Bored? How about Mentoring a Newbie?

[Scott Christenson]

Let's start by stopping any dosing for now.
1- you are dosing blindly which might mean you might be overdosing
2- you do not have heavy coral load that is consuming all these trace elements. Which might mean you might be over dosing
3- we are doing water change, salt water comes with trace elements already, which might mean you over dosing
4- did I say you might be over dosing?

We will not dose anything for a while unless needed.
For fish feeding rinsed frozen that you can add couppenof drops of vitamins is way better than this shotgun approach to dosing everything... make sense?

When time comes we will dose major elements like alk, ca and mag...not nutrients.
Then we will add nutrients only ad needed.

For dosers I do not trust Neptune (by time you will realize I am not a big Neptune fan..used to be, not any more, but this will not biase me with you so do not worry, I will always give you recommendation options ), I rather get a cheap stand alone doser, more reliable and cheaper.
When time come you can get one of the bubble magus(used it for 6 years), or any other doser similar to the bubble magus. These will give you 5 dosing heads for fracture of the cost of doing it with apex.
If you want cheaper we can even consider BRD 1.1ml doser, these also cheap and good.

Sounds good, thanks
I'll be working on the tank for a few hours now so will send test results and new pictures soon.

 

[Scott Christenson]

Test of tank:
12 alk - was 12.3
320 cal - was 320
1050 mag - was 1095
.2ppm nitrate - was 0
0 phos - was 0

 

[road_runner]

Test of tank:
12 alk - was 12.3
320 cal - was 320
1050 mag - was 1095
.2ppm nitrate - was 0
0 phos - was 0

Looking good. You said you will work on the tank earlier..What did you do? Water change?

 

[road_runner]

..

 

[Scott Christenson]

I was playing around with the blowers, what do you think? Top left goes across the top, bottom right goes opposite direction across the front.

 

[Scott Christenson]

So we need to start bringing the ca and mag a bit more.
Since your alk is on the high side, we need to bring ca to ~400ppm.
So: I will assume your test result is accurate. If your results are not accurate we will face issues, but by now you should know how to generate accurate results.

Please get a ca and alk additive that you trust. I like B-ionic. I would buy the smaller portion which comes in 2 bottles wrapped together.
Once you decide the additive let me know so I explain what's the best way to dose kt.

How is the water situation? Do you have enough rodi to mix? Or will you buy pre mixed salt water from the lfs?

I have Reef Complete, can we use that since I own it? If you're not familiar with it I can send the details.

I'm using RODI fresh water from the lfs to top off the tank. I have 7 more gallons of saltwater from the lfs, it's to early for the 2nd water change. I HOPE to have my RODI system up and running Wednesday.

I'm testing my CoraLife salt in pure DI water right now.

 

[road_runner]

I was playing around with the blowers, what do you think? Top left goes across the top, bottom right goes opposite direction across the front.

Oh good lord ha ha ha. This is too low..why so close to sand? You might start blowing sand.
I would bring it up more

 

[road_runner]

..

 

[Scott Christenson]

What's the name of the product exactly?
Ofcourse we should use the product you have unless it's bad. When I googled the name of the product you gave me it was not base elements..it looked lile trace elements and amino acids and a whole bunch of things in one bottle...

Seachem Reef Complete
Calcium
Magnesium
Strontium
That's it

 

[Scott Christenson]

Oh good lord ha ha ha. This is too low..why so close to sand? You might start blowing sand.
I would bring it up more

Check out this video please. The clowns live in that large mushroom so I don't want to blast them out of the home. But I'll do whatever.
https://1drv.ms/v/s!AoWoUIU9pTyNhepQHM5FKUH5GqTJlQ

 

[road_runner]

Seachem Reef Complete
Calcium
Magnesium
Strontium
That's it

These are individual elements correct?
How much you currently dosing of each element and since when?

 

[Scott Christenson]

I can return the Reef Complete, it's unopened

 

[Scott Christenson]

These are individual elements correct?
How much you currently dosing of each element and since when?

I'm not using the Reef Complete yet. I have been using Reef Trace and Reef Plus which are the trace elements but I'll stop that as requested.

 

[road_runner]

..

 

[road_runner]

I can return the Reef Complete, it's unopened

Nah should be ok. No worries.
I just need to understand the recomended dose. Do they say in the container what's the recomended dose?
Is it liquid or powder form?

 

[Scott Christenson]

Btw the power head location is not a must. As long as you happy, no sand is blown and coral look happy you good.
So do not over do this activity.

Looks good, they are not clashing against each other, corals are getting movement, and no sand blowing.

 

[Scott Christenson]

Nah should be ok. No worries.
I just need to understand the recomended dose. Do they say in the container what's the recomended dose?
Is it liquid or powder form?

Liquid
Directions
Use 1 capful (5 mL) per 80 L (20 gallons*) twice a week. Check calcium every 2 weeks and adjust amount or frequency accordingly
ADVANCED: Check calcium level, then follow dosing regimen above until calcium is adjusted to 380–420 mg/L. Each capful will raise calcium by about 10 mg/L. Size or frequency of amount added can be adjusted, but do not exceed 25 mg/L per day. Thereafter, use as required to maintain calcium
EXPERT: After determining the calcium consumption rate, set up a continuous drip system. Use the following formula to determine how much to add to your top-off water: m=0.025vc (m=mL of product to add to top off water, v=volume of tank in gallons*, c=amount to raise calcium in mg/L). For example, if you want to raise calcium by 20 mg/L in a 50 gallon* tank, then you would add 0.025x50x20=25 mL into the top-off water. HINTS: If used with Reef Calcium™, it is not necessary to exceed 380 mg/L total calcium. Calcium over 400 mg/L is not recommended. Use Reef Status™: Calcium to measure calcium.

 

[road_runner]

Liquid
Directions
Use 1 capful (5 mL) per 80 L (20 gallons*) twice a week. Check calcium every 2 weeks and adjust amount or frequency accordingly
ADVANCED: Check calcium level, then follow dosing regimen above until calcium is adjusted to 380–420 mg/L. Each capful will raise calcium by about 10 mg/L. Size or frequency of amount added can be adjusted, but do not exceed 25 mg/L per day. Thereafter, use as required to maintain calcium
EXPERT: After determining the calcium consumption rate, set up a continuous drip system. Use the following formula to determine how much to add to your top-off water: m=0.025vc (m=mL of product to add to top off water, v=volume of tank in gallons*, c=amount to raise calcium in mg/L). For example, if you want to raise calcium by 20 mg/L in a 50 gallon* tank, then you would add 0.025x50x20=25 mL into the top-off water. HINTS: If used with Reef Calcium[emoji769], it is not necessary to exceed 380 mg/L total calcium. Calcium over 400 mg/L is not recommended. Use Reef Status[emoji769]: Calcium to measure calcium.

Ok let's dose ca only for now. Ae start 10ml daily. Let's see how much this will increase.
I expect once we start bringing up ca you alk will go down a bit.

 

[Scott Christenson]

I just discovered something possibly interesting
I'm testing pure DI water with my CoraLife salt and the alk is coming in at 15. And the cal is only 295. Is that possible?

 

[road_runner]

I just discovered something possibly interesting
I'm testing pure DI water with my CoraLife salt and the alk is coming in at 15. And that cal is only 295. Is that possible?

Testing what exactly?
Some of these kits are not build to test fresh water..