Omegareefer0's first saltwater tank.

[Omegareefer0]

I'm glad it helped Just remember when your skimmer is down so will your PH be. When I shut it down for cleaning and other work I always make sure it'll be back online before sundown so that night-time ph doesn't get too low.

Thanks I'll keep that in mind my skimmer cleaning only takes a few Minutes it's pretty accessible..

 

[prsnlty]

Thats great

 

[prsnlty]

I reread your post from the other day. Your alk is too high and could be to blame for stn. You could do bio pellets or vodka dosing to get no3 down and keep it there. I suggest biopellets as its easier to do.

There are a lot of factors that can keep no3 high. Do you use a filter bag and how often do you clean it? Do you have a small powerhead in your sump to keep detritus from settling? Do you use a turkey baster and blow out your rocks before a water change? Doing all this helps to reduce no3. Straining and feeding frozen adds less no3 than flake foods and feeding very small amounts a couple times a day is better than a larger feeding once a day.

I would suspect the crab to be your fish killer over the brittle star. Brittles mostly eat detritus and bad bacteria from the rocks but love frozen food also.

 

[Omegareefer0]

Oh yeah I have a kessil a360 now for lighting

 

[Omegareefer0]

I reread your post from the other day. Your alk is too high and could be to blame for stn. You could do bio pellets or vodka dosing to get no3 down and keep it there. I suggest biopellets as its easier to do.

There are a lot of factors that can keep no3 high. Do you use a filter bag and how often do you clean it? Do you have a small powerhead in your sump to keep detritus from settling? Do you use a turkey baster and blow out your rocks before a water change? Doing all this helps to reduce no3. Straining and feeding frozen adds less no3 than flake foods and feeding very small amounts a couple times a day is better than a larger feeding once a day.

I would suspect the crab to be your fish killer over the brittle star. Brittles mostly eat detritus and bad bacteria from the rocks but love frozen food also.

I know I just need to water change for my alk to go down I had been buffering it because I had such low ph alk. And my nitrates are a lot better now because I am doing a better job at my tank husbandry blowing off rocks smaller more frequent water changes less overfeeding. I do use two media bags and clean them once or twice a month I clean the skimmer at the same time because I have to take the skimmer out to get to the filter and media bag area of my sump. My sump gets cleaned a lot also basically anytime my skimmer is out.

I was looking for an article or thread that someone had posted on your 180 build that has to do with alk cal and mg ratios but now I can't find it. I know I bookmarked a bunch of stuff as I was/am reading but I lost them all... I guess I'll just have to reread and rebookmark it all. Lol

 

[Omegareefer0]

Woah I just checked alk it's 21 dkh that's a lil high.

 

[prsnlty]

Here is a link to all Randy's articles https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/randys-reef-chemistry-articles.174821/ I'm sure that the article I posted was one of his. Randy is the go to guy for reef chemistry and will never steer you wrong.

Yep, that is out of this world high dkh. (12 dkh is max for a reef) What test kit are you using? If it is API don't trust it. I would suggest Salifert for Alk over all of the ones available.

 

[prsnlty]

This is a must read http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-06/rhf/index.php and this one http://www.advancedaquarist.com/2002/5/chemistry The second link is about the relationship of Alk and Ph.

 

[Omegareefer0]

I am a chemistry person in general. So I like it and understand it well and I appreciate the links. I'm using Red Sea test kit

 

[prsnlty]

Ok great

After the wc's I would do no more buffering either way and just let the alk come down to a reasonable level.

 

[Omegareefer0]

Ok great

After the wc's I would do no more buffering either way and just let the alk come down to a reasonable level.

Do you have a good link for vodka vinegar sugar dosing?

 

[prsnlty]

Here you go http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/ Vodka. At the bottom of the page is a link for sugar but nothing on vinegar. I personally haven't done anything but vodka except that once a week I add 2 tablespoons of vinegar in my ato (which holds 20g)