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Unread 05/06/2012, 11:28 AM   #51
avelino78
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Sk8r. What salt do you use??


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Unread 05/06/2012, 01:09 PM   #52
Sk8r
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Oceanic. It's a good reef salt. I also drip kalk. BEtween the high-end salt and the kalk drip, stony coral grows fast in my tank.


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Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.
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Unread 05/06/2012, 01:10 PM   #53
avelino78
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Thanks it does look like one of the best salts.


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Unread 05/06/2012, 04:52 PM   #54
avelino78
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Is the ALK low? I have been reading about the salt and people complain of low ALK.


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Unread 05/06/2012, 04:55 PM   #55
Sk8r
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Alk will GET low if you don't buffer, yes; if you get your mg up to 1300 as described in the topmost posts, you won't have any problem with it: alk will stay up if your mg and cal are up. Minute the mg runs lower than 1300, there you go.


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Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.
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Unread 05/06/2012, 04:59 PM   #56
avelino78
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Makes sense and with Oceanic salt the mag is high so it should be easy to keep the alk spot on.


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Unread 05/06/2012, 07:26 PM   #57
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Hey Sk8r, thanks I checked out that website I emailed them, ill be buying one of those i noticed my water line just a hair below the lip where its visible now. One thing though. Since i'm a Newbie, I'm starting off with fish only & live rock is that Kalk needed still? Or I should be good with the gallon of Ro/Di with the ATO? I'm confused when i do the ATO, in that bucket I'm just going to have RO/DI water which doesn't have salt? or Ro/di water does have salt in it?


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Unread 05/06/2012, 07:28 PM   #58
avelino78
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Top off water has no salt. Water evaporates the salt does not.


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Unread 05/06/2012, 07:41 PM   #59
Envieddesigns
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Duh, I did read that before on one of the posts, Thanks Avelino78! Hey i'm a Newjersian too. lol. I'm new to the hobby so I still dont have everything locked down yet.


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DT 55g Live Rock 1 OC clown, 2 Fire Fish, 2 Skunk Cleaner Shrimp, 1 sand sifting Star, 3 Hermits
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Unread 05/06/2012, 07:50 PM   #60
avelino78
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Best hobby ever I can never get enough. Their are some great people on this site I have learned a ton since January.


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Unread 05/07/2012, 02:22 PM   #61
Reefer_Madnes
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Great info for a noob like me


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Unread 05/07/2012, 07:17 PM   #62
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Must read, great info.


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Unread 05/08/2012, 12:54 PM   #63
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My Alk tends to run high for some reason. I know about balancing it out with CA because if Alk is high usually Ca is low. Not in my case. My Ca is 480 and dkh is 13, mag at 1305. I have leathers, xenias, birdsnest (it's turning white at its base) candy canes, monti, torch and frogspawn. All are doing terrific but the birdsnest and I think it's due to the Alk level, yes? I just did a water change and it didn't come down either. I'm also not dosing Alk. I have a 125g tank... How do you get the Alk down without lowering anything else?


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Current Tank Info: 180g AGA - drilled, 55g sump, Apex, DC12000 return, Custom LR overflows & return column, RO skimmer150, 2- AI Sol Blue LEDS, 6 X 80W ATI T5s, 2 x wp40 PH, JBJ ATO & 20g tank, Jebao DP4, 3 x TLF 150 Reactors for carbon and GFO
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Unread 05/08/2012, 01:00 PM   #64
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Which salt are u using and do u dose anything? Somewhere the high levels must come from. Second option would be that ur tests are off.


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Unread 05/08/2012, 01:35 PM   #65
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I'm using Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. (Which didn't used to do this) I have double checked my tests with my LFS and they are pretty accurate. And I only dose strontium every couple of weeks along with small amounts of iodine.


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I'd rather have reef livestock, coral or equipment than new clothes!

Current Tank Info: 180g AGA - drilled, 55g sump, Apex, DC12000 return, Custom LR overflows & return column, RO skimmer150, 2- AI Sol Blue LEDS, 6 X 80W ATI T5s, 2 x wp40 PH, JBJ ATO & 20g tank, Jebao DP4, 3 x TLF 150 Reactors for carbon and GFO
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Unread 05/08/2012, 10:27 PM   #66
Sk8r
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I don't dose anything but alk buffer, cal, mg. Strontium and iodine are provided in sufficient quantity in your salt mix. I do not recommend these unless you have a test that shows a deficiency.


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Sk8r

Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.
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Unread 05/11/2012, 10:01 AM   #67
ItzJustinN
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thor109 View Post
sk8r , you should think about writing a book. A lot of people know this stuff but you have a great way of explaining it so we understand.
You would be giving the entire hobby a boost by making it easier for people to be successful reefers.

Thanks for sharing
+1


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Unread 05/11/2012, 10:42 AM   #68
devonian
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test equipment

Thanks Sk8r - very helpful

Any particuar brand of test kit or equipment you recommend using or avoiding?


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Unread 05/11/2012, 11:06 AM   #69
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i use saliferts. i have always had good luck with api, but saliferts are a little more precise.


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Unread 05/11/2012, 12:36 PM   #70
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Tank info at bottom. Just added some small corals yesterday...5 head candycane a small frag of montipora, a ricordia. Also got a teeny tiny twig of green birdsnest for free and a teeny tiny ricordia.

I gots issues.

I've been using Kent reef salt. I'm going to change that up soon. My calcium runs very high, was 600 today. (not dosing any Ca). My pH was fine, but my dKH dropped to 6.4 so I've been dosing dKH. I got it up to 7.4 over a few days of dosing. Trouble is, dosing the alk is making my pH rise....up to 8.6 today.

No fish in there yet (I have a firefish in QT).

Do I continue to dose ALK and raise pH still further or just leave it? My new corals don't seem to mind the current situation, my candycane actually ate some shrimp last night. My snails seem fine. That's all that's in there other than BRS rock and oolite sand. On the chemistry forum, no one could really say why the Ca++ is so high. Same salt mix in qt has Ca++ of 460.

Not sure what to do about high Ca++, low alk, High pH (that goes higher when I dose ALK). I have brand new test kits, Salifert for the ALK, Ca++ and Mg (the Mg is 1375). Other parameters in line: SG 1.025, temp 79, no amonia, no nitrites, no nitrates.

My teeny tiny birdnest stick seems fine, so should I assume that the water quality is fine and quit messing with it? What would you do with these numbers? I just did a partial water change (probably about 25%) 2 days ago.

I've been told Kent salt has issues with High Ca++. All in all, it doesn't seem a very well balanced product, at least for my tank. I've ordered a different salt and will change up soon.


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38 gallon Red Sea

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Unread 05/12/2012, 10:11 AM   #71
Sk8r
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Ph will only confuse you in marine tanks. Track alk instead. You don't mention your magnesium level. Test that. S/b 1300.


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Sk8r

Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.
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Unread 05/12/2012, 10:22 AM   #72
NMC
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I did mention the Mg, it's sort of burried in there.

So are you saying that I should continue to dose Alk regardless of how high the pH gets? Gotta wrap my mind around that...give me a sec....


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Unread 05/12/2012, 11:46 AM   #73
Sk8r
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Ok, your mg's fine. Ph just doesn't mean much in a marine tank. I pour in kalkwater at ph 12 and it quickly moderates. Alkalinity is a far more important measure of 'comfort' of the water.


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Sk8r

Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low.

Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%.
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Unread 05/15/2012, 11:31 AM   #74
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This is an awesome thread! I have read it a few times and learn something new with each read. I have a question though. I recently purchased a KH test kit made by API. Will this work for the alkalinity test because the test result numbers and the numbers you reccomend are far different.

Thanks!


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Unread 05/15/2012, 01:04 PM   #75
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This is an awesome thread! I have read it a few times and learn something new with each read. I have a question though. I recently purchased a KH test kit made by API. Will this work for the alkalinity test because the test result numbers and the numbers you reccomend are far different.

Thanks!
that is a kh/alk test. that is what you want.


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