Nobby's S-650

[SPR]

Question: Since I started using Red Sea Reef Energy A+B I have to clean the glass everyday, as it leaves a dusty coating on the inside. Does anyone else get this using A+B?

I get a fine white residue build up and I clean the glass every 2 days. I don't need to clean this often but it only takes a few minutes and I like it to be spotless so I can stare endlessly at it!

I don't know if this is the reef energy or not. I've just assumed it's a combination of NoPox, foundation elements etc.

 

[mr_tap_water]

I get a fine white residue build up and I clean the glass every 2 days. I don't need to clean this often but it only takes a few minutes and I like it to be spotless so I can stare endlessly at it!

I don't know if this is the reef energy or not. I've just assumed it's a combination of NoPox, foundation elements etc.

From what I remember I think The buildup of white film is to do with using The wrong amount of Nopox or insufficient skimming but don't quote me on that.


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[Nobbygas]

I am starting to despair. Just lost two Duncan frags and a euryphyllia. One minute they seem fine, then they close up and die.
I shall send off for another ICP test.

 

[SPR]

I am starting to despair. Just lost two Duncan frags and a euryphyllia. One minute they seem fine, then they close up and die.
I shall send off for another ICP test.

Sorry to hear that Nobby.

How long had you had them and what are your water parameters, and when were these last tested? Salinity, Alk phosphate etc

Do you do weekly tests yourself or just send off for test every so often ICP?

I've found corals are very sensitive and if they don't like something you will soon know. I've especially found some don't like high Alk when I was running at around 12.6 dkh

 

[Nobbygas]

Shaun, I've tried everything. All my tests look ok (Ak, mag, calc, saliity, nitrate, phos).The ICP tests are fine with the only thing showing Red is a tiny amount of Tin. A water change fixed that. The water appears fine. So it must be either flow (too much/not enough) or lights. I run the lights on the Red Sea settings, and I have had them at 20% reduction. I have been using Red Sea Reef Energy A+B plus Reef Roids at times for spot feeding. I do have one hammer and one Frogspawn that appear to be doing well.

 

[SPR]

Could well be flow - I forgot about that as well!

 

[Nobbygas]

I am trying to be careful as I don't want to make wholesale changes because then I won't know what it was that fixed it !
First off I have changed the flow. I have directed the four circulation nozzles downwards a bit to increase the flow around the bottom of the tank. This will no doubt shift some sand, but I have some bigger grain available for that.

 

[Nobbygas]

As I got out of bed this morning, I gave myself a good old slap around the head. As reefkeepers, we all tend to know when something isn't right in the tank. My corals are dying, and I'm flaffing around with the flow and lights, and in the meantime forgetting something important.
We test for this and that, and everything looks appears ok with the water, but the reality is that we actually test for very little..............and the obvious thing for me to do is complete some water changes. There is something wrong in the water. What it is, I won't know until the ICP test results come back.
So today I managed to change 50 litres. Tomorrow I'll do another 75 litres, and then another 75 on Thursday.
What on earth was I thinking about? Water changes always have been, and probably will continue to be the first port of call when any problems crop up.

 

[Nobbygas]

Hhmmm. Over the last few days I've been getting a very mild electric shock when I touched the water in the tank. First off, I didn't think this was unusual as I am the type of person who seems to be electrified! Practically every time I get out of the car I get a shock when I touch the door to close it!
Anyway, I did some investigating, and I heard a small buzzing sound coming from a plug somewhere. Before I started to dig around in the Power Centre, I thought a cup of tea was in order to prepare myself. As I was sat drinking it, there was a bit of a bang from the tank, and when I looked in the Sump, I could see the UV had stopped working. The buzzing noise had also stopped. So this morning, I disconnected the UV and took it out. I tested it, and it was as dead as a Dodo. I suppose that is what I get for buying cheap Chinese stuff !
Was it the electric current running through the tank that caused my problems? Anyone had a similar experience?

 

[Whitey1973]

When I lean over the sump changing things around and cleaning, if my forearms touch the glass edges you do feel a little bit of electricity but nothing bad, I think SPR mentioned something about it in his post earlier on


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[Nobbygas]

and in this ever changing world.....

I am going to take out my Reactor (Rowophos), and start using Red Sea NOPOX. First off, the reactor works great at reducing Phosphate. I've tested with two different kits, and I always return a reading of Zero! However, my Nitrates are creeping up. I think this is mainly due to me feeding so much, and it's easier said than done to say reduce the feeding.
It will also mean I can remove the pump that feeds the reactor. I have a six-line doser, so at the moment I have two dosers spare, so I can use one of these to dose the NOPOX.

 

[Whitey1973]

I would agree with you, why run a reactor with a phosphate remover in it when you can dose NOPOX that can remove phosphate and nitrate! Seems a waist of money to do both, I don't have any problems with nitrates at the minute so run rowaphos in a reactor connected to the spare outlet that the Cskim was on ( don't run a pump on it and it bubbles away nicely) maybe you could run a bit if carbon in your reactor instead??


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[SPR]

When I lean over the sump changing things around and cleaning, if my forearms touch the glass edges you do feel a little bit of electricity but nothing bad, I think SPR mentioned something about it in his post earlier on


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Yes I get the tingling sometimes but not all the time.

Originally it happened when I got stung on my fingers having touched a coral. Every time i stuck my hand in the tank I got the shock. But nobody else did! Being a kind husband and father I got my wife and son to test it!lol

I think it's maybe static or something I don't know but it's not often and I have the power centre into an RCD unit and also have one on the main house and neither have ever triggered.

But I'm glad to know it's not just me now!

 

[SPR]

I've run NoPox from day one and it works well with Nitrate but unfortunately I've found, as many have, that it doesn't work very well at keeping very low phosphates at around the 0.03ppm levels.

My phosphates gradually crept up and on accelerated growth they recommended around 1ppm. Around then I had a hair algea breakout, phosphate hit 1.6ppm and that was it. Rhowaphos was added and it's been around 0-0.03 on Hanna ever since.

What I would do is turn the Rowaphos off, run NoPox on its own and see how you get on and then if you need to you can just switch back on the Rowaphos if and when needed. Just make sure you test the Nitrate and phosphate levels regularly and minimum once a week.

 

[Nobbygas]

The Red Sea instructions say not to run any other Phosphate remover, so I will take it out initially, and then just monitor things.
I bought the Nopox this morning and put in my first dose today manually. Tomorrow I'll fix it up to the Doser so I can spread the load over the day.

 

[Whitey1973]

I have a question for you both, how much Red Sea alk are you dosing per day, my current drop off is about 1.2 dkh! Is this normal??


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[Nobbygas]

I don't use Red Sea Alk. For the water parameters I use Triton Core 7 Reef Supplements.
It's my attempt at avoiding water changes, and here is my reasoning.
Water changes are necessary to replace those elements that have been used up by the tank. However, how do you know how much of those elements have been used up, so how do you know how much water to change? The answer is that you don't. You only make a guess, 20%, 25%, 30%.....just how much water do you need to change to replace those elements that have been used?
So, I use Triton. We are not just talking about Mag, Calc etc, but the whole range of elements that are provided by the salt mix you use for the water change. Over the course of a year, the Triton elements probably work out cheaper than the salt you buy for the water changes, plus of course, how do you put a cost on the time?

I hate doing water changes

 

[Nobbygas]

Something unusual happened last night.
I got home from work about 10.30pm and as I always do I just opened one of the doors to check the jug from the skimmer overflow is ok. The Skimmer was bubbling away nicely, and the jug was about half-full, so I took it out, left the overflow tube just hanging and went to the kitchen to empty and wash the jug out. I was gone probably about 30 seconds, and when I returned to the tank, the Skimmer was blowing like Mount Vesuvius! The lid on the top of the NYOS was actually lifting off as the force of the bubbles pushed it up and off ! Bubbles were flowing down the outside of the Skimmer! It was going mad ! I had to quickly grab the long rear tube and turn it probably about half-way round just to bring the eruption under control !
Anyone have any ideas as to why this happened? It was obviously something to do with me opening the door, as I didn't even touch the Skimmer. Was it just the fact that fresh cooler air suddenly entered the Sump area?

 

[mr_tap_water]

It does sound like The rush of fresh air going through your air intake .
sounds like The air-quality when your cupboard is close must be quite poor.


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[Nobbygas]

It does sound like The rush of fresh air going through your air intake .
sounds like The air-quality when your cupboard is close must be quite poor.


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I'm not sure what I can do to improve it! It's a bog standard S-650!