Myka's 90 gallon build & 3 province move (Pics Feb 6)

[Myka]

Today's testing results (all Salifert):

Calcium 350 ppm (oops, my dosing is off apparently )
Alkalinity 8.45 dKH on old kit
Alkalinity 9.45 dKH on new kit
Magnesium 1185 ppm on old kit
Magnesium 1320 ppm on new kit
Nitrate 0.2 ppm (this is not usually detectable)
Phosphate undetectable
Potassium (forgot to test)


So, I have to adjust my dosing. The new alkalinity kit is interesting because it comes with a 7.4 calibration solution. The new kit reads 7.4, and the old kit reads 6.4, which agrees with the difference in testing above. So that's interesting. I am concerned about the HUGE difference from the old to new magnesium kits. I tried to retest with the old kit, but I didn't have enough reagent. So now I'm not sure...???

My targets are; calcium 410-420 ppm, alkalinity 8-8.5 dKH, magnesium 1350-1375 ppm.

Current Zeo dosing (changes due to increased water volume):
Sponge Power 1 drop daily
Coral Vitalizer 1 drop daily
Coral Snow 3 mL 2x per week
B-Balance 1 ml daily
Kent Lugol's Solution 1 drop 2x per week
Spur2 1.15 mL every 18 days or so

[Navarchus]

very nice pic's
job well done!

[JDigital]

That RBTA and Cap are absolutely awesome!

Any FTS pics?

[Reef_surfer]

hey myka im new to the SW world and i think your tank is awsome... i like the pics and hope my tank is half that nice when its finished.. wouldnt mind stopping by sometime to ask some questions and maybe take a look at the tank since you have been in the hobby for quit sometime

[Myka]

The weirdest thing happened on Sunday night/Monday morning...half of one of my Lobos disintegrated. For no apparent reason. All other corals look great. There was nothing on the coral that I could see. Weird that only half of it died too. The flesh just fell off. So far the other half looks great, like nothing ever happened. Weird... I will post a couple pics later today (no time right now). You can see it (the green/pink Lobo) in the photo posted below between the Red Open Brain and the Red Lobo (I wish I had a program that would allow me to circle it). that was taken on Sunday afternoon, and you can see that the upper half is shrunken, and the bottom half is puffy. The shrunken part is the part that suddenly died.

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Thanks for the comments everyone.

Reef surfer...ya you can come by to check it out. I'm on-call working this week and weekend though, so it's not a good time now, but after that would be ok. Send me PM in a week or so.

Here J:

[fishytime]

That sucks Mindy....did you have a fluctuation in one of your params?

[Myka]

My big three do fluctuate...I need to get on dosing more often. As per my last testing (Sunday) my Calcium was down to 350, with alk up at 9.45 dKH. Mag was only a tad low at 1320 ppm. So I did bump calcium up...probably to 400 (I should test again). I'm still getting used to dosing the bigger tank, plus the demands keeping going up as I add corals all the time, and I have used a couple different products (with different concentrations) as I'm trying to use up a bunch of container bottoms. Maybe I should quit digging my own grave, and get my [poop] together!

The most notable thing is that with the Poseidon now inline the temp is 2 degrees higher than before. Instead of 79-82 (lights off-lights on) it is now 81-84, which is much higher than I like it. I prefer it to stay under 80, but with halides and a Poseidon that is tough! I don't have any fans though, so I have them on the list of things to do asap (shoulda grabbed a couple when I was in Walmart today...dangit).

Whatever the case, I find it very odd that only one coral was affected when the rest of my corals are showing greater polyp extension than ever. I'm confused...

Another today...I found half a dozen Monti-Eating Nudis munching on one of my Montis. So I will have to keep a close watch on the Montis for the next few weeks.

With all the changes in the tank, plus the die-off of the Lobo I am having a diatom outbreak. At least that is an easy fix!

Here's a pic of the damage to the Lobo:

[Snappy]

Originally Posted by Myka

My big three do fluctuate...I need to get on dosing more often. I'm still getting used to dosing the bigger tank, plus the demands keeping going up as I add corals all the time,

For what it's worth Mindy to keep my parameters up I dose alk & ca (Randy's 2part) at a rate of 45ML per hour 24/7

Another today...I found half a dozen Monti-Eating Nudis munching on one of my Montis. So I will have to keep a close watch on the Montis for the next few weeks.

If you have some keep an eye on any scroll (turbinaria reniformis) corals, they eat those too.

[Funky_Fish14]

Myka;

Your tank and setup look fantastic! Great job on it!

And dang, nice blue rics! haha (not the only nice coral you've got, but they definitely stand out!).

Cheers,

Chris

[Myka]

Well, I finally got around to figuring out how to read that stupid KZ Kalium test kit. (btw GRRRR) So I am now confident that my potassium is 380 ppm +/- 10 ppm. I'm interested to see the results of maintaining potassium. I have heard great things, and my expectations are substantial (I loathe disappointment).

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Hey Tony! I don't have a cover on the tank. The lights cover most of the open area, but it's still an open top. My tank is mainly occupied by fish known to be jumpers though. I hope to have my canopy built in January (but I'm a procrastinator).

Thanks Chris! Those blue Rics are farly fast growers too. They have sweet neon green mouths.