My Rebounding Reef Aquarium

Looking great KingFish!!!

 

looks awesome! Very nice!

 

Added some pics to 2nd post.

Thanks John. Tell me more!

Thanks sailorboy. Is it the 'under the rainbow' of reef aquariums? (that reference is dating myself. )

Thanks obp!

Thanks schackmel! Much appreciated.

matt

 

Looking good Matt
couple of questions if you do not mind

I notice you are using Kalk, in addition to 2 part
how long are the 2 part solution lasting ?

what strenght are you using the Kalk at?

what are your current parameters for Calcium and Alkalinity?


Steve

 

The first unknown (purple with green polyps) looks like a Garf purple Bonsai Acro? From what I've heard, incredibly hard to find for retail. If so, it is a rare piece!

 

I don't think it's a GARF, I have have a GARF and the exact same frag that Matt has. The GARF is an all purple body with green polyps, the frag in the picture has a "fleshy" base with purple tips and green polyps.

 

Tank looks great Matt! I remember you getting this setup together quite a while ago, what happened the first time around?

 

Thanks Steve!

It lasts quite a while. I replenish the calcium about once a month it seems. Alk can go longer. Mag unknown but very long.

I am using 32 oz bottles of ESV.

Daily rates:
alk: 16 mL - keeps it in low 4's. I had it at 19 mL recently but that put it at 4.57 mL - I decided to bring it down a couple weeks ago.

cal: 30 mL - keeps it around 460

mag: 3 mL - this maintains it. I am currently in the 1300's but have planned on bringing that up to 1400 with a manual dose. I had tried 2 mL a day but it dropped with that. 4 mL a day was too much and it climbed into 1500s.

About the top end of recommended per instructions which is 2 teaspoons per gallon. I love kalk. I note coral growth with it and if I don't use it the rocks lose a lot of color. Also, with a nano, I think it helps the pH.

Yeah it's been going for over 2 years now I think. I never broke it down except to move.

I still have many original corals - they just 'froze' in a low alk/ca state for a while. And have started growing again in the last few months.

What happened in the last 2 years?

I moved and had a kid. Tank was neglected. Manual dosing stopped. Coral growth slowed/stopped and stuttered with occasional/random water change. I swapped out a bulb with an old fixture and found out one day that the glass in it was not UV shielded. Cooked corals under light for an afternoon until Jason here deduced it was from UV - corals on edges survived. I experimented with kalk only dosing for a while. This was not enough. Got a new fixture and ballast. Ballast had issues and hqi bulbs started to spike and go on and off. Lost a fungai during this. Finally got nice lighting hardware with a great ballast. Found time to hook up a doser. Upped my water changes. All this year. Tank has turned around. Still have the fish and many corals and added some new ones a 2/3 months ago. Parameters are stable and things are growing. It has been quite a journey.

matt

 

I tested my water last night. It appears cutting my alk from 19mL to 16mL a day was too drastic. It dropped into the 3's. I pumped it up to 18mL last night. Mag appears to be holding mostly but I need to get it back up to 1400 still. I will add 300mL over a few days with a drip to do so.

matt

 

Question: When you moved the rock work around did you find a lot of detritus and how often and how do you clean the bottom?