Melev's new 280g Starfire tank thread - Page 12

melev · 12/31/2005, 08:27 PM

I decided to test the water for the last day of the year.

At the same time, I did some dosings. So let me start off with that. I've had cyano slowly spreading in my tank for the past couple of weeks, and I finally decided to use my final batch of ChemiClean in my tank. As I've mentioned before, I believe it drops the oxygen level in the water rapidly. Before adding:

Temp 81.6F
Salinity 1.025 sg
pH 8.15
ORP 456

I mixed the entire bottle up in 12 oz of RO/DI water and then slowly added it to the sump over about 60 seconds. Here's what I saw:

1 min - pH 8.07; ORP 88 (!)
3 min - ph 8.15; ORP 161
5 min - ph 8.15; ORP 152
8 min - pH 8.14; ORP 153
20 min - pH 8.15; ORP 166
35 min - pH 8.15; ORP 174

So as you can see, it really does affect the water. All the livestock looks 100% unaffected, and the water quality is perfectly clear. My skimmer will remain off for 48 hours during treatment.

Now for the test results:

Temp 81.6F
pH 8.15
Salinity 1.025
Calcium 460
Alkalinity 10 dKH
Magnesium 1185 (so I dosed more to help bring this up)
Nitrate 12 (replaced Algone pillows)
Phosphate - 0 <-- Who's your daddy now???!!!

I tested the effluent of the Calcium Reactor, and Phosphate was .03 but that might be because the water in the reactor takes a long time to exit (as in days) and the PO4 level was higher recently. So that would be older water that hasn't been treated with the GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) media.

How nice to have decent numbers.

I fed the Copperband Butterfly again today with Hikari Mysis with garlic, and it immediately started sucking them up before my eyes. I checked back a few minutes later, and it was less excited to eat what was still moving around in the tank, so maybe the garlic washed off. I don't know. I'm happy to see it eat anything, rather than starving. I did lose one of those pretty multicolored hitchhiker featherdusters (that pop out of LR / corals) to this fish, but I'm not going to get upset about that.

LittleBlueGT · 12/31/2005, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by CeeGee
LittleBlueGT,

What are you talking about? Canada isn't that far from texas! Hop in that subaru and hook a brother up!

It burns a lot of gas at redline in top gear!

I'm not being funny, it is true.

melev · 12/31/2005, 10:14 PM

shane 1111 · 12/31/2005, 10:39 PM

/QUOTE] melev

Phosphate - 0 <-- Who's your daddy now???!!!

I[/B][/QUOTE]

lol
good for you. keep up the good work
and what is with that pic?
is that clip art in your tank. no photo shop. photo shop bad.
lol

melev · 12/31/2005, 10:40 PM

It's a par-tay, Shane! They are celebrating the PO4-free water.

Micki · 12/31/2005, 11:56 PM

Marc, I hope to have the same results somed day...

melev · 01/01/2006, 12:36 AM

With enough phosphate remover, you can do anything.

Btw, it is officailly 2006 where I am, so happy end of 2005 to all! (hic!)

TippyToeX · 01/01/2006, 01:09 AM

Great pic Marc! Who knew a seahorse could be bigger then your tangs?

melev · 01/01/2006, 01:14 AM

So no-one noticed the schooling skeletons yet? Those are my former anthias that the PO4 killed.

TippyToeX · 01/01/2006, 01:17 AM

I saw them, but someone just pointed out the shark to me cause I missed it.

melev · 01/01/2006, 01:18 AM

That would be Sherman, of course.

BreadmanMike · 01/01/2006, 02:12 AM

Glad to hear about your tank!

I want to thank you again for that Algone recommendation. I did a water change Friday before I put it in, and again Saturday afternoon... N is down to 5!!!!

Hope you and the family have a great New Year!
Thanks!

asnatlas · 01/01/2006, 02:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
Phosphate - 0 <-- Who's your daddy now???!!!

ROFL, I love that little smiley

melev · 01/01/2006, 02:59 AM

I updated the front page of my site with some statistics from 2005. It was a busy year. The message board that comes with my site was removed simply because it isn't needed and I don't keep up with it. The search engine was added to the front page as well, and the layout was changed slightly.

asnatlas · 01/01/2006, 03:05 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
I updated the front page of my site with some statistics from 2005. It was a busy year. The message board that comes with my site was removed simply because it isn't needed and I don't keep up with it. The search engine was added to the front page as well, and the layout was changed slightly.

I would love to set up a site, but I have not touched HTML in a long while, I know there is WYSIWYG apps out there and everything, just time is kinda limited... I hope to some day have a site that is one/onehundredth as useful/viewed as yours...

asnatlas · 01/01/2006, 03:09 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by LittleBlueGT
It burns a lot of gas at redline in top gear!

I'm not being funny, it is true.

LittleBlueGT, Your an Air Traffic Controller right ? Just hop on the next plane headed to TX

melev · 01/01/2006, 03:14 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by asnatlas
I would love to set up a site, but I have not touched HTML in a long while, I know there is WYSIWYG apps out there and everything, just time is kinda limited... I hope to some day have a site that is one/onehundredth as useful/viewed as yours...

It doesn't have to be complicated. My "site" use to be one webpage all about my 29g that got longer and longer and longer. Later I added the sump page & weir. It just kinda grew from that point on, and now there is tons of information.

I'm having my site backed up now, so I can download a full version to my harddrive the way it is now. My last full backup was 10/30 - a little too long ago for my comfort.

I still can't believe I have over 21,000 images stored on my harddrive - which I backed up to the new external drive a few days ago.

DerekW · 01/01/2006, 10:33 AM

Ok, I checked Mapquest and you could be in Fort Worth in about 20 hours...1350 miles due south from you.
Have a safe drive and let us know if the ozone helps.
See ya later!

Bye!

Don't forget to write!

theplatypus · 01/01/2006, 11:13 AM

Looks great.

LittleBlueGT · 01/01/2006, 12:52 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by asnatlas
LittleBlueGT, Your an Air Traffic Controller right ? Just hop on the next plane headed to TX

I tell them where to go, but they never want to take me anywhere!

No perks.

Besides my LBGT is likely faster!

arconom · 01/01/2006, 02:15 PM

Marc what is the average you spend on the PO4 removers? How much do use? and how long does it last for you?

I ask since the PO4 removers are pretty expensive and your tank is Huge.

melev · 01/01/2006, 02:41 PM

Well, I try to buy stuff in bulk (largest container I can find), or if it happens to be on sale, or if someone sells some because they don't need it. I don't really want to think of the costs.

$15 here, $48 there, $68 another time, $90 another time... you get the idea.

I have two Phosban Reactors running, and a couple of days ago I put in 16 heaping teaspoons in each one. In the past I've used 12 each, and prior to that even less because people were stating how they only needed 3 teaspoons for their system.

Apparently mine needed more.

BreadmanMike · 01/01/2006, 02:45 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by melev
because people were stating how they only needed 3 teaspoons for their system. Apparently mine needed more.

Is that like the people who don't run skimmers, overfeed, and haven't done a water change in 2 years, but have perfect water?

arconom · 01/01/2006, 03:16 PM

Marc I'm sure it's deep in your thread but how often do you do water changes?

Also I know you mentioned Ozone awhile ago. Is that still something your looking into?

That Recent photo of your tank is beyond impressive. I still can't think about how the maintance is on that size of tank. I spend about 2-3 hours a day working on my tank. I guess it's all reletive. Bigger scale.

Weekends I do about 10 hours of maintence.

melev · 01/01/2006, 07:02 PM

I do a water change at least once a month. I like to do 55g at a time, as that is what my barrel holds, but I share that water with my son's 29g, the Pico tank, the quarantine tank, and my reef. So in the past couple of weeks, I've changed 35g twice in the 280g due to the fact that the water was used for the others tanks as well.

Casper's tank gets 4g changed at a time, which accounts for the very low nitrate reading. However PO4 is another matter. There's a thread in the DIY forum that has a little cartridge nicknamed the Phosban Grenade.

I'd almost like to make one to purge Casper's water once and for all.

I was going to run Ozone, and bought a used Ozonizer but I had my doubts. I had to wait for the ORP probe that needed replacing, and when it was hooked up, ORP read 470+ daily. Since I was told the ozonizer needed to be turned on if the number got under 375, I didn't see why I would need to run it at all. Plus, it came with a dryer, and my fish room was suffering from high humidity every night. I had a feeling the dryer beads where going to be wasted in no time at all. In a nutshell, I didn't feel comfortable running it, so it was sold to another guy that loves it and praised it virtually the very next day. Oops. Oh well.

I don't really do all that much maintenance on the tank, although it can become a full-time job easily. Every night I feed the tank and clean the skimmer cup. Every few days, I refill the top off resevoirs as needed. I make more RO/DI water as needed, setting a timer to remind me to not flood the floor. This works about 75% of the time. Cleaning the glass doesn't take long, and adjusting fallen corals is a daily routine - at least checking to make sure they are where they belong.

The larger jobs are water changes, pump cleanings, and refilling the phosban reactors.

12/31/2005, 11:56 PM	#281
Micki Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Ohio Posts: 7,163	Marc, I hope to have the same results somed day... __________________ Micki... Western Ohio Reef Club Click the red house for my 125 progress! Current Tank Info: 125 gal. reef, 90 gal. sump, 10 gal. fuge, 40 gallon. 150 gallon fish only.

01/01/2006, 01:09 AM	#283
TippyToeX Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 10,711	Great pic Marc! Who knew a seahorse could be bigger then your tangs? __________________ -Amy-

01/01/2006, 01:17 AM	#285
TippyToeX Premium Member Join Date: Jun 2002 Location: Las Vegas, NV Posts: 10,711	I saw them, but someone just pointed out the shark to me cause I missed it. __________________ -Amy-

01/01/2006, 10:33 AM	#293
DerekW Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Southern Ontario Posts: 873	Ok, I checked Mapquest and you could be in Fort Worth in about 20 hours...1350 miles due south from you. Have a safe drive and let us know if the ozone helps. See ya later! Bye! Don't forget to write! __________________ Derek It's a small world........But I wouldn't want to paint it. Current Tank Info: 220, 4x250w mh, 4x110w actinics CS12-2 RC , 75 gallon sump, Calcium reactor, DIY 36" Kalkwasser reactor

12/31/2005, 08:27 PM	#276
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I decided to test the water for the last day of the year. At the same time, I did some dosings. So let me start off with that. I've had cyano slowly spreading in my tank for the past couple of weeks, and I finally decided to use my final batch of ChemiClean in my tank. As I've mentioned before, I believe it drops the oxygen level in the water rapidly. Before adding: Temp 81.6F Salinity 1.025 sg pH 8.15 ORP 456 I mixed the entire bottle up in 12 oz of RO/DI water and then slowly added it to the sump over about 60 seconds. Here's what I saw: 1 min - pH 8.07; ORP 88 (!) 3 min - ph 8.15; ORP 161 5 min - ph 8.15; ORP 152 8 min - pH 8.14; ORP 153 20 min - pH 8.15; ORP 166 35 min - pH 8.15; ORP 174 So as you can see, it really does affect the water. All the livestock looks 100% unaffected, and the water quality is perfectly clear. My skimmer will remain off for 48 hours during treatment. Now for the test results: Temp 81.6F pH 8.15 Salinity 1.025 Calcium 460 Alkalinity 10 dKH Magnesium 1185 (so I dosed more to help bring this up) Nitrate 12 (replaced Algone pillows) Phosphate - 0 <-- Who's your daddy now???!!! I tested the effluent of the Calcium Reactor, and Phosphate was .03 but that might be because the water in the reactor takes a long time to exit (as in days) and the PO4 level was higher recently. So that would be older water that hasn't been treated with the GFO (Granular Ferric Oxide) media. How nice to have decent numbers. I fed the Copperband Butterfly again today with Hikari Mysis with garlic, and it immediately started sucking them up before my eyes. I checked back a few minutes later, and it was less excited to eat what was still moving around in the tank, so maybe the garlic washed off. I don't know. I'm happy to see it eat anything, rather than starving. I did lose one of those pretty multicolored hitchhiker featherdusters (that pop out of LR / corals) to this fish, but I'm not going to get upset about that.

12/31/2005, 10:14 PM	#278
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217

12/31/2005, 10:39 PM	#279
shane 1111 Premium Member Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: RI Posts: 2,562	/QUOTE] melev Phosphate - 0 <-- Who's your daddy now???!!! I[/B][/QUOTE] lol good for you. keep up the good work and what is with that pic? is that clip art in your tank. no photo shop. photo shop bad. lol

12/31/2005, 10:40 PM	#280
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	It's a par-tay, Shane! They are celebrating the PO4-free water.

01/01/2006, 12:36 AM	#282
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	With enough phosphate remover, you can do anything. Btw, it is officailly 2006 where I am, so happy end of 2005 to all! (hic!)

01/01/2006, 01:14 AM	#284
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	So no-one noticed the schooling skeletons yet? Those are my former anthias that the PO4 killed.

01/01/2006, 01:18 AM	#286
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	That would be Sherman, of course.

01/01/2006, 02:12 AM	#287
BreadmanMike Moved On Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Illinois Posts: 4,886	Glad to hear about your tank! I want to thank you again for that Algone recommendation. I did a water change Friday before I put it in, and again Saturday afternoon... N is down to 5!!!! Hope you and the family have a great New Year! Thanks!

01/01/2006, 02:59 AM	#289
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I updated the front page of my site with some statistics from 2005. It was a busy year. The message board that comes with my site was removed simply because it isn't needed and I don't keep up with it. The search engine was added to the front page as well, and the layout was changed slightly.

01/01/2006, 11:13 AM	#294
theplatypus Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2005 Posts: 168	Looks great.

01/01/2006, 02:15 PM	#296
arconom Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Middletown, NY Posts: 2,126	Marc what is the average you spend on the PO4 removers? How much do use? and how long does it last for you? I ask since the PO4 removers are pretty expensive and your tank is Huge.

01/01/2006, 02:41 PM	#297
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	Well, I try to buy stuff in bulk (largest container I can find), or if it happens to be on sale, or if someone sells some because they don't need it. I don't really want to think of the costs. $15 here, $48 there, $68 another time, $90 another time... you get the idea. I have two Phosban Reactors running, and a couple of days ago I put in 16 heaping teaspoons in each one. In the past I've used 12 each, and prior to that even less because people were stating how they only needed 3 teaspoons for their system. Apparently mine needed more.

01/01/2006, 03:16 PM	#299
arconom Premium Member Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Middletown, NY Posts: 2,126	Marc I'm sure it's deep in your thread but how often do you do water changes? Also I know you mentioned Ozone awhile ago. Is that still something your looking into? That Recent photo of your tank is beyond impressive. I still can't think about how the maintance is on that size of tank. I spend about 2-3 hours a day working on my tank. I guess it's all reletive. Bigger scale. Weekends I do about 10 hours of maintence.

01/01/2006, 07:02 PM	#300
melev Moved On Join Date: Sep 2002 Location: Ft Worth, Tx Posts: 43,217	I do a water change at least once a month. I like to do 55g at a time, as that is what my barrel holds, but I share that water with my son's 29g, the Pico tank, the quarantine tank, and my reef. So in the past couple of weeks, I've changed 35g twice in the 280g due to the fact that the water was used for the others tanks as well. Casper's tank gets 4g changed at a time, which accounts for the very low nitrate reading. However PO4 is another matter. There's a thread in the DIY forum that has a little cartridge nicknamed the Phosban Grenade. I'd almost like to make one to purge Casper's water once and for all. I was going to run Ozone, and bought a used Ozonizer but I had my doubts. I had to wait for the ORP probe that needed replacing, and when it was hooked up, ORP read 470+ daily. Since I was told the ozonizer needed to be turned on if the number got under 375, I didn't see why I would need to run it at all. Plus, it came with a dryer, and my fish room was suffering from high humidity every night. I had a feeling the dryer beads where going to be wasted in no time at all. In a nutshell, I didn't feel comfortable running it, so it was sold to another guy that loves it and praised it virtually the very next day. Oops. Oh well. I don't really do all that much maintenance on the tank, although it can become a full-time job easily. Every night I feed the tank and clean the skimmer cup. Every few days, I refill the top off resevoirs as needed. I make more RO/DI water as needed, setting a timer to remind me to not flood the floor. This works about 75% of the time. Cleaning the glass doesn't take long, and adjusting fallen corals is a daily routine - at least checking to make sure they are where they belong. The larger jobs are water changes, pump cleanings, and refilling the phosban reactors.