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  1. Saturday - still dealing with problems

    Checking on an acropora in the reef today, I saw new white areas of damage on a coral that has never suffered once. Since I thought I'd resolved the alkalinity situation earlier this week, that meant two things: 1) I'm not done with areas of loss, and 2) I hadn't found the solution yet. The anemones still aren't their normal happy selves, and the SPS losses are discouraging. I should just fill the tank with leathers and mushrooms and call it a day.

    Every day this week my skimmer ...
    Tags: biopellets
    Categories
    Tank Entry
  2. Divers Den One in a Million

    Last week when I received my order containing the pair of Flame Angels from Live Aquaria’s Divers Den I also ordered two new corals. (To round out my order for free shipping of course). It was a simple Scrolling Montipora Indonesia (Red), Bushy Acropora Coral Fiji (Blue-Green).





    ...

    Updated 07-18-2014 at 09:45 PM by richfavinger

    Categories
    Tank Entry , ‎ New Additions
  3. Dodged that bullet, it seems

    My blog a few days ago detailed how some corals and anemones were distressed, while other livestock seemed fine. I learned a few things that day when I tried to restore the lack of alkalinity in the system, which is great.

    I think more personal reefs suffer from alkalinity swings than most realize. Sure, accidents happen and excess solutions pump into the tank non-stop to the point that the livestock has little chance of survival. Some tanks overheat, others literally catch fire, ...
    Categories
    Tank Entry
  4. 1000Gal---Leaking bulkhead repair and replacement

    So the last blog consisted of some pictures of a leaking bulkhead..........yeah a little scary. To make matters worse this bulkhead was on a closed loop system, so no overflow. Yes panic ensued.
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    The leak was caused by yours truly. While removing the remainder of the plumbing on the species systems I lost my balance and fell right back into the ball valve that sits underneath the tank.

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    I sat for a ...
    Categories
    Tank - Full Summary , ‎ Plumbing , ‎ DIY projects
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  5. Elos alkalinity testing method? Fritz bi-carbonate the right product? I don't get it.

    Strange mystery with my reef for the past 48-72 hours. It started about three days ago when I observed all the anemones in the Anemone cube shriveling up as if they were spawning. The tank didn't look cloudy though.


    What I'd done prior to this event was replace the CO2 tank to my calcium reactor which had evaporated in less than two weeks due to some leak, more than likely. Since a lack of CO2 existed for at least a day, the pH in the calcium reactor rose from the normal ...