kinetic Posted November 6, 2007 Author Share Posted November 6, 2007 (edited) Water Parameters This post will link to all my water parameter posts as a log. I probably don't need this on my front page, so the front page will link here, which will link to all my water parameter posts. 11/05/2007 11/02/2007 11/25/2007 12/05/2007 Edited December 5, 2007 by kinetic Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 6, 2007 Author Share Posted November 6, 2007 11/02/07 Calcium: 440ppm (salifert) Alkalinity: Normal (red sea) Magnesium: n/a Phosphate: 0.5ppm phosphate / 0.17 phosphor Nitrate: 0.2ppm Nitrite: 0.7ppm Ammonia: 0.3ppm 11/05/07 Calcium: n/a* Alkalinity: n/a* Magnesium: n/a* Phosphate: 0.25ppm Nitrate: 3ppm Nitrite: 10ppm Ammonia: 0ppm Changes Here are changes I made between the two tests Carbon - added tons of TLF carbon to the phosban reactor on Sunday 11/04/07. I saw a lot of yellow in the water, so I thought it needed a little polishing at last. Marine Bio Spira - I added BioSpira into the tank on Friday, the pouch made for 55 gallon tanks. I bought it from All About Fish. The packet went totally into the display. Skimmer - I messed with the skimmer a bit and TONS of skimmate started collecting into the cup. I'm almost at half a cup of yellow skim right now Observations Phosphate - the phosphate level looks a tad bit lower than the previous reading, but I believe that's because I was a bit more accurate on my testing today. It is a little difficult because the Salifert test compares different shades of blue, which is almost impossible to do through the little vial. I'm thinking phosphate is more at 0.25ppm at the moment. Nitrate - my nitrates spiked pretty bad since last time, 2.8ppm! This is probably because of the huge amount of nitrite I'm also getting. This is a good sign, this means I do have Nitrite -> Nitrate bacterial functions happening. Nitrite - huge spike here as well! There is practically no more ammonia in the system at this point, I will have to start dosing ammonia nitrate tomorrow. I wish I could find pure ammonia, but I'm not sure where. The nitrite spike may be due to adding marine biospira bacteria additive to my tank on Friday as well. Ammonia - undetected! Either that or my seachem tests suck! But I definitely could not detect any ammonia with my tests this time. I did add Marine BioSpira on Friday and started using a ton of TLF Activated Carbon in the TLF Phosban Reactor which probably helped. There is definitely ammonia -> nitrite bacteria working well. I will dose ammonia tomorrow. *I did not test Ca Alk or Mg today, I'm only going to test these weekly during the cycle period. I also have no good Alk or Mg tests at the moment either. Quote Link to comment
ezcompany Posted November 7, 2007 Share Posted November 7, 2007 nah, seachem test kits are good red sea u shud throw away...horrible shelf life Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 7, 2007 Author Share Posted November 7, 2007 nah, seachem test kits are good red sea u shud throw away...horrible shelf life The ammonia one really sucks. Those sensors are always green now, even after "recharging" them in the container for a few days. I've rinsed them etc. in RO/DI but they're like a once use sensor. =( I just ordered Ammonia and ALK Salifert tests. I'll see how those do, if they're still crappy I'll go with an ELOS set eventually =) Quote Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 the ELOS test kits are awesome - I love their reagent droppers and ease of use Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 19, 2007 Author Share Posted November 19, 2007 ok guys, I'm taking pictures tonight. I have my rockwork done, and my light hung! All that's left is I need to change out the fans on the fixture, it's waaay too loud. I'm going to try the S-Flex 1200RPM 51CFM fan for the intake and the Noctua 1200rpm 63CFM fan for the exhaust. They should push enough air, maybe more. I'm worried about the backpressure for the S-Flex intake fan. The fixture should run below 113 degrees Farenheight, so I may also add another temp probe to my AC III controller, and shut off the fixture if it goes above that. As long as I can maintain the temperature, the quieter fans should be good. My vortechs are creating waves that are so big that they're sloshing out of the tank =/ I'm going to just keep it at a random reef crest mode for now until I want to impress people The aquascape is pretty neat, lots of flow through channels for cardinals and anthias My fish list will probably change to the following: 1x Bellus Genicanthus (female) 3x Ventralis Anthias (1male 2females) 7x Orange-Lined Cardinalfish 2x Teardrop Ocellaris 2x Tailspot Blenny (pair) Pix tonight =) Quote Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Orange lined cardinals are awesome but I think you'd be better off in the long run with a school of ORA captive bred Apogon leptacanthus, they are more peaceful (orange lined cardinals can be aggressive to each other and more submissive fish), and being captive bred from ORA I'm guessing you won't have to order 15 just to get 7 that survive. Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 Orange lined cardinals are awesome but I think you'd be better off in the long run with a school of ORA captive bred Apogon leptacanthus, they are more peaceful (orange lined cardinals can be aggressive to each other and more submissive fish), and being captive bred from ORA I'm guessing you won't have to order 15 just to get 7 that survive. ORA captive breeds those? WOW I had no idea. I originally wanted to go with those, but wanted to go with the orange line. I'll try to get a bunch of orange lined, if that doesn't work out I'll probably try to get some from ORA. Would my LFS be able to order from ORA for me? Quote Link to comment
NanoClown Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 i dont know why but i have always loved chromis, (maybe you should add some *ehem) lol Quote Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 ORA captive breeds those? WOW I had no idea. I originally wanted to go with those, but wanted to go with the orange line. I'll try to get a bunch of orange lined, if that doesn't work out I'll probably try to get some from ORA. Would my LFS be able to order from ORA for me? They should - it's more a question of what OFA has in stock. I'm betting those cardinals are a hot item. Quote Link to comment
kinktao Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 How is the sump design for the elos. They don't really use baffles, I'm wondering how the micro bubble problems are. It definitely is a cool tank. Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 How is the sump design for the elos. They don't really use baffles, I'm wondering how the micro bubble problems are. It definitely is a cool tank. yeah I'm also weirded about the baffles... though the skimmer bubbles do go through baffles, and there are never bubbles coming from it. I also routed my chiller / GFO reactor through that baffle system as well. The only bubbles I could see are from the drain to the return pump, but they're placed on opposite sides of the main chamber, and the eheim 1260 also has a sponge filter you can put in it. I have absolutely 0 microbubbles. I think it's designed perfectly for the most space + 0 bubbles, no baffles needed. Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 (edited) Tank is now lit and filled with my final rockscape! - [ 11/20/07 ] Tank is now running! Lights, rock, and more! Picture update: FTS: All photos white balance corrected to 15000K (kelvin rating of my 15K iwasakis, so you can see the actual actinic the ATI Blue Plus are adding to it. CRISP huh?) Edited November 29, 2007 by kinetic Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 The light is making a really concentrated strip of light lengthwise in my tank. I think I need to move the light higher probably to spread it out... but it's already like 24" off the rocks... not sure why it's so focused. Quote Link to comment
s3aL Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Nice pix! How do you like the 14k Iwasaki's? I'm looking to buy some new 175w MH bulbs and really want the PAR of them Iwasaki's, but Im not to sure if I will like the color or not. Are those pics basically true colors of the tank? Quote Link to comment
air_doc28 Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 sweet! how do you like the AC3 as comparered to the profilux 2? Also how do you like your lighting system compared to an all T5? Kudos for the awesome updates and pics! Keep it up! Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 Nice pix! How do you like the 14k Iwasaki's? I'm looking to buy some new 175w MH bulbs and really want the PAR of them Iwasaki's, but Im not to sure if I will like the color or not. Are those pics basically true colors of the tank? Yes, they are true colors, as I said, I white balanced to color correct as close to the true colors as possible. I really like them, though they're freakin bright and light up the entire house =) IF you like the colors in the pictures above, you'll like the lamps. Thing to remember is they're supplemented with ATI Blue Plus T5's. I basically chose the highest PAR bulbs and got a fantastic color =) sweet!how do you like the AC3 as comparered to the profilux 2? Also how do you like your lighting system compared to an all T5? Kudos for the awesome updates and pics! Keep it up! I've never had the profilux 2, so I can't compare. The AC3 is great, I have EVERYTHING plugged into it. I'm getting a breakout box soon and an expansion for it. No complaints at all. I've never had an all T5 either, so can't compare. I've seen all T5, and it doesn't have that special shimmer that I think makes all the difference Quote Link to comment
ezcompany Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 tank looks sexy, i would rather have the vortechs face lenghtwise instead of pointing to the front of the tank to utilize their 3000 gph. Ventralis anthias are very difficult to keep, are you sure you want to go with them? also at over $70 a fish that needs to be constantly fed and shy very easily i don't think its a wise choice. Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 tank looks sexy, i would rather have the vortechs face lenghtwise instead of pointing to the front of the tank to utilize their 3000 gph.Ventralis anthias are very difficult to keep, are you sure you want to go with them? also at over $70 a fish that needs to be constantly fed and shy very easily i don't think its a wise choice. Hey Ez, I did the lengthwise thing and had a wave going so big it sloshed over the edges =X But yes, ideally I'd like to put them lengthwise, but the left side of a tank is high traffic, it's the door between the living room and dining room, so everyone walks by. The vortech on the left would be knocked down multiple times during the day I'm sure =( I can still get a pretty good wave if I mount the vortech's as far away from each other as possible. The 3000gph will just bounce off of the front glass which gives a great effect as well. Ventralis are really difficult... a few of us in NorCal may give them a stab. If not I'll just get a mix of apagon lepecanthus and apagon cyanosma. Quote Link to comment
Uhuru Posted November 20, 2007 Share Posted November 20, 2007 Love the rock layout, this tank is gonna be amazing! Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 20, 2007 Author Share Posted November 20, 2007 Love the rock layout, this tank is gonna be amazing! thanks!! I hope it does really well. For the Ventralis, I will introduce them to the tank first and do a species only tank for a month. Then I'll plop my genicanthus bellus into the tank. I'll probably unscrew one mh bulb for awhile as well, and put pellets on a timer and feed rod's food and cyclopeez three times a day. Quote Link to comment
NanoClown Posted November 21, 2007 Share Posted November 21, 2007 wow thats super sexy, i cant wait untill i come by and check it out, ohh and your waterline's low Quote Link to comment
kinetic Posted November 21, 2007 Author Share Posted November 21, 2007 wow thats super sexy, i cant wait untill i come by and check it out, ohh and your waterline's low when you come over you'll see why it's low. When the vortech's are in pulse mode I can create a wave that can slosh out of the tank Quote Link to comment
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