Dosing/Testing Results Chart - Stony Coral System

[mcarroll]

I thought these numbers might make for an interesting reference for someone.

These are by no means "perfect" numbers as you can see, but are representative of my system - which I consider an overall success - and which has been jammed over-full with stony corals the whole time of this data.

The data was collected from April 2010 through August 2012 (present) and the samples are quite irregular in time.

Enjoy!

P.S. The lighter color data-line is just the moving average. The actual data is the heavier line in all three charts.

P.P.S. I'd love to see some data like this from others too!

 

[creefer]

What are you using to generate the graphs? Is it simple spreasheet data from MS Excel that has been graphed? I ask because I have been taking notes on all actions I'm making with my tank in terms of testing, dosing, and maintenance and planned to put it into excel and put calendar reminders in outlook for skimmer cleanings, kalk reactor cleanings, changing reactor media, etc. I'm interested to understand your data collection.

TIA.

 

[mcarroll]

I do all my data recording in a tracker that's built into the web software I use - TikiWiki.org. The Tracker is the same kind of database tool a programmer might use to track bugs in their software, but made to be useful in more ways like (e.g.) Microsoft Access migt be. From my understanding it's probably a lot like what Hypercard was like in its day.

If I wanted only spreadsheet function, TikiWiki also has an online spreadsheet application or I could have just done all my recordings in Numbers all along (a more tempting prospect in the era of iCloud), but I like the efficiency/clarity of a custom interface for data acquisition and I like that any browser can be my interface.

A simple use of the Tracker's Export tool and I get the columns requested as a CSV file. That goes into Numbers (Apple's excellent spreadsheet software) to make the charts, which as shown are only slightly amended from default. Primarily in scale to show the most useful points and color to distinguish the graphs from one another and some color bars to indicate "target zones".

In the same vein but more modern and less DIY you might want to check out aquaPlanner Lite (or Pro) for IOS. It's a nicely structured logging tool with some other nice features as well.

-Matt

 

[mcarroll]

One thought to add about the "target zones" in each graph...

Look at the large dips below the target ranges in Ca and Mg and compare to the tiny little dips below the target range in Alk.

To the best of my ability to discern, there was no effect on the tank whatsoever from those dips in Ca or Mg.

By contrast, each of those "little" dips in Alk resulted in some visible form of coral stress....typically browning, but bleaching or STN in the more extreme instances where there were other compounding factors like old lights. (Aren't there always other compounding factors??)

Oh, one more thought!

90% of this data was generated while I was on a daily (drip-)dosing schedule. I switched recently to mechanized dosing and it's been a rough transition. I'm pretty sure this corresponds to the slight "arch" you can see in last part of the Alk data. I've chronicled this in another thread. For here, suffice it to say that the peaks above the target ranges in Ca and Mg contrast with those in Alk in similarly bad fashion as described earlier for the dips below target.

-Matt

 

[creefer]

I do all my data recording in a tracker that's built into the web software I use - TikiWiki.org. The Tracker is the same kind of database tool a programmer might use to track bugs in their software, but made to be useful in more ways like (e.g.) Microsoft Access migt be. From my understanding it's probably a lot like what Hypercard was like in its day.

If I wanted only spreadsheet function, TikiWiki also has an online spreadsheet application or I could have just done all my recordings in Numbers all along (a more tempting prospect in the era of iCloud), but I like the efficiency/clarity of a custom interface for data acquisition and I like that any browser can be my interface.

A simple use of the Tracker's Export tool and I get the columns requested as a CSV file. That goes into Numbers (Apple's excellent spreadsheet software) to make the charts, which as shown are only slightly amended from default. Primarily in scale to show the most useful points and color to distinguish the graphs from one another and some color bars to indicate "target zones".

In the same vein but more modern and less DIY you might want to check out aquaPlanner Lite (or Pro) for IOS. It's a nicely structured logging tool with some other nice features as well.

-Matt

Thanks for the info, Matt. I will look into your suggestions.