Getting into SPS

verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
I want to get into sps because of all the nice colors and because its some what of a challenge.
I have a 75 gallon tank with a mp40, 2 koralia 4's, a 8 bulb t5 tek fixture, a swc 150 bmk protein skimmer, a phosban reactor with phosban in it, and a refugium with mangroves and chaeto.
I want to make an ato system but don't know where to start and I would also like a dosing pump so I can dose for alkalinity and calcium ( I can add magnesium manually).
I was thinking for a dosing pump I would get a bulk reef supply 2 part doser (1.1 ml per minute) but how does a doser work?
Do you have to have a reservoir of Randy Holmes-Farley recipe 1 alkalinity in 1 jug and calcium in another?
Can you do both of the solutions into the same doser?
Can I mix the calcium and alkalinity together and dose them at the same time in one doser?
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
My paramerters are:
Alk: 11dkh
Magnesium: 1350ppm
Clacium: 400ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm
Phosphate: 0ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm
PH: 8
I just need to get my calcium to 420 and then keep everything stable, maybe alk down if I should.
 
S

siptang

Guest
Alk try to keep around 10. 11 is borderline high... Just do some big water changes and it should balance itself out. Also consider dosing kalk if you are going to heavy sps.
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
ok yeah I will try to get it down. I also picked up my mp40 so that will be good. I don't think I'm going to do kalk instead I'm just going to get a couple of brs dosing pumps and have them hooked up to 1 gallon jugs of randys recipe for mag, calc, and alk. Also I am going to get a reefkeeper lite. One more thing does anyone have any good articles on ozone? Is it something I should get a probe for and dose for it?
 
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siptang

Guest
I have a ozone generator hooked up to my skimmer and have it running 24 hours a day.
It does reduce skimming dramatically.
dosing that way is a great way, I used kalk because it's much cheaper alternative.
Instead of reefkeeper light, have you considered apex lite? albeit the cost difference, it's SO much faster with more options for your money. It also has "NET" feature built inside.
If you want, I have a site that sold me one for $370 with ph probe and will pm you if you are interested.
any how, let the madness begin!!
show lots of pictures!!
 
sweatervest13

sweatervest13

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Siptang http:///t/391247/getting-into-sps#post_3469149
I have a ozone generator hooked up to my skimmer and have it running 24 hours a day.
It does reduce skimming dramatically.
dosing that way is a great way, I used kalk because it's much cheaper alternative.
Instead of reefkeeper light, have you considered apex lite? albeit the cost difference, it's SO much faster with more options for your money. It also has "NET" feature built inside.
If you want, I have a site that sold me one for $370 with ph probe and will pm you if you are interested.
any how, let the madness begin!!
show lots of pictures!!
I will take that PM for the apex lite!!!
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
I still think you should dose kalkwasser instead of the two parts.
They are called "two part solutions" for a reason and should not be mixed. Alkalinity depleats slightly faster than calcium. Therefore, you need separate solutions. Another thing that you need is high quality test kits.
Once you know you have stable parameters and an understanding of chemistry- go for it.
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
Yeah siptang I will take a look at that apex lite site. Yeah I did want it because of the price and they also sell an ato that loooks pretty good and it already comes with a lot of stuff for 270. Also Any ato sysytems that are good please let me know.
Snakeblitz I plan on doing two different jugs and when one is up I will have another 1 gallon jug for it. If I do kalk how should I add it and where do I get it from, anyone can answer this.
I love my new mp40. My swc 150 bmk protein skimmer is coming sometime this week. Also if I do kalk then I will be fine going with the apex because I like it more and because I wouldn't have to spend 180 dollars on dosers. Also what test kits would you suggest? I have api everything except maag which is elos. I'm thinking of salifert.
Pictures wil come when I start getting some sps, right now I have a birdsnest that my dad had but started to die, its coming back but still dosent look the best.
 
ibew41

ibew41

Active Member
with an apex you can use brs dosers for cal and alk or look into bubble magnus doser ,but as others said you must test often with good test kits not strips.I use the bubble magnus doser for cal,alk and vodka and dose kalk in my ato also
 
S

siptang

Guest
I have JBJ ato which worked fantastic for me. However I have heard that with Apex, you could install the switches directly on it to control it. Pretty interesting stuff .
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
OK so I am going to get some sort of contoller either apex or reefkeeper. SO then if my ph gets to high using kalk it will turn it off. For ATO I think I will get one from auto top of website, and just add the kalk to the rodi water. I also read that for every 1 dkh of alk taken by corals or coraline, they take 7ppm od calcium and kalk has the same ratio so that why I am using it.
So I have a 5 gallon resovouir on the side of my tank with a line in it connected to some sort of pump ( is a toms aqualifter pump good?), connectedI have to a switch controller; how do i get the pump connected to the switch controller though? How much kalk should I add at first? How often should I test to see if I need to up the amount of kalk (if I have a ph probe I know not to let it rise more than .2 ph units)?
 
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siptang

Guest
How I do it and many other people that's around me was having a separate container for kalk. 2 tsp per gallon and then drip it continuously into your ato to introduce it to your tank.
or what you can do is get a dosing pump that will dose for you and set it up at night when ph goes down naturally to maintain the ph to ideal 8.1 all the time.
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
Wait so do i drip it into the ato reservoir?
I thought most people just do it through their ato reservoir that then goes into the tank, no second container.
also my birdsnest loves the new flow. I also got a shipping confirmation on my skimmer so that will come probably next early week.
 
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siptang

Guest
You don't want to introduce it too much all at once spiking up the PH of your dt.
I do the drip method because it gives me consistency that I require.
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
Yeah I know I don't have many corals right now so I am not gonna do it but I am going to get my skimmer hooked up and keep the bad parameters at 0, and then focus on keeping my ca, alk, and mag stable once I start introducing the kalk and I am going to get the controller with the pH probe before I start getting anything. So if my ph goes up too high then the ato goes off and then I correct the dosage. So I have it all planned out but, what ato should I get? Is a toms aqua lifter fine for it? Is a 5 gallon ato reservoir good? Also good starter sps? I was thinking monti. digita., monti. cap. and birdsnest.
 
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siptang

Guest
Montis, digitas are all great first sps pieces. Those were actually my first piece of sps corals. Mine was red cap, brown cap then I moved to 6 different kinds of caps and then digita then acros.
It would have been nice if you more closer to me Jeremy, I have alot of hobbyists here that will give you a decent size frags for like $10.
Apex controller has an option for auto top off system if I'm not mistaken... you just have to buy the separate parts. I don't have it yet so I can't give you in depth details about it sorry..
I have JBJ and it works really good. I have set up in my 15 gallon RO tub. Your PH won't be affected much unless you over dose. After you mix kalk, let it sit for at least couple of hours if not a day before you start drip process. Start out with 1 tsp to 1 1/2 tsp per gallon until you get hang of things.
test alk, calcium and ph everyday until everything settles down.
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
Yeah I got to start going to the treasure coast reef club. I'm not gonna test ph lol, I would have the probe. if anyone has a ny cool frags that they can give away maybe we can make some sort of deal, but just pm me. So my swc skimmer came today earlier then I thought so I got to get that braken in.
But io think I'm gonna start with some lps, like frogspawn and hammer and then have them grow out a bit and then get the controller and everything then look more into sps which would probaly be in a month. But anyone want to give me suggestions for what to do just type away.
 
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siptang

Guest
Those are LPS and yes they are fun to have specially if you have wavemaker near them blowing them in different directions.
I have torch, hammer and frogspawn and I love it.
I also have alot of softies and have recently started to get into sps and have 6-7 different types of acros and about 6-7 different types of montipora caps, few digitaras and about 4-5 types of bird nests.
Grab the easier ones first, get used to them and venture out to more tougher corals.
 
verojeremy

verojeremy

Member
Would water changes be fine instead of dosing?
I was thinking 6 gallons a week. My water would be 10dkh, 460ppm, 1400mag.
 
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