Actually I was thinking about this while plugging stuff in. I didn't plug the return pump or powerhead into the GFCI just in case. But I should figure out a way to have everything protected separately.

Ok much needed update. Tank has been going well lately. No issues during my vacation all corals are surviving, but I don't think they are growing.

My orange eye mummy chalice coral has lost it's orange eyes. Not sure what to do with it. It's still green, but the orange eyes have lost their colour.

My pink birdsnest seems to be fading in colour. Any ideas on how to get the colours to brighten up?

I picked up some corals from Marshalls crazy corals on the weekend. Good experience, James was nice and they had way more stuff than what you see on the website. I picked up a fuzzy mushroom, hammer coral, candy cane, brain coral and a big green sps frag I can't remember the name of.

On the weekend I also picked up a couple of clown fish. So yay tank has fish now!https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d99c1bcad1.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...9b2662be71.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d5547e2476.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...095a745261.jpghttps://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...2566cbf38c.jpg

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So the one new space coral I got, the big green one is getting white tips.

I bought a alkalinity test kit today and my alkalinity is at 6.4. I think it needs to be at 7-8?

What is the best way to raise the alkalinity?

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Ok long needed update on the tank.


My water params had been way off and I was starting to see a negative effect on the corals. I think alk was down to 6 and calcium in the mid 300's and magnesium around 1100. With the help of Gregzz4, I have got my water params mostly under control. Still trying to nail down the dosing. My mag is stable and calcium is mostly stable I have been keeping it above 400, but alk is still a little tricky to find the perfect dosing. Seems like about 2 caps of brightwell is pretty good at keeping alk at 8.3.



I had another powerhead die on me. Not as catastrophic as the first one, but still annoying. It just stopped running. Taking apart and cleaning it solved nothing so I picked up a pair of jebao wave makers from another reefer. They work well, but are quite powerful. I now have 2 wavemakers and a powerhead. Anyone have suggestions on the best placement of these? I feel I still have lots of dead spots...


Also had my neptune ATK auto top off unit die. Did all of neptunes diagnostics, got sent replacement parts and nothing was fixed. Ended up sending them my entire unit and just got it back today. In total I have been out of a ATO for a little over a month. Turns out the issue was the high and low water sensors were labeled incorrectly and the sensors weren't pushed in far enough. This sounded a bit weird to me since it had been working fine for 6 months then stopped, but I have been told it works fine now. Overall neptunes support was very good. Most of the issues I had were with FedEx.


On the tank stocking side of things I have 2 clown fish, 1 royal gramma and 1 purple firefish. All the fish have been doing well. I did buy a flame angel, but I was never able to get it to eat and it eventually disappeared.



Corals, corals have been doing ok. Some have grown a bit, but most seem to just stay the same. Frogspawn, candy cane and hammer coral haven't grown at all. What can I do to encourage more growth?

Lately I have been struggling with algae in the tank. Taking over the sand, rocks even some on my SPS coral. I added some chaeto and a light to my fuge and lowered the amount and frequency that I feed the tank in hopes that will help. Also did a water change since I hadn't done one for awhile while sorting out my water params.



Anyone have good tips on keeping algae at bay? This seems to be something I really struggle with.


Overall the tank feels... well, not stable. Some days corals will look good other days for a few days at a time the candy cane, frogspawn and hammer coral will be closed up looking unhappy. Not sure what to do about that.

Give up on the liquid Alk additive.
If you follow the info I gave you and bake some baking soda, thus creating sodium carbonate/soda ash, you'll find it very easy to dose daily and maintain your desired alk level.
Use the spreadsheet I gave you on that usb. The chemicals page tells you how to weigh and bake the baking soda, and the chemistry page you'll use to calculate how much to dose.

Buy a couple kilos of arm and hammer man.
Just do it ! :biggrin:

I am going to buy some this weekend. I just wanted to finish the bottle.

What do people use for containers for additives? My wife is getting annoyed with me using old salt buckets.

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I’m glad I went with the BRS starter package. Easy to mix and the gallon jugs for storing the additives are very handy. Hassle free, so it made it easy to get into the routine of dosing. I wonder if JL sell similar jugs & dispensers?

You can usually find 1 gallon jugs at Walmart etc. You can usually find different shapes that may work better with for your specific needs. I currently use the Rubbermaid 1 gallon clear containers.

I ended up getting some cereal containers at Walmart. Works great so far!

As for the tank, it's doing ok. I am battling some algae. Hoping someone here can help me figure out what's causing it. Below is a picture of what I am dealing with.

My params are
Temp: 80
Salinity: 1.026
pH: 8.3
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Phosphates: 0
Alkalinity: 8.2
Calcium: 440
Magnesium: 1410

I have a protein skimmer running, chaeto in the sump with a light that comes on opposite to the display tank lights, feed once a day 1/4 cube of mysis or some pellets.https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...0f5cc93aa8.jpg

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Been battling dinos recently. Just finished a 3 day blackout, but a bit of a dent in the dinos, but not much.


Corals are pretty unhappy. My big sps has gone from green to white, plating montipora is losing tissue, tyree toadstoll and forest fire digi have zero polyp extension...


Checked my parameters nothing seems out of the ordinary.


Frustration and discouragement is currently high...