08trdoffroad's Rimless 60 gal Mixed Reef Build

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Ordered an HMS bracket for the new to me Hydra 32...going to try to adapt it to the kessil mounting arm I already have as I don't want to spend $90 for the AI HMS mounting arm and don't care for the look of the flex mount it came with.

Also ordered a refill of Alk reagent for my Hanna Checker. I wasn't paying attention and ran out...hopefully it will arrive the end of the week.

 

[dangles]

Ordered an HMS bracket for the new to me Hydra 32...going to try to adapt it to the kessil mounting arm I already have as I don't want to spend $90 for the AI HMS mounting arm and don't care for the look of the flex mount it came with.

Also ordered a refill of Alk reagent for my Hanna Checker. I wasn't paying attention and ran out...hopefully it will arrive the end of the week.

How I feel with all the random expenses nobody told me about when I started this journey

 

[JoJosReef]

How I feel with all the random expenses nobody told me about when I started this journey

I try not to think about it, but when I do, and my mind starts tallying... Oh boy

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Welp, my plan to save money and recycle the Kessil mount arm for the Hydra actually worked!

Cost me $.40 for a longer screw from Ace Hardware to adapt the HMS bracket to the mounting arm! I am super pleased with it!

Currently have it about 13" off the surface and running at 50% I am getting similar par numbers to the Prime. I am ramping it up to the BRS recommended settings over the next 21 days in acclimation mode.

Will see how the corals respond in the next few weeks!!

 

[skey44]

New light looks great!
And tell me about it $$$.
Think I’m on my 5th or 6th bottle of alk reagent in 6 months!

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

New light looks great!
And tell me about it $$$.
Think I’m on my 5th or 6th bottle of alk reagent in 6 months!

I didn't test my alk as often as I should have initially. Hence why my alk was down to 6 when I first started testing! I try to test at least weekly now, or if one of my corals is looking "off".

 

[skey44]

Yes, alk is the most frequent thing I check because it can change so quickly and is so important. When the tank is doing great alk goes down real fast. Something changes and consumption slows.
It really tunes me into how my tank is doing coral growth wise and keeping it pegged really seems to be the number one most important thing for success with trickier corals. Of course I test other things, but they tend to be at somewhat of an equilibrium. A decrease in alk consumption often leads me to perform other testing.
I have a hard time resisting testing it daily. It’s also the easiest/fastest test I own besides my refractometer.

 

[08TRDOFFROAD]

Alk is holding steady for now!