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Ryan

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Posts posted by Ryan

  1. Thanks' date=' Ryan. Any suggestions as to what to get and what not to get?[/quote']

     

    Personally, I would build one...which I'm getting ready to do. If I wasn't going to build one, I would probably buy this one: http://www.marinedepot.com/AquaMaxx_CR_1_Calcium_Reactor_Saltwater_Aquarium_Calcium_Reactors-AquaMaxx-UJ3313-FICRRA-vi.html

     

    You can't beat the features for the money, and its hard to pass it up! I'm actually going to use the same Sicce pump on the reactor I'm going to build.

     

    I think above all else, the co2 regulator is the most important part of any calcium reactor setup! The cheep (not really that much cheaper) run-of-the mill (JBJ, Milwaukee, Aquaticlife, etc) are known for being inconsistent, and nothing but a pain. I would go with this regulator: http://www.bestaquariumregulator.com/CO2.html

     

    I used it on my last reactor set up and was very impressed. It was rock solid and never gave me one little problem. I'm getting ready to buy another one for my new reactor setup.

     

    I

  2. Congrats on the new tank! I'm looking forward to following this one!

     

    Can you share some other specs such acrylic thickness, bracing, overflow, etc??? Also, what type of equipment you plan on using?

  3. I went with 21" tall on my tank...I wish I would have went with 18"! My stand is 37" tall so the top of my tank is sitting at 58", I'm 6'4" with long arms and its still a pain to get to the bottom. It also creates that much more space to fill up with coral.

  4. Looks to be a tri-color of some sort. I don't think its Tyree Tri-Color though, tyree is more of a solid puple. That looks more like the ORA Tri-Color. I could be wrong though.

  5. How long have you had them? What do you feed them? How often do you feed them? So far I have tried thrown in a variety of "samples" to see what they like. They all 3 have ate everything I fed them so far...Mysis, Cyclopeeze, and ORA Glo Pellets, & Spectrum Thera +A pellets. These fish LIKE TO EAT!

  6. Well, I spent the morning fishing my Potters out. Took about an hour, and I had to take a lot of my corals & rock out of my tank, but I finally got it. I used 2 nets to corner it between the side of the tank and a rock. I traded it it at OIAB if anyone is interested in a very health, great eating, beautiful potters angel. It was hard to see it go, its such a great looking fish! I traded it in towards a trio of Bicolor Anthias.

  7. I got a hitch hiker of orange cap from Brad and couldn't bring my self to dispose of it so I decided Im going to grow it together with a green & a purple mont cap. If anyone has either one (preferably both so I only have to make one trip) I would love to get a frag of them!

     

    I'm in the Portland area...

  8. If I were you, I would start do the following since your TWV is roughly 150g:

     

    Week 1: 1.2ml daily

    Week 2: 1.8ml daily

    Week 3: 2.4ml daily

    Week 4: 3.0ml daily

     

    I would check Nitrates every week once you get the LaMotte Test Kit. I would increase the vodka every week by .6ml until you start to see the Nitrates drop. Once you get to zero nitrates, I would cut the vodka in half. ONCE AGAIN, this is only what I would do. Please read the link Mike provided, and the link I provided and make you own determination on what you should dose. It is also important that you are extremely consistent with it. It's something that you have to dedicate to, its not something you should do for a month then slack off on.

  9. hmmm...at only dosing once per week, I would start from the beginning. You probably aren't getting much benefit from dosing weekly anyway. I would do a cap per day for 2 weeks, then drop to 6 drops per day. Then again, for all we know, MB7 is nothing more then magical snake oil.

  10. I've had a potters angle for about 6 weeks now. Up until the other day, he never even glanced at a coral. The other day I put a new purple haze frag in, and he started nipping at it right away. He also started nipping at my Oregon & Cali tort, and a couple of my Milli's. (sad)

     

    I feed him a ton & he eats like a pig. Is there something else he needs? Is there any way to get a nipper to stop nipping?

     

    I love this fish, but love the SPS more....

  11. Frank,

    If you are going to go with Vodka, go SLOW! I used the dosing recommendations from the link Mike provided, but I ramped the Vodka up at about half of the rate the chart shows. I think its important to go slow, and allow your tank to adjust to the lower nitrates. I have also not seen a hint of cyano, which I think has a lot to do with going slow on the Vodka.

     

    Here is what I did for 100 gallons (I started out with 13.2ppm N & .12 p):

    Week 1: .80 ML

    Week 2: 1.20 ML

    Week 3: 1.60 ML

    Week 4: 2.00 ML (started to see Nitrates fall in week 4, so I left it at 2.00 ML to see if the would continue to fall at the same dosage)

    Week 5: 2.00 ML

    Week 6: 2.40 ML

     

    I started to see my nitrates fall at week 4. Im now at less then 1.1ppm (according to my LaMotte Nitrate Kit). I suspect I'll be at zero Nitrates after I test next week. Once I get to "zero", I'll probably dose 2.4 ML for another week, then cut the dose in half and maintain at 1.2 ML per day.

     

    I also dose at the exact same time every day. I dose when I get home from work when the lights are still on, and PH is at its highest. I read somewhere that carbon dosing can lower the tank PH temporarily. I have no idea if its factual or not, but it seems to be working alright for me.

     

    When I started MB7/Vodka, I followed Sonnys (from reef2reef). You can read more here: http://www.reef2reef.com/forums/general-sps-discussion/41018-microbacter7-vodka-dosing-guide.html

  12. That's exactly why its hard to believe that your Phosphates are so high...Im pretty sure you would see the results of high phosphates (excessive algae & no color/growth in your corals) if they were really that high. Any also, you are carbon dosing which, if done properly, should nearly eliminate your Phosphates & Nitrates. We'll find out on Sunday when I bring my LaMotte Nitrate kit over.

  13. Frank...did you test multiple times? The first time I used my Hanna meter, it tested high as well. It's very important that the glass vial (Cuvette) is spotless. It is also important that the reagent in complete dissolved. When I am testing, I use a micorfiber towel to clean the glass vial every time I have to touch it with my hands, then I only handle the vial by the cap through the rest of the test. I also start a stop watch as soon as the Hanna Meter says C.1. you have exactly 90 seconds from that point to poor and dissolve the reagent. I hope that makes sense.

     

    Being that you are using MB7/Biofuel, I have a hard time believing you actually have .44 of phosphates. I use MB7/vodka, and have zero phosphates.

     

    Hopefully these tips help with your testing, and you actually have much lower phosphates.

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