Thursday, October 11, 2012

Long Overdue Update.

So here we are in September of 2012 and I am finally getting around to updating the blog, the question is where to begin . . .  hmmm.  First the Oregon Tort, it's doing o.k. It's growing and the main body is deep navy in color, but the new growth is paler so I'm still a little concerned.  The frags that I put in my basement frag tank are doing even better, but interestingly enough they are under the old school 400 watt Radiums with Super Actinic VHO supplements and sitting only about 6 inches below the surface directly under the Radium.  Talk about blasting a coral!

Next update is the lighting on the main display.  I switched to Sfiligoi fixtures.  I have 2 fixtures each with 8 T5 lamps and 2 150 watt HQI Radiums.  They are connected to a Profilux controller.  I love the fact that I have a true dawn dusk simulation and the color of the light is fantastic.   My corals all look better than ever.  In particular the blue millepora which had been struggling to recover is stunning again, and the thick branch pink birds nest which is hiding in the back of my tank is pinker than I have ever seen,  and fantastically a frag of ORA Red Planet that had turned green and sickly is quickly recovering to it's beautiful reddish coloration.  It's not completely there yet, but it's definitely getting there.

In the category of we never stop learning no matter how old or experienced we think we are, I was talking to Rob at Greenwich Aquaria about how I always  struggle to keep my alkalinity up, and he asked if I had ever tried to up the output on my calcium reactor to match the alkalinity usage in my system.  Truth be told I had never studied the science of my reactor and had always been working under a stable but flawed process that amounted to guessing so I went home and found a webpage made by J. Dieck that allowed me to carefully analyze my reactor output.


What I found was that my effluent was around 15 dKh and my flow rate was less than 100 ml/min.  Based on the information on his page I increased the flow rate to a maximum suggested rate of 150 ml/min and then studied my alkalinity over a period of several weeks.  I ended up increasing the bubble count from the CO2 to about 120 bubbles/min which created an effluent alkalinity around 20 dKh and now my tank alkalinity is stable at about 8 to 8.5 dKh.  The savings in B-Ionic cost will be enormous, but the question remains how often will I need to refill the reactor with media and exchange the CO2 tank with a new one.  Regardless, I am certain it will have a net cost well below the B-Ionic cost.  I haven't yet tested the pH so I wonder if it is lower now that I'm adding more effluent.  Standby for more info on that!

Well I think that's a good start for now .  .  .

Thanks everyone for checking in!


Happy Reefin',

Joe

P.S. Watch for some very exciting work to come from my daughter Grace.  She's decided she wants to take charge of my Banggaii breeding project and so we are working on setting up a 93 gallon cube in her bedroom.