Blog Comments

I appreciate those comments, because it takes some time to make them look that good with Lightroom. I feel like my camera isn't good enough these days, and that I need to get it looked at. I don't want to pay for an upgrade, if I can avoid it.

Wow.....beautiful, amazingly crisp photos! I'm envious of your photography skills!

Still! Look at whats going on in that pic! Inspirational to say the least!

Thanks! I appreciate that. It was heavily edited to look good, but I'm okay with that.

The last pic...WOW!

Marc you are seriously one lucky guy! What an amazing opportunity to tour ORA! Well done!

Umm.. someday?

So are you all gonna pay us a visit or what?

That's just as good, and I bet it wipes off better than the foam sheets I used too.

I did something similar with black plastic sheets from HomeDepot (picture black plastic cardboard). It only took me 2 and I was able to cut them to fit, then poke holes for zip ties. I used the ties with the hole in the end for a screw which was used to attach them. They are so light that I don't have to actually secure them, just thread the tie through the hole and they hold up. Makes taking them down easy! I have mine go all the way up, but I could hang them like you did and bring them down to the light. Great idea as always Marc! Another reason why people should copy what you do (like I did )!

Calgary? Flames just got a new head coach too. Used to be the head coach for Dallas!... briefly. Twice the reason for a Dallas-ite t visit. Reefing and hockey!

Why Calgary, Alberta of course. Google the Calgary Stampede. It's coming up next month

Originally Posted by brotherd

Mad skills. You should take a road trip up to Canada. I can use a few of your creations

Which part? I've never been to Canada.

Mad skills. You should take a road trip up to Canada. I can use a few of your creations

Everything seems oblivious, thankfully.

That's positive! Do you see any effects from those swings this time or is it too early to tell?

Tested nitrates today, and they measured 5ppm. Alkalinity is down to 13 dKH.

I guess that answers my question. I'm so remiss in testing anything except alk and calcium that I wouldn't know what a nitrate problem would look like. Currently I don't even have a nitrate or phosphate test as both expired so I tossed them. I'm glad you noticed the biopellet issue in time!

Originally Posted by brotherd

Other than an actual high nitrate reading on a test are there any visual clues that would make you suspect a problem?

Which problem? If you are talking about anything being amiss, I saw the big staghorn and a couple of other SPS turning white and that prompted me to check things better. For some time, NO3 was measuring 7ppm so I never thought it was a nitrate issue. But when two kits confirmed they'd jumped to 180ppm in mere weeks, I had to get my hands wet and get those wrangled back under control again.

I cleaned out the DSB in the refugium entirely, and did a bunch of water changes to get them down to 20ppm. I also restarted the biopellets at that time, knowing it would take a minimum of four weeks for them to start kicking in. About two months later, they definitely did their job. I need to water test tonight and get those results. Just glad I spotted the biopellet situation today before it had time to get even worse.

Other than an actual high nitrate reading on a test are there any visual clues that would make you suspect a problem?