Courtney's Red Sea Reefer 350

Courtney

Courtney

Well-Known Member
Glenn is you water level in the main tank an 1 1/2 inches below the inner rim of the tank?
The salt level in my tank is always 1.020 i mix my salt up to 1.025 but the salt level in the tank stays the same is there anyway i can increase it?
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

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RS STAFF
The gate level is key... because you want the water level in the back "correct" for proper skimming, where I have my gate set, in the main/display tank, my water level when I do water changes or I top off, just touches the bottom of the black rim - but this is all relative to your gate height on the RSM 250s

You want your water at 1.025 - 1.026 I would suggest start topping off with sw until you get it there, then go back to ro/di you could also do water changes at 1.028, this would help, you are using a refractometer, correct?
 
Courtney

Courtney

Well-Known Member
yes i am using a refractometer.
I have just moved the gate down to where your is in your pic and the skimmer went crazy and filled up with water in a matter of seconds
so i dialed the neck and air flow and it calmed down so i think i will raise the gate a little bit but im still getting loads of micro bubbles and im stumped on where they are coming from.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

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RS STAFF
When your move the gate down... you cause the back water level to raise, so you will have to add... quite a bit of new sw - a guess would be several gallons. Also you will have to play with the neck height (raise it) & the air flow... will take some tuning & lots of small adjustment over a couple of days, the setup I have wet skims & you will have to topoff more & empty the skimmer cup, but it will pull out more stinky gunk.
 
Courtney

Courtney

Well-Known Member
There seems to micro bubbles coming from the chamber where the CPE and Purigen bags are and there seems to be load of bubbles in the black sponge do you think i should remove it?
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

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RS STAFF
you could give it a try...

"most" microbubbles, are related to water levels & flow... being you have adjusted your gate height, check your water level window (back left) & add sw until you get it up to mark 10 or 11, is what I would try 1st.
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

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RS STAFF
remember topoff is do/di water... as evaporation has left the salt in the tank, where as water level adjustments need to be made with sw.

except where you are trying to raise your salinity, then topoff with sw & test
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
that sounds about right, even 1/8" difference in gate heights will effect this quite a bit... a very small change like 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 - 6 mm) will change it... why you have to play with it a bit - you will get it sorted !
 
Courtney

Courtney

Well-Known Member
sorry to keep bugging you what level should my PH be at as my proflux is reading 7.6 - 7.7 and the my RSM test kit is giving me a colour that isn't on the test chart.
In the photo the colour in the tube look more purple but it is a blueish colour.

10.JPG
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

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PREMIUM
Hi Courtney. Have you calibrated the Profilux pH probe? if you have any of the pH buffer solutions you might try rinsing the probe in some RO/DI water and taking a reading in one of the pH calibration solutions.

On the solution test, they can be very tricky. Here's an old post of mine explaining why:

Reefmack said:
Ok - you asked for it alphasierra. It's a bit difficult to really explain without being able to show spectral curves, etc., but here goes........

I'll rely on 30+ years of managing a chemical technical service lab that was involved to the greatest extent with color matching - coming up with a dye/pigment formula that would match a colored sample sent in by a customer that they wanted to duplicate. I'll try to be as non-technical as possible.

The reason that it can be difficult to get an accurate test result is due to a term in the color industry called metamerism. Metamerism is when you get two colors that match under one light source, but do not match under a different light source. Common light souces for us are Daylight, Incandescent (typical light bulb), and Fluorescent. Each of these light sources has a different energy spectrum. For instance, a common incandescent light bulb actually has most of the energy it emits in the red region of the visible light spectrum. Hard to beieve but true - it also emits no UV (blacklight) energy. Daylight is very high in UV energy, and fluorescent lights have varying amounts of UV energy, depending on the type of fluorescent bulb.

When matching a color, and wanting to get a non-metameric match (a match under all light sources) it is almost necessary to be able to use the same dyes or pigments that were used in the standard color that is being matched. Often this isn't possible and we end up with a non-metameric match - one that looks good in daylight perhaps, but doesn't even look close to the standard color under incandescent lighting or under fluorescent lighting.

An example would be shopping for clothes - you pick out two things that look like the colors match in the store, but later find that the colors don't go together very well when you wear the clothes outside under daylight. This is due to the different pieces of those clothes being dyed with different dyes, and each dye has it's own specific spectrum of what colors it will absorb from the light source, and which colors it reflects back to your eyes. Add in the differences of light energies emitted by various light sources, and it complicates the matter further.

On to the color matching type tests used for our water parameters........

For those tests that rely on using a supplied printed color card to compare your colored test solution against, you'll find that your test result can vary if you look at the colors under an incandescent light, then walk over next to a window with daylight.

As an example, I've seen quite a difference in pH test results when comparing the color of my test result solution versus the colors on the printed card, just by taking my card and test result from under my kitchen incandescent lights over to the patio door and viewing under daylight. This is due to the colors on the little card being printed with insoluble colored pigments, and the color in your test solution being a color more closely related to that of a water soluble dye.

In the industry that I work in it is just about impossible to get a non-metameric color match if your color standard was made with colored pigments, and the only choice you have to match that color is water soluble dyes. We'd end up with a color match that might look good under daylight, but not match at all under incandescent or fluorescent lighting. Same problem when using the tests that come with the printed color cards.

I don't know the answer. I guess it depends on the lighting conditions under which the test manufacturer developed his test. Most, if not all, don't tell you under what type of lighting the card and your sample should be viewed. It's the reason I went with a pH meter and got rid of the color card/solution type of test.

Tests using a titration and a color change of the solution aren't affected by this problem (such as most Ca and Alk tests). It's the tests that rely on you to compare a colored solution against a printed card that are affected by this problem.

Should I add in the problem that as we age most of us get what's commonly called "red eye" and we don't see colors the same as a younger person does?
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[/QUOTE]

Maybe try reading the test under a different type of light to see if the result is closer to anything on the card.
 
Courtney

Courtney

Well-Known Member
well I have just calibrated my PH probe and it is still giving me the same reading and i did check the RSM kit reading under different types of lights. I have this stuff that came with the RSM 250 starter kit it is called Coral Buff and it maintains a high buffer capacity & stable PH in reef aquariums. would this be alright to raise the PH level?
Also should i add some Nitro Bac to help lower the nitrite levels and any ammonia left in the tank?
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
I guess the Profilux is correct. You could try adding the Coral Buff - it should hopefully raise the pH up and alkalinity. Don't add too much at one time. It's always recommeded to raise pH by no more than 0.1 - 0.2 at any one time. A lot of alkalinity additives raise pH, with most saying they won't raise it more than 8.3. I can't remember if the Coral Buff does that or not - some alk additives raise alk without affecting pH, so monitor what it does to pH after a dose.
 
Courtney

Courtney

Well-Known Member
No i haven't ever tested my Alkalinity before and i cant test Ca as my RSM kit doest have that test
should i test it and post the results and you can tell me if it is ok or not as this is the sort of stuff im still learning?

Also what you guys think about adding some Nitro Bac to help lower the nitrite levels and any ammonia left in the tank?
 
Reefmack

Reefmack

NaClH2O Addicted
PREMIUM
Good point Glenn. I ran at 7.8 in the mornings for a long time with no ill affects on life in the tank.

Courtney - you should have good Ca, Alk, and Mg tests - they'll be needed in the future when you have a lot of corals. Those 3 are closely related to each other. If Ca is too high it can lower pH, and vice versa. Mg is also important for Corals, and to help keep Ca & Alk where they should be. After a cycle is done, and life starts getting added those (especially Ca & Alk) are very important.

High CO2 (carbon dioxide) levels in the house can also drop pH. That's my problem - my house is closed up most of the summer & winter and CO2 levels rise inside as I don't get a lot of fresh air in the house. Some people run their skimmer airline to the outside to get pH up, but that's not always possible or practical. I run a little CO2 scrubber cartridge attached to my skimmer, and that has gotten my pH up a little bit, plus I dose a buffer that raises pH. I'm only telling you this as it's another cause of low pH. Get some good kits at least for Ca and Alk, and that may tell the story as to why your pH is low. The Alk kit that comes with the RSM kit is a poor one - API or Salifert are good kits. And the newly released Red Sea Pro test kits are also good (the older Red Sea tests are lousy).
 
nanoreefing4fun

nanoreefing4fun

Well-Known Member
RS STAFF
Also what you guys think about adding some Nitro Bac to help lower the nitrite levels and any ammonia left in the tank?
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I wouldn't... now that your tank has fish & your are running cpe... I would try not to dose anything, water changes should take care of the rest...

you should have good Ca, Alk, and Mg tests - they'll be needed in the future when you have a lot of corals.
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+1 ^ as you add lots of corals... down the road... maybe a 2-part solution

imo - dosing can hurt as much as it helps, very easy to overdose or mess up ... a good salt & water changes will supply most all your needs...
 
Courtney

Courtney

Well-Known Member
well if i have done this alkalinity pro test correctly i have an alkalinity reading of 16.0 meq/l.

So at the minute i shouldn't add anything to the tank apart from salt water to let the tank to its own thing until its mature?
 
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