm using the Red Sea pro kits and have been using them for months. When my Alk started dropping even when adding more buffer I wanted to try few different test kits to see the results. And yeah they do range a big difference I also tested them multiple times that morning and got same results with each test. I know without sending my water out to lab like triton I don't know for sure which is right or even close. Yes my Hanna is the egg shaped one for marine Alk which I bought from brs. I also completely understand that with a well developed sps tank it will consume a lot of dKh in a day. That's why I tried to give as much info as possible with a picture too. I use 4 automatic dosing pumps 1 for Kh,1 for calcium, 1 for mag, and 1 for vinegar and the measurements I gave are what it doses throughout a 24 hour day. The only one I didn't give was vinegar because figured that's irrelevant to this situation. As far as the Reef Grow product for dKh it says on bottle total dKh of 9.63, 145ppm carbonate and 27ppm of borate. I'll have to look further into there product but heard from many other people in some of my other groups that Reef Grow products are really good. Not sure what others are using here. Now again I haven't taken a chemistry class since high school 17 years ago so I guess my next step would be going to class to learn what the H-E-double hockey sticks all these elements do and how they interact together. Because reading that article I feel like it's in a different language and I don't seem to be getting a lot of helpful advice here. I ask for help and get made to feel like I'm an idiot and don't know how to test my water. Just figured with all the knowledgeable people on here someone might be able to help or give pointers as to what could be going on. I've had my buddy Ron's help from here and he is as stumped as I am.

That was only the first time of me using the salifert and Hanna kits.

Also if the next question is which test kit am I using I'll throw this in to it too. Results from different test kits all are good (not expired) and used correctly as far as I can tell but again I don't have a chemistry degree now. Alk(Kh) Red Sea test-7.3 Salifert-8.3 Hanna-116ppm or 6.496 Cal Red Sea-475 Salifert-480 Mag Red Sea-1340 Salifert-1350

Lol it's that dirty PG county water. No I know you use RoDi just joking.

I'm new to dosing only been dosing for last 3 months. I'm using Reef Grow products and they are buffer for Kh, Calcium, and magnesium. For some reason my Alk or Kh keeps dropping no matter the amount I'm dosing it seems unless I spike it. My tests are at Kh-7.3, Cal-480, Mag-1350 and dosing daily Cal-78ml, buffer (Kh)-142ml, and Mag-60ml. I have a 120g DT with 30g sump. Tank is mostly sps and lps with about 60 different pieces of coral but in my opinion nothing very big for colonies. There is 10 different chalice, 15 monti's, 6 small acros, decent size birds nest, 4 favia, frogspawn and few other lps I'm not thinking of at moment. I had Alk or Kh at 9.3 for the first month of dosing and growth was great but now it's slowed and seems to level off at 7.3 even with adding so much daily. I know there should be a balance between the 3. I don't know if I leaving anything else out but if there is anymore info you need please ask. Please help.

Well let's see what kind of results I get now and compare them all. Might even send water out to lab and see which is most accurate.

What apex probes do you use as well? Also I'm looking into Hanna since I use RedSea now. I think I've heard the Hanna Cal tester has had mixed reviews most of them bad have others here had problems.

I'm wondering what test kits everyone uses and why? Especially looking for Kh (Alk), Cal, Mag, Po4 and No3. I'm using Red Sea now but haven't been happy with them.

That's always good to know in worst case scenario

Here is the whole story from the cdc http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6431a4.htm

Your best bet is to buy 5-8 chocolate chip stars and keep in your sump or another tank. When it's feeding time cut a leg off one of the stars and feed to your harlequin I was doing that when I had mine. I know your a little far but I was getting them from a member here that lives in Germantown MD for a little while but figured it was easier to go the chocolate chip route was easier.

I didn't get in on the kick start due to it wasn't going to make it but I was ready to. And I would still buy one or get in on another kick start in a heart beat if or when available. This has to be one of the coolest items of equipment I've seen in a while and could really use it lol.

I wanted to get in on kick start but wasn't sure if it didn't make the $300k what happened. I've been following this for a year or more now but was skeptical on the technology. Warren do you know what happens to the people that got in on the kick start?

Did anyone catch the presentation yesterday at macna on the mind stream tester, I made it to late thanks to the awesome metro. Was wondering what people still think about it? I'm thinking about buying one off the kick start program but want to hear some opinions please.

Amazon prime you will have it in no more then 2 days

Message me if you would like my help

I can prob help once get to Wardman park.