Pickupman66's 180 gal Glass box - Update for July 2013

nice tangs! but the baggais do school 3 of mine do at least good luck with your tank!

 

Still not getting it. Must have been what that Angel did to the LPS, but oh well...

Tested last night and here are the results
Salinity 1.026
temp 81
Ammonia and NItrite Zero
Nitrate ~25ppm (working on getting this down)
Phosphate Zero
PH 8.1
KH 12
Ca475
Mg 1400


Hmmm.....aside from a higher than I want Nitrate, all others make me happy. Cannot figure out what the deal is here.

Any thoughts on the tests?

 

everything looks good... all levels are in check
475*3.1= 1473
I doubt you will be having any more chemical swings. if your ca is 475 then your mg should be 1473ppm... but 1400 looks close enough to me

didnt you add a new fish the other day?

 

I added a banggai cardinal.... In thinking it was irreperable damage from the angel (hoping). everythi else seems to be extending polyps properly and look good.

I havent had the experience of a new tank in 6 years so this is like learning all over again...

heck until this tank, I hadn't tested in years.

I am dosing 4ml of vodka daily. that said, the the nitrates have very slowly dropped but have rather settled out at 25. Anyone else dosing vodka here on a system with ~200 gallons?

 

I just started this week. but I did 1ml for the first three days and now im about to go to 2ml for the rest of the week. there after i will be uping the dose .5 ml every week until i get to zero. last time my water was tested:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - .5
phosphates - .07

So I am basing my vodka dosing off that. Will test water again this weekend to see where I stand. But thats what I am doing. mi nitrates were at 8 weekend before last but i am also dosing MicroBacter7 3 times a week for low nutrients. Not trying to jack your thread P.

 

duplicate post.

 

naw bro. no worries. thats what I wanted to hear and from others too.

Here is the formula I followed
Vodka Dosing by 'Genetics' and 'Stony_Corals' - Reefkeeping.com

all of the sudden I am startign to doubt my test kit. I may try to check it with some new water to see.


Edit:

so yea, I tested the water straight from my top off barrel. same readings as the tank water. 25! I may test teh effluent from the coil as that is assuredly lower than teh rest of the tank. GRRRRRRR. Effective tomorrow, Ill be cutting my vodka in half to 2ml/day

 

YUP! that was the ticket. the Salifert Test kit I had was expired. I bought a brand new API test today and my nitrates are ZERO. ive been overdosing the vodka. time to put the tank into rehab. today Ive cut to 2ml and in a few days, ill go to 1ml and leave it at that for a few weeks. ill bump it .2ml if I see the nitrates build back up.

vodka and high KH can also lead to burnt tips on SPS and is not good for LPS. there is teh story on my candy coral. GRRR!!!

Took some photos tonight with the work camera. ill post soon.

 

Those darn out of date test kits.

 

YUp. no wonder the chaeto in the sump has shrunk to 1/2 its origional size. pisses me off. Oh well... glad I got it solved before anything else. just worried about 1 other coral.