My 220G reef build - Page 2

Raul R Badillo · 11/21/2014, 08:15 PM

Another thing. Ok so I dose ALK Calc and Mag 2 part. I am going to buy a 10G petco tank and I am going to mix Kalk in this tank only being I acquired the larger BRS dosing pump. not the normal 2 part one but the one for topping off evaporated water. Anyways, I need suggestions on where to start in terms of how much to dose and how long to run the pump. I do have 80 percent sps and its full but the corals are small colonies yet only a few months old. id say 2 or 3 inch colonies. some larger but mostly these frag like colonies. How ofter should I run the pump/doser. Its controlled by a RKE.

dave.m · 11/22/2014, 03:09 AM

You have to start with regular measurements of the water parameters daily for a week or two (and not at feeding time when you briefly change the water parameters). Do you even need to dose yet? Only when you see the measurements going down daily by a regular amount can you begin to calculate how much your tank needs. Each tank is different so there is no one pat answer for everyone.

Once you get a handle one the needs of your particular system you can begin to determine how much it will need per day and try to break that down into several doses per day so as not to shock the tank. Sudden increases are very hard on invertebrates.

Dave.M

Raul R Badillo · 11/22/2014, 01:33 PM

ok daily testing it is. Im doing a 20G a week water changes now as you are right, they more than likely are not depleting the minerals as quickly. I feed heavy as I have ALOT of tangs and they need their food. In terms of bioload I should do prolly 60G a week but nitrates are not detectable and phosphates barely detected via Hannah and manual test. I test once a month manually to make sure the Hannah is dialed in. I think I will meet in the middle and do a 40G a week change from now on. I use Reefcrystals as I get them for 30 bucks a 200G box and I cant beat that price. I really wish I could use the seachem brand called salinity as I hear its superb but my supplier doesn't get that

hlaalu · 11/22/2014, 01:46 PM

Is that a bar next to the tank? Sweet man cave!

Raul R Badillo · 06/22/2015, 06:04 PM

so my tank had been doing sooo so good since my last post. Its growing quite well and I got rid of ALOT of frogspawn. like 80 heads worth and got a nice in store credit at the LFS so I got quite a few sps frags. I lost a few as its been a couple of months but the ones that didn't cave in are beautiful and I have them on the bottom of the tank so they are so coloring up. I will post pics in a few hours. Gotta go take a few.

Raul R Badillo · 08/31/2015, 09:47 PM

A little update. I don't have pics currently but I will take some and post up. This month is my one year anniversary. No deaths, all leathers gone, no nems, no clowns, all sps and started kalk this month with no more 2 part dosing. Havent seen any cyano or anything normal I have encountered with past builds on the one year mark. My ph is a very steady 8.3 to 8.4.

once I started kalk and dumped the 2part it has lowered to a steady 7.99 to 8.1. I am currently tracking the ph via my RKE graphing/logging of the ph and tweaking the doses of kalk to keep it more stable ect. I am only dosing a minutes worth of kalk. in other words the 3 L/H brs pump runs for one minute total in 24 hours MTWTF nothing on the weekends as were home more and the kids are home so the ph fluctuates a little more

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 08:11 PM

Well this month marks my one year anniversary of my tank. WOW how time flies. I am charging the camera and I will upload some pics in about an hour. A few things I have changed, first I got rid of all but two leathers. I am 97 percent sps/lps except a green nepthia, bluish purple leather, and a rock full of pulsing xenia which I will eradicate soon.
I also stopped doing 2 part and am doing Kalk. I will use the two part once the kalk doesn't do enough. 1st as a supplemental then as time comes, a calcium reactor. My opinion of the ebay Chinese blackboxes.... I was a halide guy prior and now I will Mars Aqua everything. My sps all have grown. I will take pics so you see the distance between the water and the boxes. Its about two feet off the water. Sps on the bottom really color up!. All sps have grown and are coloring up with the additional help of nutrient control and feeding. I still roll one wp60 but might put the other one in now that my tank is growing and more flow might be demanded. The wp60 has been running NON STOP for a year in my mixing tank. No hassles. Dependable. Reliable. Satisfied customer for sure here. My reefkeeper is rocking this tank flawlessly and no issues. I hear apex this over the DA products but I believe both do the exact same thing and its like a FORD VS CHEVY debate. I have never owned a apex but im sure I will like it if I did like I like my rke. I do like the pc4 over the energybar 8 for my particular setup though. This tank is a major success in my opinion. Didn't experience any of the 1st year scenarios like cyano, tank crashes, ect. This tank makes reefing seem easy. Pics up in a hour!

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 08:42 PM

my sump room

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 08:46 PM

a few tank shots

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 08:50 PM

and more

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 08:54 PM

and more

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:02 PM

and more

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:05 PM

more

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:07 PM

lol

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:09 PM

and more

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:12 PM

more pics

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:16 PM

a lot of pics!!!!

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:18 PM

more pics

Raul R Badillo · 09/10/2015, 09:21 PM

you asked for em

okay! I just did 60 pics on this forum and on my home club forums built thread. my fingers feel great!

ace_92101 · 09/11/2015, 03:24 AM

Nice to see the SPS growth. I had a question on your skimmer. Do you have any issues having a high waterline in your sump? Thanks.

Raul R Badillo · 09/11/2015, 10:52 AM

No. The waterline is set to tje size of the baffles of the glass... i have a stand under the skimmer that sets it at 8inches of height which according to reef octo is optimmal for this skimmer. Its a xs200 before diablo came out. Psk1000 pump i believe

Raul R Badillo · 09/12/2015, 01:12 PM

im thinking of adding three more of the fixtures cause theyre cheap enough to do. 300.00 and bam. your guys thoughts?

Raul R Badillo · 09/15/2015, 05:20 PM

ok I have a issue I need advice on. I do water changes daily. For some reason I cant polish up my water. its always slightly cloudy. I don't over feed. I run carbon and gfo. Can alk calc and mag have any responsibility for this?

kegogut · 09/15/2015, 07:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raul R Badillo

ok I have a issue I need advice on. I do water changes daily. For some reason I cant polish up my water. its always slightly cloudy. I don't over feed. I run carbon and gfo. Can alk calc and mag have any responsibility for this?

How long has the tank been running? You might want to do water changes only once a week or every other.

What are your parameters? Are your No3 and Po4 high? If not you dont need to be doing water changes that often.

Raul R Badillo · 09/19/2015, 05:57 PM

tank is a year old. I replenish my water daily for mag calc and alk purposes. my No3 and No4 are not traceable. Its just kinda cloudy. if I run mad carbon it will clear up but after a week it returns to cloudy. its weird. like a girls time of the month lol. it comes and goes.

11/22/2014, 03:09 AM	#27
dave.m Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Canadia Posts: 4,276	You have to start with regular measurements of the water parameters daily for a week or two (and not at feeding time when you briefly change the water parameters). Do you even need to dose yet? Only when you see the measurements going down daily by a regular amount can you begin to calculate how much your tank needs. Each tank is different so there is no one pat answer for everyone. Once you get a handle one the needs of your particular system you can begin to determine how much it will need per day and try to break that down into several doses per day so as not to shock the tank. Sudden increases are very hard on invertebrates. Dave.M __________________ My Gawd! It's full of corals! Current Tank Info: None. Nil. Zip. Nada.

11/21/2014, 08:15 PM	#26
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	Another thing. Ok so I dose ALK Calc and Mag 2 part. I am going to buy a 10G petco tank and I am going to mix Kalk in this tank only being I acquired the larger BRS dosing pump. not the normal 2 part one but the one for topping off evaporated water. Anyways, I need suggestions on where to start in terms of how much to dose and how long to run the pump. I do have 80 percent sps and its full but the corals are small colonies yet only a few months old. id say 2 or 3 inch colonies. some larger but mostly these frag like colonies. How ofter should I run the pump/doser. Its controlled by a RKE.

11/22/2014, 01:33 PM	#28
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	ok daily testing it is. Im doing a 20G a week water changes now as you are right, they more than likely are not depleting the minerals as quickly. I feed heavy as I have ALOT of tangs and they need their food. In terms of bioload I should do prolly 60G a week but nitrates are not detectable and phosphates barely detected via Hannah and manual test. I test once a month manually to make sure the Hannah is dialed in. I think I will meet in the middle and do a 40G a week change from now on. I use Reefcrystals as I get them for 30 bucks a 200G box and I cant beat that price. I really wish I could use the seachem brand called salinity as I hear its superb but my supplier doesn't get that

11/22/2014, 01:46 PM	#29
hlaalu Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2013 Posts: 122	Is that a bar next to the tank? Sweet man cave!

06/22/2015, 06:04 PM	#30
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	so my tank had been doing sooo so good since my last post. Its growing quite well and I got rid of ALOT of frogspawn. like 80 heads worth and got a nice in store credit at the LFS so I got quite a few sps frags. I lost a few as its been a couple of months but the ones that didn't cave in are beautiful and I have them on the bottom of the tank so they are so coloring up. I will post pics in a few hours. Gotta go take a few.

08/31/2015, 09:47 PM	#31
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	A little update. I don't have pics currently but I will take some and post up. This month is my one year anniversary. No deaths, all leathers gone, no nems, no clowns, all sps and started kalk this month with no more 2 part dosing. Havent seen any cyano or anything normal I have encountered with past builds on the one year mark. My ph is a very steady 8.3 to 8.4. once I started kalk and dumped the 2part it has lowered to a steady 7.99 to 8.1. I am currently tracking the ph via my RKE graphing/logging of the ph and tweaking the doses of kalk to keep it more stable ect. I am only dosing a minutes worth of kalk. in other words the 3 L/H brs pump runs for one minute total in 24 hours MTWTF nothing on the weekends as were home more and the kids are home so the ph fluctuates a little more

09/10/2015, 08:11 PM	#32
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	Well this month marks my one year anniversary of my tank. WOW how time flies. I am charging the camera and I will upload some pics in about an hour. A few things I have changed, first I got rid of all but two leathers. I am 97 percent sps/lps except a green nepthia, bluish purple leather, and a rock full of pulsing xenia which I will eradicate soon. I also stopped doing 2 part and am doing Kalk. I will use the two part once the kalk doesn't do enough. 1st as a supplemental then as time comes, a calcium reactor. My opinion of the ebay Chinese blackboxes.... I was a halide guy prior and now I will Mars Aqua everything. My sps all have grown. I will take pics so you see the distance between the water and the boxes. Its about two feet off the water. Sps on the bottom really color up!. All sps have grown and are coloring up with the additional help of nutrient control and feeding. I still roll one wp60 but might put the other one in now that my tank is growing and more flow might be demanded. The wp60 has been running NON STOP for a year in my mixing tank. No hassles. Dependable. Reliable. Satisfied customer for sure here. My reefkeeper is rocking this tank flawlessly and no issues. I hear apex this over the DA products but I believe both do the exact same thing and its like a FORD VS CHEVY debate. I have never owned a apex but im sure I will like it if I did like I like my rke. I do like the pc4 over the energybar 8 for my particular setup though. This tank is a major success in my opinion. Didn't experience any of the 1st year scenarios like cyano, tank crashes, ect. This tank makes reefing seem easy. Pics up in a hour!

09/10/2015, 08:42 PM	#33
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	my sump room

09/10/2015, 08:46 PM	#34
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	a few tank shots

09/10/2015, 08:50 PM	#35
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	and more

09/10/2015, 08:54 PM	#36
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	and more

09/10/2015, 09:02 PM	#37
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	and more

09/10/2015, 09:05 PM	#38
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	more

09/10/2015, 09:07 PM	#39
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	lol

09/10/2015, 09:09 PM	#40
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	and more

09/10/2015, 09:12 PM	#41
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	more pics

09/10/2015, 09:16 PM	#42
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	a lot of pics!!!!

09/10/2015, 09:18 PM	#43
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	more pics

09/10/2015, 09:21 PM	#44
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	you asked for em okay! I just did 60 pics on this forum and on my home club forums built thread. my fingers feel great!

09/11/2015, 03:24 AM	#45
ace_92101 Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Cebu, Philippines Posts: 763	Nice to see the SPS growth. I had a question on your skimmer. Do you have any issues having a high waterline in your sump? Thanks.

09/11/2015, 10:52 AM	#46
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	No. The waterline is set to tje size of the baffles of the glass... i have a stand under the skimmer that sets it at 8inches of height which according to reef octo is optimmal for this skimmer. Its a xs200 before diablo came out. Psk1000 pump i believe

09/12/2015, 01:12 PM	#47
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	im thinking of adding three more of the fixtures cause theyre cheap enough to do. 300.00 and bam. your guys thoughts?

09/15/2015, 05:20 PM	#48
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	ok I have a issue I need advice on. I do water changes daily. For some reason I cant polish up my water. its always slightly cloudy. I don't over feed. I run carbon and gfo. Can alk calc and mag have any responsibility for this?

09/19/2015, 05:57 PM	#50
Raul R Badillo Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2014 Posts: 84	tank is a year old. I replenish my water daily for mag calc and alk purposes. my No3 and No4 are not traceable. Its just kinda cloudy. if I run mad carbon it will clear up but after a week it returns to cloudy. its weird. like a girls time of the month lol. it comes and goes.