Ace25's 75G Build Thread
- Thread starter Ace25
- Start date
Just had to post. 
Well.. update on the tank. As expected, the move has taken quite a toll on the tank. Thought I had a handle on it at one point but the tank still kept "crashing" so to speak. Parameters went all over the place. 50% water changes 2x a week for the first 2 weeks definitely buffered the crashing, but then I went to 50% 1x a week the last 2 weeks and everything went to crap. Alk dropped down to 4, pH down to 7.6, and CA down to 260. In a panic I raised my alk up to 10.6 way to quickly and didn't address the CA issue. SPS corals did not like that and I lost a few in the last couple days. I am currently raising my CA while keeping Alk stable as safely as I can. I have used about a gallon of Alk from B-Ionic and will use about the same in CA when I am back to good conditions.
You know what they say, hindsight is 20/20.. and looking back I see that I focused too much on certain things, mainly Phosphates and the crazy hair algae problem I can't get rid of. Dosing vodka daily as well. So I neglected Alk/CA and was just relying on Kalk top of water from my ATO to do the job. Well.. problem with that thinking.. it may have done the job where I used to live because it was always hot there so ATO was always going. Now it is much cooler where I live and the ATO and Chiller hardly run at all. So that in turn led to a drop in Alk/CA and I didn't do anything at first by dosing 2 part accordingly. Lesson learned the hard way.. several SPS corals lost and I am not sure if it is the end yet. I hope it is with all the work this is taking. I put in a good size clean up crew a couple weeks ago but so far they don't seem to be doing too much. Hair algae, which is like a fern, grows back as fast as I can pull it out and I don't see anything eating it.
So no pics right now.. not happy at all with my tank at the moment but patience and keeping a closer eye on the parameters will bring the tank back. I should have been testing more parameters more often the first month and not relied on what worked before. Dummy me.. I knew better. No excuse.
You know what they say, hindsight is 20/20.. and looking back I see that I focused too much on certain things, mainly Phosphates and the crazy hair algae problem I can't get rid of. Dosing vodka daily as well. So I neglected Alk/CA and was just relying on Kalk top of water from my ATO to do the job. Well.. problem with that thinking.. it may have done the job where I used to live because it was always hot there so ATO was always going. Now it is much cooler where I live and the ATO and Chiller hardly run at all. So that in turn led to a drop in Alk/CA and I didn't do anything at first by dosing 2 part accordingly. Lesson learned the hard way.. several SPS corals lost and I am not sure if it is the end yet. I hope it is with all the work this is taking. I put in a good size clean up crew a couple weeks ago but so far they don't seem to be doing too much. Hair algae, which is like a fern, grows back as fast as I can pull it out and I don't see anything eating it.
So no pics right now.. not happy at all with my tank at the moment but patience and keeping a closer eye on the parameters will bring the tank back. I should have been testing more parameters more often the first month and not relied on what worked before. Dummy me.. I knew better. No excuse.
For what it's worth...even with these recent issues and you thinking your tank is looking it's worst, it still looks better than my tank at it's best.
I'll be posting my tank results soon now that I have a new camera. Just have to learn how.
Oh, and thanks for sharing recent lessons learned. The impact of less demand for kalk top-off will affect me too with the season change. Time to break out the test kits and calibrate dosing regimens. I am glad though to have the auto-dosing thing going. It's ghetto (aqualifters, micro ball valves, timers) but it works! Not bad for $20 vs. $100. Makes things so much more stable, consistent, and convenient. Corals have responded with better growth than I've ever seen in my tank.
I'll be posting my tank results soon now that I have a new camera. Just have to learn how.
Oh, and thanks for sharing recent lessons learned. The impact of less demand for kalk top-off will affect me too with the season change. Time to break out the test kits and calibrate dosing regimens. I am glad though to have the auto-dosing thing going. It's ghetto (aqualifters, micro ball valves, timers) but it works! Not bad for $20 vs. $100. Makes things so much more stable, consistent, and convenient. Corals have responded with better growth than I've ever seen in my tank.
Lets see a pic and determine how bad it really is...Like Flomojo said, your worst day is our best day...LOL. It will turn your way soon. Those numbers are all over the place.
:topic:
Salty Supply has 10% off thier sale price, just put it in the cart for the discount. I took advantage of the 5kg bucket...great deal, check it out...
http://www.saltysupply.com/Rowa-Filter-Media-s/46.htm
:topic:
Salty Supply has 10% off thier sale price, just put it in the cart for the discount. I took advantage of the 5kg bucket...great deal, check it out...
http://www.saltysupply.com/Rowa-Filter-Media-s/46.htm
Here are pics how bad the algae outbreak is.. and this is with me doing everything possible including tweezers daily to get out as much as possible.
That is going to be difficult to remove. Hopefully you can get out what you can , and have the other algae die off.
i started to have some hair algae problem i got a yellow tang and it took care of it right away
