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Reeftank Log
Reeftank Log Archives
Thursday, February 20, 2003
pH is between 8.10 and 8.3x again. I think this may be due to the added buffers I've added through sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), C-Balance and kalkwasser. I also added epsom salts and magnesium to help keep the pH up. I should do another check of alkalinity, calcium and magnesium this weekend. Overall, everything's doing fine except for the left metal halide which is taking some time to fire up. I wish I could set up a 250 MH sooner rather than later. It would be nice to have two DE 250's because the glass shield helps prevent any glass bulb explosion shards from entering the tank.
posted 2:32 PM
Friday, February 14, 2003
Alkalinity 2.5 meq/L
Calcium 375 ppm
Magnesium 1110 ppm
Parameters aren't too bad considering the tank was milky white due to the kalkwasser dump and precipitation.
pH has been a bit down ranging from 7.95 to 8.15 instead of the 8.10 to 8.35 range before the kalkwasser dump. I'll try to raise the magnesium and then work on the Alkalinity and Calcium. Calcium reactor effluent was at a pH of 7.6. Have set effluent drip at 75 ml/min and a CO2 bubble every 3 seconds. I'll see what the pH is after coming home tonight and adjust the CO2 input accordingly.
posted 9:16 AM
Monday, February 10, 2003
It's interesting that the only coral not doing well in the tank right now is a patch of green star polyps. My mother has been staying with me since my wife is almost due with kid number 2, and everyday she's been saying, "Hey, are you responsible for this or do you care or is this green stuff okay?" I told her not to worry about it since the stuff just needs a small patch to start growing like a weed. The weird thing about the 4"x4" patch is that most of the polyps have been retracted for the past week - even before the kalkwasser dump incident. I'm wondering if there's something close by that's causing them to shrink since the other gsp patches in the tank are doing fine.
Finally added all 4 four childproof locks to the front four doors of sump area. I had to use epoxy for three of the lock brackets since there was only enough room for one of the two lock bracket screws for the three of the brackets.
Replace 5lb CO2 canister with 20lb CO2 canister. I put the 20lb canister in the closet with a 5 foot length of tubing to the calcium reactor. Trying to put the canister behind the tank would have been a pain in the ass, and I didn't want to put it by the tank since Ally or Evan could futz with the controls. The tubing for the CO2 seems to be pretty thick so I think I won't lose much CO2 from the canister to the reactor. I also replaced the plastic check valve with the industrial brass check valve. May attach a solenoid in the future in order to shut off the CO2 when the power goes off.
posted 9:34 AM
Thursday, February 06, 2003
Yesterday, I dragged my wife to the Two Towers. After three hours of watching characters fight and then romp through the countryside with revolving helicopter shot; repeat multiple times, we got home. I noticed the water in the tank was slightly cloudy when I got home. I checked the sump and the level was too high. I then checked the reservoir and my worst fears were confirmed. My float switch had stuck and all the kalkwasser from the reservoir had been pumped into the sump! Luckily, the sump hadn't overflowed. I immediately unplugged the reservoir pump and scooped out the water in the sump so that it was at its normal level. From what I scooped out, it looks like about 7-8 gallons of kalkwasser was pumped into my 150g! My pH monitor showed 9.5! But 30 minutes later, it had already dropped to below 9. The salinity only dropped from 1.026 to 1.025. I was amazing to see the water turn slightly cloudy to milky white opaque over the course of 30 minutes. I think this shows I must have just stepped in right after the reservoir water was pumped in. I wonder how much calcium was precipitated last night due to the kalkwasser dump. This morning, all the organisms look fine, and the water is clear. The only sign of the kalkwasser dump is a white film on the front and sides of the tank. I'll have to set up a second float switch to cut the power to the first float switch in case the sump level gets too high.
posted 9:12 AM
Tuesday, February 04, 2003
I think I may start scraping the algae off the front of the tank everyday just so I don't have to deal with it every week. It should make things easier.
Installed first child lock for sump doors.
posted 3:56 PM
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