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p style="text-align: justify;">After dosing vodka to my system for 10 weeks, I can definitely say it is helping reduce Nitrate and Phosphate in my system. One week ago, I tested PO4 and the result was zero, which I expected because I'd used Blue Life's Phosphate Control to get them down overnight. In the meantime, I'd fed my tank heavily and expected phosphates to rise. Today's test revealed it was still at zero. Yes! Nitrates are down to about 15ppm. I'm going to continue dosing until that number gets somewhere closer to 5ppm.

Reefcast Episode 29a is online at last! You can download it from iTunes (look for Reefcast in the Podcast section) or directly from Reefcast.com

The September issue of Reefkeeping Magazine came out early this month, because of my trip for MACNA. http://reefkeeping.com

It took a while to get the images edited and the page complete - My trip to Cleveland:

Doing a little math to see what it costs to run my tank...

3 MH bulbs - 900w x 6 hrs per day
2 VHO bulbs - 187w x 11 hrs per day
Return pump - 141w x 24 hrs per day
3 Vortech pumps - 63w x 24 hrs per day
Calcium Reactor - 65w x 24 hrs per day
3 Fuge lights - 62w x 8 hrs per day
2 Skimmer pumps - 116w x 24 hrs per day
Prop light - 147w x 7 hrs per day
2 Icecap Fans - 12w x 7 hrs per day

Ten days ago, I started dosing with Vodka to see how that does at lowering Nitrate and Phosphate levels in my reef. I'm taking a very slow approach to this to avoid harming the livestock. It will probably take another week to determine if it is having any effect at all.

Water parameters have been updated.

A new page was put together about resizing images so they actually fit the screen -- which allows us to see the entire picture on our screen and prevents the text scrolling offscreen like it always does.

I just got back from my trip to Cincinnati, Ohio. The weather was wonderful, and the club there was a happy group of hobbyists. I look forward to visiting the Cincinnati Reefkeepers Society again one day. Here are some pictures from my trip:

My Visit to Cincinnati, Ohio

And some eye candy, just because...

By popular demand, another episode is up.

You can find Episode 28 on our downloads page.

All the PAR testing has been concluded, and this page has been finished. Who knew all those numbers would be so compelling?  It was nice to see the difference, and as you can see I went overboard testing all different scenarios:

PAR measurements - Spider vs LuminBrite reflectors

Evan called me last night and let me know that Episode 27 of Reefcast is ready for you to download. Enjoy yet another show. :) Episode 27