PH was low in the tank this morning. Typically that just means the Kalkwasser Topoff resevoir is empty. I refill it every 10-14 days. That was not the case this time. Upon further investigation, the Spectrapure Dosing Pump LM3-MPM ( controlled by Apex aqua controller ) had failed. Pump has been online since Nov 2014. The peristaltic tubing had split combined with kalkwasser had made a mess in the head unit. Hopefully all that will be needed is to clean it up and get new tubing in there. I ordered 2 sets of replacement tubing from Spectrapure so that I have a backup. Worst case, a replacement head is $89. From now on, I plan to be proactive and change tubing out annually. As a temporary backup, I replaced with a Tom's aqua lifter. It will work fine in the interim but will probably need to tweak the aqua controller timing to compensate for the difference in flow. Prior to using the Spectrapure pump, I was using the BRS 50ml per minutes pump. I had two BRS pumps fail both around the 12-18 months mark because the plastic gears strip out. Having used Spectrapure litermeter for many years in the early 2000's, I opted for the Spectrapure basic pump instead of another BRS. Hopefully, nothing more serious with the pump and the switch to Spectrapure will have paid off.
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Tank looks great no issues or concerns at this time.
Last ALK test on 7/9 was 7.3dkh. Todays test was 9.3dkh. So need to make an adjustment on the Kalkwasser Dosing pump which is a Spectrapure pump controlled by Apex. Setting was 5 seconds on 2.5 minutes off during lights off ( 6pm - 8am ). Changed to 5 seconds on 3 minutes off during lights off ( 6pm - 8am ). Here is a quick pick of the 29g Soft tank. Tank has been running about 18months. It shares the same sump as the 180g so not much to it other than lighting and powerheads. It's not perfect, several aptasia that need to be zapped. The gorgonian collects algae float by. Also still working on the blue clove polyps, still some patches here and there. I really like the blue clove but it spawns and show up all over the tank and once it gets imbedded into zoanthid colonies it is hard to get rid of without taking your zoathid polyps with it. Lighting: is DIY Led fixture 7X6.5K whites, 7 X blues, 7 X UV purple. Circulation: Approx 200gph flow Tee off the main return pump. It uses 2 Aqueon AT40 Internal Filters on opposing sides for flow. I chose these because they are flat low profile stay mostly hidden by the trim and most importantly are more anemone friendly since there is some filter floss so impossible to get tangled in the impeller. It does add some mechanical filtration as well and has helped with the crud that does settle in this tank. AT40 has worked out well and perfect fit for this tank. Went on vacation. We had a house sitter that is not an experienced Hobbiest. Everything went fine. No casualties and algae issues.
There was a big storm on July 6. Power went out a couple of times but nothing more than a minute. I was lucky some local hobbiest had power out for up to 14hours. I had been meaning to get my UPS battery replaced. This is a eye opener so getting that taken care of ASAP. This week tank maintenance: Siphoned the sandbed into disposable filter sock. Cleaned all sides of the glass. Test readings: Phosphate: .018ppm Alk: 7.3 dkh Calcium: Not tested. Magnesium: 1380ppm |
AuthorDavid Grigor Archives
August 2017
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