pledosophy Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 As the new year is set to begin one can not help but think about the last year. We do this with our tanks too. So what is the worst thing, and the best thing you did too, or for your tank this year? It could be food, equipment, new fish, upgrade, anything. Also if you are the person that has not changed anything on your entire tank this year, we want to know who you are, so we can increase your brainwashing/addiction sessions. I'll start- Worst thing I did this year was trust a box of salt to mix at the right levels. The alk was below 6 and instead of testing my source water I kept doing water changes to fix what was wrong in the tank. Best thing- I'm split between my Ocean Revives and my wavemaker powerheads. Both make the tank healthier and more fun to look at. What's yours? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icepikbiker Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Worst thing - Buying used tank after used tank trying to get a clean with minimal scratches for my next upgrade. Lots of wasted money. Best thing - Better feeding regiment, and a new, bigger, better skimmer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Higher Thinking Posted December 31, 2014 Share Posted December 31, 2014 Worst thing: putting a gallon or two on the carpet. Not the worst, but it's an apartment. Best: Upgrading to the 75 from the 40b. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 So many good things this year as the big tank was new in 2014. Going to chalk up my years best to a PNWMAS community triggered upgrade. Met BlueZReef here on the forums, great guy. He prototyped and printed a pinwheel for my DC12000, that powers a big old 5' skimmer. Amazing upgrade, the skimmer is a monster now. I cannot get nitrates or phosphates if I try. I have met so many good people, people I would have not know they existed if not for pnwmas. Very thankful for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorge Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) 2014 was not a great year for my tank. Two days ago my tank hit the two year mark. The first year went fairly smooth as far as new tanks go. A few algae blooms were the biggest problems.I started making a small collection of mostly sps and a few carefully selected lps. I also purchase a large collection of very nice zoas and a beautiful flame nem.Around September of 2014 I noticed my kalk reactor was having a hard time keeping up with roughly about 450 gallons so I decided to install a vertex libra doser to keep up with the higher demand of sps.In October I walked into my garage to the smell of smoke and about 3 gallons of alk 2 part dumped into my garage over night. The doser had a firmware failure and kept the pump turned on for a few hours. I lost nearly every single thing in my tank except for a few fish. The ph dropped to low 6.1 and my sand bed turned into solid concrete. I did many water changes to try and correct the problem but the damage was already done. I then attempted to break up my sandbed and make it like it once used to but that only created more problems.My tank has since been slowly improving but it has been very stressful to the point of throwing in the towel. Best thing I've done for my tank was switching from a doser to a calcium reactor. I hope 2015 is a better year for everyone and if 2014 was successful I hope that success carries on throughout the new year. Thanks for reading,Jorge Edited January 1, 2015 by Jorge Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheClark Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 2014 was not a great year for my tank. Two days ago my tank hit the two year mark. The first year went fairly smooth as far as new tanks go. A few algae blooms were the biggest problems. I started making a small collection of mostly sps and a few carefully selected lps. I also purchase a large collection of very nice zoas and a beautiful flame nem. Around September of 2014 I noticed my kalk reactor was having a hard time keeping up with roughly about 450 gallons so I decided to install a vertex libra doser to keep up with the higher demand of sps. In October I walked into my garage to the smell of smoke and about 3 gallons of alk 2 part dumped into my garage over night. The doser had a firmware failure and kept the pump turned on for a few hours. I lost nearly every single thing in my tank except for a few fish. The ph dropped to low 6.1 and my sand bed turned into solid concrete. I did many water changes to try and correct the problem but the damage was already done. I then attempted to break up my sandbed and make it like it once used to but that only created more problems. My tank has since been slowly improving but it has been very stressful to the point of throwing in the towel. Best thing I've done for my tank was switching from a doser to a calcium reactor. I hope 2015 is a better year for everyone and if 2014 was successful I hope that success carries on throughout the new year. Thanks for reading, Jorge Dang, brutal, what kind of doser was it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 (edited) . Around September of 2014 I noticed my kalk reactor was having a hard time keeping up with roughly about 450 gallons so I decided to install a vertex libra doser to keep up with the higher demand Oh man sorry to hear that. Edited January 1, 2015 by Mandinga Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Jose, so if you had to do it again with a Doser, I wonder how a controller could make sure this didn't happen? Maybe set the ph probe as the sensor, and if the ph falls below 7.8 to shut the Doser off? Or something in that neighborhood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorge Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Dang, brutal, what kind of doser was it? It was a vertex libra. Normally an awesome and very precise doser. The one I got just happened to have bad firmware. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorge Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 Jose, so if you had to do it again with a Doser, I wonder how a controller could make sure this didn't happen? Maybe set the ph probe as the sensor, and if the ph falls below 7.8 to shut the Doser off? Or something in that neighborhood. That is a great idea. It was a stand alone doser so it didn't cross my mind. Now I run the reactor with a ph probe as a back up. Hard lesson learned for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 As I rethink that...it may be a bad idea to turn the doser off at 7.8. Mh pH goes down to 7.9 at night...then when I dose Alk the pH rises back up around 8.2... I guess it'd have to be lower, maybe around 7.6, and then also off at a higher range I suppose? I guess I should research this, I'm sure plenty of dosers are running off controllers. Sorry to hijack if that's what's happening Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jorge Posted January 1, 2015 Share Posted January 1, 2015 As I rethink that...it may be a bad idea to turn the doser off at 7.8. Mh pH goes down to 7.9 at night...then when I dose Alk the pH rises back up around 8.2... I guess it'd have to be lower, maybe around 7.6, and then also off at a higher range I suppose? I guess I should research this, I'm sure plenty of dosers are running off controllers. Sorry to hijack if that's what's happening Id say shut off at 7.6 and shut off again at 8.4? Just to stay within an acceptable range in case anything like this ever happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mandinga Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Id say shut off at 7.6 and shut off again at 8.4? Just to stay within an acceptable range in case anything like this ever happens.Sounds about right. Still though, stories like this are why my Doser has been collecting dust since the day u bought her. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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