kien's 150g Room Divider Mixed Reef & Stuff

[Reef Pilot]

Do you ever have to add Mg?

[kien]

Originally Posted by Reef Pilot

Do you ever have to add Mg?

Actually, I never have. I bought a 3 pump doser specifically for dosing mag as well, and i even bought a box of mag in bulk like 4 year ago (which I just threw out a few weeks ago because it was a solid mass), but when I first set up the tank I noticed that the mag wasn't really dropping. I was doing weekly or bi-weekly water changes which seemed to keep my mag high enough. I think in 4 years I've tested mag twice. The lowest I've ever seen my mag was 1250 I think it was. When I read up on mag I learned that it mostly affects how Calcium and Alk react and that a difficulty in maintaining those two levels can be a sign of low magnesium. So, instead of worrying about magnesium directly I just focussed on Calc and Alk and so long as I could maintain those levels I was confident that my mag was OK. Sure enough, my calc and alk have been easy to maintain and I've had good coral and coraline algae growth. I don't even think about mag much anymore.

Another reason why I don't pay too much attention to mag is because I really hate testing for it. After the second time I tested for Mag I decided that I didn't want to do that again, ever

[reefermadness]

Originally Posted by kien

Thanks for the comps everyone!



I don't have any tricks. I do more or less the same things that everyone else does. Water changes, dose alk&calc, bioPellets, GFO, Carbon, and prayers. That's about it. Aside from recently adding the prayer reactor my methods have remained unchanged for 4 years. These methods have worked well for me. I've had issues over the years but the issues were usually related to a failure to implement and maintain my methods. Ie, bioPellet reactor failure allowing my nitrates to climb too high. GFO reactor failure allowing my PO4 to get too high. Lack of time to do water changes, or temperature spikes due to our AC failing for an entire summer. So long as I stick with my (fairly simple) methods, I find that things work out well.

.. you speak the truth like a prophet. Your prayers are obviously working.

[Reef Pilot]

And what salt do you use?

[lastlight]

think he alternates with DD h2Ocean and reef crystals. I never had to dose mag with reef crystals but do with DD. I'm guessing the use of reef crystals even half the time is what keeps his levels ok.

[Reef Pilot]

I use IO, so maybe that's why my Mg has been falling.

[kien]

Yes, as Brett said, I alternate every water change between H2Ocean and Reef Crystals. I use to also have Aquavitro and RoyalNature in my rotation as well but no one sells RoyalNature anymore and I don't like how Aquavitro mixes. I actually like using different salts with every water change to mix things up (hey, that's punny, hehe). Mostly I do this to help dilute any issues with salt batches as well as to compensate for any potential deficiencies in a particular brand/bucket. In my experience, all the (higher level) salts are pretty good. They all get the job done. However, you can't always trust the levels printed on the buckets. There's definitely variation. Therefore, in my opinion continuously using one brand of salt is really no different than using differing brands of salt :-). Keep in mind I'm talking about the "higher level" salts rather than the standard salts like regular IO. I've actually had IO in my rotation too but definitely found that I had to supplement that salt so I stopped using it. Anyway, I've been doing this for years without any issues so I continue to do so.

[kien]

Some fun growth sequence photos.

This pink millepora started out as this 1" nubbin about 10 months ago.



And is now a nice colony.



Pink Lemonade

Nov 2012


Jan 2013


Oct 2013


Red Planet

Nov 2012.


Jan 2013.


March 2013.


Oct 2013.



Teal Turaki

January 2013


March 2013.


Oct 2013.

[kien]

Bonsai.

Nov 2012:


March 2013:


Oct 2013


CM Rainbow Stylo

Jan 2013


Oct 2013


Panape birdsnest

Nov 2013.


March 2013.


Oct 2013.


Green Pocci

Jan 2013.


Oct 2013.


Austera

March 2013.


Oct 2013.

[kien]

FAL Poison Ivy

March 2013.


Oct 2013.


Ice blue millepora

Nov 2012.


March 2013.


Oct 2013.


Branching cyphastrea.

March 2013.


Oct 2013.


Granulosa

March 2013.


Oct 2013.