June 2006 Archives

I replaced about 30l of saltwater with fresh RO water to fix the SG. It is now 1.025 which seem much better. The alkalinity is taking a dip though - down from 7.5 to 6. Started adding kalkwasser again by adding 4 flat teaspoons to 13l of RO topup water. This implies I have just installed a Tunze Osmolator kit that handles auto topoff.

I purchased 80kg of cured live rock from Exotic Aquarium. After a 4 hour transport I rinsed them one by one in saltwater from the tank. Since I am clueless about aquascaping I merely placed them all in a brick wall in the tank.

Damn JC did not level the tank as I asked. So between Karin and myself we managed to drain about 85% of the water into both bath tubs and the buckets I had standing around. The rest was discarded. With much pain and suffering we leveled the tank and refilled it with the water that was now in the bath tubs...

Since I lost about 15% of the water, I had to make up some new water. I did not really have the RO unit connected, so in went some more tap water with Tropic Marine salt (non Pro-Reef). I guess the calculation on the side of the bucket was not that accurate since the Specific Gravity went up dramatically to 1.028.

Got a guy by the name of JC in to set up the tank. He did the plumbing for the skimmer as well as connected up everything else. He washed the aragonite once to get rid of the dirt and some calcium I guess. The salt (20kg Tropic Marin Pro Reef) was thrown in on top of the sand and we used tap water to fill the tank. The salt dissolved through the night.

The skimmer was turned off since it immediately boiled over with foam once started. There was some leaks in the plumbing and the hole where the outlet of the skimmer was passing through.

The sump is a bit small...

I placed 4 teaspoons full of kalkwasser on the filter mat. I also added about 200g of ROWAphos in a nylon hose in the sump.

Done some initial measurements and this is what the tank is at:

pH:                 8.00
Temp:         24C
Alk:                7.5dKH
SG:                1.025

The tank was just delivered to our home. Sadly I am in Stellenbosch and cannot do anything until I get back.

I have invested more in photographic equipment than most people do in their cars - 90% of which are Canon equipment. I also own two 580EX flash guns and one 550EX flash. I use them interchangeably when I do wedding shoots. Recently I needed to use them in a master/slave wireless configuration, just to discover they did not fire...

I urge anyone who reads this and understands the reason why, to please post a comment and enlighten me too. Why are all imported books in South Africa always at least 15 * the dollar amount? Currently the exchange rate is $1 = R6.66. For the past year the R-$ had been between R5.50 to R6.90 to the $.

Why on earth does a book that cost $19.77 on Amazon, cost R303 in South Africa? $19.77 = R131. Even adding shipping and customs etc. should not add up to R303!!! It is a small book - not heavy, not large. How much can shipping costs be?

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