Ritter's 75 Gallon Reef

Thanks everyone!

J.Davis wrote:Great pics Gabe, is that from the Canon?

Yep. These pics came out so good I wished I would have used the tripod but I was too lazy to get it out. Next time!

What light settings are you working on? I have a similar camera but I always get the reds too strong, or maybe it's the difference in lights?

Yeti wrote:What light settings are you working on? I have a similar camera but I always get the reds too strong, or maybe it's the difference in lights?

I'm very camera handicapped so I'm not sure. I know I kept changing settings until I found one I like. Its all in manual mode though. I have to change the +/- (exposure?) thing on almost every shot. The ISO is set on auto since i Dont know what that is. I'm so bad I just now figured out you can manually focus which helped a lot.

Got a Hanna Calcium checker and Hanna Phosphate checker today.

Calcium 408 (Which is about what I was getting with the API).

Phosphate .04 (Which I'm pretty happy with since I'm almost 2 weeks into my GFO and just fed the night before). I would like to get it about .02 and keep it there.

Nice. What do you think of the calcium checker. It's the only one I don't have and I've read mixed reviews.

The alkalinity is great. Easiest one to run and seems to be extremely accurate. I don't have a solution to check precision, but accuracy works perfectly for our purposes.

matt_longview wrote:Nice. What do you think of the calcium checker. It's the only one I don't have and I've read mixed reviews.

The alkalinity is great. Easiest one to run and seems to be extremely accurate. I don't have a solution to check precision, but accuracy works perfectly for our purposes.

Don't you have something to do right now! Lol!!!

The calcium test was a bit of a pain but I wasn't used to it yet so maybe after a couple of runs I'll have a better review of it. API test turned purple right at 400 and the Hanna was 408 so I'd say the API is good for close numbers but the Hanna is better for dialing in a dosing method.

Yes I do... I've got to wait while Jenny is prepped. Just sitting in a hallway. haha

That's what I liked about the alkalinity accuracy as well. Measuring in .056 increments allows you to really dial it in!

I'm going to be keeping up with everything done to the tank on Google Docs.

Link To My Tank Stats

Wow that tank looks fantastic

Thanks for sharing that. I made a copy and started keeping track of my own. :-)

I'm following yours as well. Best of all... it already paid off. I was trying to figure out how much phosphate I was going to add. After seeing your stats I'm going to add approx 1/4 cup.

Oh. Also this video made checking my phos MUCH easier. I hated that little packet till I watched this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e_EOWAkLTc

Thanks John!

Matt, thanks for the video. I hate the little packet too.

I thought it was odd that my phosphate read .23 when just before it was .04. Maybe testing error or my GFO gave out. I did feed a big packet of krill the day before and the fish were eating a small sheet of nori while I was doing the test so maybe that affected it. I'll test often at first to figure this thing out and decide what the best route to take is.

I had a few random high readings also. I was wondering what caused them. I haven't had one in awhile... possibly because I watched this video. Before I was spilling half of the reagent and then picking it up with my fingers and putting it back in. Might have been getting stuff from my fingers and the surface it fell on.

matt_longview wrote:I had a few random high readings also. I was wondering what caused them. I haven't had one in awhile... possibly because I watched this video. Before I was spilling half of the reagent and then picking it up with my fingers and putting it back in. Might have been getting stuff from my fingers and the surface it fell on.

How long does it take to get the powder to dissolve for you? The first test I ran I took a LONG time to dissolve every bit of powder and that was when I got my reading of .04. The test when I got .23 I didn't dissolve it as well as before. This morning I tested again and got a reading of .10. I dissolved it better not probably not as good as I did on the .04 reading. I'm wondering if that's making my readings higher or not.

The reagents that I got with the kit didn't disolve as well as the new ones I got. I ordered new ones and they disolve entirely quickly... 15 seconds or so.

I researched out the test and they basically said something along these lines.

If you are expecting high phosphate readings it is important that all of the reagent be dissolved. If you're phosphate readings will be low however, only a little of the reagent is necessary.

So for example if phosphates are 0.02, which is what we're hoping for, very little reagent will be needed to react with the phosphates. The rest of the reagent, dissolved or not, wasn't necessary. The main thing that will effect accuracy is contamination or bubbles/undissolved reagent in the water column. That shouldn't be an issue with the countdown.

Mine will still throw one of those random ones out at times.

Tested two more times since the .10 reading and I took extra time to make sure all the reagent dissolved and even let the vial rest for a little bit to make sure all the micro bubbles settled.

First test 0.00
Tested again this morning 0.02

I even fed a big packet of krill after I got the 0 reading so I'm super happy with .02

I can see it in my sps too. There was very noticeable growth from Monday to Tuesday. Even the corals that aren't getting blasted with light are growing well.

Niiice. Noticing better growth over a 24 hour period must be a sweet feeling!

I got .02 on my phosphate test this morning as well. It appears the GFO and biopellets are able to keep up with the large bioload and heavy feeding. :-)

Now me and you just need to have a growth race! Lol

matt_longview wrote:

Now me and you just need to have a growth race! Lol

I've been thinking about this for our next contest. We need to start kicking around some ideas if more are interested

Just some pics.

They're never just pics when your tank is involved, they're always great to see.

Awesome!

Looks awesome bud!

What's the sps in the top right. Green, rainbow, encrusting monti it appears?

Your digitata has some awesome growth. Great work bud! :-)

Thanks for the compliments.

Matt, the top right is a sunset monti I got from Copps.

Jealous!!! :-)

Looks gorgeous.

Gabe that tank is so cool! The reds are just popping, you should be very proud of that one buddy.

Sweet rig gabe! Lookin good!