REEFMASTER's Breaking down, leaving hobby for a while

[Reefmaster1996]

Read through the zeovit guide, tank should be back on track this week, re did my dosing regiment, will post that after a few weeks to see what works and doesn't work for me. Ordered more zeobak, and some acropower to try out in the upcoming weeks as the tank matures, so far the purigen and chemipure are doing there job, tank is almost crystal clear again. Video coming tommorrow.

 

Also I saw an mp40 for the first time in person, the thing is huge, I'm probably getting another mp10 instead, the amount of space the mp40 takes up is not worth the flow for me.

[jedimasterben]

TBH, the MP10 is a load of bollocks compared to the MP40. The flow pattern of the MP40 is much better than the MP10, much wider and more oblong, not to mention that the MP40 is about as strong as an MP10 while on minimum, but thanks to the wider flow it doesn't feel as blasting

[Reefmaster1996]

Yeah there's no doubt it has an advantage over the mp 10 in those aspects, for the sole purpose of aesthetics, I was second guessing my self about getting it over an mp10

 

Still like the beastly presence of the mp40, so I don't know yet, remember the nuvo 30 I found in the dumpster, yeah I cut the panels into usable prices and will get them cut and polished to size to make a desktop tank, I'm thinking 24"x13"13" so about 15 gallons, only hint about what it will be is one word mangrove.

[AJ_Tsin]

Read through the zeovit guide, tank should be back on track this week, re did my dosing regiment, will post that after a few weeks to see what works and doesn't work for me. Ordered more zeobak, and some acropower to try out in the upcoming weeks as the tank matures, so far the purigen and chemipure are doing there job, tank is almost crystal clear again. Video coming tommorrow.

 

Also I saw an mp40 for the first time in person, the thing is huge, I'm probably getting another mp10 instead, the amount of space the mp40 takes up is not worth the flow for me.

Careful with purigen and chemipure you really shouldn't be using anything but carbon passively with the zeolites. Not sure why you need these with zeovit? Are you still doing water changes? I am willing to bet your system is just taking much longer to stabilize because of the massive bioload.

 

Just keep steady with dosing guide vacuum sand and do water changes changing zeolite and carbon regularity. If things don't settle down in a month or two then you probably need to take back a few fish.

 

The zeovit method is supposed to get you to ULNS and generally people have most problems because thier system becomes too low in nutrients.

 

To me it seems like your liverock and the zeolites are having a hard time keeping up with the load as it is.

 

Give it some time. I hope things clear up for you.

[Reefmaster1996]

Thanks for the advice, I knew you were going to say something about the purigen and GFO in the chemipure elite sooner or later lol, it's mainly to help the transition to Ulns a bit smoother, I appreciate the advice, the tank was not handling the zeostart overdose well and I wanted the tank to recover quickly, once the purigen and chemi pure get use up, I'll replace them with normal carbon and stay on top of zeolite changes which was also part of my problem, yes I am doing 10 gallon weekly water changes, I vacuum sand biweekly and will vacuum sump every week once my maxi jet gets in tommorrow, my old one died.

 

 

As I said before the tank should be back on track this week, and it is the clearest it's ever been with the media at the moment.

 

Yeah, I agree the bioload is not helping, I doubt I'll need to remove fish, just straining the biological filtartion at the moment, I think after I vacuum the sump and keep up with it weekly, my problems will go away, I'm sure it will mature with time.

 

Thanks again for the positive reamarks, will update tonight.

[Reefmaster1996]

Got in the air filter, and pump, acropower and zeobak comes in tommorow, update tommorow my free day, tank is looking much better.

[Reefmaster1996]

Will try to hook up this weekend

[Reefmaster1996]

Camera battery is dead, will try to get video taken and uploaded tommorow.

 

 

On another note I was able to hook up the universal air filter, ph went from 7.8-7.9 to 8.2-8.3 within a couple of hours. The question is how long the media will survive. Will keep you guys posted on my thoughts of the soda lime ph mod, I'm using the tlf cdx media.

 

Also I will vacuum the sump tommorow, and I got my zeobak and acropower in. I will try out the acropower once the system stabilizes more.

 

Tank was cloudy again, I removed the purigen as my digi was dying on the edges. I think the tank became cloudy due to me removing the purigen over night Tuesday, and then putting it back in This morning on second thought. The little life on it must have had on it rotted in the tank after I reintroduced, that's my only assumption.

[Reefmaster1996]

Detritus from sump,is pretty much gone, installed the maxijet 900 in the sump, bought a used gen2 mp40, this should get rid of my sand bed algae issue. Updates forthcoming tonight.

[Reefmaster1996]

I'm uploading video as I type, will include a link in the following post.

 

Vid link

[Reefmaster1996]

Mp 40 arrived earlier, installed , and I am running mp 10 100% short pulse, mp40 40% reef crest= sand bed algae gone detritus vaporized.

 

Will post vid when I get a chance.

[Reefmaster1996]

Update:

Did my my usual 10 gallon water change, tank is finally showing signs that my anthias djd indeed die, the sand diatoms are back. The mp 40 is really nice, works great.

 

 

After a week of dosing acropower I can say it does improve polyp extension, but further trials are needed to see the full effect. Corals are still not where I want them to be as far as color, the lighting is playing a part in that equation, aswell as my cal/mag overdose.

 

Test as of now:

Ph:8.2

Cal:500ppm

KH:8

 

Also the cdx media by TLF is still not purple so that's a good thing. Once my cal drops back to 460ppm, and everything balances out as far as cal and mag, I should get the growth and coloration that I was seeing back.

[Reefmaster1996]

So everything seems to be back in check, I'm getting encrusting growth and signs of nutrients and export of nutrients reaching homeostasis. Sand bed algae is almost completely gone, backwall algae is residing, and corals are regaining color.

 

params:

PH:8.0

KH:7-8

cal: 480ppm

temp: 78

 

will post pics soon, exams are keeping me busy.

[Reefmaster1996]

Will post pics and video Friday, I'm still ordering parts for the led fixture, and planning out the details of it all, will reveal the details Friday when I have more time to share, everything is still alive, and I changed out my carbon today on schedule, Aslong as I keep up on my scheduled maintenance, the tank responds well.

[MikeTR]

Will post pics and video Friday, I'm still ordering parts for the led fixture, and planning out the details of it all, will reveal the details Friday when I have more time to share, everything is still alive, and I changed out my carbon today on schedule, Aslong as I keep up on my scheduled maintenance, the tank responds well.

Looking forward to an update. Your calc has been bouncing all over the place. IMO you need to get it down to 420-440 and hold it there. From what I can tell from reading the thread, it's been up around 500 for most of the time.

[jedimasterben]

Looking forward to an update. Your calc has been bouncing all over the place. IMO you need to get it down to 420-440 and hold it there. From what I can tell from reading the thread, it's been up around 500 for most of the time.

+1

 

Unless you've got the light, food, and flow, parameters are better on the lower end of the scale.

[Reefmaster1996]

I completely agree, I am shooting for 440ppm, I haven't dosed cal in the past 3 weeks and it seams to hover at 500ppm with weekly water changes, I'm about to check it again today, but it goes up with water changes, and it's really bothering me. All my other params are in check except cal. I ordered another ldd to add 8 lime rebels to the fixture, looking forward to your review Ben.

[Reefmaster1996]

Also the TLF CDX media is turning purple, so I get about three weeks worth of life out of a cartridge full, that's about 5.25 months if I get the jug from BRS, and about 12$ a month, so not too bad, I will probably wait a bit to refill it,Ben where did you get it form in bulk again?

[albertthiel]

Also the TLF CDX media is turning purple, so I get about three weeks worth of life out of a cartridge full, that's about 5.25 months if I get the jug from BRS, and about 12$ a month, so not too bad, I will probably wait a bit to refill it,Ben where did you get it form in bulk again?

 

You can probably get it in bulk from Airgas Inc.

[Reefmaster1996]

Thanks Albert, always nice hearing from you.

[Reefmaster1996]

Well tested calcium again, and it's still at 500ppm despite not dosing calcium for 3 weeks, I am mixing a sample batch of the reef crystals salt for proper analysis, will wait an hour and test alk, ph, nitrates, and phosphates, of the fresh batch aswell.

[Alex B]

My calcium has always been a little high with reef crystals. I'm running the redsea blue bucket now and it's right around 420-430 on a fresh batch. Lots of zeovit people run this salt. A lot closer to nsw than reef crystals.

[jedimasterben]

Also the TLF CDX media is turning purple, so I get about three weeks worth of life out of a cartridge full, that's about 5.25 months if I get the jug from BRS, and about 12$ a month, so not too bad, I will probably wait a bit to refill it,Ben where did you get it form in bulk again?

You can probably get it in bulk from Airgas Inc.

Indeed, Airgas would be the best place if you have one local to you, they sell it by the 5-gallon bucket - expensive up front, but exponentially cheaper overall.

[Reefmaster1996]

Yeah it is really annoying me, I'll see of I can order a bucket from work at wholesale price or buy it online, funny because I'm sure AJ is running the same salt, thanks for the tip, I was thinking the same thing.

 

 

I'll look into the airgas thing, so after all the carbon media won't be overly expensive for me.

[Reefmaster1996]

Yeah I have a couple airgas stores near me, I'll call them when I get a chance and see what they have to offer, thanks for the tips guys, nice to see a discussion on this thread and not just me ranting on how the tank is doing. I will get the blue bucket Red Sea and that should help out. My params are way to high for proper zeovit effectiveness.