KimP

I wouldn't be worried about your alk being too high but being too low.

Is this only when you get it above nsw levels? From what I understood of the speaker at the frag swap, mg levels affect how high you can get both alk and ca. I don't want to hijack, just curious.

Oh okay, that's not bad. Thanks!

So can I use any other pump with the nano osmolator? I have an aqualifter. If not I'll just get another. Bummer though.

do you wear a scarf and googles and yell "clear" whenever you do that? No, but I would if it might help, lol!

I bang it around in there each time I switch jugs and that gets it going. Over time it's pumped water slower and slower and slower until now it doesn't pump at all. If I pull it out and start to spin the impeller manually it'll kick on, but as soon as I stick it back in the water, nothing. No amount of jiggling it around in there helps anymore. I've left the pump sitting for days and still nothing.

Okay I'll try the vinegar. I use it with the osmolator.

Does anyone know if these things can be opened? My pump has slowly stopped working and the impeller gets stuck. I'd like to open it up and see what's going on. I don't dose through the ato, so I'm not sure what could be making it stick.

Have you tested your alk, ca, & mg levels? My tank is roughly the same age as yours, I think, and I'm in the cyano stage myself. My corals are all doing great though but they didn't used to be. I finally started testing for those 3 and found out my alk was way way low. In my experience over the years, alk gets used/tied up in a new tank especially with any die offs. I got my alk under control and saw a big difference in all corals and am getting nice growth even with the nuisance algae. I just siphon it out with airline tubing about once a week or when it gets annoying enough, and it actually keeps the tank looking better than it would if I didn't have a reason to do that extra little maintenance. Only takes 10 min or so. Anyway, sorry if you already test for these, I didn't have time to re-read much of your build this morning. Things will get better and better as time goes on! Keep it up!

It sure is! Do you use a heater?

Welcome to the club. I have a 90 gal and I love it!

Nice! I think that's a great idea. I'd pay extra to get a cutting already mounted to rock or rubble. It makes placement so much easier.

Thanks for the offer! I'll definitely take you up on it. It'll be quite the production. Your acans look fantastic. They colored right up and I'm really enjoying them.

Pictures first, update below: Current FTS The sandbed is so cluttered because we are moving soon and I don't want to glue anything until after the move Left side view Right side view The cleaner shrimp and the eel are buddies. They're always near each other, I think because the shrimp likes the silversides the eel gets Here's the tasseled filefish. He's one of my favorites! Always out and about, comes right up to me anytime I'm near the tank, and the best eater. I keep him fed well so he doesn't try to nip any corals. Luckily he hasn't ever showed any interest. Dendros and some sort of fungia plate I've had for years. It was a hitchhiker on a spiral wire coral I bought a long time ago. Looked like a dead skeleton, less than half the size of a dime, but slowly colored up and has been with me through several tanks. Gotta love corals that take a beating and still look great in any placement! Here's an older picture of the fungia Hidden cup corals. Also a hitchhiker that I've had for many many years. These actually came on my very first live rock in my first saltwater tank about 7 years ago. Long time, no update! The main reason is my tank is directly across from windows so there's always so much glare in pictures. I know how much everyone loves an update without pictures! I finally got some though. Things are chugging along well. Still having some cyano and gha but nothing to complain about in a tank this young. All the fish get along very well, corals are growing, parameters are staying fairly consistent, etc. I am dosing because my alk dropped way way down during stocking, and especially following a fish loss. It's been a while now and I'm still having to dose alk but not as much and it's been easy to keep the level steady. Ca has been low for a long time because I hadn't gotten around to bringing Mg up. This past week I got my act together and I'm getting Mg up to NSW levels then I'll get the Ca up. It's not that I have that much stony coral, but I do have a lot of coralline (that the urchins strip off like crazy, grrr) and I suspect that's where it's going. I'm still getting the apex up and running, very very slowly. I don't get much time to work on it and it has a steep learning curve. My current project is getting my Tunze powerheads on some sort of program. I'd like the flow to be higher during the day and less at night. I'd also like the 2 powerheads to take turns being on full blast and on low, to give different flow patterns throughout the tank. Getting the apex to make that happen is another story. I recently got the Kessils fully programed with the apex, on a sunrise/sunset program with varying spectrum and intensity throughout the day. I'm loving that! I just brought the intensity up from 50% to 60% yesterday and in the coming weeks I'd like to get it up to 70%. I will be moving in about a month to a house a little southeast of my current house, still in Austin. The idea of a tank move is stressful. I'm concerned about coral loss, but other than that I expect it won't be too difficult. For the meantime I'm leaving my corals loose and not gluing anything down. My idea is it'll be easier on the corals if I don't have to break them off of the rock for transport. I'll certainly be researching the best way to do this soon. There's also a chance that I'll use the move to upgrade to a 6' tank. Give the fish some more swimming space. The new house has much more wall space than our current one. Still a maybe though. All of my equipment should transfer. I recently made the visit out to subsea's place and got some macros from him (thank you!!). Visiting his place is always a blast! So my sump recently went from a cryptic to a lit refugium. I've had mud in there since setup, but nothing else except some rubble. Right away I noticed algae and coralline growth in the reactor and return tubing. No good. Finally yesterday I wrapped the return tubing in electrical tape and covered the reactor. I hope that will be good enough, I certainly don't want any clogs.

Waveboxes do not replace powerheads, you'll still want it even if you get this. They serve different functions. Not that you shouldn't buy it though!

That's a crazy low price. Glad I sold mine a while ago!

I can host some month next year.

That's very exciting about your homemade rock! I can't wait to see it. I'm glad the molly is recovering and that you found out about your salinity. I forget to check mine and if anything goes wrong, that is usually the culprit. No ideas on the urchin. I haven't put any macros in my display yet where my urchins are. Weird.

Happy birthday!

Wow! That is an interesting choice of camouflage. Lol.

Welcome to Austin and the club! There are a lot of us keeping picos and nanos.

That is silly!

Yes, I'd like to see pictures of your fancy rock!

Got stuck? Like tangled or stuck there busy eating it all?

Wow what an ordeal with the breaker. I hope everything is fixed now. Good thing this all happened while you're cycling and not after you have fish and coral. Sounds like the cycle is coming along nicely!