weileong's 4ft tank - Part II

[RAV-65]

Wow bro!! nice scaping!! much much better than just with the eggcrates as "pillars"...

Remember that time I went ur place everything so unstable, hopefully this time the scaping is very stable...

[Jimng]

Rescape completed.

Center part still bare leh......need to stock up more.....

[Dorado]

NICEEE

Look s great and more room for SPS.

Let me noe when your pink yumas split...hint hint

[weileong]

One week one post, keep the thead alive.

Today with the help from one kind reefer I received my dimmable ballast, finally I could simulate the sunrise and sunset this will provide my LS with more natural enviroment.

At the request of the reefer, the details on the ballast were "censored" out.

Will post more review once I get it setup.

[weileong]

haha, you want to make an offer?

[Dorado]

haha, you want to make an offer?

Bro, $70............. Im broke now

[weisoon]

One week one post, keep the thead alive.

Today with the help from one kind reefer I received my dimmable ballast, finally I could simulate the sunrise and sunset this will provide my LS with more natural enviroment.

At the request of the reefer, the details on the ballast were "censored" out.

Will post more review once I get it setup.

So, you got your SIMMOD already??FYI, theres a new product by IKS called Aquastar Sunrise

[AlfaRomeo]

Weileong, pls respond to the PM sent to you on when you want to collect the 5 bottles of CV which U, Alanseah and Hamannbmw ordered. The products have been waiting for collection for the past 8 days. Also, I have yet to receive payment for the bottles. Pls bear in mind that I have paid for you guys from my own pocket 3 weeks ago. Total cost of 5 bottles is in excess of $300.

The bulk order thread:

http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?...38774&st=90&hl=

[madmac]

WeiLeong, you made a post before with a pic showing the daily pH swings... in which you also said something to the effect of, "how else do you expain...". I can't quite remember what it was except it was an insightful observation about the pH swings. The reason I asked is because I jus acquired a pH meter, calibrated it, got the readings and don't know what else to use the data for.

Before this, my understading of pH is that it can fluctuate btw 7.8 to 8.3. Whats the importance of seeing where the reading is, knowing that it will be btw the range anyway. Thx.

[weileong]

Wow madmac..... really gotta refresh my memory, if that serves me well I think I was referring the pH trend vs how the CR was tuned/operated.

CR uses CO2 to dissolve the media and the pH in the main tank will be lowered by 0.1 to 0.2 which cannot be avoided. During the lights off period the pH would be at it's lowest point and the pH could be raised by dosing kalkwasser. However kalkwasser prepreciate PO4 which would then get bin in your system and released out later. The other way to deal with the lowered pH is to run the CR 2-4hrs after the main lights turns on and run the CR not longer than 10-12hrs/day. With this the pH will trend higher than running the CR 24/7.

You should not worry abt the pH in your main tank too much as long as you can keep the parameters stable. The kH that you run your reef tank will also affect the range of pH fluctuation, the higher the kH the smaller the fluctuation.

[madmac]

no no. I know that... it was something that was obvious, yet not. When I came across it, it jarred me awake. That was this pH chart plotted over 2 days I thinnk,... you said that the fluctuations came as a result of.... ??? I'll look for it, could be several months back... I hate to have to look thur' your 8000 odd post to find it.... hopefully its somewhere in this thread.

The question I like to know is whether the pH should remain at 8.3 as long as possible(during the day) and I remember that the pH of the chart sort of went up(gradually) to abt 8.4 peak and then came down. As I jus only have the pH meter, I'm beginning see the climb too(during the day)... it doesn't remain flat as I thought it would. Why?

[weileong]

When the main lights come on, the pH will slowly climb up as carbonate in the tank is used up by the corals at higher rate.

When my CR kicks in this causes the pH to slowly reduce as CO2 is added to the tank.

The pH in the main tank will not stay constant and will fluctuate, what else you need to know? A little difficult to explain, we can do better talking thru the phone

[madmac]

Found it! here last post in reply to BH : http://www.sgreefclub.com/forum/index.php?...c=18790&st=1215

Its photosynthesis and the reduction of CO2, that causes the pH to rise.... That was it! Theres a lot in that observation.

Now for the questions if you don't mind.

Notice that after 8.45 they start to go down, could it be that your lights are off already, time then is about 12 noon. Presumably you turn the lights on at abt 6 am, that kinda early tho.

or could the reason be due to overall photo-saturation...

I have quite a few questions and wonder if you'll let me borrow the pic for a moot discussion topic in the SPS section on lighting/photosysthesis. Thx

[weileong]

Madmac, the timing in the chart is off about 6hrs as that is extracted from Timo website in Germany.

Side-note, the data from my IKS are uploaded to the Timo website and have the graph plotted on the webserver hence the difference in the time zone.

My main lights turns on at 12noon and goes off at 1900 hrs now (extended by 1hr since the rescape).

[weileong]

one post per week to keep thread alive, looking from side.

[madmac]

ok, no wonder. It truly demonstrates the photosynthesis effect... directly correlated to the timing on your lights-on cycle.

Now that you've extended it by 1 hr... where do you see the pH going... does it move above 8.45 or does it level out there? And what is your daily dKH range?

[weileong]

Ivan, like what my chart shows, even when the MH hrs is extended by 1 hrs to 7hrs the pH just raise and don't seems to be tapering off.

I see the pH begin to drop sharply after the main lights goes off.

Have tried to run the MH for additional 3 hrs from 9pm to 12midnight and the pH trend shows that it is raising too. Interesting isn't it?

As I don't run my CR 24/7 but only 6hrs/day now, my kH varies between 6.7 to 7.4. The lowest point 6.7 around 4pm before the CR starts running and the highest point around 12noon when the MH comes on.

[madmac]

Very man... this can imply as a whole they still not get enough lighting, otherwise by theory it should level off... Wah, I can't imagine how much lighting they want... yours some more already very intense... that must be why you resort to supplementary feeding.

BTW, are there any other lights besides MH?, like T5s before the MH comes on? and can share again your photoperiod. Have you experimented with staggering the on-cycle. Thx.

[weileong]

Only other lighting I have is 2x54W T5 running D&D true actinic, don't think they contribute to anything since I only run them 30mins before and after the the MH for total of 2 hrs/day.

The light cone of my luminarc is sort of a straight downwards cast and there is very little spread sideway so don't think staggering the on-cycle will help.

For this reason I am seriously considering changing to 2x400W instead of the current 3x250W.

[madmac]

Woah... 400W... it may jus do.... I find that true too, because for my case, jus before the MH goes off, the pH was about 8.47, and once it goes off, it starts to taper down, but tends to hold at 8.3 until T5 lights out. I think I'll experiment extending the current 7 hrs to 9 to see if the pH goes further up... that would tell me something... I have been losing dKH quite quickly these days, every 12 hrs, I'm down 2, so I dosing 2 smaller increments of 2 dkH each time, trying to maintain 8.

[weileong]

Why don't you try setup a continuous drippping system instead?

[madmac]

Yup... thats in the works at the momnet... I've engage to local diy guru to build a contracption for topping up my lost skimmate. I lose about 4l per day from it... This lost skimmate will be replaced with highly buffered sea-water, and hopefully I can find a balance. The design is entirely my own... for my own custom tank needs. I'm quite excited about it... will share how it works when it comes out.

[blackdog]

one post per week to keep thread alive, looking from side.

only 1 post per week only.. looking forward to see more of yr pics.

[weileong]

Macro shot.

Baby blue polyps. Taken under 400W BLV10kk

[zehuan]

Wow Weilong,

can ask u what camera are u using and the lens? very nice marco shot until the line pattern also can see..