How close am I to being Natural?

[reeftank1]

Here is my story. I have a mixed reef 3 yrs.that has everything from softiesto SPS and am throwing this to the pros.

Briefly I have 100 lbs. Fiji/and some Florida rock, 7-8 fish (all with a bio-purpose), VHO Lights and Lifereef sump/CA reactor, Crystal Geyser - Fred Meyer replacement water and have done 2 water changes over a year both @ 12 gallons. My FM water gets no supplement and I add nothing but frozen brine pops for the fish. It looks great less a slight bit of hair algae and a couple small dime size bubble algae groups. I have 2 cups of carbon that gets replaced each 2 months.

Aquarium Volume: 110Gallons
Calcium 375 (1/20/04) and same today
Alkalinity 1/20/04 3.5 dKH and today (same time) 6.1 dKH

Desired Calcium: TBD (Used the Reef Chemistry Cal. @ 420 )
Desired Alk: TBD (Used the Reef Chemistry Cal. @ 8 dKH)

I have never tested other than my PH meter which is calibrated registers
1/24/04 7.9 and today 8.14.

Here is what I have done based on the calculator:
SeaChem Reef Builder (dry) Added 12 tsps over 6 days
eaChem Reef Adv Calcium (Dry) Added 10 tsps over 6 days
I have 0 nitrates/0nitrites/Silica tested about 6 mths ago neg.
I have never tested the Magnesium but it might be worthwhile.

Is my reactor working in the proper ratio @ 6.67 PH on the effluent? It seems to not be producing enough @ the current setting.
Is my CA acceptable. According to the article in the Alk/CA section I am in Zone 2 and need to increase the CA/ALK in a balancedc fashion to get back into the red ZONE. As the dKH has been increasing the corals are even expanding further. The corallites have great looks to them. Well, I hope this is enough for a start. Thanks for such a great site
Brian

 

[bradreef]

If you have a mixed reef I would change the carbon monthly

 

[mattseattle]

wow - i change my carbon weekly....am i changing it tooooo often?

 

[bradreef]

matt in wont hurt but it is supposed to go bad within a month to where it cant absorb any more

 

[bradreef]

I was just suggesting That he changes more often then every two months because of the toxis the soft corals release

 

[Angelscrx]

I was just suggesting That he changes more often then every two months because of the toxis the soft corals release

Ditto; mine gets changed mothly or more frequently depending on how nuch I am in the tank.

 

[wrightme43]

24 gallon water change over one year. Thats pretty cool. I change the heck out of mine. Do you worry about trace elements getting used up? I always do. Post us a photo of your tank, that sounds cool. How was your calcium when you added the reef advantage? Is it the one that has calcium, mag, and stronti in it? Your obviously doing something right if you can change that small of a amount of water over a year and have every thing do very well. Thanks.

 

[mattseattle]

ok, thanks for the info

 

[bradreef]

Some people change water really infrequently. Some of the best tanks in the country. Calcium reactors help and so do strong skimmers and low fish load. Some of these new BB sps tanks are so effecient at removing nutrients that they wont have to change water very often. Water changes are good though. I do one every month or two. some times more often.

 

[reeftank1]

I will get some rescent pictures. I have believed from the start that less is better. It seems the more I mess with things the worse things may get. I also understand the resposibilities but my human intervention seems to lend itself to failure. I add nothing in the line of trace elements except the reactor media when it is down to half. My CA addition is only SEACHEM Reef Advantage Calcium and I have only added it in this last week. I imagine the reactor has been keeping it about 375 as this is the first test in at least 8 months. All my test gear is Salifert

 

[reeftank1]

Here are a couple Photos

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4028&stc=1

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=4029&stc=1

 

[cwcross]

I'm with you. I change my water once/quarter max @ 15%. I run no skimmer either. Just add Top off and kalk and food. Everything working great so far. I have a mixed tank also...Collin