So Much Left

If a reef aquarium has a maintenance phase, I have not found it yet.  I ran a test of my battery backup, and the system cannot run the equipment for the period of time that we need it to.  I think four more full size marine batteries will bring it up to the standard this system needs to survive a hurricane power outage and evacuation period.  We have a generator to keep the system through an outage, but if we are not here and there is no fuel available, that will not do.

Power is a constant issue.  I found that the refrigerator is on the same circuit as the aquarium.  Add a running chiller and a running microwave, poof.  The power goes out.  We had an electrician give us an estimate to run a new circuit, but that is not necessary.  I moved the microwave to a different circuit and found another close circuit.  We will see if another electrician is thorough enough to offer a an effective solution solution, like using a close circuit.  The last one provided the most expensive possible option.

I have not begun automatic two-part dosing.  If you've taken college chemistry or payed attention in high school chemistry, the following articles are very good introductions to two part dosing. 

• "Calcium and Alkalinity" by Randy Holmes-Farley in Reefkeeping Magazine
• "CHEMISTRY AND THE AQUARIUM" by Randy Holmes-Farley in Advanced Aquarist's Online Magazine

Two part dosing provides bio-available calcium and maintains pH at simulated natural seawater levels.  A calcium reactor is another method of providing this balance.  I could have gone either way, but I chose the two-part system because requires no equipment to implement.  I do have a very high quality set of dosing pumps and meter by Spectrapure, Inc. called the "LiterMeter 3" that will automate the process.



The levels in the aquarium are almost balanced where I want them at a level that I believe will promote coral growth.  When that is done I will need to test the system's magnesium levels.  We do not have a test kit yet, but I like Salifert test kits and will purchase one soon. 

This system is maintained by the a few credos.

• Never add what you cannot test. No supplements are added that contain unknown substances that I cannot test for.  The only exception is Boyd's Chemi-Clean.
• Only bad things can happen quickly in a reef aquarium.  This is a paraphrase of a statement commonly attributed to the author Michael S. Paletta (and sometimes to a Mike Palletta by the spelling challenged).  He has written a few books, one of them is Ultimate Marine Aquariums: Saltwater Dream Systems and How They Are Created.  That sounds like a great read.