Ultimate 100 Gallon Growout Tank

[Earl Karl]

Came back from Las Vegas for my birthday, had fun.

Nothing went wrong fortunately, besides my Rose Banded Fairy Wrasse finally kicking the bucket from freak accident.

Person looking over could have at least done some algae lol. But I'm happy in the end.

 

[Earl Karl]

Just checked my mail and finally got my dosing pump to try my experiment.

As much I loved my calcium reactor back when I had my 240g, it had a very high initial cost and even though it was occasional, maintenance was a pain. So I wanted to create an option that was easy to maintain, fairly cheap, and most importantly, achieve stability.

I'm trying my own DIY calcium acetate solution, but with a twist.

Did you know when you're dosing 2 part, you are actually overdosing calcium? That is because aragonite and calcite are not just calcium carbonate. They also contain magnesium and strontium. This is why calcium reactors are superior, you are literally dissolving coral skeleton to get the perfect ratio of calcium, magnesium, and strontium.

For my solution, the ratio of Ca:Mg:Sr is 91:7.5:1.5.

The ingredients are Anhydrous Calcium Acetate, Anhydrous Sodium Acetate, BRS Pharma Magnesium Chloride (Anhydrous is extremely expensive and not using MgSO4 so it doesn't precipitate), and Brightwell's Strontion-P.

My plan is to dose it during when Alk. consumption is present, which is like 8am to 12am. This makes it so that calcium and alkalinity are available when they are consuming. I don't dose throughout the night since corals don't consume alk. that time. So instead of raising Ca and Alk. during night, just doing nothing will keep it stable, when they start consuming again, start dosing. That is the perfect stability.

The CO2 production that is resulted from dosing this solution is off put by top off with little amount of kalk, occasional micro bubble scrubbing, and dosing into refugium for chaeto to suck up CO2.

 

[Earl Karl]

Sigh...

This mofuh is a chalice muncher now.

Gonna be very hard to find a replacement. Going to have to try one more thing and hope it works. Otherwise, he gon have to go... ;Inpain;Drowning

Ofc he just has to eat two of my favorite types of coral out of all corals.

 

[Earl Karl]

Just found out that the person who was looking over my tank did not feed the tank AT ALL. I'm guessing that resulted in my Moorish Idol chomping at my chalices now. It could also be his next priority coral to munch on after I rehomed the acans.

I guess I tend to learn lessons in a harsh way.

Make sure you have someone you trust look over your tank, or at least don't jynx yourself like I did. And if the person you trust isn't available, make sure you communicate with the person looking over your tank.

Can't even leave my tank to have a life without it having issues smh.

As for the moorish idol, I have to do something I hate, but I'm going to try feeding him an acan frag once in a while to prevent him from eating my other corals. Observing his behavior, he likes to munch on one coral before he moves on to the other. Acans are on top of his list, so hopefully it works.

If it doesn't work, anyone around Tampa who has an sps dominated or a fowlr tank can pick him up for free.

 

[Earl Karl]

Placed acan frag in yesterday night. Today he hasn't picked at anything but the acan. Good for my other corals, but poor acan.

Really don't like this idea as corals are dying in the wild and here I am doing this just to keep a fish. However, I see this guy in my acan tank.

My BSA Rainbow Blossom made a huge comeback as it was just a skeleton with a speck of flesh. One of my two acans that got destroyed. The other one is also making a comeback but it's a meh acan.

This makes me more confident in my plan. which is to rotate out acans.

All this just to keep my favorite fish smh. Everything would be so much better if he didn't munch on corals lol, it's like I can't even enjoy this hobby. Hopefully he continues to just pick on the acan and not be diverse.

 

[Earl Karl]

Just posted an article about my experience in reefkeeping and the experiments I have done in the past. This tank is meant to be my ultimate growout tank.


Correlation of Alkalinity and Nutrients (N and P) From My Experience

 

[Earl Karl]

Well, it was hard letting go of my Moorish Idol. I would be fine with nipping corals, but this guy munched. Didn't lose any coral surprisingly but some are in rough shape. But it's been a good 11 months with him in the display, he is now banished to the refugium. I guess you can't have all the nice things.

 

[Earl Karl]

Well. Turns out this tank is a curse lol. Doser malfunctioned and ended up dumping a lot of kalk and magnesium in my tank few weeks ago. Saved most of my corals at least, but pretty much back to day one as growth progress is now gone.

Still won't give up, I have bounced back and now moving forward.

On the other hand, picked up the nicest Neglecta shroom I have ever seen.

 

[Earl Karl]

I don't make good choices.

 

[Earl Karl]

So happy my dream animal is doing well in this tank, he did not like being QTed for 1.5 years lol. Hopefully this guy will bring my nitrates up to 1 ppm lol.

 

[VertReef]

Hello guys, this is *****, the only and original owner of this coral. I have created this account for a concern I wanted to address. I did have to do some research.

A while ago, a person came over to my place, screaming and shouting at me how the coral "I" sent him was not the one pictured. The thing is, I haven't sent nor gave any corals ever.

I was able to settle things with the angered person and he gave me as much info as possible about the situation. I learned that a now ex friend of mine was stealing corals behind my back and selling them on various websites for outrageous prices using my name and info. He has been using my computer to sell. He was logged off, but I found out about him using this website on my computer when he told me under the influence of drugs.

Also, on drugs, he told me he fed my Japanese Dragon Eel a LIVE mouse. I didn't want to believe it, but the eel passed away next day.

I was very upset, but he was still my friend. I tried to get him to rehab and such but the next thing I knew was that he was nowhere to be found. This happened a while ago. I just wished I could help him.

As for now, I have contacted everyone "Earl Karl" shipped to via FedEx. If he has sold you any coral, please let me know so that if he has sold it to you for a ridiculous price, I will do my best to refund you some of the cost. Please send receipt if so. This hobby should be affordable and enjoyable for everyone. Unlike the big name companies who have been destroying this hobby.

Sorry for any inconveniences to those who have been affected and thank you for reading.