using both a calcium reactor and a kalk reactor

[xfisher]

phoshate 0

Even though you tested 0 phoshate I know the feeling trust me I test also but tank observation is the best way IMO to gauge tank health,and if you have hair algae it must be fed (phosphate),get some phosban.and run it for a week a month then discard it.

 

[apollothesun]

xfisher, what kind of animals do u have that trim hair algae in your tank? iv'e got this sea hare i bought at barrier reefs and he does a great job in controlling hair algae in a 90 gallon reef. also rabbitfish are good canidates but they get big after a while.

i finally got the red cyno under controll with an automatic saltwater changer. i use 2 kangaroo pumps.. 1 doses at 150ml and the other takes out 60ml. the second kangaroo doser takes out less due to a wet skimm i run on my skimmer. if my calculations are correct, thats about a gallon a day for my 90 reef. i finally also got an auto topoff working for my kalk reactor using a aquamedic nuevamat, getting the check valves in the right place did the job.

 

[apollothesun]

now im having problems with my calcium reactor, my alkalinity is way to high. test kit is reading a higher dkh of 17 and my calcium is 550ppm. im going to shut off the calc reactor for a couple of days and let the alkalinity drop. im having trouble using a ball valve that controls the drip rate, so im using a aquamedic doser to initiate the drip but its dripping way to much in. im going to have to go back to the drawing board to look at this again.

 

[DonW]

Even though you tested 0 phoshate I know the feeling trust me I test also but tank observation is the best way IMO to gauge tank health,and if you have hair algae it must be fed (phosphate),get some phosban.and run it for a week a month then discard it.

Not really. Nitrogen is also one of the biggest algae fuels. Using a gfo will help with P but will not do much if your fueling nitrogen. Algae can be starved off but you have to get all of its food sources.

Don

 

[mojoreef]

was using crushed coral sand i had laying around for the calcium reactor and thinking that was the cause of phosphate started adding the genx crushed coral media for replacing.

Crushed coral/crushed coral media which are pretty much the same have a couple of inherent problems. One is that their is usally a large percentage of shells in them, shells are from critters, critters use P to bind Ca in order toform the shells, you melt them.... you get P and Ca.
the second is that with the formation of sand (as in when it is created) it reaches the point of super saturation with...P. Natural process that is in a calcium sands formed underwater. Sooooo that media you are using is duel purpose, its dosing P and Ca at the same time, might be good to find another media type.

i noticed the cyno would like to stay on the sandbed, and my sandsifting stars would not go to those places. so broke out the gadet and started to vacuum the sandbed. 1st day got hella red cyno. next day came back so vacuumed some more. next day a little less, next a little less. kept on changing the water every few days, but the cyno and hair algae stuck around.

Hard to believe.. .. Ok the cyano is doing ecaxtly what it is supposed to in conjunction with your DSB. You DSB (again made up of sand. refer above to sand properties) is designed to sink nutrients process and convert them and then to facilitate the removal of P, N, A through vegitation. Soooo if you have cyano forming its working!!!
Ok simplier version.. Waste from what ever enter the DSB, through bacterial processes portions of it are converted to forms of nitrogen. Also at the same time it sink Phosphates until such time that it becomes saturated. The DSB system then allows these products (P and N forms ) to leach at which point various forms of Vegitation absorb it (ie hair algae, cyano, caalurpas and so on) then you harvest them and thus the P and N's are exported. Cyano is actually the best form of absorbtion (something like 500 times more then calurpas).
If the DSB method is not to your likeing you can help it along by syphoning the top 1/2 inch or so, this will allow you to take a bit of the load off the DSB and thus try to keep it below the harvesting stage.

On the calcium reactor/kalk issue another option is to run the calcium reactor during the day and the kalk at night.


Mike

 

[Boomer]

Who let you out of your cage ? Talked to Bomber last week for about 2 hrs He will never post again on any forum again, so he says. He has been MIA since May.

 

[mojoreef]

lol just for 2 hours??? I have had some that have gone for the entire day. I do miss those conversations, the hobby is less with out him for sure. How you been?? getting fat and lazy now that you are retired?? hehehe

Mike

 

[apollothesun]

thanks for the info mike. i have another question. is it bad to run your reef system with a alkalinity 16dkh and calcium 520 with a ph of 7.8? i was running this way until i tested my alk. so i stopped running my calcium reactor and has slowly dropped to 9.5dkh. i noticed some of my corals haven't been their usually self. i believe natural seawater is alk 8dkh, ph 8.2, calcium 420. should i shoot for natural conditions or should i go back to my original perameters?
before, everything was fine, then all of a sudden a lost a whole acro table colony overnight. thats when i did my alk test. then i turned off my reactor and slowly drifted back to natural seawater perameters.
anybody else run their kalk and alk high?

 

[mojoreef]

i have another question. is it bad to run your reef system with a alkalinity 16dkh and calcium 520 with a ph of 7.8?

Yep, your running the parameters far higher (in regards to alk and cal) then what is normal operating conditions for your corals. This makes them use more of what little energy they have to control those systems.

i believe natural seawater is alk 8dkh, ph 8.2, calcium 420. should i shoot for natural conditions or should i go back to my original perameters?

Normal is based on your salinity..whats yours?
Lots of folks run alk and cal high, the concept is for faster growth. the problem is that calcium inhibits the growth of the corals (coral being the tissue) so they have to remove it at a cellular level, this takes energy, corals have very little energy...so if you take an ammount of energy from their budget..well that takes away energy that would be used elsewhere.


Mike

 

[Boomer]

Fat, I wish I could get fat. Lazy, now this is an understament. I should actually shoot myself I'm so lazy.

Yeah, only 2 hrs this time :lol: Their dock is going through spalding and they were tearing it down when I called.

Heah, MACNA next year is at the new Atlanta Aqauirum It is really going to be something. Randy got the big award this year at MACNA, although he was not there.

Funny, you pop in after being MIA and so has Randy on his old chem forum after being MIA.

PS

Anybody need any snow ? I'm getting buried in it.

 

[apollothesun]

Yep, your running the parameters far higher (in regards to alk and cal) then what is normal operating conditions for your corals. This makes them use more of what little energy they have to control those systems.
Normal is based on your salinity..whats yours?
Lots of folks run alk and cal high, the concept is for faster growth. the problem is that calcium inhibits the growth of the corals (coral being the tissue) so they have to remove it at a cellular level, this takes energy, corals have very little energy...so if you take an ammount of energy from their budget..well that takes away energy that would be used elsewhere.


Mike

my salinity i run 1.026 and checked every 3 days.
i thought ph is the indicator for growth?

 

[apollothesun]

ph

more on the ph, i thought ph would help the coral grow. (base) lower ph i read hampers growth but a more acidic will help form corbonates easier. but how about if you supply a high alk and high calc, it wouldnt have to work so hard...
also mike, when you say energy, are you taking about lighting?

 

[mojoreef]

No in regards to energy I am talking about the energy require for the coral to live. In a coral the calcium level in it cells is the same as it is in the surrounding water. A coral grows by cellular division (remember the coral is just the tissue portion) a cell cannot devide when calcium is present, so the coral has an elaborate system that it uses to get the calcium out of the cell, once out of the cell, the calcium ion binds with free floating carbonate ions and then look for a clean seed surface (the skeleton) and then they deposit. This procedure takes energy and is budgeted, when you increase the calcium content you are forcing the coral to remove more calcium from with in. thus more energy is used to accomplish the task.
One thing all sps growers have in common they love to see the coral get bigger and the faster the better. what you have to keep in mind is that the coral is just the tissue you portion on the coral, the skeleton is just a waste dump. So to keep healthy sps it is always best to make sure the tissue is fat and sassy, kinda like Boomer . I have seen a million corals grow like crasy and then as soon as their is some kind of an event the coral doesnt have the energy budget to coop with it.
Try just going normal parameters, its just kind of tough for the coral to change a few million years of evolutionary biology

Mike

 

[mojoreef]

Boom that sounds good, I really want to go to that aquarium anyway, sounds like a good plan.


Mike

 

[apollothesun]

awesome mike, thanks for the valuable information.