110g Mixed Reef V2

[Delphinus]

Is it really cheaper in the long run though? If there's one lesson I can impart onto anyone from my mistakes, it would be "don't slough off on testing." If a number is important to you, you need to track it. I feel so completely burned on KZRB now, I felt "Well, I don't need to test because I paid more!" .. Yes it is my mistake and I accept responsibility for it .. the point is .. if I have to test anyhow and dose to adjust Ca/Alk/Mg anyhow ..then I might as well take the salt that costs half because the additives I use are paid for by the difference. For real. And they last me way longer than a bucket of salt. I guess there must be different break-even points depending on total volumes, bioloads, water change volumes and frequencies, targetted levels and consumption rates, and the additives one uses. (Wow, that's a lot of variables. Can we work in moon phases into the list too? ).

I dunno, but it just seems to me that everytime I've listened to the hype about a salt, I've been disappointed. A salt is a salt? Can it really be a tipping point (barring "bad" salts or batches or whatever)..

Originally Posted by fishytime

Well, the way I see things is I will hopefully need to dose less Ca and Mg by running this salt and it is less expensive than KZRB....a win-win for me, methinks. Of course I will make up those costs in test kits

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by JDigital

Damn... dkh 5!?!... I need to make a batch and do some testing....

Josh...did you ever test out a batch of new water...Im curious to know what you got?

[JDigital]

Originally Posted by fishytime

Josh...did you ever test out a batch of new water...Im curious to know what you got?

Not yet, but after loosing my CBB, I am gonna make a batch today for a water change.. I'll let you know, I will be into the shop today.

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

FWIW, just tested my first batch of IO since switching back to IO, here's what I got (not that you asked, but I hate testing, and I have to do it anyhow, so I'm going to tell anyone who listens now what #'s I come up with).

SG@1.025, dKH=11, Ca=340, Mg=1110. Interesting that one salt has the Alk and one has the Ca. Maybe a mixture of both is the answer?

Originally Posted by JDigital

Re-label it... Make Millions of $$$!

Instant H2Ocean

[fishytime]

Ive had a bit of a run of bad luck with the tank, that has left me with a serious case of the blahs. Its gotten to where I didnt want to come home and look at the tank tonight.

It started off a couple weeks ago when one of the ballasts in my tek light died. As I posted earlier the tank has been running on half wattage since then, waiting on a new ballast. The sps on the dim side of the tank are all starting to suffer. Some color loss and browning in one or two. The ballast is in so I be be back at full wattage again tomorrow night. The whole issue has left a bad taste in my mouth regarding the tek lights. Unfortunately upgrading to two 36" ATI powermodules (first choice) would set me back over $2000 and is simply out of reach atm. Soooo tek it is....for now.

In the process of doing some pruning recently I broke my candycane from where it was epoxied in, so Friday night I decide to "stick" it back where it was. As I am pushing it in place the entire center portion of my aquascaping shifted about 3" to one side....I thought the whole thing was coming down but I managed to stabilize it enough to work on fixing it. So I moved a few sps colonies to the sump and tried to fix the slide. We all know what happens when you move something in a reef aquarium....It didnt go back to the way it was and I am not happy with the new look. By this point my frustration level had peaked and I figured I would just get the stuff in the sump back in the tank and fix it later when I mellowed out a bit. As I am bringing my large orange monti from the sump it slips a bit from my grip and as I try and save it from hitting the floor, I squeeze and snap it into about twenty pieces

Then last night I had to switch my lights off manually because I changed the timer from "timer" to "manual" mode. I guess the sudden and unusual blackout spooked my male hooded fairy wrasse and he "Peter Panned" 6' out of the tank onto the hardwood floor.... I was standing right there and if I was on the ball probably could have caught him...as it was, he wasnt out of the tank for more than 15 seconds but when I put him back in the tank he spiraled down to the bottom and disappeared in the rockwork. I looked and couldnt find him this morning when the lights were off, but found him dead this evening when I got home. I know its entirely my fault for not covering the tank which makes me feel even worse.

*takes a deep breath*

[Delphinus]

Sorry to hear about the wrasse. That's really odd that only 15 seconds did him in .. wonder if he hurt himself or somehow went into shock.

I've done similar things with SPS colonies. Don't laugh, but here's a suggestion (I've done this, or rather, "have had to do this", myself) .. you can glue them back together with superglue. They look a little Frankenstein at first, but they eventually grow over the seams.. FWIW..

[Carmen]

Whoa Doug, not been a good week at all! So sorry about the wrasse. Maybe just hit the floor too hard? Best of luck on the aquascape repair.

[Ryan]

Hard wood floor and flying 6 feet. A small fish like that could have bonked his head pretty good and caused the death.

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by es355lucille

Nice tank Doug, although I have not seen a recent picture of it. All those beautiful frags must look great in there. And the Clams --> WOW!

Give us a tank shot when you get a min.

I would but the tank is still running on half the lighting it normally has....some of my sps on the dim side of the tank are beginning to suffer.

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by JDigital

Trying the Stylo again! Nice..

Actually this is the first stylo I have tried....tried poccilapora twice before with no luck.