chimera

errr, just lucky i guess was given edit rights on the reference sites 'sticky' at the top, looks like it flowed down to all threads.

yeah, easiest way is once you've copied/pasted the text, highlight it first, then click the 'quote' button oops, my bad

Cool, you're onto it with the test kits Sounds like a max for your bioload, especially without a skimmer. Kalkwasser around about 1 tablespoon per gallon in your topup water. Get (beg, steal, borrow) a refractometer for peace of mind http://www.simplifiedreefkeeping.com/faq/17.htm

throw your hydrometer away, especially if its a cheap and nasty lfs one. they are usually inaccurate so wont tell you alot. see if your lfs can test with their refractometer. for the corals you have, assuming you do regular water changes i'd say that would be sufficient for keeping up with Mg (but then again, who knows) get yourself some quality test kits (eg: salifert) specifically, Calcium, Magnesium and Alkalinity (kH) If you have reasonable amount of live rock and keep up with regular water changes, you shouldnt need to test for ammonia and nitrate (and considering your tanks over a year old it should have fully cycled :lol: ) What fish do you have and how big is the tank? Supplementing with kalkwasser is probably the most effective additive (in terms of both cost and its use in the tank)

well the one bonus is tangs are compatible with most other fish. however they do get LARGE, according to the following site almost half a metre... http://www.fishprofiles.com/files/profiles/343.htm

schweeeet... let me know when u do - either pay cash or trade

leathers and mushrooms are probably among the most hardy species. do you have a refractometer and do you check salinity often? im taking a stab in the dark but picking your problems are most likely related to this. people do freshwater top ups but keep replacing water with 'higher salinity than usual' ASW or NSW. overtime salinity keeps creeping up until it hits a point where the corals cant handle the content. anyways, im speculating here based on it being perhaps the most common cause of coral death from what i've seen (this assumes you do regular water changes which should replace enough of the basics such as ca, mg etc required by most soft and lps corals)

links bottom left,... http://www.melevsreef.com

:lol: sometimes its just like talking to a brick wall dont get me wrong, i couldnt give a @#$% what is posted, I dont take things to heart and I am far from needing to cool off (I'm actually having a good old laugh to myself right now ) My point being I just find it exceptionally bizzare that people just have to have a say, i dont know, maybe to add some flare to some currently boring topics of debate? who knows. Its funny how its basically crackers first comment that kicked this off, what I would call arrogance at its best what is more funny is how others interpret what is written, just because i think crackers comment was 'arrogant' does it mean i dislike him? no, i think craigs a top bloke. likewise wasp, IMO your comments on this thread are simply posted to be argumentative and create reaction. having never met you, does not mean i dislike you nor does it mean I dont value your opinion if i was to get upset at petty comments like that i would be gone from this site long ago :lol:

nice work ben. got a frag of the orange monti spare?!

They can possibly assist with a "mild" whitespot problem, read under "Treatment Option 11: Biological Controls" here: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2003- ... /index.php

yes of course it would, more corals, more additives consumed. its a never ending circle, always requiring to test and add to counteract changes. Clearly another person who has not read the text on the site. It effectively states this and suggests that ALL parameters need to be at a certain level. It DOES make recommendations based on what zone you are in. For example, it suggests if you are in zone 3 (low ca and possibly low kH), then to move to zone 1 or 2 (preferably to the middle of each) to add calcium chloride FIRST to reach one of those zones THEN raise kH afterwards (or leave your tank alone and let kH drop naturally if its too high) It also (separately) suggests that if your Mg is too low, to raise this to around 1300 (which most of us already know, but then it states why and shows the importance of Magnesium) There is no point arguing about this either Wasp, in its basic form it works. Adding calcium chloride will raise Ca to the correct figure, whether it stays there is of course dependant on other parameters. However if all other parameters are at correct levels (which is the intention of the calculator), then there should be no problem. I really dont understand why people get all serious about things like this, almost like you all just have to have a say, to cause a reaction and start a pointless arguement, to pull out the negatives because you're bored. If you want an argument, how about we start up a zeovit thread again? After all, its not rocket science... 8) i think cracker summed it up nicely,... at first. now its just becoming another zeovit thread.

or even an exact size perhaps all this talk about being arrogant is directed at the wrong person 8) cracker, try it next time you need to dose. test before then add the results to the calculator and see what it recommends. compare that to what YOU usually dose, i almost guarantee they're the same (or approximately the same) assuming your dosing brings the levels up to the desired amount basically, my point is you simply cant make a statement or comment about a tool when you have never used it or at least understand how it works. you have said you dont trust it yet you say you have not used it. how can you not trust something you've never used or even seen?!!! did you have a preminition, got a crystal ball or dream about it?

i agree with layton, the hard works been done, the calculators there, it works, use it (unless of course, you've already done the ground work yourself like cracker has and knows what is needed for his tank) for everyone else, its just another handy tool - the difference being, its VERY handy and works out right. cookie - you can guestimate pretty effectively your actual water volume, you might be out by +/- 50 litres but in essence, for me that doesnt change the results a great deal when you're talking 1,000 litres. in fact, to raise by calcium 10ppm for 50 litres requires 1.8 grams of calcium chloride. thats hardly measurable but over a large scale and larger volume of water, it quite obviously is. always dose half the recommended dose then test - thats just common sense.

dimensions are 1000 x 1200 for the 1,000 litre tank. issue is whether the suspension will hold a tonne so would have to be heavy duty leaf springs. maybe on the purple leather, trying to go more sps but if its nice enough i'd be keen, cheers pm me. im up north half this week back thursday so thurs night would be ok.

Only initially. In other words, it would have taken you a few tests to work out that adding 1 tblspoon of Mg to raise by 10ppm. I could also do the same as you have done, I know that for 950 litres of water, to raise 130ppm of calcium requires 450grams. So to raise 10ppm, theoretically this would be 35grams or 1/2 a tablespoon (70 grams in a tblspoon?!)

if your salinity hits around 1.030 or higher you'll definately have coral death so consider yourself lucky to find it before it got too bad! yeah always got some frags to sell not too many now though, sam (xyzz) came over last night and bought a few. also not too many lps/softies anymore, since they're typically slower growers than sps, what i do have i dont want to part with. i have 3 x various sps on a piece of flat live rock, all about the size of ya thumb that i might sell for the right price. was going to put them on trademe but before i do, if you are keen (or if you're not keen but anyone else is) let me know. also, since there are a few of us around hibiscus coast area, Im keen on buying a small trailer and welding a tank to it. Quite an expense to say the least so would deliver water for a small fee 8) let me know if you'd be interested in getting water dropped off Im gonna start hunting for a trailer now anyways.

of course its not rocket science. never said it was. its simple to perform either method. my point being if theres an online calculator that WORKS, where all the ground works been done, and it saves you trying to work it out yourself plus the cost each time you perform a test, why not use it?

You can safely lower at 0.001 per day. Do a water change whenever just be aware that NSW @ Takapuna is typically higher than usual, I think its around 1.026 so add a correct percentage of RODI as well as the NSW.

:roll: I DO think so, and you still havent answered my question. Where is your 'calculator?'. I asked you a question and you failed to indicate your 'method' of maintaining water chemistry parameters. Clearly you have not even seen nor used the calculator. Calcium Chloride Dihydrate (dow flake) is one of the chemicals to boost Calcium listed on the site, a fairly worldwide industry standard in terms of its makeup I would have thought. For me, the calculator recommended dosing 453 grams to increase my calcium levels from 290ppm to 420ppm. I dosed a little over half the recommended dose and tested the following morning, what do you know, the level increased exactly as stated to 360ppm. Did the same again at 1/4 of the previous nights recommendation then did the same again that night at another 1/4, tested the following day and low and behold it came to 420ppm EXACTLY (salifert test kit) Not 410, not 430. So using the same calculator I do the same for Magnesium, what do ya know, it also works. Then I add a little more Mg to my topup water to maintain how much I figure is being used each week vs how much is approximately topped up each night. Clearly the calculator works. It has its own disclaimers of course as any 'generic' calculator like this should have. It also states to dose in 1/3 or 1/2 first then test again (which of course is a safe method). So Im basically thinking here, "go with crackers calculator (which I havent seen nor do I know how it works)" or "go with a reputable and very well written online calculator which is incidentally backed up by Randy Holmes-Farley who has decades of experience in reef keeping..." Hmmm, tough choice. Not. It works, simple. Ditto, I theoretically have 1,000 litres if you take just the tank size, however less the area at the top of the display, fuge and sump I took off about 50 litres so work on approx 950 litres.

Ok cracker, show me, complete with formulas, how to work out how much Calcium Chloride Dihydrate I need to add to a tank with volume of 950 litres of water in order to raise Calcium from 290ppm to 420ppm? (and I dont want the "guess work" or "adding a little bit" then testing the next day solution) I want total grams to add.

i tested my water a few nights ago, my calcium was 290, mg was 1190 and alk was 5 :-? i worked 30 hours o/t last weekend then was back up north for work on monday morning - so this is what happens when you work long hours and dont have time for maintenance (or more specifically, no time to go buy the necessary chemicals!!!) I know the levels have been low, but this was the worst they've been. so low that coral colour had now faded, most noticeable was the poc which was starting to show terrific signs of being fully coloured (was about 70% pink) had now gone back to about 10% pink, a milli that was starting to go a more intense pink with slight green tips had faded. most other corals hadnt even showed much sign of colour recently (I know the ca has always been low). so thursday lunch time was the only opportunity I had so I went to medchem for some calcium chloride, bought 25kg (for $180!!! apparently price has increated :evil: ) anyways, clearly I needed it bad! (already got mg chloride) I used the new ("flash") version of the online water chemistry calculator and put in my current and desired figures, needed about 420grams of calcium chloride to up the levels to 420ppm. i dosed about 50% at night, 25% the next morning then 25% that night. calcium now exactly at 420 as was suggested. added mg to top up water stirred it up heaps and let it auto-dose that night, now mg is exactly 1300. same again the following day with alk, increased from 5 to 6.5 then the next day from 6.5 to 8 and today to 9 using baking soda. just in that time period (4 days) the poc is about 40% pink, the milli is insanely vibrant and other brown corals now have blue and purple tips. anyways, a big thumbs up to J Dieck for the calculator, it seriously kicks arse and as I've said, other than helping to get my water chemistry exactly where i want it, the way its been designed to show different solutions based on your current and desired results is fantastic. if you're stuck or just want to check out what 'zone' you're in and how to get to the correct levels, I seriously rate it as the #1 used reef site right now http://reef.diesyst.com/

fantastic aquascaping, love it! really like the background colour you've used too, almost half blue, half black? what colour is it (or is it dark because its still a little murky?) as soon as the coloralline and corals start to encrust the rocks it'll look sharp, great work! pity the sand wont stay that white

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Home-living/Pe ... 373613.htm

could be excessive water movement? i have a pink monti, where the closed loop pump has pointed towards one area of it has TN. check ya flow. btw, i gotta pink monti on TM for sale if anyone's interested TM - that purple digi ROCKS! anyone in akl got one they want to frag?