No sand or sand bed

[TYC]

Originally Posted by paulojbsilva

I'm just a little uncertain about lights of for a bigger period of time because of the xenia...would hate to loose the one and only coral of the tank and the one that endured such privations trough time. I've thought about calling it Chuck Norris or something like that


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Xenia is like Dandelion, grows like weed and hard to kill. They are very hardy and in fact can spread quickly to take over the tank. None of my corals were affected when I left light off for a week, however the tank was in the dining room close to a window so was getting some indirect day light and not in complete darkness like in a basement. Ur Xenia should be fine, if u start noticing it being affected u can always turn light back on but for short duration (few hrs) and not 8-10 hrs/day

[TYC]

Originally Posted by paulojbsilva

Water change day and testing time...
Last tests where 3 days after wc, and today before the wc. The alkalinity dropped a lot. Is this normal in a tank with just a Xenia? Where is the alkalinity going. Could it be the Calcium pushing down the alk? I do not dose anything. I'm just guessing until I get a Calcium and pH test.
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is the test result before or after WC?... if after u may want to do another WC (40-50%) to bring NO3 down. Salinity is a bit high, I like to keep mine at 1.025. Temp is high too, I keep my tank at 25C.

what was Alk level previously? It means ur tank is using Alk and Yes if ur Calc level went up then Alk would go down as they interact with each other and vice versa (if Alk goes up, then Calc goes down) Bc they interact together, 2-part dosing of Alk & Calc should be done in equal parts. There's a never ending debate about this and people will argue this is not necessary, however I subscribe to this as do the manufacturers of 2-part dosing. So when people dose more Alk than Calc to bring Alk higher, it just ends up throwing the tank water more out of balance.

Everything in your tank uses calcium/alkalinity (calcium carbonate) in balance. It doesn’t matter if it’s being consumed by coralline algae, growing snails, growing SPS/LPS, or white deposits on your heater and water pumps. it is all one part calcium and one part carbon.

This is what I do to determine how much to dose 2-part; I measure a newly mixed batch of seawater's Alk & Calc readings, which becomes my target levels. Measure ur existing tank (that's full of coral n fish) water levels, the difference in Alk & Calc readings between newly mixed batch of seawater and ur existing tank water is the amount of Alk & Calc u will need to replenish via 2-part dosing.

Please read this very good article about 2-part dosing by Joe Jaworski https://joejaworski.wordpress.com/20...art-additives/

Dosing should start after ur tank has established itself and been running well for a month or so and not while it's still cycling or settling in.

Also, u can get a lot of info about coral requirements from Live Aquaria

[paulojbsilva]

Originally Posted by TYC

Xenia is like Dandelion, grows like weed and hard to kill. They are very hardy and in fact can spread quickly to take over the tank. None of my corals were affected when I left light off for a week, however the tank was in the dining room close to a window so was getting some indirect day light and not in complete darkness like in a basement. Ur Xenia should be fine, if u start noticing it being affected u can always turn light back on but for short duration (few hrs) and not 8-10 hrs/day

My tank is not near a window but since my living room is open to the kitchen, it receives some fair amount of light...maybe I'll kill the lights for a few days.


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[paulojbsilva]

Hi. Do you guys have ZeoBac there? It's a little cheaper than prodibio, and since its with a drop counter not a vial, I can dose more accurately. Have you heard of it?



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[paulojbsilva]

Ok, something is messing my alk...definitely need more tests, but since the nitrates are still high, I'm making another wc tomorrow. Maybe test the ro/di + salt mix to know exactly what I'm putting in the tank.
Definitely need to get resins and some batch of bacteria. Nitrates doesn't get lower with wc...



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[TYC]

Originally Posted by paulojbsilva

Ok, something is messing my alk...definitely need more tests, but since the nitrates are still high, I'm making another wc tomorrow. Maybe test the ro/di + salt mix to know exactly what I'm putting in the tank.
Definitely need to get resins and some batch of bacteria. Nitrates doesn't get lower with wc...

have u tested freshly made saltwater & compared to existing tank levels to ensure ur test kit is not contaminated... Before doing another WC, I'd ck and test freshly made saltwater to confirm ur test kit is working properly.

[paulojbsilva]

Originally Posted by TYC

have u tested freshly made saltwater & compared to existing tank levels to ensure ur test kit is not contaminated... Before doing another WC, I'd ck and test freshly made saltwater to confirm ur test kit is working properly.

I'm starting to suspect that too...tomorrow I'll do just that. Seems very strange that the nitrates didn't lowered at all but the phosphates got zeroed and the alkalinity dropped. Something is really wrong.


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[paulojbsilva]

New theories developing. My rodi water if fine, and saltwater batch is ok. TDS are rising a little bit but still fine. On today's wc the tests indicated the phosphates near 0, but nitrates steady on 25 (maybe a little bit under). On the other hand GHA is slowly disappearing and dying. Cyano also receding. Watching BRS tv today, I realized of something that never occurred me. Dying algae is biological material that will decompose as any other, and probably induce the increase in nitrates I'm getting. Hopefully that's it.
This week I'll get that TLF reactor and get carbon and GFO. I'll bet on those two with consistent and more regular wc to reduce and maintain the levels in place. Also planning to try kalk on reposition water to reach higher values of alk. Let's see how it goes. If I can add the ZeoBac or Prodibio, I'll also do that.


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[paulojbsilva]

Ok, so the guy selling the reactor didn't responded the messages even after we arranged a day to meet. Result? I built a reactor. Not the prettiest too, but...will work for now. Just need to get some sponges to hold things in place!

Oh, and it's enormous!


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[paulojbsilva]

Update: running Seachem Matrix Carbon and dripping Kalkwasser. WC once a week. Will do more test tomorrow to see if the carbon is in fact as good as they say it is.


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[paulojbsilva]

Oh, and I was a little sad because I thought my fighting conch was dead, but last 2 days it came out from nowhere along with another ceryth. Perhaps the tank chemistry is starting to get stable.


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[paulojbsilva]

Today's update scared me a little bit. Nitrates rised to 30 and phosphates to 0,3...also Alk got to 10,8dkh and pH is on 7,8...
Just made an emergency wc. Hope it helps to get values down. Getting really lost here...


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[paulojbsilva]

Got my nylon filter sock in. I'm amazed with that thing. Very hard to clog and being 100 micron it holds out a lot of crap. Keeping on the Matrix Carbon and added some Chemipure Elite I had left. Pushing hard on the wc, removing all the algae I can.


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[paulojbsilva]

Well the 2lf reactors business did happen, got 2 reactors for 40€...not bad since they're brand new. Got one running the Seachem Matrix and some Chemipure Elite I had in the filter bags, planning on putting some nitrate media on the other. Any suggestions on the media I should use?


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[paulojbsilva]

Nitrates keep going sky high...doing wc every 2 days. Any help? Please?


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[TYC]

Hey Paulo!

Perhaps u should consider trying this method from Melev;

If your tank is suffering from high nitrate levels, the success of your reef will depend on your being able to get this under control. Changing 100% of the water would be the ideal, but it may shock your corals, fish and invertebrates in the process. A more gradual way is recommended.

Example from my 55-gallon Reef : Make up 20 gallons of fresh saltwater in a trashcan in front of your tank. Drain 10 gallons of tank water into the 20 gallons of new water, and let that mix. Pump 10 gallons of that water back into your tank, and let the power heads mix that water up in your tank for a minute or so. Then repeat this three more times. Dispose of the now polluted 20 gallons of water. Make up another 20 gallons of fresh saltwater, and repeat this procedure. As long as your temperature and salinity match the tank, your inhabitants won’t be affected adversely, and with each rotation of water, the nitrates are being diluted and removed from your tank.

Simply pulling out all of the water in one massive water change puts stress on your entire tank. Doing small water changes consistently won’t bring nitrate levels down. At best, it will maintain them at their current levels. Using the example above, a tank that was at 80ppm would be around 30ppm after a couple of hours work and your population will be happy and unaffected. Once your nitrate levels drop, they are easily kept low with regular water changes, as well as the use of a DSB and macro algae.

[paulojbsilva]

Wow! Great method. Would never thought about such a way to do things. Let's see if I can make a uge water change tomorrow. I'm curious to see if I can then maintain the levels low.
Thank you very much.
Your opinions where very missed!


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[Valentini89]

At least a 3" sandbed and if you have a deep enough tank, 4.

[paulojbsilva]

3" is really deep sand bed...
Tell me something. Do you vacuum your sand bed all the way down to the glass or just the top layer? Last month or so, I've been doing that, but I'm thinking if that doesn't disturb anaerobic bacteria. Or is just better to disturb them and not have to deal with the detritus buildup? I only have about 2 inches of sand bed. I rely on 2 ceryth and a strombus to wander around.


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[paulojbsilva]

Ok, since what I have is a shallow sand bed I'm keeping the real deep siphoning. Not ready for building a deep sand bed just yet.
Did a water change following Melev's method. Going to wait a little bit more and test it again to see if it was enough. Also added Seachem Purfiltrum. I'm planning on adding Seachem deNitrate also...


Let's see how long will it hold before needing to regenerate.
My tank is getting cleaner with all this water changes.


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[paulojbsilva]

I realized something today...the flow going trough my phosban reactors is very very very low... it seemed fine but today I decided to do the math. Took a 10ml flask and saw how many seconds it took to fill. Result, 12 liters/hour...
What would you consider a good flow, since in the first reactor I have Seachem Matrix Carbon and Purfiltrum on the second.


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[paulojbsilva]

Oh, and a full tank shot.


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[paulojbsilva]

Guys, I'm about to throw the towel and remove the sandbed. Last shot now. I've done two uge water changes with Melev's method, I cleaned my sump clean as whistle, the tank is getting cleaner every day, but the nitrates just won't go down 30/25...any more suggestions? Next step will be live rock and water only...


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[paulojbsilva]

Oh, and since I have a shallow sand bed, that thing was siphoned very thoroughly.


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[paulojbsilva]

Time for something stupid...a friend told me that soft corals consume some nutrients besides what the symbiotic algae provide. He advised me to get one or two hardy ones. So... I got a Cladiella and a Discosoma. Strange thing...I tested the water from the tank they were at. It's a private tank with huge colonies of softies. The damn nitrates where off the chart, pH very low. Regarding those factors, I'm way better now my nitrates are getting close to 20 something.
Oh, and my strombus is keeping everything under surveillance



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