by Ellery Wong | Dec 26, 2022 | Reef
Preface: This Reef Mentoring article series is to document my recommendations to a hobbyist I have been mentoring. I am basically building a reef tank with his setup at my house and maintaining it for a year with weekly hands on... by Saltwater Smarts | Sep 27, 2016 | Equipment, Tanks
The advantages a sump provides to your reef aquarium are manyI hate clutter. Unfortunately, clutter and reef aquariums come hand in hand, especially as the devices start to pile up. Want to add a calcium reactor? Get ready to deal with power cords going to the main pump, the feed pump, and the solenoid, not to mention tubing going to and from the tank as well as the CO2 canister. Even something as simple as a protein skimmer can involve multiple devices. As reefkeepers add more gadgets and the complexity of the whole system increases, the reef tank can become a snake pit of wiring and tubing. For neat freaks like myself, a sump is a godsend by Saltwater Smarts | Jun 19, 2016 | Corals, Reef, Science
Maintaining stable parameters in the accepted range is much better than chasing “ideal” numbersQuestionI’m having an issue with the calcium and alkalinity levels in my reef tank. Right now, the calcium is at 380ppm, which is at the low end of the acceptable range, and the alkalinity is at 10dKH, closer to the high end of the acceptable range. I’d like to get the calcium up over 400ppm so I have a greater margin for error. But whenever I add more calcium supplement than usual, I notice that the alkalinity level drops afterward. Any idea why this is happening? Is it coincidence or cause-and-effect?” – Submitted by Ross C. Answer Thanks for your question, Ross