Thanks Carmie. Sometimes the simplest things make a big difference
My thought with the increased flow helping the algae is that, since there are so many nooks and crannies in and around my rocks, it will help to keep the gunk in suspension and more available for the protein skimmer. This last water change, I scraped off tons of coralline from the walls, and blasted the rockwork with a turkey baster before removing the water. The removed water was decidedly more green and gunky.
My tank survived for a year in good condition. My new years resolution is for my tank to rock harder! I want to be more skillful @ keeping things clean and the system stable.
BTW, does anyone know a good way to get rid of caulerpa? It came with my rock, and it's hard to get out.
(as I'm typing this, my wife just said "tell your fishy friends that your wife says hi!")
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
James, you could find some critter that eats it i.e. my Atlantic angel (C. argi) but I think this would be the wrong reason to purchase something. I think the best thing is manual removal.
Thanks Carmie. I think angels are cool, but not the right choice for my tank. Would a Blenny eat the caulerpa? I'm hesitant to add another fish to my little tank.
Well, the new Hydor Koralia Nano arrived today, and I've put it in my tank. Even after doing this for a year, I still get excited about doing things for the first time. This is the first time I've ever ordered anything from Marine Depot. Somehow that just seems cool to me....
Anyway, I love looking at pictures on others threads, so I'll return the favor.
We start off with an exciting picture of.......(eerie music fades up.....) The Box it came in!!!!
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
I normally dose Kent Nano Reef 2 part solution, 1tsp of part 1, a little less than a teaspoon of part 2. This has worked for me for a while. A few weeks ago I was out of town for 6 days, and my wife took care of my tank. She misunderstood me and was using a Tablespoon instead of a teaspoon. I checked the parameters right away, and was surprised to see that they were fine (CA 390, Alk 9.6). I went back to my regular teaspoon dosing. Now, 3 weeks later, I check the params, and they're off (Ca 330, alk 12.6, pH 8.4) What gives?
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
What is your Mg? If it is around 1300 you are getting into that inverse relationship between Ca and alk but I don't have an answer as to why. If your Mg is less than 1300 you need to raise the Mg in order to raise the Ca. You can not fix this by raising Ca you must lower alk, because until you do the Ca will fall back to low within a few hours. Doing water changes with unbuffered water is probably the best way to lower alk.
I just checked my Mg with my brand new Salifert test kit that I bought @ Phishy Business (My LFS).
Mg = 1020.
How should I proceed?
Better yet, does anyone have a good link that describes the basics of the CaAlk Mg relationship. (Instead of giving a hungy person a fish, it's better to give them a fishing pole....no pun intended)
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
I'll try to find you a good link, but Mag should be 3x your calcium levels. i.e. 400 calcium should = 1200 mag.
I tend to keep mine elevated even a little above that. You can use Tech-M or some other commercial magnesium supliment, or you can use plain old epsom salts from the drug store, or Dow MagFlake (ice melter)if you can find it.
I just add mag flake to my ATO water when I need to bump it up a little.
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The Following User Says Thank You to Phurst For This Useful Post:
I think that I was adding too much. The bottle says 1ml per 4 gallons. My BC 14 is in reality only about 10 gallons of water. Thats 2.5 ml I should be adding. 1 tsp is ~ 5ml, so I was adding twice as much as recommended. The extra Alk was driving the Ca down. I'm still not sure where Mg comes into this.
So I'm going to get more orthodox about adding the precise amounts of solution and waiting 5 minutes between part 1 & 2. I'll do this from now on and carry on with my weekly water changes. Hopefully this will slowly correct every thing.
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
Sounds like a good plan. Everything should balance back out. But do keep an eye on that mag number. Even with good alk and cal, low mag can be a limiting factor in growth.
So I tested my Freshly mixed saltwater prior to my water change (using Reef Crystals)....And guess what, The numbers were all the same as my tank?!?!?!?
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
"Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci
"I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart
"The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens
icon under their name to add to their reputation. 
