I experience very little temp swing in the tank itself, throughout the day the tank runs at about 80.3ish, and the lowest it gets to is 79.7. When the MH turn off is when I see the dip below 80.
So here is how I receive and put SPS into my tank;
- float the bag for at least an hour to get a consistent internal temperature
- take SPS out of bag and let it slime up
- Do the TMPCC dip.
- Interceptor bath in a separate system/inspect for AEFW
- Frag into the system
I've tried acclimating them two ways; first just sliming them up and putting them straight into tank water, and the second is slowly acclimating them to the tank water. I find I have a better survival rate overall if I just slime them up then toss them in.
Placement and light acclimation depends on the frag and its previous home. Usually though I place them on the outskirts of the tank, not directly under the MH, and if they flourish there then I leave them, if not they slowly over time get moved towards the center of the tank and under the MH.
As for my test kits, I use both the meters and the chemical version at least once a month to ensure they both balance with each other. I've also had my water tested by two other sources, a store and another reefer. When this first started happening I thought maybe my kits were out or something had happened to them in the move and I replaced them all in December/January.
I used to run GFO when I had hair algae but since its gone I've stopped running it 24 hours a day. It also seems to make my clams happier.
I still run carbon 24/7, I replace it everytime I do a water change, so about every two weeks. Its run a phosban reactor.
I wash my filtersocks in hot water twice to three times. I've never tried the baking soda method. How do you do it? Just put it in with them? Or do you sprinkle it on and let it sit?
As of a few hours ago my dKH reads 10, but its on the cusp of being 11, and my sg is 1.025. Ca is 420, didn't test nitrite or ammonia, and nitrate comes up as undetectable on the meter. I will do a chemical nitrate test to see what happens.
Actually this is the first time anyone, on either board, has mentioned the slime coat! Its progress!
Today when I look at the frags one is still doing fine, good polyp extension. The one that seems immune is a digi with neon green polyps. The cap is looking bleached and has lost some color, and shows 0 polyp extension. The third is a stag and I've moved it out of the direct path of the light after I saw some bleaching on the coralites. The final one is doing nothing, it never really showed any polyp extension when it went into my system, and it has a few tips which may be coloring up, or may be bleaching its hard to tell at this point since the tips are faintly colored. If I didn't know better I would say its growth.
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