Deckoz2302 Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Wow. I loaded up your thread and was skimming to the bottom AS THE PAGE is loading. And some how miraculously my wife yells out BANANA! like how the hell...anyway you have a banana on your shelf...which Im sure you realized that Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 Wife hadn't given up all the space yet. Lol Link to comment
Hexadron Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I missed so much! (curse you work!) This looks beyond amazing. Haha even though i started my tank before, we are about the same level for cycle Link to comment
Zia Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Man i came to see your ''Come see my AQUASCAPE!' and i leave Not disappointed. Aqauscaping is a art in it self. Looking awesome! Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 I missed so much! (curse you work!) Quit slacking! Link to comment
Hexadron Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Quit slacking! Actually I need to start slacking more...at work lol Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 I still have no idea how I plan to run my lights given that I have no experience with LEDs. I'm thinking starting out somewhere around 25 - 30 - 30 with a ramp up and a ramp down totaling about 10 hours. Then I'll run RB @ 1% for a few hours of moonlight in the evening after the lights are out. Additionally, I plan on running less light then that during cycle. I personally believe in cycling with the lights on but in a reduced manor. Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 OK, I just purchased my AC70 for my 5.5g frag tank. I am using an old 25w theo to heat it which I normally use to heat my mixed saltwater but it is struggling big time. The tank is in my basement which is pretty cold right now. I also ordered a 75w eheim to go in there (overkill right?) but keep in mind we could be having as much as a 30 degree temp difference between the tank and the room and the tank is not insulated. I must keep the lid on it though to retain the heat. The heater is out of stock but Amazon does have the best price with free shipping so I'll give it a few days and see if I get more info before choosing an alternative place to buy. After all, my frag tank needs to cycle anyway. I just purchased 2 NW leds to go on my heatsink that I previously have where I tested RB & violets so I'm going to have 2 NW, 2 RB, 2 V, with 60 degree optics connected to a 700mw dimmable driver. I had everything else, only had to get the NW and optics to light my frag tank. I also purchased a Hanna Checker phosphorous test kit as well as additional reagents. Yes I said phosphorous, not phosphate. It's an easy conversion to go from phosphorous to phosphate and the phosphorous has greater resolution in the range we want so that is what I ordered based on my research. Your probably asking why the frag tank anyway. Just because... lol Actually, it will be used mostly as a place to put stuff I don't know what to do with. Such as when things out grow my tank, or I accidently frag SPS when I bump it (just did it again lol). Then I can transfer stuff from the frag tank to my other tanks. I can also put frags that I buy in there to watch them... Not necessarily as a QT tank but more for observation if I encounter the frag that I really, really want to buy but have some concerns over. Additionally, I hope to get store credit from my frag guy. Link to comment
joel sandoman Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Where did you get the hanging kit? Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 Where did you get the hanging kit? I salvaged the included hanging kit from my Sunpod MH and altered it to fit my application. Since the AI nano commercially available kit only uses 1 cable I thought I'd do the same. It hangs well and the method I'm using to secure the power and data wires keeps it from moving. I've never had such distinguishable results from my API test kit before. Well here is a nitrite test. Actually, the result is off the scale but it's hard to see the true representation in the photo but you get the idea. Normally I never test this early on but since I'm logging this I figured WTH. I'm surprised to see results so early. Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 And just to have some fun, I tested the rest of the panel. Nitrates were 40-80 & ph is 7.8. PH is normally low in my other tank tested with API and confirmed with calibrated Apex probe. I don't bother chasing it. Don't worry, I'm not rushing things. It will be 3 weeks before I'm ready to stock but I thought I'd get a baseline to see where I start out at. My LFS has such a large setup that I'm sure this accounts for some of the data, even if they just received the rock a few days prior. I wish I could have snapped a picture of all their bins but I didn't. Link to comment
Hexadron Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 Trying the API testkit yesterday for the first time, I actually prefer them to ELOS. Just simple, to the point, and easy to read (IMO) Ooooh, you must be getting excited! Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 20, 2013 Author Share Posted March 20, 2013 Trying the API testkit yesterday for the first time, I actually prefer them to ELOS. Just simple, to the point, and easy to read (IMO) Ooooh, you must be getting excited! I question their accuracy on the low range. The PH matches my Apex on my other tank, but it also read 0 nitrates on that tank which I find very hard to believe. Also when I bought this test kit 3 weeks into cycling my other tank, I never saw ammonia or nitrites... Perhaps the cycle was quick but I never saw nitrates either so I was baffled. I'm not confident that the kit can accurate test in the low range so I think they are OK for cycling, but I prefer to look at the clues of the tank as well. i.e. I have a very, very slight odor if I stick my nose in the tank and I can see organic matter on the rock. The bacteria is obviously there on all levels as I have tested the entire panel so I have decided to test out my shiny new media racks and put a small amount of cheap black diamond carbon in bags under the floss. Normally I wouldn't do this during the cycle but since I've tested positive on all levels I don't see a reason not to. In week or so, I'll do a nice size water change to keep things under control. Once I test all but 0 for ammonia, I'll get the turkey baster out and blow off my rocks. I do not scrub, dip, rinse, or do anything special to my live rock. I just toss it in! At some point I should see pods and shortly after diatoms. At this point I do a larger water change and if a day later I still have 0 ammonia & nitrites then I'm golden! I'm very excited about the phosphorous Hanna Checker I ordered. I want to test my RODI, my Aquapod, new PicO, as well as both ATO reservoirs to make sure they are not leaching phosphate. If I see a phosphate problem I'll start with something like GFO that I already have on hand in a media bag. If that doesn't work, perhaps I'll try a different media. Maybe I need to run my reactor in my PicO for 24hours once a month to keep things under control. Maybe water changes will be enough. Maybe I need to pick up a small reactor. Oh yes, so excited!!! JDH, I'm very much enjoying sharing build experiences with you. Link to comment
Hexadron Posted March 20, 2013 Share Posted March 20, 2013 I really appreciate all the info you're sharing. You definitely have far more experience than I do! Please post updates with your new Hannah Checker when you start using it. I'm very curious. I'm just debating in my thread what type of test kits to have on hand for those emergency testing etc.. Tough choice it seems. It seems like everyone has their favorites, and they are all different! Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 I really appreciate all the info you're sharing. You definitely have far more experience than I do! Please post updates with your new Hannah Checker when you start using it. I'm very curious. I'm just debating in my thread what type of test kits to have on hand for those emergency testing etc.. Tough choice it seems. It seems like everyone has their favorites, and they are all different! It's my understanding that people love the Hanna Checkers, with the exception of the Calcium one. I previously used red sea test kits, but I now use Salifert for Ca, Alk, & Mg and I find the titration to have very easy to interpret and reproducible results. As in I can do the same test multiple times and receive the same result. At my work I've learned that delivering a consistent product to the customer is more important then the actual test results. The Salifert phosphate test kit just isn't sensitive enough IMO as the only time I've seen a positive result was testing tap water. The only issue I had was with one of the chemicals took some of the graduations off the syringe. As a result, I now put a piece of tape on all my syringes to prevent this from happening. I guess I'll find out when I get my Hanna Checker! I've considered switching to Red Sea Pro test kits and if you watch the BRS video, they were even impressed with them. But for now I'll stick with Salifert as long as I have them available. I think on our PicOs we really need to test for phosphate if we don't plan on running an active phosphate remover. I don't yet know how well a phosphate media in a bag will be effective. BTW, to convert phosphorous PPB to phosphate PPM you take phosphorous x 3.066 which will give you phosphate in PPB. Divide it by 1000 to convert it to PPM. I don't sweat testing on my other tank up to this point as I run a GFO reactor. So I figured why not just get a reactor on this tank and be done with it as opposed to purchasing another test kit? Well I think it's time I finally get the tester and be done with. Plus, I don't want to load up my PicO with unnecessary hardware as I'd have to alter the rear cover to allow room for another pair of hoses. Link to comment
Hexadron Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Ya I'm still up in the air about Phosphate removers, I've been doing bits of research here and there, and it seems mostly like lighting. "I use this so it's the best" sort of thing... Well if your keeping SPS, I know phosphate is an important parameter to keep in check. I'm nearly 100% certain I will be following suit and ordering a Phosphorus Hannah Checker with my SPS order. What reactor are you looking into? Will you try experimenting with media bags first? Link to comment
TristanC Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 I have the hannah checker for p04 and i love it. It gives consistent, accurate readings. At the moment i am running cpe and purigen but i know that is not going to be enough as i go down the road. I am thinking about possibly getting a brs delux reactor and running carbon & gfo. Mind you Im not going to do this right away, this is my backup plan if phosphates become a problem later on. Link to comment
supermarvin76 Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 I have the hannah checker for p04 and i love it. It gives consistent, accurate readings. At the moment i am running cpe and purigen but i know that is not going to be enough as i go down the road. I am thinking about possibly getting a brs delux reactor and running carbon & gfo. Mind you Im not going to do this right away, this is my backup plan if phosphates become a problem later on. Have it guys seen the Innobative Marine MiniMax reactors? Check it out. They look to be right up our ally. Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 Ya I'm still up in the air about Phosphate removers, I've been doing bits of research here and there, and it seems mostly like lighting. "I use this so it's the best" sort of thing... Well if your keeping SPS, I know phosphate is an important parameter to keep in check. I'm nearly 100% certain I will be following suit and ordering a Phosphorus Hannah Checker with my SPS order. What reactor are you looking into? Will you try experimenting with media bags first? Us PicO owners have to stick together! I don't have a problem keeping SPS in my pod not monitoring phosphate however I do get white tips. I always equated this to my MH light cooking them but it seams pretty consistent with several SPS so I'm wondering if it has something to do with growth as the white never spreads past the tips. It's funny as I frag my SPS once a month... As in when I stick my hands in the tank and accidently break the SPS. lol Should fill my frag tank up pretty quick! Even still, I can't put SPS under the light or they fry completely. What I find really sexy is the polyp extension of very happy SPS. I have the hannah checker for p04 and i love it. It gives consistent, accurate readings. At the moment i am running cpe and purigen but i know that is not going to be enough as i go down the road. I am thinking about possibly getting a brs delux reactor and running carbon & gfo. Mind you Im not going to do this right away, this is my backup plan if phosphates become a problem later on. Why did you choose the phosphate tester over the phosphorous? It doesn't have the accuracy and everywhere recommends the phosphorous over the phosphate for reef tanks because even though it doesn't have the range it has better resolution and higher accuracy. Had I not researched I would have purchased the wrong one. I guess the important thing is do you have consistent, reproducible results? I think that is more important than the actual number on the screen of the checker. i.e. Test an identical water sample 3 times and see if the results are the same. This test should only cost you about $0.40 given the cost of reagents but is essential IMO to verify the integrity of the test kit. And I do the same thing with all my test kits. I think you will find that the result will not be the same however it should fall within tolerance the tester is designed for, which is +/- 0.04 ppm which I think is pretty high. The tolerance of the phosphorous is +/- 5 ppb or 0.01533 ppm. That's a huge difference in accuracy. So what I'm getting at is how can you try to achieve 0.03 ppm if your tolerance is +/- 0.04? Your tester could read 0.00 or 0.07 and it would be an acceptable result as what the checker was designed to do. But if your trying for 0.03 ppm and your tolerance is +/- 0.015 your result would read between 0.015 ppm and 0.045 which is not only highly increased accuracy, but also better resolution as well. In any event as I previously stated, getting consistent numbers is more important than the actual number itself and either would be much better than most chemical test kits out there. Have it guys seen the Innobative Marine MiniMax reactors? Check it out. They look to be right up our ally. Nope, they are internal and I don't have any space for that. Not to mention they don't hold very much media. I personally don't prefer chemipure elite. It's mostly carbon that exhausts very quick so it would need to be replaced much more often then they state. Not to mention the little bit of GFO they stick in there probably isn't of too much value. I think it's way over priced. I have never tried purigen. JDH, for now I'll start with media bags. I'm running carbon only until I have my checker. If I need a reactor I'm thinking NextrReef MR1 complete kit however it's too tall for my application (I only have 14" height in my stand) so I would be researching the shorty they sell which only stands 8.5" high. I should be able to fit another pump in my rear however I'd have to alter my rear cover to fit 2 additional 1/2" tubes in the rear. And I really think my rear cover makes my tank look clean and sexy so I'm not inclined to do that just yet. Excellent brainstorming here guys, let's keep working together on our PicOs!!! Link to comment
fewskillz Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Great tank and nice discussion. I'll have to look into the phosphorus checker. Link to comment
TristanC Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Why did you choose the phosphate tester over the phosphorous? Well to be honest i didn't even know they had a Phosphorous ulr checker, this is all news to me. I can say that my p04 checker is very consistent and my levels never deviate from the norm so i am happy with that. Like you were saying consistency is key (obviously not if your results are consistently high though haha). If one of you guys picks up the phosphorous checker let me know how it goes. I am using cpe at the moment and though i really don't like using it i cant argue with the results, i would much rather get some high quality carbon and gfo but running the gfo without a reactor is pretty inefficient. Link to comment
Hexadron Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Us PicO owners have to stick together! I don't have a problem keeping SPS in my pod not monitoring phosphate however I do get white tips. I always equated this to my MH light cooking them but it seams pretty consistent with several SPS so I'm wondering if it has something to do with growth as the white never spreads past the tips. It's funny as I frag my SPS once a month... As in when I stick my hands in the tank and accidently break the SPS. lol Should fill my frag tank up pretty quick! Even still, I can't put SPS under the light or they fry completely. What I find really sexy is the polyp extension of very happy SPS. JDH, for now I'll start with media bags. I'm running carbon only until I have my checker. If I need a reactor I'm thinking NextrReef MR1 complete kit however it's too tall for my application (I only have 14" height in my stand) so I would be researching the shorty they sell which only stands 8.5" high. I should be able to fit another pump in my rear however I'd have to alter my rear cover to fit 2 additional 1/2" tubes in the rear. And I really think my rear cover makes my tank look clean and sexy so I'm not inclined to do that just yet. Excellent brainstorming here guys, let's keep working together on our PicOs!!! Unfortunately for me a reactor will not be an option at this time. I will be using media bags for BRS rox 0.8 as well as a Phosphate remover (TBD) and Purigen. I have never used any of these things before, so before i get too crazy with SPS, i'm going to do my best to see what's worth it and what's not. Obviously carbon is good for water clarity (helps with light penetration) as well as keeping odours and slime etc. removed from the water. After much reading it seems Purigen is quite a nice thing to have for absorbing organic compounds before they break down into ammonia, which is of course toxic to our fish and corals. I am leaning towards Fauna Marin Ultra Power Phos, for a media bag Phosphate remover. I have been lurking on quite a few Canadian and German forums which have much info about this product, and reviews ave been more than positive. Like i said though, I will keep up the research.. I couldn't agree more, lets stick together! PicO owners UNITE!! I think it's nice that we can all try different things, and record our success or failures. Link to comment
TristanC Posted March 21, 2013 Share Posted March 21, 2013 Unfortunately for me a reactor will not be an option at this time. I will be using media bags for BRS rox 0.8 as well as a Phosphate remover (TBD) and Purigen. I have never used any of these things before, so before i get too crazy with SPS, i'm going to do my best to see what's worth it and what's not. Obviously carbon is good for water clarity (helps with light penetration) as well as keeping odours and slime etc. removed from the water. After much reading it seems Purigen is quite a nice thing to have for absorbing organic compounds before they break down into ammonia, which is of course toxic to our fish and corals. I am leaning towards Fauna Marin Ultra Power Phos, for a media bag Phosphate remover. I have been lurking on quite a few Canadian and German forums which have much info about this product, and reviews ave been more than positive. Like i said though, I will keep up the research.. I couldn't agree more, lets stick together! PicO owners UNITE!! I think it's nice that we can all try different things, and record our success or failures. I can vouch for purigen I've used it with all my tanks and it does help quite a bit. Plus it can be regenerated so it's cost effective. I too am thinking about going with brs rox carbon, let us know how po4 removal goes Link to comment
Mstefa1 Posted March 21, 2013 Author Share Posted March 21, 2013 I feed heavy and never had a detectable level of ammonia in a saltwater tank so I personally wouldn't worry about it if you have a well established biological filtration. Again, not ever using dry rock I don't know how long it takes you to get to that level. I am a ROX user as well. I find if your water is clean to begin with, ROX works very well. Just becareful that your not stripping too much from your water... But if your doing weekly water changes I don't see that as an issue because most things that you don't test for that are lost will easily be replenished during the water change. If you have dirtier water then I think you should use cheaper carbon as ROX seams to exhaust quickly. Remember it's better to use less and change more frequently then more and less frequently. Do you have 2 media racks like I do? I may think about putting different media in each rack as opposed to layering 2 types in each rack. Also, I don't like that every time I change out my floss I end up loosing some of the particulates into the chamber. This is very obvious as the floss was absorbing sand still suspended. The same thing happens for my Aquapod with filter pad but not to the same extreme. I want to change mechanical filtration every few days the same as in my pod but I don't want to cut such a large piece for each rack and change it that often. I think what I'm going to try is to put a piece in each rack that I change weekly and then put floss on top of the pad that I can change every 2-3 days as originally planned. That way when I change the floss I don't have to worry about loosing particulates. Personally, I feel that if you do a better job of mechanical filtration that you can reduce chemical filtration. Well to be honest i didn't even know they had a Phosphorous ulr checker, this is all news to me. I can say that my p04 checker is very consistent and my levels never deviate from the norm so i am happy with that. Like you were saying consistency is key (obviously not if your results are consistently high though haha). If one of you guys picks up the phosphorous checker let me know how it goes. I am using cpe at the moment and though i really don't like using it i cant argue with the results, i would much rather get some high quality carbon and gfo but running the gfo without a reactor is pretty inefficient. I appreciate your honestly. Even after my initial research I considered getting the phosphate checker because that's what it's supposed to do right? Check phosphate. But after more and more research I've decided on the phosphorous one. Initially when the phosphorous checker came out it's accuracy was 10 ppb which was +/- 0.03 compared with the phosphate checker @ +/- 0.04 so not that different. But Hanna posted on RC along time ago that after additional testing they were able to prove the phosphorous test had an accuracy of 5 ppb. The reality is that if you are getting consistent results with your checker then you are golden IMO. Link to comment
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