Oregonic

Found this article today this may help you balance cal and alk. http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/11/chemistry

My clownfish are dumb they only like frogspawn and my open brain coral.

Looks great!

Alright its done.... That was a pain in the a$$ took about 4 hours. Had to drain about 1/3 of the water out to get the back aio sump chamber empty. Wish i would have purchased the sump from the start would have been much eaiser to do. Everything seem happay and i only had an alk swing of .2 Next step i will be turning the small ATO that comes with it into an algae turf scrubber.

I booted the cat from his new glass box and put it under the tank tonight. Had to untangle a huge birds nest of wires/ato and dosing hoses. Going to re route all the wiring tomorrow after a Home Depot trip for supplies. Got salt mixing in the sump and a small heater that will take a while to get water up to temperature. This all would have been much easier if i would have just have purchased a sump when I purchased the tank. Im a little nervous to tie them together, 13 gallons is a lot to add to the previous 35ish gallon system. I guess i will have to just test parameters of both carefully. Will update again tomorrow.

It arrived i will take some additional photos as it is installed and update the thread. The cat is super interested lol.

I have bought 3 BTA's. The first one, a rose, did great at first then started to look like yours does more and more, it didnt make it. I pulled it out when it looked like yours for 4 days straight. I purchased another rose BTA a few months later and it has been doing amazing. It has even split 2 times now so i have 3 of that guy and all are very healthy and colorful. They never looked like that before they split, they would just deflate a little and close up like normal at night and the next morning there would be 2. After my healthy one split the first time i purchased a green BTA and it has had days where it looks good and days where it looks sick. In fact today its not looking to hot. Never looks sick for more then a day at a time tho. I think they are all different some do well and some dont, at least thats my experience.

Im not sure at what level mag cal start harming coral.

I had mag at 1600+ before and didn't really seem to hurt anything to bad. Never had cal. that high but did have it just above 500. What type of salt are you using? I had been using red sea coral plus which had high elevated levels of mag cal and alk which was causing swings everytime i did a water change. I couldn't figure out why my mag and cal kept climbing up till i tested the water i was using for water changes, mag was over 1600 and cal was over 500. Switched salts to aquaforest which mixes a little below my goal on all parameters and i just use a little 2 part to raise to desired level. I also Started dosing 2 part with a dosing pump at the same time and my water parameters have been very steady ever since. Test the water you are using for your water changes and make slow adjustments till you find a sweet spot.

Do a 20% water change, make sure the water parameters/temperature your using for water change match your tank water. Repeat in a day or two.

Nem's love to split on me give it to me and we can add a few more here in the USA . That is amazing looking.

Picked up a few things today just thought id share. First i picked up a nice zoa rock from PowderBlue, has utter chaos, clementines, fire and ice, Rasta, and Sakuras on it. Randel pulled the old upsale while i was there and i also walked away with a nice hammer coral and a few frags of 2 other zoas cant remember the names. The wife had to run out to Beaverton for some errands so we decided to stop by Paradise Coral as it was not to much further. Picked up a nice little rock flower nem and a nice piece of art to hang above the tank. Bret was a super nice guy and both the wife and i loved his shop. Cant wait to see the shop grow. It was a great day and i was glad to be able to meet a few other new people in the local reef community.

Was at CB's the other day and pulled the trigger on ordering the Red Sea lower sump for my E-170. Also purchased an eflux dc return pump. Sump should arrive middle to end of next week and i will install next weekend. I will post pics of the install when it arrives. I am planing on using the included ATO tank as a waterfall style algae turff scrubber, anyone have any suggestions as to what lights to use for this?

Dont know if boiling water and zoas are a good combo. Super glue idea might work. Think i will try the aiptasia-x first. Anybody have any experience killing them?

You nailed it, It's definitely a ball nem. They seem to bother my zoas, and 1 has turned into 3 over the last few weeks. Do you think aiptasia-x would kill them?

I have noticed a few of these guys on my zoa garden. They seem to be irritating a few polyps. Anyone know what they are? They have little dots on the tenticles that look like small water drops, like dew on grass. Cant find anything online that look like them.

Welcome, I to set up an E-170 about 9 months ago. I started with dry rock and the cycle took about 5 weeks before i could add any livestock. During the cycle my rock had some white sediment on the surface, was able to blow it off with a turkey baster. All types of weird stuff is going to happen during the cycle, just be patient and dont rush anything.

This thread is great for a newer reefer like myself, it has given me tons of information to look up based on the suggestions of speakers. Thank you everyone.

Just a quick update, I have dipped them 3 times now over the last few weeks. No change still not extending but they dont look any worse. I will continue to spot feed every 2-3 days and keep my fingers crossed. Acans hate me lol.

A few iPhone shots.

Did a dip in Coral Rx tonight, moved it to a shaded lower flow area. Got my fingers crossed.

I purchased 2 acan frags, a single frogspawn head, and a Jason Fox lepto frag last Friday and all are doing well with the exception of one of the acan frags. The frag thats not doing well had 4 full sized polyps and 2 smaller polyups and they are all shrinking back into the skeleton. 2 of the larger polyups are partially opening in the evening but only half of the polyup. I acclimated them on the sandbed on the side of the tank for 3 days then moved each up a little higher. The day i moved them up slightly higher the one fell facedown onto the sandbed for a short period of time, less then 2 hours. I cant think of anything else that would have upset it. I have since moved the frag to a lower flow shaded area and it just continues to whither away. At this point the exposed skeleton is white with no flesh over it. The other acan frag has been fully extending since day one and looks plump and happy with the tentacles extended the majority of the time. I had the same issue with a pair of acan frags I purchased a few months ago, one did great and the other withered away to almost nothing. Thought it was dead but under low attinic light i could see just a spec of color in the center of the skeleton where mouth would be. I spot fed the dead looking acan and over a few weeks it started to slowy grow. It has been a few months and it has grown flesh quite a ways up the skeleton but still not all the way out of the skeleton. Any thoughts or suggestions? All my water parameters are inline.

I to have been battleing nitrates above 50 for a few months. For the last 4-5 weeks i have been dosing nopox and for 2-3 weeks i have switched my salt to aquaforest probiotic. No sure if its the nopox or the new salt but over the last 2 weeks of this switch my nitrates have dropped to 20ish. I have also noticed my water is much clearer, and i thought it was clear before. The only thing i dont like about the Aquaforest salt is the low alk 8.0 and mag1325 when mixed at 1.025. My current water parameters is alk 9.5 and mag 1400 so i have to dose my fresh mixed salt before adding to tank. Maybe when i get the nitrates below 5.0 i will slowly start lowering my down to somwhere near 8.5. Very happy with both of these products as they both seem to be helping the nitrate battle.

Oh no, hope i dont get similar results my alk mag and cal are solid, just nitrates im fighting.