Adrienne's Red Sea Max C-250

[Adrienne]

Hi Mark,

This is my salt http://www.livingreef.co.nz/p/86/saltwater-aquarium-marine-salt
On the bucket it says kH of 8 at salinity of 1.023 and temp of 23 - 25.
My salinity is 1.025. My tank sits between 26.5 - 2.75 with my chiller set to kick in at 28.
This morning I used 0.42mls of titrant to get the colour change. I don't have the instruction book so thank you for the video link. My understanding you take the reading on what you use, not what is left so that makes my kH 5.9

When I do a water change should the water I am adding the salt to be exactly the same as the tank temperature? How much does the difference in temperature change the salinity i.e. if I mix salt to the same salinity as the tank when water changing but the temp is .5 degree or 1.0 degree difference does this change the amount of salt I use and would this alter the kH?

I will phone the shop I get the salt from this morning as its not a local shop and speak to the owner and see what he says. I went with this salt as it was supposed to provide everything I needed without having to purchase additives.

I will water change again but unless theres an emergency it will not be today due to work.

 

[Mark9]

Did you get 5.9 on freshly mixed salt water or is that aquarium water?
if aquarium water, mix some new saltwater and test that before putting it into the tank.

Are you using RO/DI water?

I am not familiar with that salt mix, but it looks really really good.

I mix my salt using cold water to avoid precipitate, get the salinity close, bring the temperature up to 80 then do a final check.
Salinity does vary with temperature.

A degree difference between the new water and the aquarium should not be an issue.

What did you read when you did the test? In other words, where was the bottom of the plunger?
If it was on .42, that means you used .58 and your kh is 8.1
I'm just having a hard time believing your kh is 5.9 using that salt.

 

[Adrienne]

I've just tested on newly mixed water - the bottom of my plunger reads .56 - the titrant in the syringe (the orange stuff) is sitting on 4.8. So I have used .44 making my kH 6.2

The shop opens at 10am - 12 mins away so I will give the owner a call.

 

[Mark9]

Is your test kit expired?
I'd try another one.
6.2 for freshly mixed does not seem right.

Have you calibrated your refractometer?
You are sure your salinity is not low?

 

[Adrienne]

I had both the salinity and the kH checked at the lfs the other day. I redid my refractometer this morning before I tested tank and water. The shop salinity reading was 1.024 compared to my 1.025 - kH was comparable with mine.

 

[Adrienne]

I've just rung the shop and spoken to the owner whom I trust implicitly. He guarantees that the salt mix runs kH at 8.0

He is not familiar with the test kit but did say that no new test kits had come into the country for at least 3 months and they are not available at the wholesalers. This led me to check the expiry date on my test kit which I purchased in July to find expiry was the month of purchase - not impressed! Given the shop I purchased it from was the shop that used their test kit to test I am thinking that theirs is also expired.

Thank you for your help Mark. I am going to do nothing in the meantime until I see corralline algae starting to grow and by then I hope a new test kit shipment as come in.

 

[Pat24601]

You have things so much harder. It's expensive, but if you can get Hanna Checker they are super easy for Alkalinty.

I remember your water was always testing low for Alk even when you almost no corals...which made very little sense to me. Maybe it is the expired kit.

Unfortunately, Alk is probably the most important test I run as it's what my tank uses the most. So, getting a test that works probably is important in the long run. For now, your water changes are probably taking care of things (assuming your water is good).

 

[Mark9]

This led me to check the expiry date on my test kit which I purchased in July to find expiry was the month of purchase - not impressed! Given the shop I purchased it from was the shop that used their test kit to test I am thinking that theirs is also expired.

Has to be the test kit then, no way will the new salt have a kh of 5.9.
I suggest stopping all dosing and ignore your kh results.
Just do regular water changes until you get a new test kit.

 

[Joeys Tank]

^+1

 

[Adrienne]

I'm not going to add anything to the tank for now. I am very glad I only added carbonate 3x before mentioning it on here.
It is unknown when the kits will be available again in NZ so I will go to ebay for the Hanna meter I didn't know they Hanna Meters existed until I joined Reef Sanctuary and it seems a better way to go for the long term.
Pat - the water is good. I have an RO unit which I check the TDS readings each time I switch it on.

 

[Adrienne]

I think I'm winning the algae battle albeit slowly, I seem to be reducing the amount on the glass with careful cleaning making sure I syphon all the lose stuff coming off the glass. It still returns in a few hours but not quite as much.

My chiller has started coming on mid-afternoon and runs intermittently through the evening. At least I know all is well with the workings of it. My ATO is doing a sterling job as well

 

[Adrienne]

A few update pics. The snails are working away on the algae - I can see where they have been, just need for them to move up and to the middle of the tank. Thanks to assistance in the newbies section on here I have succeeded in sticking some of the corals on

 

[Roy Page]

Thanks to assistance in the newbies section on here I have succeeded in sticking some of the corals on

Adrienne,

I have real problems with gluing frags to my rocks having tried Superglue and Epoxy
What glue did you use?
Hey, your tank is coming on really well, the Algae will vanish eventually.

I am at Day 123 and finally the whole tank is free of Algae, even all the sand is white.
Now the next problem is, I need to prevent my, now very big, Abalone from starving

Roy

 

[Pat24601]

Not to side track Adrienne's tank thread, but I use EcoTech Marine Elements Coral Glue.

http://www.marinedepot.com/ps_viewi...tent=EM58451&gclid=CIOo-uj928ACFSgV7AodOBIAxQ

Seems to work OK. There is a trick to getting it to stick in the first place which is basically to press and twist to break the outer seal of the glue blob and then hold in place until somewhat stable.

After that it seems to hold OK. It isn't cement. I can break the coral off anytime I want to after that, but it seems to keep snails from doing the same. Which is roughly what I want for now...

Seems to work well enough.

I also use disposable gloves when using it because otherwise I would have glued my fingers to something at least once so far...

 

[Mark9]

Adrienne,
I have real problems with gluing frags to my rocks having tried Superglue and Epoxy
What glue did you use?
Roy

Roy, this is what you want to use, Super Glue Gel.
I get it from the dollar store, 2 tubes for a buck.
Buy a lot, as I generally don't re-use a tube once opened.
Like Pat said, I tend to get glue all over my fingers.
Even got it in my mouth once, nasty.
Same stuff as reef glue, Cyanoacrylate, but way cheaper.
I've been gluing my frags to smallish rocks that I can easily place.

 

[neildradford]

Looking good Adrienne, love the corals. Interesting comments here re: sticking/glueing. I have two lots of putty stuff and the Ecotech glue Pat mentioned, yet to try the glue, but I found the putty to be a nightmare. Glad you had success Adrienne.

 

[zigman]

Did your C250 have holes in the back of the cabinet on both sides? Mine only has it on the Left side, which is occupied by my chiller. I want to add an ATO but guess I will be drilling and sawing to get access thru the other side

 

[neildradford]

Just use a hole saw zigman, that's what I did.

 

[Adrienne]

Roy - I used superglue gel with cyanocrylate - can only get the single tubes here - about $6 per tube. It doesn't seem to go far but if I put less on my fingers and more on the corals I am sure it will. For one of the corals I glued the frag to the putty and then the putty to the rock. For the other I just glued the frag straight on to the rock. I have since done a couple more and they are holding fine.

Zigman, my C-250 only has the one hole and I followed neildradfords lead and used a hole saw to drill the right. I did contact Red Sea about the fact that some have two and others only one. Their feedback was that the new backs only have the one but on reflection they will be reviewing this. I suspect they will go back to the two.

 

[zigman]

Thanks Adrienne and Neil! I am new this forum but went back and saw you two discussed this earlier, so thanks for being patient with me - I will go with your advice and use a 2" hole saw and just try to vacuum up the dust afterwards.
I must say Adrienne you seem to be moving right along adding stuff to your tank. I am doing this with my 15 yr old daughter as her personal project for school, and so we are trying to move slow and sure to make few mistakes. Looks like you added coral to your tank before adding any fish - I was thinking the other way around. Any thoughts?