mtsully71
Well-Known Member
just highlighting what Sue and Glenn said here........I use the Vitachem twice a week and I know it improves the color and overall appearance of the fish. good suggestions
Chipmunk's 10g Office Tank
- Thread starter chipmunkofdoom2
- Start date
just highlighting what Sue and Glenn said here........I use the Vitachem twice a week and I know it improves the color and overall appearance of the fish. good suggestions
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Thanks mtsully, I was considering some sort of dip to entice these guys to eat, but I ended up picking up some Hikari Marine S and they eat it like there's no tomorrow.
Funny story, with every single one of my previous clowns, I was feeding Marine S and they loved it... but, for this tank, I decided to switch it up and try something new. Interestingly enough, they didn't eat the new stuff and love the tried-and-true Hikari Marine S.
I'll take a look at those in the future maybe... but they're eating like pigs now and they're happy, so I'm happy
Funny story, with every single one of my previous clowns, I was feeding Marine S and they loved it... but, for this tank, I decided to switch it up and try something new. Interestingly enough, they didn't eat the new stuff and love the tried-and-true Hikari Marine S.
I'll take a look at those in the future maybe... but they're eating like pigs now and they're happy, so I'm happy
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Just catching up on your thread, as its been a little while since I've been able to catch up with you. Sounds like you are figuring things out and the tank is doing well.
You had asked me a question back on the previous page about my coral beauty and carbon. After a long couple of years fighting HLLE, the fish did succumb to it. The fish did get better for a time, but then took a turn for the worse.
There are a couple really good articles out from recent research that links carbon dust to HLLE. Two scientific studies have come to the same conclusion on what causes it:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/activated-carbon-affirmed-as-causative-agent-for-hlle-disease
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blo...ted-in-inducing-head-and-lateral-line-erosion
http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08997659.2011.608608#.VGvKG8kSbBY
If you are using carbon, you will want to rinse it to get as much carbon dust off as possible. HLLE tends to affect the pores of tangs, angels, and a few other fish more then other fish.
You had asked me a question back on the previous page about my coral beauty and carbon. After a long couple of years fighting HLLE, the fish did succumb to it. The fish did get better for a time, but then took a turn for the worse.
There are a couple really good articles out from recent research that links carbon dust to HLLE. Two scientific studies have come to the same conclusion on what causes it:
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blog/activated-carbon-affirmed-as-causative-agent-for-hlle-disease
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/blo...ted-in-inducing-head-and-lateral-line-erosion
http://www.coralmagazine-us.com/content/activated-carbon-hlle-smoking-gun-found
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08997659.2011.608608#.VGvKG8kSbBY
If you are using carbon, you will want to rinse it to get as much carbon dust off as possible. HLLE tends to affect the pores of tangs, angels, and a few other fish more then other fish.
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Yes Oxy, thanks a lot for the info. I'm sorry to hear the coral beauty.. I've never cared for a fish with HLLE, but from all accounts I've heard, it's difficult to get them to recover. I'm not running carbon for this tank. I just don't think I'll need it, especially since the only reason I'd run GAC is to absorb coral warfare toxins. I plan on sticking mostly to zoas/rics and SPS in this tank, so I don't think there will be much coral warfare.
At any rate, time for a weekly update and FTS:
I was going to give an update yesterday (Sunday) after my water change, but I miscalculated and dosed double the magnesium that I was supposed to into my new saltwater (grr). So I had to filter more RO/DI water, double the volume, remix, re-test, and re-dose. Long story short, here we are today. Annoying, but at least I caught my mistake early and didn't put the water into the tank.
All inhabitants are doing just fine. The fish are behaving normally and are eating as if they are trying to satire how much real pigs eat. The two corals, the Ricordea fl. and the green birdsnest, are also doing exceptionally well.
I'm seeing great progress with the organic carbon dosing. I'm up to 1.5ml vodka per day, a level to which I ramped up over the last 3 weeks. During my daily rock basting routine, algae is letting go of the rocks in tufts. The skimmer is still pulling watery skimmate the color of green tea, but the foam in the collection cup is seriously dense and takes forever to collapse (which I hear is good when carbon dosing). I'll continue to ramp up next week if needed, but with the rate the algae is falling off my rocks, I may be able to hold steady at 1.5ml/day.
Moving on to new eqiupment. I got some waterpoof magnets and eggcrate from BRS to make a DIY frag rack (visible in the FTS, the ricordea is in the rack now). I got tired of my snails bulldozing the corals into the rocks while I let them acclimate to the light on the bottom. My greatest fear was they would push the birdsnest into the ricordea, or vice versa, which would undoubtedly kill the birdsnest. I think the ricordea is happy where it is. It expands pretty far. I'm not sure if it's reaching for light or if it's just expanding because it's happy. I figure it'll brown out if it needs more light, so I'll move it if that happens. My plan for now though is to find a decent size rock, drill a hole, and let the ricordea settle in and start covering it (hopefully!). The birdsnest has been looking great, always having fantastic polyp extension. The polyps still appear to be a vibrant green color, but the flesh of the coral appears to be darkening up nicely. If you Google for pictures of green birdsnest, you'll notice the flesh on the skeleton typically looks to be what I call a healthy brownish color with vibrant green polyps. My birds nest appears to be moving this direction. I hope I can move it up a few inches without it losing color. Once I secure the ricordea to a rock, I'll transfer the birdsnest to the frag rack and start moving it up.
I also replaced my Koralia 425 with a Vortech MP10wES. It was new in box, never touched the water, and I got a great deal from a user on another forum ($165 shipped). The reason I made the jump to this pump is because at times it appeared my ricordea was not happy with the amount of flow it was getting. The only way I could get it to look somewhat happy was to shield it with a rock. Thanks to the adjustable nature of the Vortechs, I was able to find flow that makes the polyps sway on the birdsnest, but allows the ricordea to remain happy. More importantly, I have random flow and can adjust as needed later.
I've had my existing corals for about 2 weeks, but already I'm wanting more. I'm taking it slow, resolved to waiting at least 3 weeks before I get my next batch, but I've decided what I'd like to get at least. I'm planning on getting a pink stylophora, maybe a green or purple monti cap, and perhaps another frag of birdsnest (pink or purple polyped). Pacific East Aquaculture has dirt cheap SPS frags and $20 shipping for me, so it's a great buy.
As far as side projects, I received the time-delay relay this week, so I'm going to be experimenting with my DIY dosing pump a bit more. I've also started working on a battery backup project that will function like a UPS (uninterruptable power supply). In the event the power goes out, the batteries will kick in, and they'll shut off when power comes back on. The beauty of this design is I'm using my own batteries, inverter, and power supply, so I can scale up the system to any size or specification. More to come on both those endeavors next week.
At any rate, time for a weekly update and FTS:
I was going to give an update yesterday (Sunday) after my water change, but I miscalculated and dosed double the magnesium that I was supposed to into my new saltwater (grr). So I had to filter more RO/DI water, double the volume, remix, re-test, and re-dose. Long story short, here we are today. Annoying, but at least I caught my mistake early and didn't put the water into the tank.
All inhabitants are doing just fine. The fish are behaving normally and are eating as if they are trying to satire how much real pigs eat. The two corals, the Ricordea fl. and the green birdsnest, are also doing exceptionally well.
I'm seeing great progress with the organic carbon dosing. I'm up to 1.5ml vodka per day, a level to which I ramped up over the last 3 weeks. During my daily rock basting routine, algae is letting go of the rocks in tufts. The skimmer is still pulling watery skimmate the color of green tea, but the foam in the collection cup is seriously dense and takes forever to collapse (which I hear is good when carbon dosing). I'll continue to ramp up next week if needed, but with the rate the algae is falling off my rocks, I may be able to hold steady at 1.5ml/day.
Moving on to new eqiupment. I got some waterpoof magnets and eggcrate from BRS to make a DIY frag rack (visible in the FTS, the ricordea is in the rack now). I got tired of my snails bulldozing the corals into the rocks while I let them acclimate to the light on the bottom. My greatest fear was they would push the birdsnest into the ricordea, or vice versa, which would undoubtedly kill the birdsnest. I think the ricordea is happy where it is. It expands pretty far. I'm not sure if it's reaching for light or if it's just expanding because it's happy. I figure it'll brown out if it needs more light, so I'll move it if that happens. My plan for now though is to find a decent size rock, drill a hole, and let the ricordea settle in and start covering it (hopefully!). The birdsnest has been looking great, always having fantastic polyp extension. The polyps still appear to be a vibrant green color, but the flesh of the coral appears to be darkening up nicely. If you Google for pictures of green birdsnest, you'll notice the flesh on the skeleton typically looks to be what I call a healthy brownish color with vibrant green polyps. My birds nest appears to be moving this direction. I hope I can move it up a few inches without it losing color. Once I secure the ricordea to a rock, I'll transfer the birdsnest to the frag rack and start moving it up.
I also replaced my Koralia 425 with a Vortech MP10wES. It was new in box, never touched the water, and I got a great deal from a user on another forum ($165 shipped). The reason I made the jump to this pump is because at times it appeared my ricordea was not happy with the amount of flow it was getting. The only way I could get it to look somewhat happy was to shield it with a rock. Thanks to the adjustable nature of the Vortechs, I was able to find flow that makes the polyps sway on the birdsnest, but allows the ricordea to remain happy. More importantly, I have random flow and can adjust as needed later.
I've had my existing corals for about 2 weeks, but already I'm wanting more. I'm taking it slow, resolved to waiting at least 3 weeks before I get my next batch, but I've decided what I'd like to get at least. I'm planning on getting a pink stylophora, maybe a green or purple monti cap, and perhaps another frag of birdsnest (pink or purple polyped). Pacific East Aquaculture has dirt cheap SPS frags and $20 shipping for me, so it's a great buy.
As far as side projects, I received the time-delay relay this week, so I'm going to be experimenting with my DIY dosing pump a bit more. I've also started working on a battery backup project that will function like a UPS (uninterruptable power supply). In the event the power goes out, the batteries will kick in, and they'll shut off when power comes back on. The beauty of this design is I'm using my own batteries, inverter, and power supply, so I can scale up the system to any size or specification. More to come on both those endeavors next week.
great update - congrats on the new Vortech MP10wES bet the tank loves it 
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Thanks Glenn, it was a good deal and a good upgrade. I wasn't planning on getting one this soon, but I was really having a hard time finding a place where the ricordea was happy. That sort of bumped it up the priority list. Now the ricordea has spread out massively and looks to be very happy. My birdsnest still has the great polyp extension it had before, but the polyps appear to move a bit more randomly now, which is nice. Plus, if I need more flow in the future I can always crank it up a bit more. Since I think this tank is going to be dominated by easy SPS, I think having the option for more flow is better.
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hi all, it's been a while since my last update. No pictures this time around, just a bit of an FYI.
I added a green and purple monti cap as well as a pink stylo since my last update. (Mostly) everything is doing well. The fish are healthy and most of the corals are in good health. My green seriatopora had some tissue recession near the base. I noticed a strand of thick, wiry algae bouncing around on the base and was able to manually extract it with some tweezers. The recession has stopped and hasn't moved at all in the past 2 weeks or so, which leads me to believe it was the algae irritating the flesh. My alkalinity is rock solid and I match that with every water change, so I don't think that could be the cause.
Now, the not so good news... the green monti cap is a goner. I saw what appeared to be algae stuck to the top one day and gently attempted to blow it off with a turkey baster. When I did so, all the flesh blew off instantly, leaving only a white skeleton behind. I was devastated, not because the frag was particularly expensive, but because at the time I had no clue what caused it. My water quality is good (aside from some excess nutrients), and I match alkalinity, calcium and magnesium with each one of my weekly water changes (as well as the obvious parameters like salinity and temperature). I was really beating myself up and it was a bit of a disheartening moment because I couldn't figure out why the coral suddenly perished. The answer is sort of a good news/bad news type deal... the parameters weren't the problem.. I have a monti eating nudibranch infestation. Looking on the underside of the dead skeleton, I saw several small "feather duster" looking things. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than the dreaded MEN. I dipped the surviving purple monti in Bayer immediately and am currently setting up a small quarantine tank where I can watch to make sure no other nudis surface. This will also leave my main tank monti-less and give the nudis a chance to die off.
I was able to finish my DIY dosing pump and switched to dosing vodka using that, but have experienced a substantial algal bloom since then. It wasn't sudden, so I think my dosing pump may not be delivering as much vodka as the tank needs. I've gone back to manual dosing and will revisit later. I haven't changed my feeding habits and my lighting schedule is the same. Additionally, the skimmer now struggles to pull skimmate with any color whatsoever.
I'm also planning to get a reactor to run some GFO, hopefully sometime this month. I'm becoming more and more convinced that my algae problem is a phosphorus problem. While I admittedly don't test for phosphates, I'm using dry rock that I believe might be leaching PO4, and my nitrate readings are always zero (API test kit). Plus, I dosed vodka to the point of getting a bacterial bloom, and while the algae receded a bit, it was never gone. Since carbon dosing needs some N and P, I'm thinking the carbon dosing is using the N and the corresponding amounts of P, and there's still lots of P left over. I already have a Hydor Pico pump, so I should be able to just get a reactor of some kind and see if the GFO clears up the issue. I was debating spot treating the water weekly with lanthanum chloride, but decided against it. Though the setup and dosing may be simpler, I think there's less room for error with LC.
Finally, the growth on all my corals has been abysmal. There actually hasn't been any. I'm thinking that it's either due to the PO4 issue described above, or possibly due to the lighting I'm using. I have an old AI Sol with no optics over the tank running at around 45%, and while that sounds like a lot, especially for a 10g, it doesn't feel like it. Without the optics, this fixture throws light everywhere. I'm going to try increasing the intensity by 1% per week and see if that helps with the growth at all. I think this, along with some GFO, should hopefully get things in order.
I expect to receive the lighting for my QT sometime this week, early next week at the latest. I'll post when it gets here.
I added a green and purple monti cap as well as a pink stylo since my last update. (Mostly) everything is doing well. The fish are healthy and most of the corals are in good health. My green seriatopora had some tissue recession near the base. I noticed a strand of thick, wiry algae bouncing around on the base and was able to manually extract it with some tweezers. The recession has stopped and hasn't moved at all in the past 2 weeks or so, which leads me to believe it was the algae irritating the flesh. My alkalinity is rock solid and I match that with every water change, so I don't think that could be the cause.
Now, the not so good news... the green monti cap is a goner. I saw what appeared to be algae stuck to the top one day and gently attempted to blow it off with a turkey baster. When I did so, all the flesh blew off instantly, leaving only a white skeleton behind. I was devastated, not because the frag was particularly expensive, but because at the time I had no clue what caused it. My water quality is good (aside from some excess nutrients), and I match alkalinity, calcium and magnesium with each one of my weekly water changes (as well as the obvious parameters like salinity and temperature). I was really beating myself up and it was a bit of a disheartening moment because I couldn't figure out why the coral suddenly perished. The answer is sort of a good news/bad news type deal... the parameters weren't the problem.. I have a monti eating nudibranch infestation. Looking on the underside of the dead skeleton, I saw several small "feather duster" looking things. Upon closer inspection, it was none other than the dreaded MEN. I dipped the surviving purple monti in Bayer immediately and am currently setting up a small quarantine tank where I can watch to make sure no other nudis surface. This will also leave my main tank monti-less and give the nudis a chance to die off.
I was able to finish my DIY dosing pump and switched to dosing vodka using that, but have experienced a substantial algal bloom since then. It wasn't sudden, so I think my dosing pump may not be delivering as much vodka as the tank needs. I've gone back to manual dosing and will revisit later. I haven't changed my feeding habits and my lighting schedule is the same. Additionally, the skimmer now struggles to pull skimmate with any color whatsoever.
I'm also planning to get a reactor to run some GFO, hopefully sometime this month. I'm becoming more and more convinced that my algae problem is a phosphorus problem. While I admittedly don't test for phosphates, I'm using dry rock that I believe might be leaching PO4, and my nitrate readings are always zero (API test kit). Plus, I dosed vodka to the point of getting a bacterial bloom, and while the algae receded a bit, it was never gone. Since carbon dosing needs some N and P, I'm thinking the carbon dosing is using the N and the corresponding amounts of P, and there's still lots of P left over. I already have a Hydor Pico pump, so I should be able to just get a reactor of some kind and see if the GFO clears up the issue. I was debating spot treating the water weekly with lanthanum chloride, but decided against it. Though the setup and dosing may be simpler, I think there's less room for error with LC.
Finally, the growth on all my corals has been abysmal. There actually hasn't been any. I'm thinking that it's either due to the PO4 issue described above, or possibly due to the lighting I'm using. I have an old AI Sol with no optics over the tank running at around 45%, and while that sounds like a lot, especially for a 10g, it doesn't feel like it. Without the optics, this fixture throws light everywhere. I'm going to try increasing the intensity by 1% per week and see if that helps with the growth at all. I think this, along with some GFO, should hopefully get things in order.
I expect to receive the lighting for my QT sometime this week, early next week at the latest. I'll post when it gets here.
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hi all. It's been a while since I've had the chance to make an update. I got a new phone (Nexus 5X) and I feel the pictures are much better than with my old one, especially in color representation. Here's a current FTS:
All livestock is alive and well.
I finally broke down and added a sump since my last update. I've been trying to avoid the extra complexity that this would bring, but I don't think I can put it off any longer. My nuisance algae problem has only gotten slightly better.. it hasn't gone away. And this is with what I consider to be adequate husbandry (weekly 30% - 40% water changes, appropriate feeding, manual algae removal, and siphoning detritus multiple times per week). I think my issue is that I'm doing a lot of different things and none are working that well.
First, I've been carbon dosing for a few months, and while I think this has helped, it's not quite the slam dunk success that I've read about with other reefers. I attribute this to one of two things: first, my rock could be leaching phosphate. The carbon dosing is using all the available N and an appropriate amount of P, but not all the P. My second guess is that my skimmer is not adequately removing the bacteria that feed on the carbon source, leading them to die in the tank and simply re-introduce the nutrients. It could be a mix of both of these factors (a little bit of excess phosphate AND a poorly performing skimmer). Either way, I carbon dosing alone was not cutting it.
Second, I've been using a HOB filter for mechanical filtration, and it's a high-maintenance exercise. The little tube gets clogged with tufts of algae and detritus, and the filter floss is a pain to cut to the right size. With the sump, I'm able to use a felt filter sock. Additionally, I'm able to siphon as often as I like and pour the siphoned water straight down the overflow, guaranteeing that the water gets filtered before returning to the display.
With the sump I can also run the GFO reactor I got a few weeks ago (was going to run in display, but it's too large). I was hoping to stop using the skimmer as well, as I don't feel it's very effective, but I'm going to have to hold off on that. I started reducing the carbon I was dosing, but it feels like the algae has had a bit of a resurgence. I'm going to keep the carbon where it is for the moment, meaning I'm going to have to keep skimming.
The one good thing that has happened since my last update is that I finally got my battery backup system working. I'll have to do this in another post, because this has turned into a novel as it is.
All livestock is alive and well.
I finally broke down and added a sump since my last update. I've been trying to avoid the extra complexity that this would bring, but I don't think I can put it off any longer. My nuisance algae problem has only gotten slightly better.. it hasn't gone away. And this is with what I consider to be adequate husbandry (weekly 30% - 40% water changes, appropriate feeding, manual algae removal, and siphoning detritus multiple times per week). I think my issue is that I'm doing a lot of different things and none are working that well.
First, I've been carbon dosing for a few months, and while I think this has helped, it's not quite the slam dunk success that I've read about with other reefers. I attribute this to one of two things: first, my rock could be leaching phosphate. The carbon dosing is using all the available N and an appropriate amount of P, but not all the P. My second guess is that my skimmer is not adequately removing the bacteria that feed on the carbon source, leading them to die in the tank and simply re-introduce the nutrients. It could be a mix of both of these factors (a little bit of excess phosphate AND a poorly performing skimmer). Either way, I carbon dosing alone was not cutting it.
Second, I've been using a HOB filter for mechanical filtration, and it's a high-maintenance exercise. The little tube gets clogged with tufts of algae and detritus, and the filter floss is a pain to cut to the right size. With the sump, I'm able to use a felt filter sock. Additionally, I'm able to siphon as often as I like and pour the siphoned water straight down the overflow, guaranteeing that the water gets filtered before returning to the display.
With the sump I can also run the GFO reactor I got a few weeks ago (was going to run in display, but it's too large). I was hoping to stop using the skimmer as well, as I don't feel it's very effective, but I'm going to have to hold off on that. I started reducing the carbon I was dosing, but it feels like the algae has had a bit of a resurgence. I'm going to keep the carbon where it is for the moment, meaning I'm going to have to keep skimming.
The one good thing that has happened since my last update is that I finally got my battery backup system working. I'll have to do this in another post, because this has turned into a novel as it is.
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
One of the things I've been very disciplined on this time around has been testing my newly mixed saltwater when I make a new batch for changes. I always test salinity, Mg, carbonate (alk), and calcium. I test alkalinity in the tank and parameter match on that every single change, while I simply target 450ppm for Ca and 1,350ppm for Mg (I test the tank for those probably once monthly). I've been saving most of the test results and decided to share them with the community.
First, a bit about my salt mixing procedure. I currently use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and I test using Salifert test kits. I bought the 200g bucket of TMPR and it came in a single, non-resealable bag. I divided the salt mix into 7 separate gallon Ziploc bags and store those bags in Home Depot buckets. This is to ensure the mix stays dry, as the original bag didn't seal at all.
When I do my water changes, I calculate how much salt mix I need based on how much water I'm mixing and take an equal amount from each bag. I sift and agitate each bag before taking the salt from it. I've found that I need about 3.63 grams of salt per PPT of salinity per gallon of water. This number roughly correlates to the weight of the bucket and the amount of water it's supposed to make. For example, if I was mixing 5 gallons of water: 5g RO/DI water x 3.63 grams of mix per ppt x 35 PPT desired salinity = about 635g salt mix. I started out with 7 Ziploc bags of salt mix, meaning I take about 91g of salt mix from each (635g total / 7 bags). Since each of the bags came from different regions of the bucket, and since I mix each small bag before taking salt from it, I feel this gives me a pretty good uniformity of salt mix and gives solid parameters. The test results seem to agree.
Here are my raw numbers:
Calcium Results:
Carbonate (alkalinity) results:
Magnesium results:
I've drawn a few conclusions from these tests.
First, the results are remarkably stable. When you consider that hobbyist test kits probably have a margin of error of +/- 10%, these numbers are very, VERY close. Good on Tropic Marin for making a consistent mix.
Second, I barely have to adjust CA and carbonate, as these two are always almost right at the levels that I want. However, Magnesium is always a problem. It consistently mixes up at 1,100 - 1,200. If you look at my test results from yesterday (6/26), you'll see that Mg was at around 1,200. For Ca and carbonate, I only had to dose a few mls to get them squared away. I had to dose over 60 ml of Mg to bring it up to 1,350.
Third, in relation to the above conclusion, TMPR is not worth the money. I've ordered a 200g box of standard IO and will be slowly transitioning to that until my current salt mix is gone. If I'm going to be testing every new batch (which really, I don't think I could go without after doing it), and I'm going to have to dose the saltwater to get it where I want it anyway, why spend $90+ on a bucket of TMPR when IO costs $50/box?
Fourth, I REALLY like testing each new batch of saltwater, and would highly recommend it to everyone, at least for the big three (Ca, Alk, Mg). It's really comforting to at least know that the water I'm putting into my tank has been tested and is very close, if not an exact match, to the water already in the tank. I sort of avoided testing in the past, especially since the Salifert kits were really intimidating at first. I probably spend about 2 minutes doing each test after getting used to it, which means everything is tested in under 10 minutes.
Anyways, just wanted to share my findings. Hope some of you find this useful
First, a bit about my salt mixing procedure. I currently use Tropic Marin Pro Reef and I test using Salifert test kits. I bought the 200g bucket of TMPR and it came in a single, non-resealable bag. I divided the salt mix into 7 separate gallon Ziploc bags and store those bags in Home Depot buckets. This is to ensure the mix stays dry, as the original bag didn't seal at all.
When I do my water changes, I calculate how much salt mix I need based on how much water I'm mixing and take an equal amount from each bag. I sift and agitate each bag before taking the salt from it. I've found that I need about 3.63 grams of salt per PPT of salinity per gallon of water. This number roughly correlates to the weight of the bucket and the amount of water it's supposed to make. For example, if I was mixing 5 gallons of water: 5g RO/DI water x 3.63 grams of mix per ppt x 35 PPT desired salinity = about 635g salt mix. I started out with 7 Ziploc bags of salt mix, meaning I take about 91g of salt mix from each (635g total / 7 bags). Since each of the bags came from different regions of the bucket, and since I mix each small bag before taking salt from it, I feel this gives me a pretty good uniformity of salt mix and gives solid parameters. The test results seem to agree.
Here are my raw numbers:
Calcium Results:
Carbonate (alkalinity) results:
Magnesium results:
I've drawn a few conclusions from these tests.
First, the results are remarkably stable. When you consider that hobbyist test kits probably have a margin of error of +/- 10%, these numbers are very, VERY close. Good on Tropic Marin for making a consistent mix.
Second, I barely have to adjust CA and carbonate, as these two are always almost right at the levels that I want. However, Magnesium is always a problem. It consistently mixes up at 1,100 - 1,200. If you look at my test results from yesterday (6/26), you'll see that Mg was at around 1,200. For Ca and carbonate, I only had to dose a few mls to get them squared away. I had to dose over 60 ml of Mg to bring it up to 1,350.
Third, in relation to the above conclusion, TMPR is not worth the money. I've ordered a 200g box of standard IO and will be slowly transitioning to that until my current salt mix is gone. If I'm going to be testing every new batch (which really, I don't think I could go without after doing it), and I'm going to have to dose the saltwater to get it where I want it anyway, why spend $90+ on a bucket of TMPR when IO costs $50/box?
Fourth, I REALLY like testing each new batch of saltwater, and would highly recommend it to everyone, at least for the big three (Ca, Alk, Mg). It's really comforting to at least know that the water I'm putting into my tank has been tested and is very close, if not an exact match, to the water already in the tank. I sort of avoided testing in the past, especially since the Salifert kits were really intimidating at first. I probably spend about 2 minutes doing each test after getting used to it, which means everything is tested in under 10 minutes.
Anyways, just wanted to share my findings. Hope some of you find this useful
Last edited:
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Well, looks like my 10g is about to become a 20L, courtesy of Petco's dollar per gallon tank sale (going on now til August 6th I believe).
I'm traveling for business in the next few weeks, so I may wait til I get back to change out the tank. I just want to be around in case something goes wrong. I may get impatient though, so we'll have to see.
Not much other news besides that. I found a local source for aquarium livestock and I'm getting a cleaner shrimp tonight. I'm continuing to ramp up my GFO usage as well. I started with 1 tbsp, upped it to 2 tbsp a week later, and just upped to 4 tbsp yesterday. I'm changing out every week or so until I get the phosphate problem under control. I'm still getting algae growing on my glass between weekly changes and there isn't any noticable change in the algae on the rocks, so I'm going to slowly ramp up until I get that under control.
I got a box of standard Instant Ocean (got tired of dosing newly mixed TMPR) and have found that it mixes up to very high levels (1,435 ppm Mg, 11.8 dKh, and 445 Ca). As a result, I've stopped carbon dosing and began elevating the dKh to match that so my water changes don't shock the corals.
I'm currently doing a write-up on my battery backup system and will hopefully post that in the next few days.
I'm traveling for business in the next few weeks, so I may wait til I get back to change out the tank. I just want to be around in case something goes wrong. I may get impatient though, so we'll have to see.
Not much other news besides that. I found a local source for aquarium livestock and I'm getting a cleaner shrimp tonight. I'm continuing to ramp up my GFO usage as well. I started with 1 tbsp, upped it to 2 tbsp a week later, and just upped to 4 tbsp yesterday. I'm changing out every week or so until I get the phosphate problem under control. I'm still getting algae growing on my glass between weekly changes and there isn't any noticable change in the algae on the rocks, so I'm going to slowly ramp up until I get that under control.
I got a box of standard Instant Ocean (got tired of dosing newly mixed TMPR) and have found that it mixes up to very high levels (1,435 ppm Mg, 11.8 dKh, and 445 Ca). As a result, I've stopped carbon dosing and began elevating the dKh to match that so my water changes don't shock the corals.
I'm currently doing a write-up on my battery backup system and will hopefully post that in the next few days.
StirCrayzy
Well-Known Member
How's it going? 20g conversion done?
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hey Josh, funny you should mention that, I was just writing up a post today for that! And thanks Oxy.. you had to be the voice of reason.. had one person been irresponsible and told me to go for it, I probably would have
Anyway, my 10g is now officially a 20g long! And look, no algae:
Here's one of the last FTSs I have of the 10g to illustrate the size difference we're talking about here:
The transition to the new tank took about 15 minutes and after a few days, everything seems to be doing just fine. The stand that the tank is on is actually for a 29g, and since the 29g and the 20g long have the same footprint, it's a perfect match.
I think I'm slowly winning the battle with the algae. Even before I switched tanks, I've been noticing good signs. The algae was beginning to thin even if not by a ton. My birdsnest frag was beginning to develop pointy tips as opposed to the rounded dull tips that it has had for so long, leading me to believe that it's growing once again. Similarly, my pink monti cap is beginning to develop a white ring around the edge, again leading me to believe it's growing again as well.
To get these results I've had to use a figurative ton of GFO. Before I switched to the 20g long, I was up to using 6 tbsp, 3x the BRS calculator's recommended amount for my water volume. In that small of a tank, controlling the carbonate precipitation was a bit of a challenge, but not insurmountable. I used one of my DIY dosing pumps and a DIY baking soda alkalinity solution to keep the carbonate levels up. The carbonate swing in the 20g has been a lot less severe, thankfully.
In other news, the power was out randomly at my place for over 4.5 hours on Wednesday. No wind, no rain, no storms, no nothing. My battery backup saved my bacon for sure, and this reminded me that I really need to do a write-up on it in case others are interested. Going back and looking at it, however, I had a hard time figuring out how it all works! Long story short, I got a DPDT relay which will clean up the system design quite a bit. I hope to have that installed tomorrow and get some pics soon.
Anyway, my 10g is now officially a 20g long! And look, no algae:
Here's one of the last FTSs I have of the 10g to illustrate the size difference we're talking about here:
The transition to the new tank took about 15 minutes and after a few days, everything seems to be doing just fine. The stand that the tank is on is actually for a 29g, and since the 29g and the 20g long have the same footprint, it's a perfect match.
I think I'm slowly winning the battle with the algae. Even before I switched tanks, I've been noticing good signs. The algae was beginning to thin even if not by a ton. My birdsnest frag was beginning to develop pointy tips as opposed to the rounded dull tips that it has had for so long, leading me to believe that it's growing once again. Similarly, my pink monti cap is beginning to develop a white ring around the edge, again leading me to believe it's growing again as well.
To get these results I've had to use a figurative ton of GFO. Before I switched to the 20g long, I was up to using 6 tbsp, 3x the BRS calculator's recommended amount for my water volume. In that small of a tank, controlling the carbonate precipitation was a bit of a challenge, but not insurmountable. I used one of my DIY dosing pumps and a DIY baking soda alkalinity solution to keep the carbonate levels up. The carbonate swing in the 20g has been a lot less severe, thankfully.
In other news, the power was out randomly at my place for over 4.5 hours on Wednesday. No wind, no rain, no storms, no nothing. My battery backup saved my bacon for sure, and this reminded me that I really need to do a write-up on it in case others are interested. Going back and looking at it, however, I had a hard time figuring out how it all works! Long story short, I got a DPDT relay which will clean up the system design quite a bit. I hope to have that installed tomorrow and get some pics soon.
rostervandross
Active Member
That looks great dude, I like the 20 gallon long a lot. That was my first saltwater tank myself.
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Thanks, I really like the horizontal space. Plus, the stand was designed for the 20g long footprint anyway, so it was all good.
Alrighty so it's been a while but I figured I'd give an update while I could.
All existing livestock is doing well, and the birdsnest is even showing some pretty solid growth. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to place things so for now everything is just chilling in a frag rack.
I placed a softy order from Cultivated Reef a few weeks ago and everything is doing well. Fedex royally screwed up the shipping, but everything made it okay. I got some Whammin' Watermelon zoas, some Radioactive Dragon Eyes and an orange/blue ricordea fl. I'm glad I decided to QT because I found two aiptasia on the Whammin' Watermelons. I transplanted a few of the zoas onto another frag plug and they're doing okay, but I still need to get the rest off the aiptasia rock. I'll probably do that in a few days, but I'm in no rush. I have a good QT setup and everything seems to be doing okay under the PAR38 bulb I have so I'm just letting things be for now.
I needed a stand for my QT setup, however, which prompted me to make this bad boy:
It's designed to fit a 20g long or standard 29g, but my 10g QT sits on it just fine. I've had leveling problems in the past, but this one is solid and level.
I made some not sexy, but much needed upgrades to my main tank. I replaced the Chinese Maxijett I'm using as my return pump with one of the Cobalt ones and it's so much quieter. I also replaced my DI stage on my RO/DI unit. The old one was some weird canister style that was very difficult to fill. I got the dual DI unit from BRS which are a lot easier to fill and maintain.
I've officially gone on the warpath with the nutrients in my tank. I don't have tons of algae growing on my rocks, but I have a ton growing on my glass every two to three days. I've been changing my GFO weekly for the first few weeks so that it doesnt' get saturated because of my high PO4 levels, and that's not cutting it. I was up to a cup and a half of GFO changed weekly, along with weekly 25% water changes, with no visible change in algae. I've gone to 25% water changes every three days, as well as swapping out the GFO every 3 days as well. I'm fairly certain the rock I have is the problem.. a local user has had some rock from the same place (That Fish Place) and has confirmed that this rock leaches PO4 like nobody's business. Things are getting better, as my birdsnest is showing new growth.. but it feels like something is wrong still.
I still need to swap out one relay in my battery backup system and give an overview of that. It works as is now though, so it's hard to spend the time. My next upgrade depends. I kind of want to upgrade my light (AI Sol Blue). I was thinking adding some neutral or warm white LEDs, or simply DIYing a Nanobox two-array fixture. I've been wanting a simple controller like the RKL (I need some sort of backup to my heater's internal controller). I may just forego the light and get some more corals. Who knows.
Anyway, I got this video on camera a few weeks ago, it's so funny. A piece of the rockwork broke off and they kept trying to move it, but failed.
Alrighty so it's been a while but I figured I'd give an update while I could.
All existing livestock is doing well, and the birdsnest is even showing some pretty solid growth. I'm still trying to figure out where I want to place things so for now everything is just chilling in a frag rack.
I placed a softy order from Cultivated Reef a few weeks ago and everything is doing well. Fedex royally screwed up the shipping, but everything made it okay. I got some Whammin' Watermelon zoas, some Radioactive Dragon Eyes and an orange/blue ricordea fl. I'm glad I decided to QT because I found two aiptasia on the Whammin' Watermelons. I transplanted a few of the zoas onto another frag plug and they're doing okay, but I still need to get the rest off the aiptasia rock. I'll probably do that in a few days, but I'm in no rush. I have a good QT setup and everything seems to be doing okay under the PAR38 bulb I have so I'm just letting things be for now.
I needed a stand for my QT setup, however, which prompted me to make this bad boy:
It's designed to fit a 20g long or standard 29g, but my 10g QT sits on it just fine. I've had leveling problems in the past, but this one is solid and level.
I made some not sexy, but much needed upgrades to my main tank. I replaced the Chinese Maxijett I'm using as my return pump with one of the Cobalt ones and it's so much quieter. I also replaced my DI stage on my RO/DI unit. The old one was some weird canister style that was very difficult to fill. I got the dual DI unit from BRS which are a lot easier to fill and maintain.
I've officially gone on the warpath with the nutrients in my tank. I don't have tons of algae growing on my rocks, but I have a ton growing on my glass every two to three days. I've been changing my GFO weekly for the first few weeks so that it doesnt' get saturated because of my high PO4 levels, and that's not cutting it. I was up to a cup and a half of GFO changed weekly, along with weekly 25% water changes, with no visible change in algae. I've gone to 25% water changes every three days, as well as swapping out the GFO every 3 days as well. I'm fairly certain the rock I have is the problem.. a local user has had some rock from the same place (That Fish Place) and has confirmed that this rock leaches PO4 like nobody's business. Things are getting better, as my birdsnest is showing new growth.. but it feels like something is wrong still.
I still need to swap out one relay in my battery backup system and give an overview of that. It works as is now though, so it's hard to spend the time. My next upgrade depends. I kind of want to upgrade my light (AI Sol Blue). I was thinking adding some neutral or warm white LEDs, or simply DIYing a Nanobox two-array fixture. I've been wanting a simple controller like the RKL (I need some sort of backup to my heater's internal controller). I may just forego the light and get some more corals. Who knows.
Anyway, I got this video on camera a few weeks ago, it's so funny. A piece of the rockwork broke off and they kept trying to move it, but failed.
Oxylebius
Well-Known Member
Please do elaborate on the battery backup.
There is a tank at my work (I don't maintain it or have anything to do w/ it except to try to get them to build it out to support sps that I would provide for free
) and unfortunately the power went out a couple of times this past week. The first time power went out if was for a couple of days and second time power went out it was for a full day. Suffice to say there was a lot of death (fish and mobile inverts).
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Please do elaborate on the battery backup.
There is a tank at my work (I don't maintain it or have anything to do w/ it except to try to get them to build it out to support sps that I would provide for free
Almost finished the write up now! I spent a lot of time researching this and I forgot how many nuances there are to explain, and how much knowledge I already had upon which this relied. So I'll be posting something in the DIY section either this evening or tomorrow (hopefully!).
chipmunkofdoom2
Well-Known Member
Hi there, thanks for stopping by! Sorry, it has been a while. I've been traveling for work and have been busy with other things in life. After a long application and interview process, I just received a volunteer aquarist position at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, which I'm very excited to get started.
The tank is doing well overall. I haven't added any new livestock because I've been trying to sort out my algae issue. I'm happy to say I think I almost have it beat. I've been doing a 25% water change every three days, and I've been changing the GFO every three to six days. The algae is now almost completely gone, with only a few tiny tufts remaining on the rock. I also replaced the DI resin and canisters before starting this whole procedure, which I think helped a great deal.
One big issue I had that I didn't even think about was flow through my sump. I have a simple 5g bucket sump and used a MJ1200 as a return pump. I had never really tested the flow, and did one day because I was curious. I was surprised to find out that my flowrate through the sump was only about 25 GPH, about 1x total volume. If I was shooting for 3x - 5x through the sump per hour, that's 75 - 125 GPH. So I was very low. I ordered a Jebao return pump (I know, I know..) and have dialed in the flow rate. I noticed a huge increase in the amount of junk in my filter sock (more flow through sump = more chance of detritus going down the drain). I also noticed a huge increase in the efficacy of my GFO. Just a few days after installing the pump, algae on my rocks started dying and sloughing off in huge chunks.
So overall, I think I have my algae problem about solved. I'm going to move water changes and GFO changes to once weekly and monitor the algae. In terms of next livestock, I actually still have some zoas and a ricordea sitting in QT. I need to move them to the DT, but they're happy in QT so there's no rush. I may look into getting a clam next, or maybe trying my luck with a few more montis or some cheap acros. We'll have to see what I'm feeling.
Thanks for reading, here's a FTS for your patience
The tank is doing well overall. I haven't added any new livestock because I've been trying to sort out my algae issue. I'm happy to say I think I almost have it beat. I've been doing a 25% water change every three days, and I've been changing the GFO every three to six days. The algae is now almost completely gone, with only a few tiny tufts remaining on the rock. I also replaced the DI resin and canisters before starting this whole procedure, which I think helped a great deal.
One big issue I had that I didn't even think about was flow through my sump. I have a simple 5g bucket sump and used a MJ1200 as a return pump. I had never really tested the flow, and did one day because I was curious. I was surprised to find out that my flowrate through the sump was only about 25 GPH, about 1x total volume. If I was shooting for 3x - 5x through the sump per hour, that's 75 - 125 GPH. So I was very low. I ordered a Jebao return pump (I know, I know..) and have dialed in the flow rate. I noticed a huge increase in the amount of junk in my filter sock (more flow through sump = more chance of detritus going down the drain). I also noticed a huge increase in the efficacy of my GFO. Just a few days after installing the pump, algae on my rocks started dying and sloughing off in huge chunks.
So overall, I think I have my algae problem about solved. I'm going to move water changes and GFO changes to once weekly and monitor the algae. In terms of next livestock, I actually still have some zoas and a ricordea sitting in QT. I need to move them to the DT, but they're happy in QT so there's no rush. I may look into getting a clam next, or maybe trying my luck with a few more montis or some cheap acros. We'll have to see what I'm feeling.
Thanks for reading, here's a FTS for your patience