RollaJase's 30G Custom Cube - Tank Torn Down

[markalot]

Bad testing. I use a Salifert tests now, and they have some issues as well.

 

Do you dose anything? With all those SPS water changes have no chance of keeping up.

[RollaJase]

Bad testing. I use a Salifert tests now, and they have some issues as well.

 

Do you dose anything? With all those SPS water changes have no chance of keeping up.

You hit the nail on the head with that one Mark. In my sleep deprived state (got about 3 hours last night) I ran these tests on auto pilot and drew 10ml of water for each test. Alk uses 10ml of water, Cal uses 5ml and Mag uses 2ml. That explains why my results were so far off the mark, well, for Cal and Mag anyway. So you can all ignore my frantic rant earlier . As for the accuracy of these tests I have compared them to the Hanna results from my local LFS (tests done within 30mins of each other) and the Alk was almost spot on and the Cal and Mag were within 50 of the Hanna tests. I know these colour tests aren't 100% accurate as people perceive colours differently and all that but as an indication they do the job.

 

My results ended up being:

Alk = 5.9

Cal = 375

Mag = 1200

So yes they are all low and will be replenished with the 20% change I have planned for after work tomorrow.

However, the signs I am concerned about only started to show after my last water change. Do you think the rapid increase in the low levels shocked the (some) SPS pieces?

 

As for dosing, no, I currently don't dose anything besides weekly amino acids. Dosing is something I know I have to do and was something I was going to implement once my sump was installed, which has dragged on for 6 months now. That leads me to another question I was going to ask. What do people dose? 2 part solutions, the big 3? I will most likely be ordering a Marine Color triple doser within the next month or so but should buy the dosing components etc. and start to do it manually.

 

On the sump front, the interior of the stand is 80% complete (YAY ) with only the lighting left to do and a little more cable management tricks required as I didn't realise the extent of the cables I would need to route. I am away this weekend for another long weekend but the following weekend I plan to to a dry run with the hardline plumbing before making the final changes to the sump. If I can get the hardlines plumbed then it will make things a lot easier when it comes to bringing the sump online as they will probably be the hardest part of the install with the minimal room behind the stand that I left myself to work.

[markalot]

5.9 Alk will result in very unhappy SPS and may do serious harm. It will take a few days to show up. Get it slowly back up to 7 over a few days and don't shock anything. All tanks are different, if they were healthy to begin with then the only casualty might be loss of color. You have to make a rule to never ever let alk drop below 6.5, EVER, or you are in for a lot of grief.

[RollaJase]

5.9 Alk will result in very unhappy SPS and may do serious harm. It will take a few days to show up. Get it slowly back up to 7 over a few days and don't shock anything. All tanks are different, if they were healthy to begin with then the only casualty might be loss of color. You have to make a rule to never ever let alk drop below 6.5, EVER, or you are in for a lot of grief.

Thanks for the advice Mark, much appreciated. Yeah all the pieces looked fantastic until the last water change, I also think teh overdose of GFO didn't help much either. I think I may go back to doing a smaller 15% water change weekly as apposed to a 20-25% fortnightly also. This should help make the fluctuations less noticeable also until I get the dosing up and running. The odd thing is it is only 3 pieces which are annoyed, every other SPS piece I have is happy as Larry, albeit some signs of reduced PE. Guess it all comes down to how sensitive to change those particular species are.

 

Looks like I need to keep a closer eye on my critical parameters. I tend to be a pretty laid back reef keeper and only look into things when things look bad, a habit I have to change. If you want to keep the killer candies you gotta do the time I guess. I really want to try and maintain fortnightly water changes (out of convenience) so dosing is probably my only option on that front.

[RollaJase]

After a quick look around locally I can get the powdered Seachem additives fairly easily, they seem to be the most popular ones available. Salifert are also available but for a higher price. I should be able go get 300g of Cal, Mag and Alk powders for around $30AUD plus freight which isn't too bad I guess.

 

Has any had any experience with the Seachem or Salifert powders before? Good or bad? I might see if I can lock down some powders and order by the end of the week, then I will need to decide on a dosing pump but that won't be ordered for another few weeks or so.

[markalot]

I use Seachem ReefBuilder mixed in with my topoff. 6 tablespoons for every 2 gallons of topoff really lowers the amount of Alk I have to add. I'm rather laid back s well so I have never tried to lock in anything but Alk for SPS color. I manually dose 2 part, 1 cap of Alk and 3 caps of Calcium daily to keep everything in line.

 

My goal this summer is to lock in the ReefBuilder dose so I don't have to add Alk and then setup calcium on my doser, so I only have to add Mag occasionally. Even with my haphazard approach I'm able to keep Alk a rather steady 7.5 - 8 over a week.

 

Also note, GFO is known to drop Alk. Not sure how much but I've ready a lot of threads concerning it.

[RollaJase]

I use Seachem ReefBuilder mixed in with my topoff. 6 tablespoons for every 2 gallons of topoff really lowers the amount of Alk I have to add. I'm rather laid back s well so I have never tried to lock in anything but Alk for SPS color. I manually dose 2 part, 1 cap of Alk and 3 caps of Calcium daily to keep everything in line.

 

My goal this summer is to lock in the ReefBuilder dose so I don't have to add Alk and then setup calcium on my doser, so I only have to add Mag occasionally. Even with my haphazard approach I'm able to keep Alk a rather steady 7.5 - 8 over a week.

 

Also note, GFO is known to drop Alk. Not sure how much but I've ready a lot of threads concerning it.

Thanks again for all the info Mark.

 

I'll be placing an order for the following after work tonight:

1 x 300G Seachem Reef Builder

1 x 300G Seachem Reef Advantage Magnesium

1 x 300G Seachem Reef Advantage Calcium (if I can find it)

Plus a few other bits and piees that I need, running low on foods.

 

Next up will be the dosing pump once i do a little more resaearch.

 

Yep, definitely know GFO can reduce Alk levels, one of the reasons I initially took my reactor offline when things started looking bad. I have halved the dose of GFO that was in there now and will do a test before and after water change tonight to see how much things change. I will also check the levels in the salt mix to be safe.

[FlowerMama]

You got this! It'll be good. Glad to hear it was just bad testing from before.

[RollaJase]

You got this! It'll be good. Glad to hear it was just bad testing from before.

Yeah that had me worried, I almost had a heart attack haha.

 

Since I am new to dosing I have decided to purchase the Seachem Reef Complete and Seachem Reef Carbonate in liquid form. Reef complete will tackle calcium as well as magnesium and strontium where as Reef Carbonate is strictly for alkalinity. It is evident that my mag is definitely the least used element in this equation so I don't have any issues with it being kept in lne as part of teh calcium dosing. Having two liquids to dose will be a little easier for me to manage also and if I really wanted to I could add Reef Complete to my top off water. Once I get the hang of things I can move onto an automated doser when funds become available. Seeing as it is a public holiday on Monday I will hopefully be able to dose on Tuesday.

[RollaJase]

Did a 25% water change tonight as I will miss it this weekend. New bucket of salt so the mix took a long time to clear up. after the change I let the tank mix for an hour or so before I tested again.

Alk = 7.3

Cal = 400-410

Mag = 1300

 

Still not the best but a lot better then it was.

As soon as my additives arrive I will bring everything up slowly over the course of the next few weeks. I may try to do another small change on Monday to bump up everything again.

[TeamIM24]

Great looking tank! I was just browsing your images and saw your orange plate up on the glass. Ours does the same thing even though it has plenty of room around it. I have wondered if it was trying to get warm or cool by being up on the glass.

[RollaJase]

Great looking tank! I was just browsing your images and saw your orange plate up on the glass. Ours does the same thing even though it has plenty of room around it. I have wondered if it was trying to get warm or cool by being up on the glass.

Thank you. Yeah both my plates are weird, they like to snuggle together or push up against the glass. Sometimes my stromb snail moves them around also when it squeezes through and they always move back together.

 

In other news I got to work this morning and my Nualgi had arrived, that was really fast shipping considering it was sent earlier last week.

[RollaJase]

Tank is looking a little better since the water change. I am planning on doing another 25% change on Monday (public holiday ) to give the levels a further boost. I should be able to start my suppliment dosing on Tuesday as long as the supliments arrive. They are getting delivered to work so that typically means a day less travel time as apposed to me getting the order delivered to home.

 

My UPS arrived yesterday also . I connected the battery and put it on charge at work to get the battery cycling. The particular model I ordered reccomends to cycle the battery for 8 hours prior to use so I got most of that out of the way at work before getting home. Connected it all up and it works flawlessly. I didn't have the time to switch things around on my powerboards so currently I have the light, skimmer and ATO on surge only and the MP10, reactor and heaters on battery backup. I will be moving the heaters over to the board with surge protection only. The heaters wont run all the time and one wont run at all (is backup) so it wont drastically affect the battery uptime for the time being until I have a chance to shuffle around components and re-do the cable management. I simulated a few power outages and everything worked great, pumps stayed on, everything else went off. No more resetting the night mode on my MP10 when the power goes out .

[RollaJase]

This weekend past myself and 3 friends traveled interstate to Melbourne Australia to see a performance of a life time. We had always hoped that Armin Van Buuren would make another trip down under and we definitely did not regret our decision.

An absolutely insane 6 hour long set made the wait that much more worth it. Not bad shots for my phone either.

 

While we were spending the weekend away, as we all do, we over indulge. I came back home definitely feeling worse for ware and my bank account was far from pleased with me.

 

Monday I did another 25% water change and today (Wednesday) my supplements for the tank arrived.

I tested my parameters again before dosing:

Alk = 7.0dKH

Cal = 390ppm

Mag = 1200ppm

 

And after adding 6ml of Seachem Reef Complete and Reef Carbonate:

Alk = 7.8dKH

Cal = 425ppm

Mag = 1260ppm

 

I waited about 45mins in between testing the big 3. I'll test again tomorrow night to see how things have changed (if anything) and perhaps will dose a little more over the weekend. I don't want to bring everything up too quickly but would like to have my Alk around 9 and would like to bring up the Mag a little more (with my dosing method the mag will rise with more calcium added).

 

In other tank news, everything is looking good so far. Managed to get rid of some some of my Xenia over the weekend for some dry rock. My Xenia that is growing up the wall has formed a sort of 'cloud' at the top of the tank, looks really cool. I'm contemplating removing the rest and just leaving that piece, I would have to replace half to rock at the rear of the tank though. I also caved and ordered a Bicolour Blenny because my LFS had a 15% off sale, only paid $25 for the guy, other LFS was $45. It should arrive in time for collection this weekend. I have had a flare up of Aiptasia lately (laziness on my part) so I am contemplating adding a peppermint shrimp in the not so distant future. I have read horror stories about them going after LPS and soft corals but the guys at my LFS have a swarm of them in their LPS and leather holding tanks and have no issues with them so I'm considering the risk.

[Giga]

That watch is pretty killer

[gena]

Sound like a fun weekend . Xenia cloud sounds cool!

[RollaJase]

That watch is pretty killer

I walked around the store a few times and kept getting drawn back to it. I couldn't leave without it .

 

Sound like a fun weekend . Xenia cloud sounds cool!

Was a fantastic weekend. The Xenia idea is growing on me, I think I could get it to work.

[RollaJase]

I tested the big 3 again tonight. I caved and dosed another 2ml of the Reef Complete and Reef Carbonate this morning before work (~7am) and after testing this evening I have the following results:

Alk = 8.2 Dkh

Cal = 425ppm

Mag = 1240ppm

 

My Alk is going up a little which is good, Cal and Mag are staying stable to a degree. Obviously a percentage of these changes are down to slightly inaccurate tests but at least I get a general idea. So looks like my tank is consuming about 2ml of Cal a day, in the scheme of things probably not that much as the rising Alk will drop Cal. I'll slowly raise Alk up to 9-10dKH, doing Cal as I go and then figure out the daily Cal requirements once the Alk is stable. Cal and Mag are at safe levels for the moment, just need to get the Alk where it needs to be and I'll be happy. The SPS are already showing signs of improvement. The worst effected pieces are starting to expose their polyps under the night nights.

[Nano sapiens]

8.2 Alk is what I shoot for since my overall coral coloration looks best at this level, but each tank is different.

[RollaJase]

8.2 Alk is what I shoot for since my overall coral coloration looks best at this level, but each tank is different.

I think realistically I'll aim for and alk of 9 and try and keep it stable before I experiment with a higher or lower level.

 

This weekend was a very productive weekend for me in the tank. I finally got around to sorting out my zoa garden which resulted in about 5mins smashing it with a hammer and chisel and about 5 hours fixing the mess I made. The result is a heap of micro colonies and each type separated from each other on their own piece of rock. I have more of the green then I know what to do with so I'll be trying to sell some off locally or trade it for some new colonies.

 

I also picked up my Bicolour Blenny on Saturday. I am really happy with this choice, very active and gets along well with the other fish. It also eats frozen foods which is a lot less work for me. So far he it has taken up residence amongst the SPS colonies and spends most of its time grazing on the live rock. The LFS I picked the Blenny up from threw in a small zoa chunk that that fell off a larger piece. The piece had a mix of two long tentacles varieties, one a green/blue and the other a bright red. I separated the two varieties onto different rocks for now, hopefully the grow in quickly.

 

I went to the hardware store and purchased all the PVC I need to plumb in the drains for my tank. Stupid of me really because one of my best mates is a plumber and could have got it all for me for next to nothing. I'll be running 20mm (about 3/4") drains and have all the taps, unions and 45 pieces to sort out the hard lines right down to the barbs for the inner cabinet soft lines. I still need to order the soft lines, I'm wanting something really flexible. I was going to mock up the pieces that join to the bulkheads but ran out of time after playing with the zoas for most of the weekend.

[BattleAthletics]

Im actually learning a bit from this thread.

[RollaJase]

Im actually learning a bit from this thread.

I'm glad my rambling has been of some use to you BA .

[Nano sapiens]

I also picked up my Bicolour Blenny on Saturday...

 

Comical little fish, for sure. One thing to watch out for is nipping of the other fish's fins. This is one of those 'some do, some don't' kind of things.

[pismo_reefer]

Thats a BEAUTIFUL watch...

 

I am a complete watch nerd.

Never wear them.

Just collect them.

 

That Diesel is t*ts....

 

I'm a skeleton watch kinda guy.

 

Rougouis.

 

 

Colibri.

[RollaJase]

Comical little fish, for sure. One thing to watch out for is nipping of the other fish's fins. This is one of those 'some do, some don't' kind of things.

Definitely a comical little fish, really cute as well. Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep an eye on it. So far so good though.

 

Thats a BEAUTIFUL watch...

 

I am a complete watch nerd.

Never wear them.

Just collect them.

 

That Diesel is t*ts....

 

I'm a skeleton watch kinda guy.

Thanks , I saw it and had to have it. When it comes to watches I have very expensive taste, I could walk into a store and pick the most expensive watch before looking at price haha. I am a big fan of Skeleton watches, sadly I don't have any of my own yet. They are both beautiful pieces, your lucky to own them .