SuncrestReef

Sounds good. I'll be at the CNC Cinco de Mayo party. I'll try not to drip salsa on your drawings, but no guarantee. 🌮🤣

As you saw in my post above, I got pretty creative and had to do some PVC gymnastics to get everything to fit in my sump. Let me know if you need any help.

The biggest problem with calibration is bubbles in the probe. To get around this, I use small probe storage bottles filled with the calibration fluid, then invert it so the bubbles float out of the probe. Works great every time. https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-ph-orp-probe-tip-soaker-bottle.html

Is April the last month of the competition? I'll be out of the country from April 22 - May 2, so the latest measurement I can post will be either early or late for the deadline.

I replied to your PM about this yesterday, but for some reason it says you “left the conversation” so not sure if you saw my reply: Click the Tasks icon at the top of Fusion:  Scroll down the list of tasks and click PH Probe Calibration : Then follow the on-screen instructions.

I can't say for sure how it happens, but my St. Thomas mushroom recently had a baby and it did not split at the mouth:

I really like my AquaUV Classic. They are more compact than other brands which was important for me to fit it inside my cabinet. You can get them with 3/4" or 2" fittings. Maintenance is really easy. I clean my quartz sleeve every 6 months and replace the bulb yearly, and it's a really simple process. Here's the 2" version, which is $40 less than your Emperor model, and 9" shorter: https://www.123ponds.com/a00028.html

Maybe having a baby?

I can just give you some of my tank water; it has plenty of PO4, especially if I turn off my GFO reactor! 🤣

I've been keeping a spreadsheet of the corals I have already purchased. I track the date, price, source, and then once in my tank I note the PAR level and basic notes if things degrade or improve in appearance. I also note when a coral dies. Since I started 1 year ago, I'm at 17% loss rate, with most of that in December with my brown jelly problem. I know this isn't exactly the kind of list you asked about, but it's the kind of list I'm tracking.

Keep in mind, many of the features I listed above are the result of extra Apex modules I added beyond the base unit. I have the following modules and add-ons, so I've invested substantially more than the $800 Apex. 3 x FMM modules 2 x DOS WXM PM2 PMK DDR COR-20 2 x PMUP WAV AFS Breakout box IceCap Gyre module 5 optical sensors 3 float switches 1 extra temperature probe 1 extra conductivity probe Swabbie skimmer neck cleaner Avast skimmate locker Auxiliary power adapter for Apex to detect power failures

Here's a screenshot of my whole Apex Fusion dashboard:

Everyone has their own opinion of what something is worth, and of course what they are willing to spend. I'm a pretty big fan of home automation and have extended that to my reefing equipment. I'm a big fan of my Apex and use it both for convenience of automation as well as safety of my reef and home. Here are some of the things my Apex does for me: Detect power outages to shut down non-critical devices to prolong power on my battery backup Control dual heaters in my sump, and a heater in my saltwater mixing station Control lighting schedules on my Radions, including moon lighting at night based on actual lunar phase Monitor water level in the refugium if chaeto clogs the drain pipe and turn off the pump to prevent overflows Adjust my Gyre for different flow rates throughout the day and night Control 2-part dosing Monitor water flow rate through my carbon & GFO reactors, as well as return pipe Turn off my UV sterilizer when water flow goes below 250 gallons/hour Shut off the skimmer when the Avast skimmate locker is full and send me an alert Clean the skimmer neck every 6 hours with the Avast Swabbie Control auto feeder when I'm away from home Shut down pumps and send an alert if a leak is detected in my sump cabinet or the carpet below my tank Daily automatic water changes Remote ATO pump in my garage mixing station feeds water to my tank in the living room Alert me when RO/DI tank is low, or too full Alert me when saltwater storage tank is too low, and shut down auto water change until full Turn on a cooling fan when temps are too high in summer Keep track of all water test results and produce graphs over time All alerts are sent to both email and text message I'm sure there are things I'm forgetting. But as you can see, it's a very flexible platform and everything is controlled through a single interface. I can access it on my laptop, iPhone, or tablet, and access it anywhere in the world with an Internet connection. For me, it provides peace of mind that I wouldn't want to live without.

I also posted my question on R2R, and Randy Holmes-Farley just replied that normal alk consumption is 0.5 to 4 dKH per day. I hadn't been able to find any basic guidelines like this before, so I'm glad to know.

Thanks all for the input. I do quarterly maintenance on my pumps, heaters, and skimmer. I haven't noticed too much precipitation buildup, mostly just sponges and detritus. I have spares for almost everything (except the skimmer) so I just swap out all the pumps every 3 months, clean the ones from the tank and put them on the shelf for the next quarterly swap. My alk is currently at 8.1, down over the past month from about 8.5. The coralline growth has been pretty good lately, with about 80% of rock surface now solid purple.

My SPS corals have been going through a nice growth spurt over the past month. My alkalinity consumption has been increasing, so I've been increasing the amount of BRS 2-part dosed each day spread out evenly over a 24 hour period. I'm now dosing 100 ml per day on my Reefer XL 425 (approx 107 gallon total system volume). According to the BRS dosing calculator, that equals about 1.3 dKH per day of consumption. For you more experienced reefers out there, is this normal or does it seem unusually high? Here you can see some of the new growth tips: Even my green slimer (which was at death's door just a couple months ago) has bounced back nicely:

Doing great! Since you asked, I just snapped these shots as they're starting to open for the evening:

A few questions come to mind: 1. What kind of flow are you giving the SPS? 2. Do you know the Alk parameters the new frags came from? If it was really low maybe they're shocked by your higher alk. 3. Have you considered lowering your NO3 and PO4 levels? I try to keep my NO3 around 4 ppm and PO4 around 0.05 ppm. My SPS seem pretty happy with those levels.

It looks like that scene from The Thing. 😬

Updated full tank shot:

I picked up a couple more beauties at @CuttleFishandCoral today:

Yes, it’s awesome at night. Here’s a recent shot:

Back in November @CuttleFishandCoral was selling Mystery Boxes of corals in various price ranges. I picked up a $250 box and it contained 9 corals, including this scoly. See this post for what was inside:

🤣

Looks great! I definitely need to add one to my collection.