revaltion131 Posted June 27, 2012 Share Posted June 27, 2012 Definitely interesting. I've never heard the chemistry broken down in such a way before and the dosing nitrates does make sense. Would I be like you and very worried about what might happen if I do it? Yep! Also, IME, it's very easy to get your nitrates out of control in a hurry with ZeoVit stuff. How much of the system are you running on zeo? Maybe you could try turning off your skimmer (sorry if I missed that you don't have one) or overdose the additives to kick up the nitrates. I kind of crashed my old 34 by my skimmer not running for a little too long and nitrates going out of control... Link to comment
uglyfish Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 I was only using zeobak (bacteria) and zeostart (carbon source). Since putting the biopellet reactor online, I've stopped zeostart (carbon dosing). I'm not dosing amino acids or trace elements yet. I'll do that when the tank gets cleaner. My filtration system is just skimmer, biopellet reactor, gac/gfo reactor. The Redfield Ratios are a very interesting read. Theoretically it makes sense, but the math in a practical application is impossible. It's just impossible to figure out how much nitrogen to add in order to reduce phosphates because I don't know how much carbon is being released by the biopellets, or how much nitrate is being consumed, added or produced. I'm curious if anyone is dosing nitrogen sources to their tanks... I'm going to put that question out to a new thread. Link to comment
uglyfish Posted June 28, 2012 Author Share Posted June 28, 2012 The thread on the Redfield Ratios http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=305892&hl= I just added fresh GFO a few days ago. When the gfo expires, I'm removing gfo entirely. I've decided to start nitrate dosing... Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 Nice tank man, subscribed. Link to comment
revaltion131 Posted June 28, 2012 Share Posted June 28, 2012 The thread on the Redfield Ratios http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...=305892&hl= I just added fresh GFO a few days ago. When the gfo expires, I'm removing gfo entirely. I've decided to start nitrate dosing... Keep us updated on the dosing. It will be interesting to see the effects. I agree the practical math is daunting, if not impossible for people that don't have a professional chemistry lab in their tank room. Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 4, 2012 Author Share Posted July 4, 2012 Keep us updated on the dosing. It will be interesting to see the effects. I agree the practical math is daunting, if not impossible for people that don't have a professional chemistry lab in their tank room. Because I'm impatient... I've purchased some seachem flourish nitrogen that I will start dosing. It contains a "blend" of nitrates naming specifically potassium nitrate and ammonium nitrate. Nitrogen concentration is 15000 mg/L. My water volume is roughly 250L. I want to dose 1mg/L so I need 1.7mL of the seachem flourish nitrogen to raise my nitrate levels 1mg/L. My no3 tested tonight is almost 0 on salifert and po4 is 0.02 on hanna. 1.7mL is about 30 drops of flourish - I'm going to ramp up from 10 drops/day up to full strength while monitoring no3 and po4 levels daily. Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 8, 2012 Author Share Posted July 8, 2012 3 days of dosing 10 drop/day sachem flourish and po4 hit solid 0.00 on hanna. no3 is just a hair above 0. Time to ramp up feeding. Link to comment
Sahin Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 Beautiful setup. So jealous of your twin radions! Keep up the good work. Look forward to this tank maturing. Link to comment
revaltion131 Posted July 9, 2012 Share Posted July 9, 2012 Nice. I will definitely have to keep your method with the phosphates in mind if mine don't go down all the way using the "natural" method. Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 11, 2012 Author Share Posted July 11, 2012 Nice. I will definitely have to keep your method with the phosphates in mind if mine don't go down all the way using the "natural" method. Yeah - I don't know... cyano starting. AHHH! not bad, just a little here and there. If I had to guess, it's because no3 and po4 are at zero now and there is excess carbon now that the nutrients are so low. I'm feeding 3 times a day with the rich home-made food, and dosing zeobak daily to get the nutrient levels back up. I have no doubt about the effectiveness of nitrate dosing in bringing down po4 - it does works. I just don't like the up and down - and have yet to figure out how to make it stable without adjusting daily. The corals are good though - growth improved. And my clams are starting to get a fluorescent green edge on their mantles. Link to comment
revaltion131 Posted July 12, 2012 Share Posted July 12, 2012 Nice shot of the clam and glad to hear it's all going well! I wouldn't worry about a little cyano as long as it doesn't take over. My LFS has an amazing 200 gallon SPS display and the one deadzone in the tank has a spiffy little cyano patch. The worker even pointed it out to me when I was asking about the set up they use on it. Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 22, 2012 Author Share Posted July 22, 2012 I just noticed tonight that a lot of "stuff" was floating around in the tank. On closer examination, it looks like the water if filled with tiny shrimp. They're tiny and clear so I couldn't get a picture. They don't look like pods - definitely tiny shrimp - hundreds of them. Link to comment
Deleted User 4 Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 Yeah, that happened to some of the fellow reefers here before. What kind of shrimps do you have originally in the tank? Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 I have 3 peppermint shrimp. I should have scooped some of the shrimplets into my refugium. They came and went within a day. Link to comment
hannahs Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 I'm going to be using this same biopellet reactor with my new tank. Any tips? Do you think it would work better if you started using it on day one? Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 24, 2012 Author Share Posted July 24, 2012 I'm going to be using this same biopellet reactor with my new tank. Any tips? Do you think it would work better if you started using it on day one? Recirculate at least 50%, output should be low, put online day 1. It takes many weeks for it to start working. Output should exit at skimmer intake. Try without gfo. Biopellets work very slowly at first. I added more thinking it wasn't working. Now nitrate is solid 0 no matter how much I feed. Po4 is also solid 0. My coral is getting pale from lack of nutrients. My advice is to start with half qty and wait a few months before changing anything. Biopellets work very well. Finding the balance is tricky. Link to comment
hannahs Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 Recirculate at least 50%, output should be low, put online day 1. It takes many weeks for it to start working. Output should exit at skimmer intake. Try without gfo. Biopellets work very slowly at first. I added more thinking it wasn't working. Now nitrate is solid 0 no matter how much I feed. Po4 is also solid 0. My coral is getting pale from lack of nutrients. My advice is to start with half qty and wait a few months before changing anything. Biopellets work very well. Finding the balance is tricky. So what can you do when too many nutrients are being taken out? Lower the recirculation? Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 So what can you do when too many nutrients are being taken out? Lower the recirculation? To be honest, I don't know. I guess lower the amount of media? One man at my fish store told me that the more you feed biopellets, the harder they work. I'm not sure if it's true or not, but it might be. This is my first run with biopellets and I've read similar stories of tanks getting too clean and it's happening to mine. For now, I'm going to keep feeding heavy and wait it out. The fish are happy and the corals aren't dying. I'm just not coloring up the way I'd like. I have a sneaking suspicion that biopellets may be stripping the water of trace elements but I have no way of testing. I may reduce the media in a few weeks if everything is still 0. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 If you're starting to run into your system being a ULNS - ultra-low nutrient system - dose this product and never look back: http://www.aquavitro.com/products/fuel.html And those anthias need feedings at least 3 times per day, with more being better, I'm surprised that that doesn't keep your nutrient levels high, I have to dose carbon to bring mine down!! I anthias. Are those Bartlett's? Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 If you're starting to run into your system being a ULNS - ultra-low nutrient system - dose this product and never look back:I anthias. Are those Bartlett's? I guess it's time to start the amino acid dosing. I'll see if I can find some fuel. Anthias are fantastic - lots of life in them. Dispar Anthias I think. Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I guess it's time to start the amino acid dosing. I'll see if I can find some fuel. Anthias are fantastic - lots of life in them. Dispar Anthias I think. I've got three lyretail in my 80g, two females and one shemale that has almost transitioned into male, probably another month or so and it will be complete. They're awesome. Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 I've got three lyretail in my 80g, two females and one shemale that has almost transitioned into male, probably another month or so and it will be complete. They're awesome. I need a bit of an education with anthia sexing. When I got them (3) they were all the same size (more or less). Now one is much larger, and more colourful than the other two... Is the big one a male? Link to comment
jedimasterben Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 I need a bit of an education with anthia sexing. When I got them (3) they were all the same size (more or less). Now one is much larger, and more colourful than the other two... Is the big one a female? Nope, male. Anthias are hermaphroditic like clownfish, but all start as females and then they fight it out to establish dominance and then that female morphs to a male, and changes coloration. Link to comment
uglyfish Posted July 25, 2012 Author Share Posted July 25, 2012 Nope, male. Anthias are hermaphroditic like clownfish, but all start as females and then they fight it out to establish dominance and then that female morphs to a male, and changes coloration. No shortage of amazing things happening in a reef tank. Thanks for the info. Link to comment
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