What Reaction should you have to Refilling your Calcium Reactor? Dose.

Calcium Reactor

So you just refilled your calcium reactor with a big jar of aragonite, cleaned out the lines, turned it on and it is going great! The water is coming in and out just like clockwork. Your CO2 that you are running is perfectly entering into your calcium reactor to help break down the aragonite. So what do you do now? Dose your tank with calcium! But you just did all this work to make your calcium levels high! Why do should you have to dose now!?

Calcium lines

Because it takes your calcium reactor a few weeks before it can really start to break down the aragonite to make the calcium. So if you want to keep your tank running smooth, pour in some liquid calcium or a solution that contains calcium to bring up your levels. Your corals and clams will thank you for it. We strongly recommend using a calcium reactor in The Reef Aquarium DVD, A Set Up & Maintenance Guide as this will make it easier on you, and over time save you money on chemicals.

Want happy fish? Give them a shot of Vodka!

Drink Up!

No really, we are not kidding. We noticed that over the months, our nitrate levels in the Reef Aquarium DVD, A Set Up & Maintenance Guide demo tank were slowly climbing up, even though we had not added any new fish to the demo tank. In fact, we even had a few less fish through natural mortality. On the other hand, many of the fish had grown, especially the Blue Hippo Tang who eats more than the four Ocellaris Clowns in the tank. We have 300lbs of live rock in the tank and sump, weekly 5-6% water changes, a MTC-1000 protein skimmer.

1 ml per 20 gallons to start

Bob Wiatroski, the host of The Reef Aquarium DVD, A Set Up & Maintenance Guide suggested some adding some vodka to the tank each day as the vodka encourages the development of the denitrifying bacteria deep inside the live rock. Bob has had customers do this and after 30 days, their nitrates fell to zero. All this with no ill effects to the fish. At this point we are adding 1 ml per 20 gallons. Since the demo tank is 210 gallons, we are adding just a little over 10 ml a day. Right now we are in the middle of this experiment, so keep posted to our blog to see our results.

Also, use the cheap vodka. Save the Stoli Crystal for yourself!

What coral grows like crazy?

Montipora Cup Coral

Montipora Cup Coral is a great coral for the beginner and intermediate reefer. This red/orange specimen started in the demo tank when it was smaller than the size of the nail on my little finger – smaller than a dime! Now, after about 11 months in the demo tank, this Red/orange Montipora Cup Coral, also referred to to as Montipora Plate Coral has grow tremendously. This specimen is now about 7 inches around and four inches high. We have found it happiest with bright light and moderate water movement. Montiporas are SPS or a Small Polyp Stony Coral and love lots of calcium. As people who have watched The Reef Aquarium DVD, A Set Up & Maintenance Guide know that we use a calcium reactor to keep our calcium levels close to 450. Although recently our corals and clams have been growing so well that we are beginning to dose with calcium a little to bring up our calcium levels.

small montipora

Be careful that your Monipora does not get too big! We have seen them in a friends tank grow to over two feet in circumference! Usually when the get that big in captivity, there ends begin to turn color and the whole coral starts to die. Although magnificent when they get big, we recommend pruning because once they get over 2 feet, they can go down hill very quickly. Monipora come in many colors, from green, to purple, bright red, bright orange are just a few of the colors you can choose from for your under water garden. We highly recommend them as they are beautiful, fairly hearty, not aggressive and they are fun to watch them grow.