My New Saltwater Tank!

[stanleo]

Thanks for the tips! How long do you bake it for though?

I dissolved it in tank and luckily didn't put it near an invert.

 

[Donya]

Anything over 200F for an hour with a small amount should do it. It's best to store it in a well-sealed bag with the air pushed out after that to stop it from reacting with moisture in the air. Never add powdered supplements of any sort directly to a tank - too much risk of local pH swings in this case and more generally too much risk of the substance being caustic on sensitive animal tissues (fish gills, snails, etc.) if they make contact before fully dissolved.

 

[stanleo]

An update. The baking soda seems to be doing the trick. After a week the alkalinity has gone from 7.7 to 8.7. My goal is ten so am doing it for another week. I have been testing things the day after dosing and everything else is the same. There have been no crashes in pH which is what I was worried about.
 
I moved the tank to the other side of the room so we could view it while launging in the living room. I made a corner for fishys with my reef tank on one wall and the fw community on the other wall and a little stool to sit on. Might be kinda corny but I think it looks nice.
 
In the process of moving I moved the Maxima clam to the top about 6 inches below the water to get the best possible light in my setup. I hope it does some good.
 
I also replaced one of the actinic bulbs with a ATI coral plus bulb. Right now there are 2 T5 10000K daylight bulbs, one actinic and one coral plus. I plan to replace the daylights with ATI blue plus and the actinic with another coral plus.
 
Here's some new pics.