LarryMoeCurly's 20g Long

[LarryMoeCurly]

I had a pengiun before and I actually liked it better than the AC70. I think the aquaclears are pathetic for mechanical filtration, especially when using the sponge that comes with them . They are very poorly desinged IMO. The penguins have a simple design so that the filter media can be easily removed and water actually travels through the media rather than around it. I have no clue why the aquaclear are so popular; that's why I assume most people use them for a fuge, because they stink for mechanical filtration. The only reason I use it is because my penguin was getting loud after years of use.

[BattleAthletics]

I actually needed another penguin on my 55 so one of the reasons I bought the AC70. Im new to this so im testing everything out.

[LarryMoeCurly]

I found the goby shriveled up on the floor this morning. The tank has a glass cover, but there is a gap in the back to accommodate the aquaclear. She was acting strange again yesterday; she would be laying calmly on the sand then she would randomly, without provocation, go beserk and swim chaotically all over. I know gobies are skittish, but she seemed especially finicky and spazzy.

[BattleAthletics]

 

Was the spacing like this? I too have that. I could easily cut the back plastic it came with it to fit it but I havent done that yet.

[FishDooD65]

I found the goby shriveled up on the floor this morning. The tank has a glass cover, but there is a gap in the back to accommodate the aquaclear. She was acting strange again yesterday; she would be laying calmly on the sand then she would randomly, without provocation, go beserk and swim chaotically all over. I know gobies are skittish, but she seemed especially finicky and spazzy.

 

Yikes that sucks. Im sorry to hear about the loss. I like gobies but they are prone to jump. One of the reasons I went with my Biocube was it has a hood and it was an AIO Tank. Instead of going with a goby I got a tailspot blenny, nice colors and he has such a cool personality. Hes been a great addition so far. He hides once in awhile but comes out quickly to make an appearance. Look at the brightside, now you can get yourself a new fish and possibly try something else.

[LarryMoeCurly]

Was the spacing like this? I too have that. I could easily cut the back plastic it came with it to fit it but I havent done that yet.

 

Yeah, thats's the basically the same gap I have. I could theoretically cover the whole tank, but I think it's good to have some air flow over the water surface. I use a normal glass cover (the king with the plastic hinge in the middle), but I removed the hinge and just have two pieces of glass; it makes cleaning the easier not having to worry about salt creep in the hinge and whatnot.

 

If the LFS would've had a suitable blenny I would have gotten it; unfortunately they did not have a big selection of "nano" fish. I will likely get another fish at some point, but probably not any time soon. I think I paid $30 for the goby, so I am not happy about the loss.

 

In other news, I did not add the rest of the baking soda solution. I may do it tomorrow; my work shift today did not allow for me to add it and have time to test afterward. The acro is still showing a tiny bit of polyp extension most of the time; I guess that's better than nothing.

[FishDooD65]

Yeah well hopefully the acro does better, only time will tell. Its sucks your lfs does not have a good selection of nano fish. Im in miami and I think stores in general do not keep many nano fish in stock. There is only one store I know of that has plenty of nano fish but its because they have a dedicated system for smaller fish. Maybe you could possibly order fish from the local store but dam $30 for that goby! I paid $17 for my diamond goby I had and I just paid $15 for my tailspot blenny.

[LarryMoeCurly]

I did an 8 gallon water change yesterday, I usually change 4 gallons. The main reason for the increase is that I knew alkalinity and calcium would be low, so I wanted to replenish them.

 

The post-WC results:

SG: 1.025

pH: 8.1

Mag: 1480

Alk: 9.0

Ca: 425

 

The magnesium is a little high, but after some googling I found that it isn't detriemtnal at that level.

 

The cleaner shrimp appears to be doing fine. I think it molted a few days after I got it. It also takes mysis directly out of the turkey baster, but it only gets fed when I am home from school. I am hoping that it gets enough algae and whatnot to sustain it otherwise.

 

The ricordia did not attach to the rock it was on in the plastic container. It was already attached to a few tiny pieces of rubble from the LFS, so that could be the reason. I tried to glue the little rubble pieces to a piece of LR, it has stayed put so far.

 

The acro does not look healthy. As stated previously, this is my first SPS, and thus I do not know what it is supposed to look like close-up. It appears to have lost some its blue tinge; it looks a little brown around the bottom. There are faint reddish vertical vein-like lines on it; I do not know if it's simply its coloration, or if it is a sign of tissue issues. A few polyps are usually slightly extended.

[LarryMoeCurly]

[HatrickSwayzee]

Tank looks great! Is that frag in the front of the tank on the sand bed the Acro you're saying isn't doing so well?

[LarryMoeCurly]

Tank looks great! Is that frag in the front of the tank on the sand bed the Acro you're saying isn't doing so well?

 

Yes, that's the one; it was pretty feeble looking. I'll get a look at it this weekend, I don't have high hopes. For now my plan is to leave it on the sand, hoping that it will color up at some point and grow/encrust a little. I thought about just gluing it to some rock higher up and seeing what happens, but I'll likely leave it where it is for a while, unless there are obvious signs of lack of light (I don't know what those signs would be though). Like I said, it has already lost some color and has minimal polyp extension. Perhaps it is just acclimating to the tank and light, I have no idea.

[LarryMoeCurly]

Test results:

 

SG: 1.025

pH: 7.8

Mag: 1460

Alk: 6.4

Ca: 400

 

Once again the alkalinity is low; I'll likely dose baking soda.

 

The acro looks about the same, I'll get a better look tomorrow morning.

 

I got a TDS meter. The tap water TDS ranges from 115-130, not nearly as bad as I expected. Walmart distilled water tested at 0 TDS, as expected. The next step is to get an RO/DI unit. I am considering this one from BRS. The downside is that it doesn't have a pressure guage. I know that spectrapure is popular also. I haven't decided which one is right for me yet. Input/advice is welcome.

[markalot]

Test results:

 

SG: 1.025

pH: 7.8

Mag: 1460

Alk: 6.4

Ca: 400

 

Once again the alkalinity is low; I'll likely dose baking soda.

 

The acro looks about the same, I'll get a better look tomorrow morning.

 

I got a TDS meter. The tap water TDS ranges from 115-130, not nearly as bad as I expected. Walmart distilled water tested at 0 TDS, as expected. The next step is to get an RO/DI unit. I am considering this one from BRS. The downside is that it doesn't have a pressure guage. I know that spectrapure is popular also. I haven't decided which one is right for me yet. Input/advice is welcome.

 

Howdy,

 

spectrapure for RO/DI, a refurb if you want to save some money.

 

I did not see this post two days ago, so I wanted to comment on your params. You should not be dosing just baking soda. Look at the Alk and calcium, both are dropping as expected, and you need to maintain them with a two part or more frequent water changes, depending on the rate of drop. If you just raise Alk your calcium will drop and you'll get out of balance.

 

A week ago:

 

Mag: 1480

Alk: 9.0

Ca: 425

 

2 days ago:

 

Mag: 1460

Alk: 6.4

Ca: 400

 

Those numbers are normal and your coral and other calcium eaters are using up the Alk and calcium as expected. A good two part will contain Calcium and Magnesium in part 1, and Alk in part 2, to keep everything in balance. You can certainly save money by making up your own two part, but you have to make sure to keep Alk, Calcium, and Mag all balanced.

[LarryMoeCurly]

Thanks for your input; I appreciate all of the assistance.

 

Here is my rationale for only dosing baking soda. I mentioned on the previous page that alkalinity should fall by about 3 dKH for every 20ppm drop in calcium (as you point out, mine are both falling as expected). The ideal range for calcium (according to Liveaquaria) is 350-450ppm. I figure that even if I would have dosed up to 9 dKH this past weekend (which I did), when the alkalinity drops back to 6 or so, the calcium should only drop to 380 or so, which is still within range.

 

I do not know if this is a good way to go about it or not. I understand that stability is just as important as falling within "goal" ranges. So what I am doing may not be ideal. The reason I do not dose 2-part is that I do not have dosers and I am not home everyday (or every week) to dose. Also, wouldn't dosing two part make my calcium rather high?

 

Again, I am looking for input here. I just wanted to give my reasoning for what I did.

[markalot]

I think those are good questions, I've had those as well, but two part has not made my calcium rise beyond a balanced range. In my 40 I'm doing kalc at night and I still have to dose 2 part to keep my alk above 7. This is apparently just how it works, and why it's important to always add a balanced mixture of Alk and Calc. Chemistry is involved ... so it's beyond me.

 

Unfortunately I've come to the conclusion I will have to automate dosing if I want to be away from the tank for longer than 2 days.

 

I'm, experimenting right now with dosing two part in large quantities at once to raise alk to 10, which I was able to do this weekend by doing one large dose in the morning and another in the evening with no visible effects in the tank. Now I'm watching it fall to see how long until it gets to 7. I expect, with kalk, I'm still losing 1 KH a day, so at most 3 days until I need to dose again.

[jcandler]

Thanks for your input; I appreciate all of the assistance.

 

Here is my rationale for only dosing baking soda. I mentioned on the previous page that alkalinity should fall by about 3 dKH for every 20ppm drop in calcium (as you point out, mine are both falling as expected). The ideal range for calcium (according to Liveaquaria) is 350-450ppm. I figure that even if I would have dosed up to 9 dKH this past weekend (which I did), when the alkalinity drops back to 6 or so, the calcium should only drop to 380 or so, which is still within range.

 

I do not know if this is a good way to go about it or not. I understand that stability is just as important as falling within "goal" ranges. So what I am doing may not be ideal. The reason I do not dose 2-part is that I do not have dosers and I am not home everyday (or every week) to dose. Also, wouldn't dosing two part make my calcium rather high?

 

Again, I am looking for input here. I just wanted to give my reasoning for what I did.

I am a big fan of two part. I am no expert but I have found with experience that with two part it would be rather difficult to get "too much" Calcium in your tank. I am sure it can be done if you went outside of normal guidelines but there is always a balancing act with Alk/Calcium as you know. Have you considered doing an automated top off system? I think it would be cheaper then buying dosing pumps. You could top off with Kalk and that would help maintain the levels you are after. I personally am just dosing with two part and a cheap dosing pump from china and it has worked very well. I travel for work a week out of the month, so I try to automate as much as possible.

[LarryMoeCurly]

Hi, jcandler. Thanks for the input.

I am a big fan of two part. I am no expert but I have found with experience that with two part it would be rather difficult to get "too much" Calcium in your tank. I am sure it can be done if you went outside of normal guidelines but there is always a balancing act with Alk/Calcium as you know.

What I meant was that if my calcium was within normal range but my alkalinity was low, then dosing "equal" parts of a 2 part system would raise both calcium and alkalinity. If I were to raise the alkalinity to an acceptable level, then adding an "equal" amount of calcium would raise to higher than is acceptable or ideal.

Have you considered doing an automated top off system? I think it would be cheaper then buying dosing pumps. You could top off with Kalk and that would help maintain the levels you are after.

I want (plan to get sometime soon) an ATO; I have researched the Tunze nano and found it to be appropirate for my needs.

I have not given much consideration to adding Ca(OH)₂ mainly because it did not occur to me; as such I have not researched it. However, it would not be a very reliable or effective way to supplement calcium and alkalinity simply because evaporation rate does not correlate with calcium or alkalinity depletion. Also, the evaporation rate is not constant; I would not be comfortable not knowing how much kalk my tank is recieving on a daily/weekly basis. Furthermore, it is not clear whether the amount of kalk added to the tank by way of top-off would be sufficient to meet the needs of the tank/keep up with depletion.

As I said, I have not researched this option, these are just concerns off the top of my head. Perhaps they are not significant, or there are remedies for them. There are obviously people who use this method so it must not be as flawed as I'm making it out to be.

I guess the way to go about it would be the following (correct me if I'm wrong):
1. Determine how much evaporation occurs over the span of a day. (This would not be constant because of varying temp, humidity, etc.)
2. Determine how much calcium and/or alkalinity the tank "uses" in a day. (This would not be constant because of coral growth, new additions, etc.)
3. Using the two numbers from above, calculate the concentration of Ca(OH)₂ needed in order to add the appropriate amount of kalk.
4. Using the known volume of water in the top-off container and the concentration of kalk needed, determine the amount of solution/powder/etc. needed to achieve the desired concentration
5. Mix the volume/mass of kalk solution/powder with the top-off water.
6. Hope that there is not precipitation resulting in pump and/or tubing issues. (I would hate to significantly shorten the life of the ATO pump because of kalk buildup and the like)

Also, it appears that it is the dihydrate that is used, Ca(OH)₂ 2H₂O. I do not think this is relevant to our discussion though.

[LarryMoeCurly]

I found this article. It is a little lengthy, but it is very thorough and informative; it addresses most of my concerns.

 

It basically says that most people add more lime water than is needed, so precipitation occurs. This is a little worrisome and certainly not ideal. If I choose to use this method of supplementation, I would like to properly calculate and determine the amount of kalkwasser needed and adjust the top-off concentration accordingly.

 

An issue that I still have is that once the lime and water are mixed, there is precipitation/settling of solids. The article suggests that some of the solids are impurities, but most of it is calcium. How would I know the concentration of the clear solution? In my mind, having an unknown concentration results in improper dosing and greater potential for detrimental effects.

 

I understand that I am making this more complex than necessary (as usual). My measly tank may not warrant such attention to detail, but I like chemistry and I like to know why and how things work.

[LarryMoeCurly]

Upon further research, it seems that kalk in the ATO is very popular and widely accepted as effective, reliable, and useful. It is more trial and error than I am comfortable with (just guessing at the right concentration (tsp/gal) and seeing how the tank reacts). However, I'm willing to give it a try. Thanks again for the suggestion, jcandler.

 

I cannot find the spectrapure refurbished unit on thier website anymore; anyone know if they are sold out?

 

I'll either jump on the next BRS group buy, or wait until my classes are over. Planned purchases (so far): Tunze osmolator nano, 4 stage value RO/DI (a major con is that is does not have a pressure guage), and a gallon of Ca(OH)₂.

 

As I've said before, I would like to upgrade the lighting; I have yet to determine if that will happen though. Reefbreeders is acting slightly shady and I'm starting to lose interest in them. If it wasn't for bulb replacement costs I'd probably switch to T5.

[markalot]

I cannot find the spectrapure refurbished unit on thier website anymore; anyone know if they are sold out?

 

 

http://108.167.128.255/FACTORY-REFURBISHED

 

Odd link from main page.

 

Kalk is good if your evaporation is "normal". Using glass lids prevents it from working for me since I lose so little water a day. I'm going to try spiking my topoff water with the correct amount of Seachem Reef Builder for KH and manually dosing Calcium, which I will probably automate sometime in the future.

[LarryMoeCurly]

Thanks for the link Mark. They must have re-done thier site, becuase it looks completley different.

 

Most of my tank is covered by glass, but not all of it. I don't yet know how much actually evaporates, but I think it's around a gallon every few days.

 

If I wasn't in school it wouldn't be that much of an issue, but I need the tank to be stable and issue/maintenance-free for a couple weeks at a time. Your plan sounds pretty good for your situation.

 

I should have more time to address these and other issues this summer (although that's also what I said last summer and it didn't happen). Once again, we shall see.

[LarryMoeCurly]

I think the acro is dying (yeah, big surprise, I know ). I did a water change last night and wanted to get it off the sandbed and into some more light. I cut/broke it off the frag plug with a razor blade and glued/puttied it to a piece of rock in the center of the tank more directly under the light. This morning the bottom is turning white; at this point it goes about 1/8 of the way up the frag (RTN?). The tissue and polyps on the white part just look dead. It is a small frag to begin with so fragging it to rescue it is not really an option. I'm obviously hoping that it recovers, but it doesn't look good.

 

Before I venture once again into the world of SPS, I will get an RO/DI and ATO as well as stabilize my parameters (alk and Ca) with kalk. Although I think my fragging skills (or lack thereof) killed it, I think it turned brown and failed to thrive because of water issues.

[LarryMoeCurly]

The bright white part is the putty.

 

[LarryMoeCurly]

The epoxy/putty curing process apparently will kill any tissue it contacts, so that likely explains the death that ensued. I will not be home again until Friday, so I do not know if the acro is dead or alive; my guess is dead.

[markalot]

if it's alive be sure to superglue any piece that cones in contact with the putty junk. I usually glue the putty to the plug or rock, then apply superglue directly to the acropora and shove it in the putty. Crude, but effective.