290G Peninsula Tank

[mseepman]

I promised a few pics...so here you go....

FTS


End shot on Peninsula


Frag tank with a couple frags in it and IT2040 going through it's end of day programming.

[Myka]

You need more stuff in your frag tank!!! Let me know if you want a donation.

[mseepman]

Originally Posted by Myka

You need more stuff in your frag tank!!! Let me know if you want a donation.

Mindy, always up for a donationi!!! When will you be delivering that?

As for filling it up...I've got corals arriving from Frag-a-lot on Tuesday and I'll be holding someone else's portion of that order for a bit as well so I'm pretty sure the room will be filling fast.

In regards to the main tank, I've been having some good growth on some corals and not so great on others. This is my first SPS / LPS tank and the learning curve is really something else.

I've been battling an Alk issue since shortly after the tank was started. I just can't get the Alk high enough, even when using crappy old IO salt. Every test I do, I get about a 6 - 6.2 on my Hanna. When I test new IO it measures in between 9.5 and 10 usually. I had one bad bucket of IO which only had an ALk of 4 and that seems to have set off the chain reaction.

This week I was going to set up my Deltec Kalk reactor but the top motor needs changing and due to a lack of time, I just put together a quick old fashioned doser with a premixed bottle for the time being. I'm using Ms. Wages Pickling lime and I've mixed it to 2 TBLspoons for 1 gallon of RODI. I've never used Kalk before but hopefully this helps me get through this problem. It's a 1.1ml per minute doser and I've got it going 9.5 minutes ever hour through the night (9 hours total).



In case anyone is wondering what my other numbers are:
Ca 460
MG 1400
PH 8.15
Salinity 1.026
Temp 78.9
NO3 - 0
Phos - 0
Amm - 0


Ideas are welcome. I know my PH needs help, so hopefully the Kalk will help this too.

[Myka]

Hey Mark, saturated limewater is 2 teaspoons per gallon. Anything more will just sit on the bottom. You can add up to 3 tsp per gallon if you add vinegar (up to 45 mL per gallon), but don't forget the implications there.

I will bring you frags in July!

[mseepman]

Originally Posted by Myka

Hey Mark, saturated limewater is 2 teaspoons per gallon. Anything more will just sit on the bottom. You can add up to 3 tsp per gallon if you add vinegar (up to 45 mL per gallon), but don't forget the implications there.

I will bring you frags in July!

Oops...that would explain the little bit of sediment. will it dissolve if I add in some more RODI water?

[Myka]

Originally Posted by mseepman

Oops...that would explain the little bit of sediment. will it dissolve if I add in some more RODI water?

Yes, but I wouldn't worry about it much (lime isn't expensive), just make your next batch with the lower amount. Make sure you don't mix up too much at a time and keep it well sealed because it will react with the CO2 in the air.

Check this out, oldie but a goodie: The Degradation of Limewater in Air by Randy Holmes-Farley.

EDIT: RHF mentions his use of a bucket with a bunch of lime in the bottom of the tub and he just adds more RO/DI water to the tub via ATO. When the tub runs out of lime at the bottom he just adds more and mixes it a bit. Sounds like a simplified way to do it.

Originally Posted by Randy Holmes-Farley

More sophisticated systems can involve a large holding reservoir for limewater (up to 55 gallons or more) coupled to a delivery pump and a float switch in the aquarium or sump that controls the delivery to match the evaporation rate. This is the type of system that I use. I make up limewater in a 44-gallon Rubbermaid Brute trashcan by putting the CaO in the bottom, and pouring in water by 5-gallon buckets. That process takes about 5 minutes once every 2-3 weeks. The trashcan is closed by simply putting on its lid. The pump that sends the water to the sump is a Reef-Filler pump (maximum pumping rate 3 gallons per day), which is controlled to match the evaporation rate using a float switch in my sump. The entire limewater system is located remotely from my aquarium (in my basement), so the size of the reservoir is of no consequence. In my case, I often do not use saturated limewater because my aquarium does not need that much supplementation of calcium and alkalinity. Consequently, I add less CaO than would be required to produce saturated limewater. If an aquarist wants saturated limewater, there is no real reason to try to add a specific amount. Any extra solids just sit on the bottom and wait for the next water refill (these solids also absorb impurities like copper out of the water, but that's the subject of a different article).


This type of limewater system is the type that most often comes under fire for being prone to degradation problems by reaction with atmospheric carbon dioxide. In this type of system, limewater is made up once, and then allowed to sit unstirred for as long as it takes the delivery system to send it to the aquarium. Since this type of reservoir can deliver limewater to the aquarium for several weeks, many aquarists have incorrectly concluded that substantial potency is lost as the limewater degrades, and that such a system will fail. Moreover, this assertion is why many aquarists claim that Nilsen reactors are simpler: because the simple delivery from a large reservoir won't work and that only daily mixing of limewater can be successful. In truth, it takes me five minutes to make up limewater every 2-3 weeks, so the idea that some other system is easier to use is simply unfounded. Later in this article I will show that such simple systems do not lose substantial potency, and hence should be considered by aquarists who have the space for large reservoirs.

[mseepman]

Got a few frags from a recent fragalot order...though I would share.