melev

Last weekend I flew up to Boston to speak to the Boston Reefers Society. Prior to my departure, I contacted the club president to confirm my topic and he reminded me it was about RO/DI systems. Due to my error, no RO system was shipped to Boston a week prior. Instead, I took my very own off the wall, changed out all the filters and ASOV and boxed it up for my flight, checking it as luggage. I figured TSA might have a problem with its multiple cylinders, solid media, resin, magnetic motor with ...

While was in Des Moines during September for MACNA 23, my tank sitter contacted me to let me know the anemone was up to no good and that one of my corals had turned white. I thought it was just a little frag that was too close to the BTA, but when he sent me a picture via MMS, I nearly lost my mind. The coral was actually three in one spot, and the little frag that I thought was the victim was completely fine. Here's some of the damage.

...

Double checking parameters is always best, rather than waiting for corals to indicate something is amiss. The numbers look good overall.

I'm only running one liter of Biospheres (np biopellets) and there's a chance nitrate is rising. I felt like it was a little off from the pure yellow I normally see, but I'll keep testing it weekly to be sure.

I've wondered about re-using dead coral skeletons in a calcium reactor for years. I asked about the chance of the stony corals releasing PO4 into the water, but never got an answer of any kind. So I thought, I'll take some of the former colonies from my last reef tank and immerse them in RO/DI water for a week and then test for phosphate.

I filled the bucket with water, and tested it. Zero phosphates. In a week, I'll test again. It's not precise, but...

...

My reef was set up February 6, 2011. It's a 400g custom-made Starphire glass reef-ready tank by Marineland. The footprint is 84" x 36" x 30" with an external overflow at one end that is hidden behind a full sheet of black acrylic, providing five 1.5" drains to the sump underneath.




The sump is 58" x 31.5" x 17" and has a full length refugium zone. It holds a Euroreef protein skimmer, a Nextreef biopellet ...