Sawdonkey's 220 Thread

Good luck with that, and hopefully that's all the problem is. Kent M will solve that issue. :)

Sent from my Note 5
 
Smitty said:
Good luck with that, and hopefully that's all the problem is. Kent M will solve that issue. :)

Sent from my Note 5
Click to expand...

Thanks. I have some BRS mag/chloride- mag/sulfate that I mixed up this morning. With my size tank, Kent mag is way too expensive. It takes a whole bottle to barely move the needle.

I'll test and correct tonight.
 
Smitty said:
Good luck with that, and hopefully that's all the problem is. Kent M will solve that issue. :)

Sent from my Note 5
Click to expand...

Yep, Mg was at 1150. I doses a bunch of Magnesium sulphate/chloride. I'll test later and see if that keeps my alk in check.
 
Dosed a bunch of mag earlier tonight and got it up to 1230 ppm. Still too low. Now I'm out of Mg. I'll stop by New Fish tomorrow night and buy some Kent Tech M for a stop gap until the bulk Mg I ordered from BRS comes in early next week. You really have to add a ton of Mg to move the needle.

I dosed a bunch of baking soda last night and along with the batch of strong Kalk I mixed up, the alk is only up to 5.6 dkh (Up from 5.1 DKH last night). I'll dump in some more baking soda in the morning just so it doesn't go lower and I'll probably end up putting in a whole bottle of Kent Mg too.

I can't say I'm comfortable with my alk below 6.0or even 7.0 for that matter. Funny though, all of my SPS look good and have good PE.
 
Dosed a whole bottle of Kent tech M today. My alk is up to 7.0 dkh, so I think I'm in the clear. Coral are showing good PE, so I believe I made it through this unscathed.
 
OK, Alk/mag debacle is over. Time for some pics:

Copp's Efflo. Taking on a nice efflo shape:
View attachment 12882

View attachment 12887


RMF Ultimate Miyagi. I love this coral.
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This is my second go at Vivid's Rainbow. It took me a while to color up my old piece. This one is taking even longer. It has been just a dull pinkish color. However, its starting to get white in some areas and the purple is coming out. I think it will be fully colored up in a month.
View attachment 12884

View attachment 12885
 
Few more:

SunnyX Sunset
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BC Rainbow Rosaria
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PC Rainbow
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BC Red Robin
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JF Bonsai
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Ultimate Tricolor (Reefdweller)
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BC Therman's Rainbow
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Another shot of BC Rainbow Rosaria
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BC June Ruby
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BC Bonsai Hummi. This is near the bottom of my tank and has never had good color. It's showing signs of purple now.
View attachment 12897
 
Love that sunnyx sunset, rosaria, and thermans rainbow. Once I upgrade I'm going to have to order some. Still jealous of the colors your getting
 
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Alk / Mag debacle not over

My alk has been testing low with my Hannah checker 93 ppm or 5.1 dkh. I've been going crazy trying to remedy the problem. I tested mag and it was down to 1150, so I dosed a bunch over a few days and got it to 1250. I also dosed some baking soda to bring up my all and made my kalk solution a decent amount stronger than usual. After a few days, I got my alk up to 126 ppm or about 7.0 dkh. I tested tonight and my alk was back to 93 ppm or 5.1 dkh. Ran the test again and got the same. What the heck!???

So I broke out my salifert alk test and tested twice. 10.5 dkh both times. My Hannah reagent has either gone bad or my tester has gone bad. I never had an alk issue this whole time! I did have a mag issue, but that's another story.

All of my corals actually look good. Decent PE and everything. Right now, I'm filling up my top off container with RODI to dilute my kalk solution. I'll let my alk fall back down to around 7.5 to 8.0 over the next few days. I run biopellets so I don't want to be above 8.0 or so. Sound good?
 
Oh crap, that's scary, glad it didn't go too high and start causing issues. Good catch.

Sent from my Note 5
 
View attachment 12968I've been only testing alk with my Salifert Kit until I get some new Hannah reagent. For a while, I'll use both until I gain confidence in Hanna again. I mixed up a weak batch of kalk and my alk has been coming down slowly from 10.9 Dkh. Last night it was at 9.0. I haven't seen any adverse affects. I'll let it come down a little more to about 7.5-8.0 Dkh before I stabilize it.

Anyway, I went to the swap yesterday and got two new frags. That caused me to do some work because I had no place to put them. Solution: Take my big colony of birdsnest out and replace it with dry rock. Boom! Instant frag real estate. I this also allowed me to move my BC Poor Man's Snipers up and into more flow and light. It hasn't really grown where I had it.

Before. I removed the big green birdsnest. Sorry about the blurry fish.
View attachment 12972

Here's the new rocks (the white ones obviously). Epoxied into place.
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A little closer
View attachment 12973


New frags. Brand new frags always look terrible. These are no different. Excited to see them colored up in a month or so. First, one I've been admiring on R2R for a while, the WWC Ding Dang Millie:
View attachment 12970


One I got from Sonny, Joe Knows Reefs White Rose:
View attachment 12971
 
Sawdonkey said:
View attachment 12968I've been only testing alk with my Salifert Kit until I get some new Hannah reagent. For a while, I'll use both until I gain confidence in Hanna again. I mixed up a weak batch of kalk and my alk has been coming down slowly from 10.9 Dkh. Last night it was at 9.0. I haven't seen any adverse affects. I'll let it come down a little more to about 7.5-8.0 Dkh before I stabilize it.

Anyway, I went to the swap yesterday and got two new frags. That caused me to do some work because I had no place to put them. Solution: Take my big colony of birdsnest out and replace it with dry rock. Boom! Instant frag real estate. I this also allowed me to move my BC Poor Man's Snipers up and into more flow and light. It hasn't really grown where I had it.

Before. I removed the big green birdsnest. Sorry about the blurry fish.
View attachment 12972

Here's the new rocks (the white ones obviously). Epoxied into place.
View attachment 12969


A little closer
View attachment 12973


New frags. Brand new frags always look terrible. These are no different. Excited to see them colored up in a month or so. First, one I've been admiring on R2R for a while, the WWC Ding Dang Millie:
View attachment 12970


One I got from Sonny, Joe Knows Reefs White Rose:
View attachment 12971
Click to expand...


Can't believe I missed that ding dang. Frag that lil branches off for me ;)
 
jayjerk said:
Can't believe I missed that ding dang. Frag that lil branches off for me ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's a stunner. Check out this dude's pic from R2R. He grew this from a frag in 9 mo.
8ab7ab73cde2a3e264f41395f9f66381.jpg
 
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Picked up this guy Saturday from new fish. He's a fighting conch that's about half as big as my fist. I'm hoping he'll keep my sandbed stirred up. He was pretty active after lights out last night. I'm hoping my triggers leave him alone.

To go with my newscaster theme, I've named him Walter Conch-right.

1b424cd511fb245c1f385230d98c87b0.jpg
 
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