A Newbies attempt at a 48gal Corner tank

ryleary · Mar 8, 2015

prsnlty said:
What salt are you using and at what level do you keep it at? 1.026 is where I keep mine. You would be surprised how much ca and mg your corals will drink up. Snails do also.

I would do the math and raise the mg up 100ppm a day and 50 ppm for the ca, slow is good but don't forget the corals are drinking it up at the same time. Then when you get it to the desired levels write it down and test in 3 days to see how much they are consuming so you know what and how much you need to dose to keep it steady and stable.

I use reef crystals and try to keep it at .026. My alk seems to be steady at 8-9 but me Ca is low 300s. I have been slowly raising mg, and plan to stop at 1350 and see if that takes care of the bryopsis.

I bought some Kents turbo calcium. I plan on dosing the recommended amount and once I get to about 450 use kalk to keep alk and Ca balanced? Does that sound like a good plan?

I will also do the 3 say test like you suggested to see how much my tank is consuming.

prsnlty · Mar 8, 2015

Only raise ca up 50ppm daily and mg 100ppm daily max for each. I would also start with the ca first because it is the lowest per ratio between the two. Then raise them both evenly... remember to keep checking your numbers daily until balanced.

If you keep raising only mg first your ca will drop. It's like a teeter-totter effect.

ryleary · Mar 9, 2015

I dissolved the calculators recommended amount of calcium into my 5g ATO. I evaporate about a gallon a day so that should work out. My mg is slowly climbing and my alk is holding steady at 8. Everything seems happy, hope it stays that way.

Here's a video of my shrimp making a door to his cave with a shell. So cool to watch the two of them at night! http://youtu.be/aDRkJgmHiuA

ryleary · Mar 12, 2015

http://imgur.com/a/HxvQq

Just wanted a little snapshot of where the tanks at after I got a few corals. Gsp and small zoa colony is new.

If someone could tell me the names of the zoas that would be cool. My frag guy told me but I forgot.

ryleary · Mar 12, 2015

Also anyone know what the white dots of the frog spawn are?

prsnlty · Mar 13, 2015

Looks great! Don't knowwhich zoas those are by name though. The white dots? Do you mean the tips? If so, that's just their tips

ryleary · Mar 13, 2015

prsnlty said:
Looks great! Don't knowwhich zoas those are by name though. The white dots? Do you mean the tips? If so, that's just their tips

Thanks! I'd much rather start small and watch them grow. I mean the white dots on the shafts, below the tip.

Helenareefer · Mar 13, 2015

"Im trying to keep it all under $1000"

ound:

Good luck man. Cool build BTW.

ryleary · Mar 13, 2015

Helenareefer said:
"Im trying to keep it all under $1000"

[emoji14]ound:

Good luck man. Cool build BTW.

Hahaha that dream went out the window about 2 months ago. I stopped caring after I got water in the tank. Probably closer to 2k now, but in my opinion it has been very worth it. Me and my one-year old stared at the tank for almost an hour last night. Who needs TV anymore?

Helenareefer · Mar 13, 2015

ryleary said:
Hahaha that dream went out the window about 2 months ago. I stopped caring after I got water in the tank. Probably closer to 2k now, but in my opinion it has been very worth it. Me and my one-year old stared at the tank for almost an hour last night. Who needs TV anymore?

+

Yep, I'm in the same boat. Just started about the same time you did, and had the same 1000.00 budget...hilarious notion!

ryleary · Mar 13, 2015

Helenareefer said:
+

Yep, I'm in the same boat. Just started about the same time you did, and had the same 1000.00 budget...hilarious notion!

How crazy is it to spend a couple thousand dollars for a couple of $20 fish?

Helenareefer · Mar 13, 2015

ryleary said:
How crazy is it to spend a couple thousand dollars for a couple of $20 fish?

I'm afraid that's just a drop in the bucket.

prsnlty · Mar 13, 2015

ryleary said:
Thanks! I'd much rather start small and watch them grow. I mean the white dots on the shafts, below the tip.

They sometimes get 2-3 tips on them. My huge lime green with white tips has hundreds of double and triple tips.

ryleary · Mar 14, 2015

prsnlty said:
They sometimes get 2-3 tips on them. My huge lime green with white tips has hundreds of double and triple tips.

I was told this guy was in recovery and I would be taking a risk when buying it, so the white dots worried me a little bit. I just want to keep it healthy, really cool looking coral.