My 210 FOWLR Turned Reef

[nonstophoops]

First pics with the new camera!! I am loving this thing so far. Still gotta learn how to use many of the features.

Not really liking how it's capturing the colors of this guy.
This is my favorite so far.
This one turned out pretty cool with the orange near the mouth.

 

[nonstophoops]

Threw the camera in the tank earlier. Some decent pics, but it being underwater definitely changes the colors that come out. Going to have to play with the settings.

I noticed over the last day that my pH got relatively low. About 30 mins. ago I was looking at my dosing jugs and the calcium one is significantly lower than the alk. I knew something was up. I checked the tubing and sure enough, it was filled with air. Checked the end of the tubing that is in the alk jug and it had curled up to the top and was causing the pump to suck air. So I checked my param's.

Calcium 450
Alk 6.1
Mg 350

So I manually dosed some to try to start bringing it back up. Good thing I noticed before I leave town for almost a week. Whew.

 

[Otherone]

Truley Spectacular! can't say enuff there....

For Fleshy - Shell fish are second only to Cyprindae(Carp like aka Goldfish) in it's thiamenase content. Although most of us large Predatory Freshwater keepers do use raw shrimp as a weening tool and occassional snack Freshwater fish meat should be staple - Tilapia + Smelt for examples. The vitamin b1 inhabiting enzyme can and should be boiled out of our monsters food. Those who don't are probably not gonna achieve the maximum growth or lifespan. Those whom feed raw shellfish as staple won't even come close and more than likely will be chasing fish disease, fungal infections, + bacterial infections like cloudy eye through out.

 

[Kevin8888]

Truley Spectacular! can't say enuff there....

For Fleshy - Shell fish are second only to Cyprindae(Carp like aka Goldfish) in it's thiamenase content. Although most of us large Predatory Freshwater keepers do use raw shrimp as a weening tool and occassional snack Freshwater fish meat should be staple - Tilapia + Smelt for examples. The vitamin b1 inhabiting enzyme can and should be boiled out of our monsters food. Those who don't are probably not gonna achieve the maximum growth or lifespan. Those whom feed raw shellfish as staple won't even come close and more than likely will be chasing fish disease, fungal infections, + bacterial infections like cloudy eye through out.

Otherone... I was curious about this so I did a quick surf of the net, and the only shellfish I could find that was listed to have Thiaminase was Mussels. If you know of a more definative source that has more info I would be interested in reading it.

Back to the tread at hand, nice pictures Nonstop! And WOW that is a low mg level.... its around a 1/4 of what I kept mine at in the past...

 

[nonstophoops]

Otherone... I was curious about this so I did a quick surf of the net, and the only shellfish I could find that was listed to have Thiaminase was Mussels. If you know of a more definative source that has more info I would be interested in reading it.

Back to the tread at hand, nice pictures Nonstop! And WOW that is a low mg level.... its around a 1/4 of what I kept mine at in the past...

Thanks guys.

I actually forgot a digit there. It is 1,350. lol

 

[Otherone]

Not trying to hijack here - Kevin8888 - we've beat the Thiaminase Issue into the ground in the Piranha forums both here on MFK and P-Fury.
Every study seems to be "A" secific to 100 different species of aquatic animalia tested for a Ratio more so than actual species count. Heres an easy couple of links. You can also read the MFK Piranha Nutrition sticky should be some additional info still there not sure if the studies we discussed were via new threads or in the sticky - it's gone on for years.

http://www.wetwebmedia.com/ca/volume_6/volume_6_1/thiaminase.htm

http://www.piranha-fury.com/pfury/index.php?/topic/186704-shrimp-as-a-staple-food/

 

[Kevin8888]

Thanks guys.

I actually forgot a digit there. It is 1,350. lol

Thats better, lol not to to low, though its at the minimum "recomended" level.

Also thanks Otherone.

 

[nonstophoops]

Thats better, lol not to to low, though its at the minimum "recomended" level.

Also thanks Otherone.

It's actually at the high end of the recommended range for reefs. Most places say somewhere between 1250 and 1350 or 1300 and 1350. Having it a higher level doesn't seem to be detrimental though, and at really high levels will kill off some unwanted algaes.

 

[Kevin8888]

Really? I've seen recomendations for as high as 1450 something about it helping keep diatoms in check can't remember the refference... I read far to many articles haha. That said, in the past I usually kept it around 1350 as any higher I noticed problems with salinity/calcium levels.

 

[nonstophoops]

Really? I've seen recomendations for as high as 1450 something about it helping keep diatoms in check can't remember the refference... I read far to many articles haha. That said, in the past I usually kept it around 1350 as any higher I noticed problems with salinity/calcium levels.

Salinity problems? Once you add enough magnesium(obviously a type of salt that will raise your salinity) to bring the level to a set point, you can adjust to get to the right salinity. After that, you are just maintaining magnesium and no matter the level the coral can only use a set amount. I don't see where it should affect salinity more at a higher level, but I could be wrong.

Same with Calcium imo.