Big Al's "Mountain Reef"
- Thread starter BigAl07
- Start date
Glad you caught it before somthing bad happened. Love my MP10
I can appericate that Allen ! Running stock you should have happy fish & corals !
Hi Al
I am a couple of pages late with this question, but is adding water to your tank directly from your RO/DI and then mixing the salt in the tank, the best method? I am using "dead" rock and sand also on my 150. I am planning on using two 40 gallon holding tanks, one for fresh RO/DI water and one for mixed salt water, when my settup is finished, but they have been back ordered for weeks, and I am anxious to get water in my tank.
I think I am already doing an even slower build than your "BigAl's Slow 90". I guess that is not necessarily a bad thing. But if your able to tear down a tank and start a new one before I can get mine going, I think I'll have you beat for slooooooooooooooooooooooooow. :rollingey
I am a couple of pages late with this question, but is adding water to your tank directly from your RO/DI and then mixing the salt in the tank, the best method? I am using "dead" rock and sand also on my 150. I am planning on using two 40 gallon holding tanks, one for fresh RO/DI water and one for mixed salt water, when my settup is finished, but they have been back ordered for weeks, and I am anxious to get water in my tank.
I think I am already doing an even slower build than your "BigAl's Slow 90". I guess that is not necessarily a bad thing. But if your able to tear down a tank and start a new one before I can get mine going, I think I'll have you beat for slooooooooooooooooooooooooow. :rollingey
:LOL: Slow is a PLUS in this hobby so you're doing GREAT!!
Is mixing IN the tank the best method? I don't know about BEST but it's worked for me many times on a NEW set-up with "Dead/Base" rock. I add RO/DI directly to the tank and bring it up to "Operating Temp" and start adding NaCL to the mix. Since nothing in the tank is "Alive" so the freshwater bath wont harm anything.
Now once you have LIVE anything in the tank never EVER add SALT directly to the tank for any reason. All water much be up to temp, up to SG and be as close as possible to the tank water to avoid SHOCK to the inhabitants.
Is mixing IN the tank the best method? I don't know about BEST but it's worked for me many times on a NEW set-up with "Dead/Base" rock. I add RO/DI directly to the tank and bring it up to "Operating Temp" and start adding NaCL to the mix. Since nothing in the tank is "Alive" so the freshwater bath wont harm anything.
Now once you have LIVE anything in the tank never EVER add SALT directly to the tank for any reason. All water much be up to temp, up to SG and be as close as possible to the tank water to avoid SHOCK to the inhabitants.
I think quite a few of us have mixed our initial SW in the tank, by filling the bare tank with RO/DI, putting the circ pumps and heater on, and slowly adding the salt a cup at a time till we got the salinity adjusted. After aging it at least a day we then later added our rock and substrate. As Al said this is the only time dry salt should ever be added to a tank. Otherwise, any undissolved salt crystals that could drop onto life forms (corals, etc.) would kill or injure them.
Thanks Al & Terry for the salt mixing info
Al
I just got my second order of rocks from reefcleaners. It looks much like yours. The first 50 pounds I ordered from them was perfectly white. The second 100 pounds has the yellow/brown coloring on it. That coloring isnt "dead" stuff we have to clean off or "cure" is it?
Al
I just got my second order of rocks from reefcleaners. It looks much like yours. The first 50 pounds I ordered from them was perfectly white. The second 100 pounds has the yellow/brown coloring on it. That coloring isnt "dead" stuff we have to clean off or "cure" is it?
I got all my "wanted" coral moved over to this tank late Friday night. Whew what an ordeal.
I tested and all the water tests are "Decent" and the big ones "Temp, SG, Ph" were pretty much identical to the 90g they were coming from. Something was NOT right because within an hour every coral was "sliming" like crazy. My entire tank looked like it was covered in spider webs. As of this afternoon all SPS are pretty much WHITE and the majority of my LPS are skeleton only. Oh well . . . .
I also moved over my original clown (4 years old as of 1/1/2011), Bangai Cardinal, 6-line wrasse and my Purple Reef Lobster. As of this afternoon the lobster is a GONER but everyone else appears normal and healthy.
I tested and all the water tests are "Decent" and the big ones "Temp, SG, Ph" were pretty much identical to the 90g they were coming from. Something was NOT right because within an hour every coral was "sliming" like crazy. My entire tank looked like it was covered in spider webs. As of this afternoon all SPS are pretty much WHITE and the majority of my LPS are skeleton only. Oh well . . . .
I also moved over my original clown (4 years old as of 1/1/2011), Bangai Cardinal, 6-line wrasse and my Purple Reef Lobster. As of this afternoon the lobster is a GONER but everyone else appears normal and healthy.
jedi82knight
Member
Eeek! Sorry to hear that. Hopefully everything will pull through
Really saddened to hear about the corals and lobster 
I'm just guessing that the sliming by the corals released toxins that affected each other. I've often seen sliming when adding new corals or moving them (I'm sure you have too). I still remember when I pulled off a large portion of a colony of palys I didn't like - they released a milky white substance that had the water cloudy. A day later all of my corals were severely and negatively affected, with the SPS affected the worst. It took weeks for some of the worst affected to get healthy, and I lost a few things. Hopefully a lot if not all of your stuff will recover.
I'm just guessing that the sliming by the corals released toxins that affected each other. I've often seen sliming when adding new corals or moving them (I'm sure you have too). I still remember when I pulled off a large portion of a colony of palys I didn't like - they released a milky white substance that had the water cloudy. A day later all of my corals were severely and negatively affected, with the SPS affected the worst. It took weeks for some of the worst affected to get healthy, and I lost a few things. Hopefully a lot if not all of your stuff will recover.
Rhodes19
Active Member
Ok I'm on a roll tonight LOL! I had a heck of a time getting the correct parts to be able to hook up my RO/DI to the bathroom sink. 3 trips to the Big Blue Box store and $24 and I have "Robo-Sink"
Way Cool!! An RO/DI toilet. How many gallons does it hold?
Sorry, I couldn't resist.
It looks like you're off to a good start.
Hope they pull through Allen !