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nextlevel808

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Posts posted by nextlevel808

    Best LEDs

    in General Discussion

    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.

     

    The real question is how much you wanna spend i believe

    Dream build

    in General Discussion

    if you have the space check out Aquarium Engineering Skimmers, made by Bill Wann.

    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.

    Dosing question. Please some knowledgeable people help.

    in General Discussion

    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.

    Dosing question. Please some knowledgeable people help.

    in General Discussion

    First, your alk measurements vary greatly. Something is wrong with either the kit or your handling. You need to have some level of trust in your measurements and kits before you can really go forward. Depending upon which Red Sea test kit you're using, I'd toss that measurement out. If you're using one of the Red Sea Pro kits, they're generally a lot better (in my experience) than the cheap $5 kit option. But, I'm still concerned about the large difference you're seeing between your Salifert and Hanna kits. (I'm assuming that you're using the egg-shaped Hanna alk colorimeter here.) 

     

    First, I'm assuming that you're getting these measurements from testing the same tank water at the same time, and that you're taking your water sample below the surface, using clean vials for your test. I'm also assuming that you're not picking up any particulates in the water sample.

     

    Second, I don't know much about Reefgrow products (haven't used them), but I'm particularly concerned in that I don't see that they offer an alkalinity additive, but that they offer a "buffer" additive. Assuming that you're using the buffer, I have a concern that the label for that product includes the components that add to borate alkalinity. Borate alkalinity will shift and buffer pH but provides no benefit to our corals. Your interest is in keeping good levels of carbonate alkalinity. Personally, I'd probably move to different products. 

     

    When you add your supplement, do you take another alk measurement and do you see the rise that you were expecting?

     

    Keep in mind that alk levels can drop quickly. In a well-developed SPS tank, for example, you can see 1-2+ dKH of drop in the course of a day without supplementation. That's why many of us use automated dosing systems to control these levels (kalk stirrers, calcium reactors, or two-part chemicals being added by metered pumps).

    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.

    Dosing question. Please some knowledgeable people help.

    in General Discussion

    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

    Dosing question. Please some knowledgeable people help.

    in General Discussion

    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.

    post-2635769-0-86846500-1446034279_thumb.jpeg

    Need starfish for my harlequin shrimp

    in General Discussion

    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.

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