therman's 12 year old SPS system...top down shot, starting to enjoy this tank again

[minus9]

Nice! Should be a good stream!

 

[homer1475]

Well...here comes another opportunity for me to make a fool of myself, live on YouTube this Thursday with Reefbum!

7pm Eastern


Start cooking up all the questions, comments, and insults you had after watching the first video and fire away

Insults? Naaa just some fun ribbing!

I might have to check this one out, not a huge fan of reef bum, but if your on there, it's nice to put a face with a name.

 

[therman]

If you can't make the live stream and want me to talk about something, feel free to post suggestions here and I'll see if we can work them in

 

[Quiverfull]

If you can't make the live stream and want me to talk about something, feel free to post suggestions here and I'll see if we can work them in

Hey Tim:

Looking forward to hearing you on ReefBum. Can you talk a little about your use of a refugium for SPS systems? Also, would like to know about your ideal parameters, maintenance routine, additives if any and salt product.

Thanks,

Greg

 

[therman]

I fixed the Reefbum link, I think it must have changed after the interview.

 

[Quiverfull]

I fixed the Reefbum link, I think it must have changed after the interview.

Hey Tim:

Caught most of it live. You did a great job. Very informative. I liked hearing about your QT method for new corals. Looking forward to getting more frags later this season.

Greg

 

[Lowsingle]

I just watched it today, great show….could you provide a list of your favorite smoothies with a link to thelr pic?

Thanks
Darren

 

[Smite]

I really enjoyed the stream, great job.

Smooth skins seem more and more rare in the hobby, glad to hear you are keeping some focus on them!

 

[therman]

I just watched it today, great show….could you provide a list of your favorite smoothies with a link to thelr pic?

Thanks
Darren

Some of mine are still top secret of course I don't want to have people requesting them and tempting me to frag them too early until I'm fully confident they are big enough to handle it.

Some of my all time favorites:

Peng's Blue Monster
Reefgen Blueberry Fantasy
RRC Jawdropper
BC Angelica (super finicky)
BC Joker 1.0
BC Set for Stun
BC Skinny Love
BC Cricket Spine
Swearwolf
Reefnation Purple Turaki (maybe the same as the old Tu"Rod"key)
JF Fox Flame (I think this counts as smooth)
ORA Hawkins
Hung's Rainbow Explosion/EC Valentina (I haven't gotten good color out of this for a long time and it is as finicky as anything I've grown)
WWC Ari's Avalanche

If you just do a search within this thread for the names it will take you to my photos of most of them.

 

[therman]

I forgot one and edited it in. The original BC joker is spectacular, one of the best purples of any Acropora ever. Took me years to get that one happy and past large frag size, but finally have a colony close to fraggable.

 

[BigKid4788]

Some of mine are still top secret of course I don't want to have people requesting them and tempting me to frag them too early until I'm fully confident they are big enough to handle it.

Some of my all time favorites:

Peng's Blue Monster
Reefgen Blueberry Fantasy
RRC Jawdropper
BC Angelica (super finicky)
BC Joker 1.0
BC Set for Stun
BC Skinny Love
BC Cricket Spine
Swearwolf
Reefnation Purple Turaki (maybe the same as the old Tu"Rod"key)
JF Fox Flame (I think this counts as smooth)
ORA Hawkins
Hung's Rainbow Explosion/EC Valentina (I haven't gotten good color out of this for a long time and it is as finicky as anything I've grown)
WWC Ari's Avalanche

If you just do a search within this thread for the names it will take you to my photos of most of them.

Any Ari’s a available

 

[therman]

Any Ari’s a available

Unfortunately no

One of my colonies went poof after a bad batch of Reef Crystals in January, along with about 10 backup pieces/frags. The best colony lost tissue at the base but seems to be stabilizing. Hopefully it rebounds and grows again...

I switched to Red Sea salt and almost everything seems happier now.

 

[sneekapeek]

Unfortunately no

One of my colonies went poof after a bad batch of Reef Crystals in January, along with about 10 backup pieces/frags. The best colony lost tissue at the base but seems to be stabilizing. Hopefully it rebounds and grows again...

I switched to Red Sea salt and almost everything seems happier now.

Was wondering, which Red Sea salt did you switch to? Blue bucket or black bucket?

 

[therman]

Was wondering, which Red Sea salt did you switch to? Blue bucket or black bucket?

Blue. After my RC experiences I think artificially elevated parameters in the mix create more potential for things to go wrong. At least that is my logic after all of about 3 months of experience with it! haha

 

[sneekapeek]

Blue. After my RC experiences I think artificially elevated parameters in the mix create more potential for things to go wrong. At least that is my logic after all of about 3 months of experience with it! haha

That’s what makes me never want to stray away from a salt with dkh higher than 9. But cost per bucket is potentially higher. Please let us know how things go in time. I’ve noticed blue bucket tends to not be as clean as if organics are in the salt; nonetheless, it’s great ionically balanced, mixes fast and is relatively cheap.

 

[therman]

That’s what makes me never want to stray away from a salt with dkh higher than 9. But cost per bucket is potentially higher. Please let us know how things go in time. I’ve noticed blue bucket tends to not be as clean as if organics are in the salt; nonetheless, it’s great ionically balanced, mixes fast and is relatively cheap.

Yeah for sure. Red Sea is going to cost me almost double what Reef Crystals did.

 

[Perry]

Hey Tim,
Given that RS Blue, which is what I use as well, mixes lower in values, likely in trace as well, do you supplement any trace? Just curious if you have had any ICP analysis since switching over?
Kind Regards

 

[therman]

Since it is from actual seawater I think trace elements should be more consistent. Low alk should not be directly correlated to low trace elements. I had issues with low potassium and iodine (and high lithium and other random stuff) as a direct result of the reef crystals. So far I’m not seeing those issues with RS.

 

[jda]

You all can lower alk in your freshly mixed salt with acid. Muriatic acid from the hardware store is like $6-10 for a gallon - years of supply. Gallons * dKh drop * .123 is the amount of MLs of Muriatic Acid to use. Do the math, let it mix and test it. Once you figure out your amount, you are good to go in the future. This can be easier than dealing with other things that new salt mixes bring into the equation.

Lowering the alk with acid does not change the other elements. You do need to let it mix for another day to raise the pH back up.

I highly recommend this to people with larger setups and with rooms with vats, bins and mixing stations. Why not just figure it out, match the alk exactly to your tank and do the best job? It just literally takes a few seconds. I have never personally had alk swings be a huge issue for me, but with the amount of people who have, this is something that I can avoid so I do.

 

[Seph]

I'm with jda. I've used rc for years but more recently started to do larger water changes. So I use muriatic acid to lower the alk close to my tank range which I try to keep somewhere between 8 to 8.5. If I mix up 50 gallons of new water rc usually mixes to 11 dkh for me so I add 18.45 ml to bring it down to 8. You just have to let it mix for a day longer to let the ph come back up. And be careful to always add the acid to the new mix . NEVER add water to acid.