DkH

[fencer]

Hi Marie
What do you think is causing this rapid growth in your tanks? That only thing that I can figure out that would drop your carbonate level that fast is clams.

[marie]

Originally Posted by fencer

Hi Marie
What do you think is causing this rapid growth in your tanks? That only thing that I can figure out that would drop your carbonate level that fast is clams.

Thanks to my regal angel I have no clams in this tank...coralline algae and corals are the only calcium suckers that I know about in there

[Aquattro]

With my 150, my SPS grew so fast that I couldn't give away frags. My Ca was about 400ppm, and alk was anywhere from 8 to 11. Mg never got tested.
I used a large Ca reactor, which I suspect helped a lot, and 2x400w Radiums.
In my current tank, values are mostly the same, although I fight with my reactor (hence, and with alk) and Mg is ~1400ppm. It's been running almost a year and I have hardly any growth.
I doubt I've had enough growth in this year to match what I used to get in a month. So personally, no idea what makes them grow like weeds.

I do have colors like I never had before, so it's a decent trade off.

[StirCrazy]

fwiw, it takes a lot higher than 13Dkh to burn corals, I maintained my alk at 13.2 for about 2 years. I found colors were more vibrant and growth was accelerated. if the alk fell below 11, I would know from the look of the digitata as its color would dull a little.

now it is good to see people trying to quote NSW alk levels but realy who cares , what good is quoting NSW levels if you don't follow them all. a Ca level of 450 is definatly not a NSW level, Mg of 1400 is close but a little high for the average, but hey, I like a elavated Mg also.

my best growth and color was at 82 degrees, 380-400 Ca, 13.2 DKH Alk, 1350 Mg, 7.9 Ph, zero nitrate/nitrite/amon/phosphate and any others I can't think of right now. I used AB10K 250watt SE bulbs run by M80 ballasts, on home made reflectors.


Steve