Thanks all for your input, much appreciated. Now I will mention my hate for my black brittle star! I just caught him eatting my fire shrimp and now I know he ate my Sally light foot and a few fish! I thought only green brittle stars were this aggressive! He comes out tonight!
One other thing, your ph will drop with lights out. It will be at its lowest in the am before your lights come on. That is the best time to dose. I usally dose alk in am and calcium just before or right after the lights go out. That way you don't get a spike when dosing alk.. That's my 02
I agree with most of what was said above. Myself, I have never fed my clams before. As long as your parameters are stable and you have sufficeint lighting and good water quality the clams will grow. Once they take off they can be one of the biggest users of calcium in the tank. I'm sure feeding them if there is a good food source for them would be fine. You can get a diy ato kit from Bulk Reef Supply for around 29 bucks. That's what I use. It comes with 2 float switches and I have have zero issues with it so far. You can get your 2 part additives from them and feel confident that they sell quality goods. They also have a calculator that can help you figure out how much of each to add. Once you get your parameters where you want them then you dose a maintance dose every day. Or you can get dosing pumps that you run on timers that will dose the amount needed every day, and break it up so it doses a certain amount throughout the day instead all at once. They have about everything you need to keep your tank in check. Hope that helps......
I am using a poor mans auto top off. works great, i just add water once a week for my 75 gallon tank, i use a 200 gallon salt bucket, drilled a hole about an inch from the bottom. put a float in the sump at the level I needed the water to be at. put the bucket above the sump and let it gravity feed, cost me in total, 8 dollars. works great. I added a link to a pic on my facebook of old bucket but if you want a close up pic let me know and i will send it to you. parts needed, 1 bucket, 1 float valve, 1 ro connector. and ro tubing. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=...&id=1482596994
I use a gravity system with good results. I have a 5 gallon bucket remote from the tank with a 1/4" poly line plumbed into the bottom. The tube runs to a Kent float valve located in my sump. I have a low demand for calcium so i mix my kalk weak and let the bucket dose it for me. If my tests are running high i might skip kalk for a week. This system has it's flaws esp in this smaller tank, evap can cause me to add too much or not enough. But my tank is mainly Soft corals so it is forgiving. If i where to have more sps i would use either a pumped kalk reactor or pump from a bucket of kalk.
Me I use the diy ato from bulk reef supply. Has a double float switch in case one fails. I little assembly, maybe 30-45 minutes tops. I use a small maxijet, smaller that the 400, sorry I can't think of the number right off hand. I was using kalk with my top off but was having to many problems keeping my alk stable so I went back to just dosing equal parts of 2 part Ca and alk. Was having to many swings which was causing me to many issues with my sps. Check out Bulk Reef Supply, I think the diy ato was 29 bucks. I have had zero issues with it so far. I add my 2 part in the am when ph is at it's lowest, that will help prevent spikes. That is my .02
I would suggest that you try not to dose kalk via yourtop off. If something goes wrong you can overdose kalk. For Top-off I have 80l (20g) plastic container sitting above the sump (otherwise I would need a pump). This is filled by my RODI which is on a garden timer from the mains, so the RODI unit is not under pressure unless it is in use. I set the timer (which I adjust a few time a year) so that I am always about 1/4 full at the end of each day. I have a float valve in the sump, but I have also put a restricter in the hose to this valve so that I can only trickle feed RODI water. (For about a year I had a timer but found that I didn't really need to go to this expense and what I am using now is simpler). I use 3 part dosing for my 1,900l (500g) system, (Ca-Damprid, Kh- Bicarb Soda and Mg - Epsom Salts). I just add the required amount daily, that is, I do not drip it, and I have not had any problems over the last 18 months or so that I have been doing this.
I use a fairly simple setup. A float-switch in my sump controls a pump. When the water level drops the float switch turns on a peristaltic pump. The pump draws RO/DI water out of a 5g jug and "pushes" it in to a kalk reactor which then feeds water in to the sump. Ok, it may not sound simple but in practice it is. An even simpler set up would be a small pump in a 5g bucket that is controlled by a float switch. As for kalk there is several pros; it can keep your calcium level up & it can keep your ph up. The only real con I can think of is if you add too much too quick you can spike your ph.
Yeah I am going to kick back for a week then check my tank again. I may add a little ph buffer to try to raise it to 8.4. The clam is small and I have been feeding him with the rest of my corals. Im not at home right now but now that you mention it I do think there is a white ring around the end. I had no idea that was a growth ring! As far as the 2 part dosing and dosing in general. Doing a 2 part seems to be a bit easier and a more stable way of keeping up your tank. Or rather that is what I am gathering from reading up on how others are maintaining the parameters in their tanks. Right now, I am testing until something drops then dosing them back up but a daily dose to maintain seems to be more ideal. Esp if I have it set up some way to do it automaticly. Also, any ideas for a decent top off? Anyone is open to comment as well =)
Ok, now I have something to use for a reference. Fish, I'd say that is enough of a load for now. It may not look like a lot but 10 fish in a 55 gallon tank is a lot. I only have 13 in a 150g Nit: 0 Good Pho: .5 Needs to be lower (most say 0) Cal:500 high I know Not really that high shoot for 400-450ppm You have a lot of corals and once they get going they will then use up the Cal to grow. PH: 7.7-8.0 hard to tell with the color graph but I know this is a bit low 8.4 is goal? This is ok, (I'm gonna assume with lights on) should go up with lights out. KH: 13 bit high. this seems to be the story with me thus far, PH too low KH too high Should be between 8-11Dkh, I would stop dosing Alk. I'm not 100% sure but I think high Alk will push the PH down. MAG: 1500 too high Again I would stop dosing MAG Salinity 1.023, this is where I have read to keep it at but tons of peoples tanks keep at 1.025? I run mine at 1.026, 1.023 seems a little low for the amount of corals and fish. I would suggest topping off with saltwater instead of RO/DI until the levels are up. I would hold off on the dosing and see if the levels come around. The clean up crew is a bit thin, I would add some hermit crabs (about 20-30) Feather dusters are a good thing, filter feeders. Your coral list is great, I'd keep the torch and hammers away from the others as they will sting anything in their path. On the Green Monti, can you see a white growth ring on the outter edge (this is a good thing). Watch the Green Star Polyps (GSP) once they take off they will cover everything. I've had mine for a few years and here in the last month they have really taken off and started to kill some other corals. The Zoa's like a little dirty water but will grow with time. I personally don't dose anything unless the parameters tell me otherwise. Also watch the clam, if its small (under 4") then you will need to feed it. I had one, and one day poof an empty shell. The shop I bought it from failed to mention I needed to feed it. I know its my responsibility to research it first but like many this was an impulse buy. Something many people do only to lose it in a few months or weeks. I would say once the levels are good sit back and enjoy the show, growth takes time and patience. Remember in this hobby nothing good happens quickly. Hope this helps.
Hey Blown76mav, No worries, not harsh at all. I get it and that's why I am here, to get straight advice and be apart of having my animals happy by making as little mistakes as possible =) I have two powerheads, a koralia 2 and 3. Fish I have 4 blue chromis, tomato clown, black/white clown, black/white striped damsel, coral beauty angel, flame angel and a bi-color blenny. My current parameters are high in certain areas due to dosing for the first time last friday with aquavitro mag and cal last friday and dosing a bit heavy. Im still figuring things out. But here they are after I just did a 5 gallon water change Nit: 0 Pho: .5 Cal:500 high I know PH: 7.7-8.0 hard to tell with the color graph but I know this is a bit low 8.4 is goal? KH: 13 bit high. this seems to be the story with me thus far, PH too low KH too high MAG: 1500 too high Salinity 1.023, this is where I have read to keep it at but tons of peoples tanks keep at 1.025? Corals are : torch hammer red mushrooms leather, colt I believe pulsing xenia yellow polyps few diferent zoa frags that open fine but have not grown green star polyps small open brain frag green monti cap (no growth in a couple months when I got it) small frag orange digitata frags baby blue staghorn frag derasa clam lastly, black brittle star I have about 5 turbo snails, 4 nassarius snails, cleaner shrimp, fire shrimp and at night a few stomatella snails crawl around that must have came along with my live rock. Oh, and a bunch of little feather dusters are poping up everywhere. Hope this makes things clearer. Looking forward to the advice.
You seem to have the basics down. But you have left out some important info, what are your water parameters? This is by far the 1st and most important thing I would need to know before offering any advise. I see your dosing Cal, Mag, and Alk and you want to add 2 part on top of it, why? What are your smaller fish, how many? My handful and your handful are probably different, what you feel is light may be just right or too much. Any powerheads or just the return pump for water movement? Don't want to sound harsh, just need some more info as I hate to see people "set up" a tank in a few short months throw in some coral and fish then wonder why they are having problems. This is not only had on the owner of the tank but the fish and corals will suffer as well. Most never get the tank to cycle properly and start adding livestock then they spend the rest of their time trying to stabilize the tank which in my opinion is hard to do.
welcome to the hobby,I am not the one for to many answers,as I am still working on my diy sump. but welcome anyway.
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