A guide to Xiggie's reef tank

[xiggie]

 

This pcs is nice. Any idea the name of it?

dunno what Sps , some kinda green acro . I don't really know the names

[xiggie]

Calcium Reactor , 

how I tune it without a ph probe or a co2 solonoid.

(caution it may work for me , but it may not work for you )

Firstly do test to confirm that your tank really needs a CR. Do checks to see if your kh is dropping at a fast rate daily , if your kh doesn't drop fast then you don't need a CR

To start I set the drip rate to 50ml per minute. Then Set the co2 to 1 bubble per second , let the CR run for few hours (longer better) then test the KH of the effluent. Kh of effluent should read higher that the tank water , meaning the CR media is burning.

The kh of the effluent will vary according to the bubble rate and drip rate. So I just need to confirm at what  effluent kh value I need for my tanks consumption. 

For example my tank needs an effluent kh of 12 at drip rate of 60ml per minute to maintain a kh value of 7 in the tank. Different tank will require different values all according to corals consumption. 

Daily checks of kh value of tank water is a must while tuning the CR to the desired and ideal setting.

the tricky part is adjusting the drip rate to the bubble rate to match your tank consumption , same as when using a cr with solonoid and ph probe but once you get the sweet spot , all is well. 

I've overshot tank kh value to above 10 when tuning the CR and lost some weak acro frags but observed that healthy n strong Sps can and will survive kh fluaction. 

Now after the cr is tuned all is running auto and well , except mg. 

If your are running a CR , I would recomend getting some magnesium media in to the reactor , this helps a lot , eventho the normal cr media has mg on them , they are just not enough especially if you are having algae problem ... Coraline algae ..

 

 

Edited October 18, 2015 by xiggie

[Guest]

Great write up on the tuning of the CR, learn something new again today.

[Admiraltian]

Thanks for sharing, bro. This will help newbie if they need to use one.

[xiggie]

Some new addition to the tank community .. Carpenter and solar wrasse from CF , and a blue Linkia from a friend 

[xiggie]

And a hairy file fish .... Damn cute this one !!

[SantaMonica]

Please let the Linckia live a long time

[xiggie]

Please let the Linckia live a long time

yea , hope this guy lives long , heard they don't really do well in captivity due to their diet . Had him for a couple of months already actually .

Edited October 28, 2015 by xiggie

[xiggie]

Salvaged a long forgotten acro from the back of the tank , thought it died ,  it actually did die but then grew back I guess . It's out in front now ,hope it do well . 

[xiggie]

Finally scraped the coraline from the front glass

[JMW]

Wow very nice bro, the colors are damn vibrant!

[zerofighter]

Good one

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[Admiraltian]

Salvaged a long forgotten acro from the back of the tank , thought it died ,  it actually did die but then grew back I guess . It's out in front now ,hope it do well . 

Looks like a tricolor valida.

[xinde]

Bro .. your tank is getting even more amazing than the last time I saw it when collecting the CR .. great work!!!

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[xiggie]

Looks like a tricolor valida.

yes , it looks like a valida , tricolour hopefully .. This is a brown out frag I got from sherilyn91 quite some time ago , left it at the back cos no space and forgot about it , really hope it will grow well.

[xiggie]

Bro .. your tank is getting even more amazing than the last time I saw it when collecting the CR .. great work!!!

 

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Thanks !!! the tank is still the same , i do get Sps stn and Rtn . I guess when it's time for them to go ... Its time for them to go ...more space for some new corals .. 

[ahchris]

Wah it came back from death and it's growing so nice. Keep the photos coming!

[xinde]

Hahaha yeah bro, I get that sometimes too. But the new colours from the new corals are amazing

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[xiggie]

Zoa yellow ,

[xiggie]

Dragon eyes , orange

[xiggie]

Dark green digitata.

[xiggie]

Eagle eye and dragon eye green

[Harlequinmania]

See the tank personally before. Really no horse run !

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[xiggie]

Once apon a time , in a far away LFS tank in pasir ris lay a frag of sps. 

[xiggie]

Now , nestled in a reef aquarium in CCK ,

Edited December 26, 2015 by xiggie