Lets talk SPS

[ecvernon]

I'm in the process of testing CAL,ALK, and Mag every day for a week or so to determine the consumption on my system.

During this, should I continue water change day as normal?

IMO I don't think it is necessary to do a water change during that time. I wouldn't do it in the middle of the week while I am performing tests to determine consumption. The water change will add/ balance alk mag calc and will make your calculating your consumption rate a little more difficult. Not doing a water change for a week won't hurt your system ( unless you have an sps forest and consumption is through the roof)

 

[james1990]

cool, ill finish the week and test before and after the water change on sunday. thanks

 

[henrystyle]

With a sps system Alk is key. A steady Alk level (8-9 dkh) is key. A calcium reactor in my opinion are best for fully grown tanks that are going to use the Alk and Calcium being added. Even with a controller in a new tank you can add to much effluent to your tank and really shoot your numbers up. Really over kill for new setups. I have been using a bubble magus triple doser on my 120g and in my opinion you can better dial in on what your tank is actually using.. Alk-Cal-Mag Stability.
Fuana Marin balling light method works excellent.

Low phosphate..(seachem phosguard) (crucial)
seachem purigen instead of carbon is what I use.. Last longer & polishes the water.
Bubble magus BM100 skimmer skimming wet.
Water Top off for salinity stability. (crucial)
2 MP40's. plenty of random flow
Steady temperature.
Seachem reef salt.

One more thing. I stop doing weekly water changes. I find that all you are doing is messing up your water parameters every time you do a water change. I do 15% once a month.

 

[duke62]

yeah i dont believe in large water changes in a sps tank thats why i do 5 gallons 2 times a week on my 100 TWV. i would do 10 gallons every other week but i like to be ivolved with my tank since i have nothing else i could do with my free time. i usually baste all my sps,clean up the sand a bit, do my skimmer clean up. i also get paranoid with my salinity with the skimmer and all the frags that i sell so checking 2 times a week gives me piece of mind. takes me just about 1/2 hour to an hour. thats the only maintenance i do except cleaning the glass every other day. also i am getting in the habit of wearing my gloves. i use the long gloves.

 

[CoralReefer]

Duke stop giving out all the secrets to keeping an sps tank.

 

[sjsoto]

Can I use agronite without a reactor, I mean like put it in my emperor filter or just using some and put it on my sand bed?

 

[SteveZ15]

I see some of you change the phos media once a month,does it burn out that fast in your sps tanks.Do you change it that often as a precaution?I dont have any sps except for a few frags.But I am trying to treat my tank like I do so I can learn everything.I do 5 gals a week on a 40gal tank I started doing 2.5 twice a week. My phos is usually around.02 but it went to .05 so I added a little more rowa.Now its at the correct amount for the tank size. When you change out the media do you get any alk dips? I read that about phos remover thats why I added half then the other half.

 

[CHEMCHEF]

Alk will always drop with the addition of gfo.
I usually test alk,, add gfo,, and test alk again in 24hrs,, adjust. Test again 24 hrs later and adjust again.

 

[Mattl22]

Bare bottem has made keeping nutrients down much eaiser for me I'd never do a sand bed in a sps system again I had such heart ache in my first system which had a 6 " sand bed
Always batteling algae

 

[Dace]

Save yourself a lot of time and headaches and buy yourself a calcium reactor and control it with a ph probe. Also a TLF phosban reactor wont hurt.
Strong flow. Consistent water changes. Patience.

I have to say that it depends on the size of your system. Any system less then a 150gallon for me is not worth having a calcium reactor unless its a full blown spa tank with corals practically growing out the water. I believe in a good two part dower for smaller tanks.

 

[duke62]

I have to say that it depends on the size of your system. Any system less then a 150gallon for me is not worth having a calcium reactor unless its a full blown spa tank with corals practically growing out the water. I believe in a good two part dower for smaller tanks.

To many people i know lost there tank to dosers. I dont trust them after hearing all the horror stories. I have exactly 100 gallons TWV and have the MTC mini cal and besides the clogging from the sponge which i think i corrected it never did me wrong in 2 years. Kepps me on point when it works properly. Ill show a pic as to what i did to fix there design flaw

 

[duke62]

You can see in my picture the left chamber used to have the media surround that pipe which has a elbow and a piece of sponge so the media wouldnt get sucked up into the pump. The sponge would get clogged all the time so in made a pedestal with a piece of foam and eggcrate so it sits above it so it should never get clogged again. Its a temporary design till i get a acylic piece made to fit in each chamber Also on the right chamber i made another pedestal so the small hose going into that chamber has plenty of room to let the water flow through. The way they designed it with the media sitting all around them both is just a bad design

 

[Dace]

To many people i know lost there tank to dosers. I dont trust them after hearing all the horror stories. I have exactly 100 gallons TWV and have the MTC mini cal and besides the clogging from the sponge which i think i corrected it never did me wrong in 2 years. Kepps me on point when it works properly. Ill show a pic as to what i did to fix there design flaw

I can show you threads on all systems going bad. No matter which one you go with Calcium Reactor, Doser, Kalk, They all can wipe your tank out. Whats key is checking your system in a timely manner. I know people who's system seem to be stable and don't check it for weeks sometimes even months just because their system seems to be stable. All it takes is one mishap and its a wrap. I check my levels once to twice a week. I've had systems that i spent a good amount of money on and in corals alone will easily go into some high numbers. I'm not trusting my system to either of the three. I'm still trying to keep up with my testing.

 

[duke62]

But a doser can wipe your tank out in a hour. I dont know of a fail safe system it has. Maybe someone can share that. At least i know if to much CO2 is introduced from the cal reactor which is the only way i could think of to wipe the tank out in a short peroid of time my controller will shut it down. It will take a double failure to wipe out with it hooked up to a controller.

 

[Jaftica]

But a doser can wipe your tank out in a hour. I dont know of a fail safe system it has. Maybe someone can share that. At least i know if to much CO2 is introduced from the cal reactor which is the only way i could think of to wipe the tank out in a short peroid of time my controller will shut it down. It will take a double failure to wipe out with it hooked up to a controller.

+1, very hard to wipe a tank out with a ph protected calcium reactor

 

[lnevo]

What if you disabled your dosing if ph goes too high/low? would that be a good fail safe?

 

[Dace]

This is a great thread topic. In my (not so) humble opinion, I think it would be beneficial to continue to talk about husbandry practices and tank maintenance routines rather than get into specific equipment, etc.

Right now this thread is defintely heading in the right direction, and we certainly have enough sps experts to make this great.

I think this quote is what it's all about. He makes a great point.


First off. Lets understand that the reason we talk about these things are to gain better knowledge and not to argue. I'm just saying this because i don't want anyone to get offended by my opinions.
1st I'm sure a ph controller can fail just like anything else. Probes go bad. As for a calcium reactor not wiping a tank out quickly. I had a friend who's reactor built so much back pressure from his co2 tank because of a clogged effluent which can happen easy if not cleaned occasionally,that it bursted his effluent from a slow drip to a steady stream which wiped his tank out just as quick as a doser. anything can happen in this hobby

 

[duke62]

No one is arguing just a discussion. Like i said yes a ph probe can go bad. But both would have to happen at the same time while your not paying attention which i would bet those odds If your friend had a controller set up when it bursted and started dosing the tank quickly it would have shut the selenoid off which would have limited the amount of ALK into his system. Im sure the ALK in his tank would have still gone up but might have limited the damage to his tank. All im saying is there is a greater chance of a failure with a doser then a cal reactor

 

[strgazr27]

Couldn't you hook your dosing setup up to the APEX and have it turn the dosing pump off should the PH go above a certain set point? I am still learning what the Apex is capable of and perhaps this is not an option.

 

[jackson6745]

Doser wiping out a tank? Someone refer me to a thread where this has happened. I want to see how this happened and which doser.