because am using sugar size sand, vacuuming it is out of the question. I have tried this several times and because of it's size all the sand just end up in the bucket with the water.

any recommendation in helping me raise the ph without affecting the alk or ca?

As the system recovers I would like to share a handful of pics of the corals that are starting to recover.

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-3...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-5...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-B...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-m...rge%252529.jpg

:shocked!:those macro shots are amazing!

how exaclty again are you maintaining your DKH?

Thanks for the compliments fishytime!!!!

I've always used BRS 2 part, but as we speak I've also added BRS Kalk to help with significant PH drop.....

Certain folks on the board have their own characteristic look to their photos. I always enjoy staring at yours you shoot and process some sweet pics =)

ZOMG those polyps are going to eat me!!

Wow, those shots are amazing! Makes me want to quietly delete every picture I've ever taken of my tank and start over.

are you baking your sodium bicarbonate?........

Those are recovering corals? Well now I'm depressed....

Your photography skills are incredible! Glad to see the corals are recovering. What is the coral in the last picture! Thanks.

as always thanks for the kind words lastlight!!!

LOL watch-out!!!! only wish your were around the area as I wouldn't mind getting a few frags from your collection!

Thanks for compliments mseepman! don't delete them just keep taking more photos, sooner or later I will be asking you for some photo taking pointer!

Actually I use Sodium Carbonate (Soda Ash) from BRS.

don't be as am sure the rest of your system is doing much better than mine!

Thanks for the kind words Sunee!

The last photo is a picture of Meteor Shower Cyphastrea. when this was given to me in the beginning of the year there was barely 3 polyps!

You can still vacuum sugar sand, but it takes good technique. :) Use a short hose so you can put your thumb over the end, or use soft hose so you can pinch it (you can get different wall thickness, thin is easier to pinch). Buy a vacuum with a small hose, like 1/4" ID so the flow isn't so fast either. Then just shove it into the sand, and as soon as the first bits of sand get a little way up the vacuum pinch it off so the sand settles, you can play around with it like that and get the detritus out without the sand.

I bought a vacuum (I think Hagen..?) that uses a 1" pipe for the vacuum part. I bought a 36" piece of 1" pipe (it's used for undergravel filter uptakes) and cut the pipe to be just a tad shorter than how deep my water is. Looks really well. The extra length helps to get the detritus out while leaving the sand in the tank.

Low pH has many causes. The most common being either high bioload or too much CO2. Do you ever open the windows in your house for fresh air? Check for an oily film on the water surface. Pretty much any skimmer works well for off-gassing CO2, but if the house has concentrations of CO2 then all the off-gassing in the world won't help. Bioload also lowers pH as fish poop is acidic, and there are also acids released when organics are broke down through the nitrogen process. Sometimes if everything is "good" simply dripping kalkwasser at night as part replacement for calcium and alkalinity dosing will keep the pH from falling so much at night which enough to keep the pH higher during the day too.

People actually vacum the their sandbeds still? Why would'nt you just get a proper cleanup crew rather than disturb the sandbed? The less your hands are in the tank or anything else disturbing things the better. Your tank looks awesome, i'm no expert but just leave things as is. The ph is'nt that bad. Theres lot of threads on here that discuss that very topic. With most of them ending with "if it aeint broke dont fix it"

What do you mean "still"? Clean up crews aren't "new". :lol: I have plenty of critters in my tank that help keep things clean, but they don't make up for the fact that the tank is a tiny closed system, and not a giant open reef. As far as I am concerned the sand is purely aesthetic. Stuffing a few animals in the tank doesn't make up for what I consider to be good maintenance practices.

I used to leave the sandbed alone. I practiced that for years...ok a decade at least. Now I vacuum...

Sorry. I'm so silly. Should have never questioned an expert.

I'm not an expert. Haven't written a book yet. ;)

Well you just about got one written in your signature.:razz: Good info but some of us lazy reefers do things different. oops I huess were kinda hijackin. Maybe the moderators will clean it up for him.

Being lazy is exactly why I wrote those! Then us lazy reefers can just provide the link and say "go read this". :lol:

Idk About that myka your one of about 10 people who's views I regard very highly so in my eyes you are an expert. Now dude wicked tank and photography I barely know how to use my camera let alone take anything of value lol hope to see mOre pics soon. Yours is one of the tanks that is my inspiration for my new peninsula although much smaller thinking 30lx18x18 anyway great job and thx for the ideas

just a couple of random shots....

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-8...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-G...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-a...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-b...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-D...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-E...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-8...rge%252529.jpg

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-e...rge%252529.jpg

Awesome.

thanks for the kind words! and good luck with your new build!

I do have to agree with you as far as myka is concern she has very good points and could be very well considered as one of the experts in this site.

thanks dez! the tank is coming along! the funny thing is that I still have that itch in my hand to take it down and start over again.....

so base on your recommendation I've gave vacuuming the sanded a second try, this time i used one of the ball valve that came with the TLF reactor, it still pickup a little bit of sand but this time I can live with it!

I do open the window around the tank whenever am around. I've also started using kalk as part of the ATO, the ph have increased a little am around the 7.8 now during the day and 7.6 at night time.

Madreefer thanks for the kinds words! I do have cleanup crew a lot of them! I do believe in the saying "if it aeint broke dont fix it" but it this case I do believe that improving my ph will also indirectly impact the system in a good way.

Thanks for the kind words guys. :o I am not an expert though, no letters after my name.

Ah, very good! I am glad to hear you have seen an improvement, and that you have managed to vacuum the sand. It really does make a huge difference...especially in tanks with high bioloads. It is not common practice though.

I agree. Small changes can make big differences, but small changes dont usually wreck havoc. I dont usually like to mess with pH, but your pH was really quite low. pH is a result of problems, not so much a cause of problems so it can be a good indicator.

The glass is so clean! Razor on stick to keep it that way?

The Hammerhead Float - Magnetic Glass Cleaner and a lot of elbow grease. I use to use razor but because of the fine substrate it cause more harm than good....

I could tell from the water that I extracted that it helps as the water that was pulled out was fairly murky.

Ya the funny thing is that I also have an OPR monitor and although the reading is not as high as before it is still hovering at around the 400 range. The next one that I will give a try is the BRS CO2 Absorbent hope this one does the trick!

it's been awhile since I've updated this so here is a quick update, it's not exactly SPS, but more of a reefer!!!

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-f...rge%252529.jpg

They don't sell those at pet stores out here. :sad:

I hate to be the one to tell you this,but.......those arent reef safe:mrgreen:.....congrats just the same:biggrin:

Congrats!

lol! you got to be in the know to get one of this!!!!!

Thanks fishytime!!!! but i was told he was!!!!!

Thanks Delphinus!!!!!

Congrats! I think he is one to keep...and not throw back. :biggrin:
Did you get just one or do you have more?

Thanks Leah!!!

He is the second one, I have a four year old daughter as well!

Congrats! You're going to get a lot more sleep if you get'em on the doser :mrgreen:

Thanks lastlight!!!! that's not a bad idea!!!!

I cant believe that this system will be celebrating it's third Christmas, so I thought I'd see how far the system has gone! just a few side notes, this summer wasn't very friendly with the system as I ended up loosing significant amount of frags and colonies and the remaining corals also lost significant amount of color. It seems like this time last year was still the best the tank have seen.....

Happy Holidays everyone!!!!!

Winter 2011/2012

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-Z...rge%252529.jpg

Winter 2010/2011

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/_h...28right%29.jpg

Winter 2009/2010

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_h...28right%29.jpg

Winter 2011/2012

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-H...rge%252529.jpg

Winter 2010/2011

https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/_h...%28left%29.jpg

Winter 2009/2010

https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_h...%28left%29.jpg