My Glassboxreef

[biecacka]

OK. That makes sense. The epoxy can cause STN to the frags in my experience. I wasn't sure if you had a secret.

Corey


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[Pife]

I tested yesterday and my cleaning or new fuge light has had an impact on my nutrients. I'm at 0 phosphates again. Tested twice with hanna ulr. I even used new cuvettes. I'm Still around 10 on the nitrates. I have been backing off on the carbon dosing and nitrates are staying stable so I'm excited to see something is working. I dosed a small amount of iron yesterday to see if it helped my cheato growth at all.

I have been trying to find a phosphate heavy food to use over dosing straight po4. Anyone have any suggestions?

[Ucantwin]

Nori has lots of phosphates. How about reef roids? I see a tiny bit of cyano on your sand. With the cyano do you think it's just using your phosphates?

[Pife]

Originally Posted by Ucantwin

Nori has lots of phosphates. How about reef roids? I see a tiny bit of cyano on your sand. With the cyano do you think it's just using your phosphates?

I put some Nori in. Good thinking. I do feed reef roids already. I don't think it's using up all the phosphates. I have 30ish fish and feed 10 times a day between the two tanks. I've always had lower po4 and high nitrates.

[DiscusHeckel]

Originally Posted by Pife

I tested yesterday and my cleaning or new fuge light has had an impact on my nutrients. I'm at 0 phosphates again. Tested twice with hanna ulr. I even used new cuvettes. I'm Still around 10 on the nitrates. I have been backing off on the carbon dosing and nitrates are staying stable so I'm excited to see something is working. I dosed a small amount of iron yesterday to see if it helped my cheato growth at all.

I have been trying to find a phosphate heavy food to use over dosing straight po4. Anyone have any suggestions?

If I am not mistaken, the Hanna ulr kit is known to have an error margin of +/- 0.03 ppm. I personally do not think that you have zero phosphates. I would double check your readings against a calibration solution or retest with Elos High Resolution.

[Ucantwin]

What makes you believe he does not have 0 phosphate?

[reefmutt]

With 300 ml vinegar going in, you could be po4 limited..
If my memory serves, Bulent I think the Hanna has +/- .04 margin of error..
But the tank could still be 0..
I am a huge fan of the Elos high resolution po4 test kit.. comparing against it is an excellent idea..
With the cheato on line and the rdsb maturing, it may be tough to decipher upcoming nutrient readings..
Brandon, if I were in your shoes, I’d slowly and incrementally reduce vinegar over a long period of time until I registered some po4.. it’s entirely possible that n won’t change much..
I’m very curious to see how things progress..

[Pife]

Originally Posted by DiscusHeckel

If I am not mistaken, the Hanna ulr kit is known to have an error margin of +/- 0.03 ppm. I personally do not think that you have zero phosphates. I would double check your readings against a calibration solution or retest with Elos High Resolution.

For now I'm happy with the reading as everything in the tank looks better than the last several months. I will continue to monitor and cross reference it with my salifert test.

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[Pife]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

With 300 ml vinegar going in, you could be po4 limited..
If my memory serves, Bulent I think the Hanna has +/- .04 margin of error..
But the tank could still be 0..
I am a huge fan of the Elos high resolution po4 test kit.. comparing against it is an excellent idea..
With the cheato on line and the rdsb maturing, it may be tough to decipher upcoming nutrient readings..
Brandon, if I were in your shoes, I’d slowly and incrementally reduce vinegar over a long period of time until I registered some po4.. it’s entirely possible that n won’t change much..
I’m very curious to see how things progress..

I'm around 115 ml a day which isn't bad in my opinion on a 300 plus gallon system. I have been lowering it slowly while watching my skimmate and tests. I still do not have the rdsb online. I need more sand to do what I have planned.


I have done it again and purchased a new fish. It's difficult for me not to get wrasse I haven't seen before that are colorful and reef safe. I know the picture could be better but he isn't the easiest to photograph.

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[Wrangy]

ooooohhhhhh he's pretty

[Pife]

Originally Posted by Wrangy

ooooohhhhhh he's pretty

Poor guy only lasted a couple days. Found dead this morning.

I did get some pictures today. Mostly fish pictures.



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[reefmutt]

Nice!

[Pife]

I have some cyanobacteria setting in and I had an odd branch on a prostata rtn. Some testing is in order tomorrow.

FTS Friday



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[Nanook]

Nice fish tank

I suspect you’re over on fishload for a newer tank and light on corals, causing a losing battle of nutrient imbalance. Fill that baby in with corals!

[plyle02]

Hi Brandon,
From the appearance of the tank, with cyano looming, I agree to back off C-source dosing, at least until balance is achieved from a nutrient standpoint. Installation of bio media may benefit, as you seem limited with rock, not a bad thing, I love your scape! This may create more surface area for bacteria to home. Cheers

[Pife]

Originally Posted by plyle02

Hi Brandon,
From the appearance of the tank, with cyano looming, I agree to back off C-source dosing, at least until balance is achieved from a nutrient standpoint. Installation of bio media may benefit, as you seem limited with rock, not a bad thing, I love your scape! This may create more surface area for bacteria to home. Cheers

How much bio media do you think I need?

[Pife]

Originally Posted by Nanook

Nice fish tank

I suspect you’re over on fishload for a newer tank and light on corals, causing a losing battle of nutrient imbalance. Fill that baby in with corals!

Very well could be. The system is several years old though but you know that. I lost 4 out of every five corals I owned earlier this year so it is pretty barren. There are around 30 frags in the tank.

I had a friend stop by yesterday and drop off some more cheato so hopefully it can get established better. It hasn't been dying with my new light source like it used to but it is getting coated with green hair algae. Hopefully this will balance out my nutrients.

I also picked up a over a dozen new sps from a couple of local people. Some were not in to good of shape so let's hope I can get them back healthy.

[Nanook]

It’s tough figuring these things out. Look at copps tank loaded with fish, but everything else too, tons of big healthy corals. I think chaeto growth would help immensely if you had enough. It’s the imbalance between N and P thing causing the Cyanobacteria and I think Perry nailed it with C dosing reduction. How many total gallons of water in your system and how many pounds of rock and other biomedia?

[Pife]

Originally Posted by Nanook

It’s tough figuring these things out. Look at copps tank loaded with fish, but everything else too, tons of big healthy corals. I think chaeto growth would help immensely if you had enough. It’s the imbalance between N and P thing causing the Cyanobacteria and I think Perry nailed it with C dosing reduction. How many total gallons of water in your system and how many pounds of rock and other biomedia?

350 gallons and 600 lbs of rock 25l of matrix and 15l of siporax, and one marine pure block.

Hopefully if this week goes well l have a 20g remote deep sand bed based on Anthony caflos design. http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...hreadid=595109

[reefmutt]

On many occasions I have watched systems using cheato- my own included- have cyano break out and immediately have the cheato decline. After treating for cyano with one of the proven products on the market, the cheato rebounds nicely and begins to control nutrients again.
I think cyano is a strong competitor for the same nutrients and elements that cheato uses...
and I have to say, I have really never seen ill effects from using a cyano killing product..

[plyle02]

Originally Posted by Pife

How much bio media do you think I need?

Hey man,
Think of it like adding several pounds of live rock, or seeded rock, and allowing the surface area to benefit you in terms of biological capacity. In short, there really is no specific amount of media to add, as it just expands the surface area, however too much might make the tank too efficient.(euro standard 1-2 liters media per 100 liters system water) Take these medias, shrink them down, as they are far more porous thank rock, it is essentially accomplishing the same thing. In the past, we loaded our tanks with rock, and I mean lots of rock, some also used a DSB, and along side Berlin method, these type of tanks ran very well. Fast forward.... Today, many like the appearance of little rock, and lots of fish. IMO, biological media helps to give you the same advantage in terms of biological capacity and balance. I agree too with statements Matt made regarding chaeto efficiency. Also, have seen systems where chaeto is used ahead of skimmer, to me this is counter productive, as it clogs with debris and detritus, whereas the skimmer is designed for that removal. Then, if installed after the skimmer, the chaeto further breaks down nutrients and polishes the water. Just my thoughts, not sure how your are employing chaeto, but thought worth mentioning I see no harm in using biological media and chaeto, however, at some point I think the nutrients will not allow for sustainable growth of algaes, that is the idea in the aquarium, lol Cheers

[Pife]

Originally Posted by plyle02

Hey man,
Think of it like adding several pounds of live rock, or seeded rock, and allowing the surface area to benefit you in terms of biological capacity. In short, there really is no specific amount of media to add, as it just expands the surface area, however too much might make the tank too efficient.(euro standard 1-2 liters media per 100 liters system water) Take these medias, shrink them down, as they are far more porous thank rock, it is essentially accomplishing the same thing. In the past, we loaded our tanks with rock, and I mean lots of rock, some also used a DSB, and along side Berlin method, these type of tanks ran very well. Fast forward.... Today, many like the appearance of little rock, and lots of fish. IMO, biological media helps to give you the same advantage in terms of biological capacity and balance. I agree too with statements Matt made regarding chaeto efficiency. Also, have seen systems where chaeto is used ahead of skimmer, to me this is counter productive, as it clogs with debris and detritus, whereas the skimmer is designed for that removal. Then, if installed after the skimmer, the chaeto further breaks down nutrients and polishes the water. Just my thoughts, not sure how your are employing chaeto, but thought worth mentioning I see no harm in using biological media and chaeto, however, at some point I think the nutrients will not allow for sustainable growth of algaes, that is the idea in the aquarium, lol Cheers

So I have 350 gallons of water and 600 lbs of rock 25l of matrix and 15l of siporax, and one marine pure block. I thought I had enough but maybe I don't? I do run my cheato after my skimmer in its on little area.

My system has worked well in the past I just had major coral die off in December because of my apex programming. I've always had an issue with higher nitrates and low po4 since the beginning.

[Pife]

Originally Posted by reefmutt

On many occasions I have watched systems using cheato- my own included- have cyano break out and immediately have the cheato decline. After treating for cyano with one of the proven products on the market, the cheato rebounds nicely and begins to control nutrients again.
I think cyano is a strong competitor for the same nutrients and elements that cheato uses...
and I have to say, I have really never seen ill effects from using a cyano killing product..

I have ordered chemi clean and am planning on using it later this week. I have already filled a reactor with carbon to run after its use. A water change will be ready and waiting too.

[cFloor]

Tank is looking good! Those fish pics are awesome

[plyle02]

Originally Posted by Pife

So I have 350 gallons of water and 600 lbs of rock 25l of matrix and 15l of siporax, and one marine pure block. I thought I had enough but maybe I don't? I do run my cheato after my skimmer in its on little area.

My system has worked well in the past I just had major coral die off in December because of my apex programming. I've always had an issue with higher nitrates and low po4 since the beginning.

Well that is a lot of biological capacity, sorry Brandon, did not know the full grasp of your system. Perhaps bacteria additions would help bring balance, I have been a big user of many c-source programs, most successfully when doing both bacteria and carbon source. Just a thought, I love the scape, the system is beautiful, and your corals are beginning to take off. Your fish collection also is stellar! I suspect that things are going to take off, great job, and look forward to your progression