New Equipment!

[Conski]

So its finally time to kill the dino and get my water params back to perfect like the good ol days.

Today i used baking soda for the first time to dose alk. half a teaspoon raised it by one. ill do the same thing tomorrow to raise it another one and ill continue to do this until i get to 11. then i have a dosing pump all ready to go for the kalk mix which will regulate the alk to keep it stable.

I also bought a reef octopus HOB Bc100 for the tank.. only problem with it these stupid microbubbles, because it doesnt fit in the back compartment.

I ALSO hooked up the nanotuners LED light i bought.

so pretty much a total tank overhaul.. hopefully aces corals will be mine once more and ill finally finally FINALLY have no more problems.

[Ace25]

LOL.. ummm sorry.. but in this part of the hobby (Reef) there are always problems to deal with. ;) Maybe not dino but there will always be something.. algae... cyano... flatworms.. parasites.. etc. It is a never ending battle which is what makes it interesting and fun for me. If I wanted an easy aquarium without problems I would have gone with a FW tank. ;)

[Conski]

Well good point but i really only meant dino haha now im worried about these stupid micro bubbles! cant figure out how to make them go away

[Conski]

Alk has been raised from 5 to 7 in the past 2 days so i know the baking soda is working gonna keep dosing manually until i get it to where i want it. The skimmer is doing its job as well and starting to foam. I must have the most decked out solana i feel. microbubbles are gone and excuse mee i have the BH1000**

Heres some shots you can see the Auto Dosing bulk reefsupply pump with the bucket its attached too

[Ace25]

I dunno man.. I would dump the skimmer before I stuck it into the display like that. Way to much of an eyesore for my taste. ;)

Are you really using that high end LED light you bought as a fuge light on the back?

Oh.. how are you mixing the kalk? The way I did it was mix it in a 5G bucket... let sit sealed for 24 hours, then carefully take the top 75%/clear water out of the bucket and put into the bucket for topping off. This way you don't get kalk powder in the tank or clogging air lines.

[Conski]

no haha thats on the main display its just looks like it is from the picture i guess. I added the shimmer i missed.

The skimmer is staying. it doesnt bother me actually which is weird.. theres so much equipment in the first place i dont really care anymore. Having my tank in tip top condition is more important to me then looks atm.

[Ace25]

You really don't need a skimmer on that size tank. There is a much cleaner way to do it IMO. Get a couple little media reactors and a small pump, hang the reactors behind the tank, and fill them with GFO and ROX carbon and it will be a much better job than that skimmer on your size tank. I have been running my tank without a skimmer for 2 months now, but I have an ATS, and it is doing great.

I also highly recommend getting some B-Ionic salt. I have been talking it up in my area and 2 LFS started carrying it, and every person who has tried it in the past week is saying how much better their tank looks. Best salt ever. People that were using TM Pro said they will now only use B-Ionic just after the first week/1 water change.

[Conski]

Been looking for a new salt so im definitly gonna go ahead and switch as well so thanks for the suggestion.

I just sepnt the money on the stupid skimmer so im gonna give it a shot for a little bit. Atleast until my dino is gone and i have all parameters back in check, afterwards ill give what you suggested a shot.i might only run the skimmer for one week a month too.

[Conski]

Found another problem or sort of.. in my water changes i was always just used 4 cups of salt. not testing salinity.

Used a hyrdometer and got a salinity of 1.020.. thought that couldnt be right and went into my refractometer.. which ready 1.024. decided to calibrate the thing and turns out for once the hyrdometer was right.

gonna raise my salinity back up to 1.026. this was just peer negligence

[Ace25]

What did you calibrate the refractor with? Calibration solution or just RO/DI?

[Conski]

RO/DI. my friend bought calibration solution just yesterday when i was with him. i have no idea why i forgot to ask him to use a little bit to calibrate mine.

[Ace25]

ORA has some new clowns it seems.. "Midnight Clowns". Seems a cross between a naked clown and black & white clown. Thought you would like to see them since your into those "special" clowns. lol. $249.99 for a pair.

Midnight Clowns (http://www.liveaquaria.com/diversden/itemdisplay.cfm?c=2733+3&ddid=98443&ref=4282&subref=AI&cmpid=E-_-TR-_-DDN-_-PRDCT)
http://www.liveaquaria.com/images/diversden/approved/0903101-134.jpg

[Amphiprion]

Sorry, but those are hideous. They look awful, poor things.

[Ace25]

LOL.. well I agree Amphiprion.. I am all for tank raised clowns/fish for our hobby but ORA is taking this inbreeding to far IMO. These new clowns look like naked clowns rolled in a bag of carbon dust to me...

[Conski]

WOW GOD! they need to stop already with the inbreeding! yea man those are nasty looking i hate naked clowns in the first place.. honestly when i said im into special clowns i strictly meant grade b and a picassos and snowflakes... though the next pair of clowns im getting are blue lips most likely... ill probably end up springing for a pair if i can even find them and at a somewhat reasonable price.. seeing as though clowns are the only fish i care to keep at this Gallon restriction im at i might as well keep the finest.. although i was told they need 55 gallon but im thinking they can survive in a 34 gal all by themselves.

Although i dont want my current clowns to die so im not hoping for that anytime soon cause i love mine

thanks for showing though, i love to see what crazy #### they think of next..... Amphirion Mccullochi
with Amphirion Latezonatus to make the most cracked out expensive clownfish of all time.. "bankrupt clowns"

did anyone ever see that lighting patterned maroon clown?