Eric B's 125 Re-Build Journal

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eric b 125

Guest
thanks buddy! i'm still having some pH woes. i just tested and it's 7.8. i will test again after the MH are on for a while. i may have to dose alk, because it is a bit low for 440 calcium. if there is no swing then i'll start mixing a water change. i'll be picking up a few bags of reef crystals at my club meet tonight for $12/ bag. i'm also going to break off the dead parts of that monti cap to better watch if the tissue regression is getting worse or stopping
 
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eric b 125

Guest
did the water change, broke off the dead pieces, and moved the monti. hoping that this will change the direction that this seems to be heading.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
i may have discovered the problem with my monti. i have a feeling that my temp is dipping too low at night. i will have to return my 250 watt stealth pro for something i can trust tomorrow.
i also found a single aiptasia the other day on a zoa frag. will have to aiptasia x it and i'll pick up 4 or 5 peppermint shrimp while i'm at the store.
just snapped this picture- i can never get a good shot of my ywg but he stayed still for me this time. not good quality, but a good shot, IMO.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
replaced the heater. the temp was at 76, but that was an hour or so after the halides went off. this morning it was at 72. i also tested the water again. pH 8.2, am/trite/trate all undetectable, ca 460, dkh was only 7. i dosed alk and i will have to keep a close eye on it over the next few days. the monti cap looks like hell.
 
lsboogie

lsboogie

Member
i'm in no way a pro but don't you want your temp to be closer to 76 as a minimum, with a 2 degree +/- swing? 72 seems awful cold to me. I personally have my heaters/fans set to maintain a 78 degree environment (please feel free to correct me if I'm too high here).
 
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eric b 125

Guest
you're right that 72 was a bit chilly. i try to keep my tank around 78 +/- 2. the new heater fixed the temp problem for me. my pH has been more stable lately, too, thanks to some alk dosing.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
havent posted in a while, but now that my semester is over i can dedicate more time to my tank. after i got the new lights i had a bit of an algae bloom which started to die back about a week or so ago. yesterday i did a water change (the first in over a month). i went from 3/21 to 5/5 without a water change and still my trates were undetectable. i had to dose cal and alk but that's about it. i fragged the monti and it still died off a bit, but now it seems to have stabilized. i think it was changing the lights and raising them that caused the monti to die off and the algae to start up. i did notice some new growth yesterday, though, on a purple monti and some other sps frags, which is always a welcome sight. i'll post pics in a bit.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
once again, i have gone way too long without a water change (see above post)
. i have some salt mixing and will do one tomorrow. I'd like to siphon out the sump for this wc, which will be a PITA, but i have a feeling that it will be well worth the trouble. my good buddy, klaus, hooked me up with a bunch of frags last night. over 10 pieces from different sps corals he has in his tank. he also gave me a 6" monti digi. definitely got the hook up. i'm going away for a week, in a week and a half, and figure i best clean everything as well as i can so i dont have to worry about the tank.
i also got a calcium reactor a few weeks ago, but i broke one of the connections. i keep telling myself that i'm going to call the company that it came from and see about a replacement, but i havent gotten around to it.
 
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eric b 125

Guest

^^^^ all these shots were taken with my cell phone. come to think of it, i dont think i've posted any pictures in this thread that were taken with a camera
i'll try and get some good ones tomorrow once the water change is done
 
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eric b 125

Guest
thanks krista! i am going to put in an honest effort to get some good shots (with a camera) before i leave for vacation. everything seems to be pretty happy and healthy. there are some dead spots on the large monti digi that was given to me yesterday, but i'm hoping it turns around, because it's a good sized piece.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
thanks a lot! its the first time i've tried the island look, but i quickly became a fan of it.
 
al&burke

al&burke

Active Member
I am always a fan of have a structure in front of another, it gives it depth and makes the eye want to see what is behind it. Keep the pictures coming and updates.
 
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eric b 125

Guest
got the refugium portion of my sump drained, and i rinsed off all the rubble. even after siphoning the tank, the water in the bucket looked like coffee, it was so dirty. i decided to mix the rest of the bag of salt to do another water change tomorrow. the only thing i tested before doing a 30 gallon w/c was the trates, and as usual they were immeasurable. after having disturbed all that detritus in the fuge, i think changing the remaining 20 gallons tomorrow will be a good idea. also, i'm sure my ca is low considering how long i went without maintenance.
i'm also filling up my 32 gallon fw top off bucket and hopefully it will last a week without having to fill again. i never keep track of how often i fill it but i'm sure it's not weekly.
 
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