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schooleyosis

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ALK spike. That's exactly what happened to me and been trying to get it to come down slowly. My tank is best around 9dKH and it got up to 12!
 
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Yes sir! I've ran high before but the lack of life consuming the alk more than likely caused it to rush up too fast (imo). I've taken both off since the test and might put cal back on. Maybe a bit higher cal will keep the alk down.
 
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Two questions/comments

- are Cali torts super sensitive? I've got one frag that has started stn from the base. Barely noticeable, but its happening. Checking p04 tonight hopefully
- I've went from sand to tropic Eden substrate to BB to medium coarse sand. I'm really not liking it anymore. It just can't stay still. Between a bullet goby and tons of flow, you'd swear it was a eight foot snow globe!!!! If, I remove the sand, should I strain it of dirty junk and add it to my fifty fuge (mainly to assist with its buffering ability) or just say good buy to sand completely? I've also tossed the idea up on adding heavy substrate to kinda way down the current sand but really don't want a nitrate factor.
 

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That was my problem as well except mine wasnt expired. I got a Salifert kit to confirm now cause I dont trust it.
Had this happen with my blueberry fields Acropora and it grew back when every thing stayed stable...mainly my alk and ph with the house open. I really thought it was a complete loss.
Then:
641fdffacf22a11724e2d84da947b00e.jpg

Now:
69502855e46c3037d8884641e3b0dd14.jpg

Ok, not sure how to take this, this is now bothering me on what is going on, peeling from the middle. This ain't stn/rtn I'm use to, so pest or picker or... what? ?
Fwi, I only own tangs, 2 clowns and 1 angel (which I've never seen pick at sps unless they had junk growing on them). Plus this frag is almost my the front panel with very little room for pickers.

uploadfromtaptalk1431654022084.jpg
 
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Jackie, did the pm work for Chris?
Also, I'm either going with a refill on Hanna with they're calibration kit or red sea. My biggest issue is color reading cause I'm color blind. Seeing the change in color has failed my eyes, lol, so Hanna is what I needed then. Now I've got my wife and 5 year old daughter reading the colors when they have time for my hobbies,lol.
 

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Chris hasn't answered yet. I am hoping for the best though. I was worried I may have done something wrong. But read his article and I don't think so.

I understand what you mean. I'm not color blind but my vision isn't what it used to be, not even close lol. I think Red Sea can be hard to tell the flash point at times also.

Thank you for helping me out :)
 
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Oh boy... well.... I just bought metal halides!!! After much debate, I'm going back to the HOT side,lol. 4 x 250 se lumen reflectors with coralvue ballasts. My reasons are:
1: I'm color blind. Seeing washed out colors and everything looks super neon or cartoonish, I just need bright lights.
2: Leds are not my cup of tea trying to dial in. I've tried to find the right % for my eyes and coral with no luck. User error, I know.
3: 8 feet if reef gets shadows with leds unless you diy a build it have more than 4 fixtures.
4: I don't have shimmer. Yes I said it. I miss shimmer. My par 38 puts amazing shimmer out in a frag tank but apparently I can't get that from my fixtures. Even when some of the optics are removed and each fixture 10"-12" off the surface and a ton of flow.

Don't get me wrong about Leds, I just want more light and mh is my choice.
 
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Lol, of the coraline I haven't scraped yet or the destruction of the rock work again? Lol, just joking Jackie. It's a mess right now, I'm slowly removing sand and tearing down the rock work to catch the dragon goby and get rocks that have coral, to the bottom for the light conversion. I'll get the mh sometime next week and begin the transition.
 

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Lol, of the coraline I haven't scraped yet or the destruction of the rock work again? Lol, just joking Jackie. It's a mess right now, I'm slowly removing sand and tearing down the rock work to catch the dragon goby and get rocks that have coral, to the bottom for the light conversion. I'll get the mh sometime next week and begin the transition.
Lol, at least you have coraline! Ok, I hear ya :) I love the mh myself but not the heat or electric bill. I have one 250w in another room and had to shut it down. The central air would never turn off even with fans. I moved it to another room and the room was too warm to sleep in. Ugh. Can't win sometimes lol.

Well keep us posted, I'd love to see that tank in full swing again :D
 
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I am looking forward to the tank lit up again. I'll send you all the coraline you want, lol. It usually comes off in nickel and quarter size pieces, but I know yours grows in the sump. My reef is in the den or xbox room or my man cave. I remember the heat but I'll deal with it for a nicer looking setup. Gonna have to figure out a canopy build too.
 

schooleyosis

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Get your sunglasses out!!! That's really cool. I'm surprised you didn't' get shimmer from LED's. I got rid of my LED's because of too much shimmer. Made my tank look like a disco club... Get out your roller skates, lol
 
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Lol. Disco theme 100 percent! I don't know why on the shimmer. When I removed the outer row of optics on 1 fixture, I seen a bit more but the shimmer was what I expected. Probably my fault.
 

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I would love to get 3 AI 52s for down the center and still keep the 6 bulb T5s. But they still want too much money for them. I found a great deal today for 3x 250w mh + 2x t5 6' unit for 199 used but new bulbs. I was itching to grab it. But then thought about needing a chiller and another job to pay the electric bill and changed my mind. The guy had 2 of them and paid 1K each but moved to LEDS
 
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Wow. Nice deal. I got all 4 reflectors with ballasts and 3 10k bulbs for 450 shipped. They're used 2 months.
 

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