Christmas Tragedy in My Tank
- Thread starter bluespotjawfish
- Start date
having recently culled the herd, the voices are a lot clearer. more insistant but clearer, perhaps the sharing is a good thing. I have distilled a rather large batch for Boozman, these are ageing in a lovely chanti bottle as I believe they will require an accent. Orders are being taken for the mid january decanting session. Steve
bluespotjawfish
Well-Known Member
I lost my first fish tonight. It was just too much for my Nasa. I'm surprized, he looked fine yesterday, he was eating this morning, but wouldn't eat tonight and looked very emaciated. Everyone else is eating fine still. This photo was taken just a few days ago. Miss him already! :angel1: :tears: :cry1:
AWW POOP! Lorraine I really thought you beat it, naso's can be difficult when things are off a wee bit, I really think the food we are able to provide them just barely maintains them, so first thing wrong they get messed up, you cant feel bad as it sure wasnt for lack of trying, karma for you. Steve
bluespotjawfish
Well-Known Member
Stats today:
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0.05
Nitrate = 2
Phosphate = 1-3
Anyone have any ideas on what I should do about the phosphates? Not in tap water, feeding very lightly, careful about lotions and soap on me. I use socks on the drain to the sump, I do wash those in my washer with bleach (no soap). I am running ROWphos in a Kent Marine reactor. Phosphate is the same coming out of that. Doesn't seem right.
Got the RO/DI unit setup last night! Pumping water onto my floor (I mean the container) as we speak! My doggy doesn't like the invasion of this monster in her bedroom, but she will get over it.
Ammonia = 0
Nitrite = 0.05
Nitrate = 2
Phosphate = 1-3
Anyone have any ideas on what I should do about the phosphates? Not in tap water, feeding very lightly, careful about lotions and soap on me. I use socks on the drain to the sump, I do wash those in my washer with bleach (no soap). I am running ROWphos in a Kent Marine reactor. Phosphate is the same coming out of that. Doesn't seem right.
Got the RO/DI unit setup last night! Pumping water onto my floor (I mean the container) as we speak! My doggy doesn't like the invasion of this monster in her bedroom, but she will get over it.
lcstorc
Well-Known Member
Well a water change will certainly help, but you need to find out where it is coming from. Do you have any sponges or other similar filter media in your system? If so that could be part of the problem. Rinse them well and frequently preferrably with ro water. I didn't re-read the whole thread but are you rinsing your food? Flake food in particular is high in phosphates since they use it as a preservative.
bluespotjawfish
Well-Known Member
Water Change - ha, ha, ha. I've been living in water myself. The phosphates are stuck between 1-3 with water changes, so something is there.
I am running carbon in two locations. Rinsing every few days, replacing one of the bags at a time each week. I have traditionally had high phosphates (and nitrates) in this tank that has been up for years and years, WCs have got them down to where I can even test them.
I do have a sponge prior to the portion of the sump that goes to the return flow. I just cleaned that yesterday and typically clean it every week or two. It was more gunky than normal, but I attributed that to the cycling process. There was no change in results today after it was cleaned yesterday. I will focus on cleaning that more frequently though and see if that helps.
As for food I use frozen and dried seaweed. I don't rinse it so will do that and see if that helps.
Do you think how I clean my socks is contributing to the problem? I might soak them in RO water and see if I get a phosphate reading from that. I wouldn't be surprized if there is leftover soap residue in the washer.
PS - I also have a new protein skimmer on the way. These help with phosphate control don't they?
I am running carbon in two locations. Rinsing every few days, replacing one of the bags at a time each week. I have traditionally had high phosphates (and nitrates) in this tank that has been up for years and years, WCs have got them down to where I can even test them.
I do have a sponge prior to the portion of the sump that goes to the return flow. I just cleaned that yesterday and typically clean it every week or two. It was more gunky than normal, but I attributed that to the cycling process. There was no change in results today after it was cleaned yesterday. I will focus on cleaning that more frequently though and see if that helps.
As for food I use frozen and dried seaweed. I don't rinse it so will do that and see if that helps.
Do you think how I clean my socks is contributing to the problem? I might soak them in RO water and see if I get a phosphate reading from that. I wouldn't be surprized if there is leftover soap residue in the washer.
PS - I also have a new protein skimmer on the way. These help with phosphate control don't they?
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bluespotjawfish
Well-Known Member
Soaked the socks in the RO, no phosphate here. However, add stresscoat as a dechlorinator and poof we have phosphate. Also did some adjustments to the reactor and it is coming out of the reactor at 0 now.
bluespotjawfish
Well-Known Member
Yes until today. No more need for that. We have RO/DI water now! Well, almost, I still need to get a heater in it. Water's too cold without one, so today just used it to top off the tank. My heater (and new skimmer) is supposed to arrive tomorrow.
I grabbed a test kit today for Magnesium, and it was next to nothing. I added a supplement for that and hopefully that will also help bring down my alk/calc levels to normal ranges as well.
The pump for the phosphate reacter isn't working any more, so that will have to be another project. I've now eliminated most of the phosphate source so that should be ok for now.
All this thinking makes my head hurt. Oh, and I couldn't pass up some new coral at the LFS today. Hammer, pom zenia, and mushrooms. All transferred well, now we will see which of these like my tank. Hammer corals have always done well, zenias have done very well (and very poorly), same with mushrooms. No one's been knocked of their rock yet and no one is browsing them. Wish me luck!
bluespotjawfish
Well-Known Member
Not sure what you are saying here. Just don't ask me to test my bath water! I feel like I am in school test, test, test... I hate school :verymad:
As for testing the salt mix, I've been doing that. Still trying to find a mix that is lower in alkalinity. LFS recommended a mix of IO and Oceanic (IO lower in calc but high in alk; Oceanic high in calc and low in alk). The alk in the mix today is around 10 (tank is about 15), calc is about 400 in both. (See, I am getting very lazy, pass or fail - no more A student here.) Magnesium has stayed up in the tank and SW mix is about the same.
My new refractometer is fun! Such cool toys! Still haven't opened the Skimmer Box. Glad to hear it should fit. The big staples are still scary (need big strong muscles, feel wimpy, wimpy, wimpy). No new toys at the LFS today, but of course I had to look!
Bluespot moved again today - he is in the back of the tank and I can't see him at all. I was worried he was gone, but saw him briefly peak over a rock.
So, should we close this post? How do we do that??? Just stop posting??? I have a tank journal going and will post pics along the way.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/reef-chronicles/15617-lorraines-rebuilding-125-gal-tank.html
:closed: :closed: :closed: :closed:
As for testing the salt mix, I've been doing that. Still trying to find a mix that is lower in alkalinity. LFS recommended a mix of IO and Oceanic (IO lower in calc but high in alk; Oceanic high in calc and low in alk). The alk in the mix today is around 10 (tank is about 15), calc is about 400 in both. (See, I am getting very lazy, pass or fail - no more A student here.) Magnesium has stayed up in the tank and SW mix is about the same.
My new refractometer is fun! Such cool toys! Still haven't opened the Skimmer Box. Glad to hear it should fit. The big staples are still scary (need big strong muscles, feel wimpy, wimpy, wimpy). No new toys at the LFS today, but of course I had to look!
Bluespot moved again today - he is in the back of the tank and I can't see him at all. I was worried he was gone, but saw him briefly peak over a rock.
So, should we close this post? How do we do that??? Just stop posting??? I have a tank journal going and will post pics along the way.
http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/reef-chronicles/15617-lorraines-rebuilding-125-gal-tank.html
:closed: :closed: :closed: :closed:
100!!!