melev

Tonight once the fish went to sleep, I did a decent water change, changing 50 to 60g worth of saltwater. I didn't measure it, it was dumped down the drain and replenished with more from the saltwater storage vessel. There's about 90g left in it at the moment.

With all of my lights off, I tested Alkalinity. Lately, it seems no matter which direction I face, the lighting from around me and the plant life outside throws off the color of the titration kit, so in a white room with only incandescent bulbs shining, I discovered that Alkalinity was at 7 dKH. That could explain why some of the clams and corals are unhappy, right?! The Calcium reactor has been a bit annoying lately, sucking in air from somewhere. I've been blaming the pH probe holder, but maybe it is the feed line at the JG fittings. I bought a new pH probe holder but got the wrong size, and the rubber parts within were too big to use with the current holder. I need to test out my feed line first to make sure it isn't a problem there, and if it isn't, call Lifereef to get the replacement part.

Firing up Jdieck's Reef Calculator, I was able to determine that it would take 4.6 teaspoons of baked Baking Soda to bring it up to 8 dKH, so I mixed up 5 teaspoons in a tall cup of RO/DI water and gradually added it to my reef, the sump, and even in the overflow. I took about 5 minutes to add this solution so I wouldn't shock anything. With the water change and the addition, pH at 12:24am is 8.23 so not a big deal.

Also, looking up on the shelf I saw I have a Prodibio package of Strontium. It has 4 month's worth of dosings, using one vial every 15 days. I added one vial tonight since it benefits corals and clams. One vial treats 250-500g of water, as it is the Pro version. Since I've not dosed Strontium since the tank was set up, I'm not worried about adding one dose. I have a very old Strontium test kit that I doubt is going to give me valid results...

Tomorrow I'll change out the carbon in the Nextreef reactor. I need to order a sponge from them since some bits flow out of the reactor without it.

I'll let you know what happens over the next week or so.