Jimbo’s CDA 250

[DanK.Reefer]

I wouldn’t worry about pH for now but if you want to peg it, go with recirculating CO2 scrubber, you should hit 8.4 peak during the day and settle to 8.1 at night.

Good call on just relax...I find my PH gradually creeps up on its own once the tank settles in and dosing starts. You could just add kalk to your ato for now...its cheap and it would also help with coraline growth by also raising CA and ALK. Then when you are ready to run your reactors just clean out the ATO.

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[Smite]

I wouldn't worry about it too much. If you have the hole in the wall already, then yeah I would for sure feed your skimmer with fresh air. That'll give you a boost in ph with no maintenance costs. A tip I got from the RMS method is to shut your skimmer down for a minute everyday, this helps dissolve salt creep in the lines and keeps your skimmer drawing air at 100%.

Keep in mind you're still in a cycle and bacteria consume oxygen and lower ph as they grow so that could be contributing to your suppressed ph

 

[Jimbo327]

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind. If I can figure out this APEX, I will program to shut down skimmer for at least 1 minute.

My nitrates are sky high...it's registering over 75. The bacteria is working good.

 

[bakbay]

If you’re impatient (like me) just use bacteria in a bottle! Fritz or even Dr Tim and you can start adding fish and (soft) corals in a week. I’ve actually added sand and Chaeto from my established tank and now I have an opposite problem on my 175g — having to dose N&P to bring them up! lol

 

[Jimbo327]

Doing a lot of cleanup in the shed, look what I found. LOL.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

hey its part A of 2 part solution. I wonder if it has a shelf life?

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[Jimbo327]

My first attempt at APEX program. My RODI is powered by a booster pump, so if there is no power to it...the RODI does not work. So I want the RODI booster pump to turn ON once a week on Sunday (from Midnight to 8am) to refill the freshwater barrel instead of keeping it on all the time.

Here is my APEX code.

Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If DoW -MTWTFS Then OFF
If Time 00:00 to 08:00 Then ON
Min Time 005:00 Then OFF

 

[Jimbo327]

Also I programmed my ATI Straton LED lights. Still tweaking it to see how I like the look. So far, I'm digging it.

The coolest thing about LEDs is that it has almost infinite ways to be programmed to change color, intensity, and ramp speed. Too bad the ATI does not have the "storm" mode like Radion, that would be fun to try. Reefers with LED lights can take advantage of all of this control, and not just program a blue look to maximize coral growth. I programmed my lights to alternate between full natural light and a more blue look during the day.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

I am un-familiar with the stratons and their power output but I can tell you that I recently melted the head off of a hammer coral using an AI prime. LED's are very cool but it is definately worth renting a PAR meter to learn your PAR zones. I found that, that particular location in my small tank directly under the AI prime was recieving just over 300 PAR in the middle of the day. This was fine for the stylo next to the hammer but fried the one of the heads off the hammer. I have since adjusted and set the light using a PAR meter rented from my LFS for $15 a day. Everyone is much happier now.

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