tennis20 Posted September 27, 2013 Author Share Posted September 27, 2013 I think I might have to just get the tunze. From your experience, is it loud? The tank is in my room and right next to my parents room so the hum of the motor now is just unbearable. Would you suggest the salifert tests? I was doing a little reading yesterday about them and they seem accurate Link to comment
SerenityReef Posted September 27, 2013 Share Posted September 27, 2013 Mine was very quite. Salifert and Red Sea both review well. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 I think what I'm going to do is get some more snails tomorrow and a few crabs. All my florida ceriths are dead, mod of them at least. I took my tweezers and poked at every florida cerith and nothing, they also smelled. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 Surprisingly, I slept last night. i turned on the skimmer and it's just breaking in now. Link to comment
ward827 Posted September 28, 2013 Share Posted September 28, 2013 Well, if they smelled, then that's a pretty good sign they're dead. But remember, they can also go dormant for a while as well. You may think some are dead because they haven't moved for a week or 2. Then all of a sudden . . . Link to comment
tennis20 Posted September 28, 2013 Author Share Posted September 28, 2013 Well, if they smelled, then that's a pretty good sign they're dead. But remember, they can also go dormant for a while as well. You may think some are dead because they haven't moved for a week or 2. Then all of a sudden . . . Yeah that's why the ones that only smelled a little I left in. I figured the smell of death was just on my hands Link to comment
defender.TX Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 My hermits usually clean out any shells of dead snails overnight, so I don't have time to remove them. As a bonus that means they generally have shells to move into when they molt. I've only lost two snails though so far, fingers crossed. Link to comment
mrnugget Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Had the same problem with the Florida Cerith's in my order as well... the dwarfs, nerites and nassarius were all fine (nerites took a few days to get busy). Had some hitchhiker crabs in the bag with the Florida's - had thought they had a bit of a munch fest in transit, but could have just been a bad batch of snails to begin with. Contact John, he'll make it right. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 My hermits usually clean out any shells of dead snails overnight, so I don't have time to remove them. As a bonus that means they generally have shells to move into when they molt. I've only lost two snails though so far, fingers crossed. Opted not to get the crabs, maybe later if need to Had the same problem with the Florida Cerith's in my order as well... the dwarfs, nerites and nassarius were all fine (nerites took a few days to get busy). Had some hitchhiker crabs in the bag with the Florida's - had thought they had a bit of a munch fest in transit, but could have just been a bad batch of snails to begin with. Contact John, he'll make it right. I actually had one crab but it was dead. I was considering it a few days ago but thought it was too late and is certainly too late now so maybe next time? On a side note, my stupid skimmer keeps giving me more and more reasons to buy the magical tunze! So many micro bubbles! H Anyone know how to subdue it? Link to comment
mrnugget Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 I don't think I even ran the stock skimmer (used the pump for mixing salt water). With the Tunze, it was a matter of adjusting the height of the skimmer (which I don't think you can do with the stock one), and the slowly adjusting the air valve. Took some time - for every 1/4 turn of the valve, would leave it like that for some time until it adjusted... not enough skim and I'd adjust it again, or too much skim and I'd adjust it down. In the end, I was making 1/8 to 1/16 turns (approx.) to get it dialed in. Just took time. Only had the micro bubbles when it was way out of whack. Link to comment
markalot Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Going back a few posts you talked about getting water from the LFS and it having nitrates. Let's get that settled right now. It appears the LFS is selling you used water? There is really no other explanation for a positive nitrate test UNLESS your testing is flawed. I would get to the bottom of this issue right away. The API Nitrate test kit is fairly reliable if the reagents have not expired AND you followed the directions and have a sore arm by the time you finished testing. On a 34 gallon tank it's going to be really tough to be successful without mixing your own water that you can rely on. You could go the distilled route and 10% changes a week, but your cost would be $3.40 a week (assuming $1 gallon distilled), or $176 a year. In other words, a decent RO/DI unit would pay for itself in just over a year. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Going back a few posts you talked about getting water from the LFS and it having nitrates. Let's get that settled right now. It appears the LFS is selling you used water? There is really no other explanation for a positive nitrate test UNLESS your testing is flawed. I would get to the bottom of this issue right away. The API Nitrate test kit is fairly reliable if the reagents have not expired AND you followed the directions and have a sore arm by the time you finished testing. On a 34 gallon tank it's going to be really tough to be successful without mixing your own water that you can rely on. You could go the distilled route and 10% changes a week, but your cost would be $3.40 a week (assuming $1 gallon distilled), or $176 a year. In other words, a decent RO/DI unit would pay for itself in just over a year. I was talking with my dad about an rodi. I help out at my lfs a bit and I mostly rest the water an organize the frag tank and the water I get is straight from their ro recevoir. It's not already made if I didnt clarify that earlier. I make my own. The next time that I'm there working I'm going to test the nitrates. They tell me to only test nitrites and kh in the tanks. My Y test kit isn't expired and has been rather reliable for my other levels. Link to comment
markalot Posted October 2, 2013 Share Posted October 2, 2013 Water in the US can only legally contain so much nitrate, and usually it's a pretty small amount. Your test kit might be bad. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 Water in the US can only legally contain so much nitrate, and usually it's a pretty small amount. Your test kit might be bad. I tested it at the lfs as well and it was 30-40 there too. I also tested my newly made salt water and it had 20. So I think it's their water, they have a lot of bubble algae in their tanks. I've actually started seeing diatoms on the rocks and hair algae ( i think, it's very small) on the glass. I have some redidsh algae that I got from reef cleaners and i have some eel grass for nutrient export but it really isn't enough. Can you recommend a reasonable ro unit? Nothing fancy, just what gets the job done. even something like this could probably do the job http://www.marinedepot.com/SpectraPure_Maxpure_25_GPD_RO_System_10_to_25_Gallons_Per_Day_RO_Water_Filter_Systems-SpectraPure-YSP1131-FIROROTT-YSP1131-vi.html I have some research to do Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 2, 2013 Author Share Posted October 2, 2013 I actually have a feeling that the nitrate that is in their water might be something from the tank they hold it in, I don't know. When I fill up my jugs I can't see the tank. It's blacked out and the ro is on the other side so I can't see what's going on Link to comment
defender.TX Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 Do they have a TDS meter on the RO output at the LFS? RO filters need to be maintained and it doesn't sound like they are doing that. Also, contrary to what someone else said, API test kits are some of the least accurate available. Get a Red Sea Nitrate Pro, Salifert, or ELOS kit and test it again. There's no way tap water will have 20-40ppm nitrate in it - so even if their RO unit is not maintained it would be less than 2ppm. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 5, 2013 Author Share Posted October 5, 2013 Do they have a TDS meter on the RO output at the LFS? RO filters need to be maintained and it doesn't sound like they are doing that. Also, contrary to what someone else said, API test kits are some of the least accurate available. Get a Red Sea Nitrate Pro, Salifert, or ELOS kit and test it again. There's no way tap water will have 20-40ppm nitrate in it - so even if their RO unit is not maintained it would be less than 2ppm. They keep there water in huge tanks and the ro is way behind and you can't even see it. Do you think it's possible that the containers i keep my water are giving the water nitrates? I have those 5 gallon jugs and I mix my saltwater in an old plastic container, but I rinsed out the container but not the jugs. They actually gave me the jugs when iwas initially filling up my tank. Could it be my salt? I'm just seeing any possibilities. On a not so side note. I am Probably going to need a rather small and inexpensive ro. I am thinking about this one http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-3-stage-space-saver-ro-system-75gpd.html Or this one http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/brs-4-stage-ro-only-system-75gpd.html I can't really tell which one is better. Is it the filters that I should look at to determine superiority? Any help would be great. Link to comment
defender.TX Posted October 5, 2013 Share Posted October 5, 2013 They keep there water in huge tanks and the ro is way behind and you can't even see it. You can stop looking for the problem. If the LFS can't even get to their RO filter to service it then it is not being maintained properly. RO units are actually pretty high maintenance, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to keep them running properly: RO membrane replacements, reaction media replacements, flushing the unit. This all needs to be done on a schedule that is determined by how many gallons of water the unit is filtering, not just calendar time. For a home user this might only be 2-3 times a year, but for a store that is actually selling and moving a lot of RO water they need to be doing weekly maintenance (at the very least flushing) to keep the TDS low. Dissolved solids are what are causing the Nitrate problem and they should be filtered by the RO unit and aren't. I think it's pretty obvious at this point that improper maintenance of the RO unit is the source of the problem. I think getting your own RO filter is a great idea and will pay off in the long run. If you plan on running your own RO unit I would strongly recommend checking out BRS TV's series on RO, . Also, BRS RO units generally come preinstalled with a TDS meter on the output line and you can get special Chloramines systems, which are necessary if your city is treating their water with Chloramines (most do at this point). Good luck! Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 7, 2013 Author Share Posted October 7, 2013 You can stop looking for the problem. If the LFS can't even get to their RO filter to service it then it is not being maintained properly. RO units are actually pretty high maintenance, there is a lot of work that needs to be done to keep them running properly: RO membrane replacements, reaction media replacements, flushing the unit. This all needs to be done on a schedule that is determined by how many gallons of water the unit is filtering, not just calendar time. For a home user this might only be 2-3 times a year, but for a store that is actually selling and moving a lot of RO water they need to be doing weekly maintenance (at the very least flushing) to keep the TDS low. Dissolved solids are what are causing the Nitrate problem and they should be filtered by the RO unit and aren't. I think it's pretty obvious at this point that improper maintenance of the RO unit is the source of the problem. I think getting your own RO filter is a great idea and will pay off in the long run. If you plan on running your own RO unit I would strongly recommend checking out BRS TV's series on RO, . Also, BRS RO units generally come preinstalled with a TDS meter on the output line and you can get special Chloramines systems, which are necessary if your city is treating their water with Chloramines (most do at this point). Good luck! Watching the videos as we speak, school can be annoying with all the work! Got some info on chloramines so I'm a little more familiar. And I think I'm going to subscribe to BRS TV on youtube, they're very informative. You and pretty much everyone else on NR are so helpful; you write long responses that answer all my questions; seriously, thank you. On a side note/tank update So I was at my LFS the other day, just helping out and a worker there was cleaning out an anemone tank of algae, eel and caulerpa...anyway, she was going to throw the algae out and I said I would take it if she was going to just toss it. So, she bagged it for me and I left feeling happy about my new algae. I got home and I started to acclimate the stuff and I found a maxi mini anemone! It was about the size of a quarter. But it was torn, badly. I would say that about 1/8 of it was gone. So I put it in my tank, not really sure if it was going to die or not. It was on the sand bed and it either moved or was pushed about 2 inches from its original spot. So I thought, oh it's dead, the current just moved it. Then I put it atop a rock just to make sure it was dead. It sank into a crevasse and turned upside down, the next morning I saw that it moved and was attached to the rock, but upside down?!? Kind of looks like a BTA but I don't know. In other news, my skimmer is producing some semblance of skim mate. Still very light and watery though. And Finally...the most incredible thing of all, my eel grass is growing. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 10, 2013 Author Share Posted October 10, 2013 So I ended up getting the regular maxpure spectrapure 60 gpd rodi unit, should be coming on tuesday. Link to comment
defender.TX Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 So I ended up getting the regular maxpure spectrapure 60 gpd rodi unit, should be coming on tuesday. Awesome! Any idea on how your going to plumb it into the water supply? Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 11, 2013 Author Share Posted October 11, 2013 Awesome! Any idea on how your going to plumb it into the water supply? It's going to be pretty high tech actually haha I'll take my garden hose and put it onto the rodi. Then put the fresh h2o into a bucket. That's all. Not fancy at all actually Link to comment
SerenityReef Posted October 11, 2013 Share Posted October 11, 2013 I ordered some replacement filter from them as well. Link to comment
tennis20 Posted October 13, 2013 Author Share Posted October 13, 2013 I ordered some replacement filter from them as well. You did or I should? Link to comment
SerenityReef Posted October 13, 2013 Share Posted October 13, 2013 I did, was just time for my unit, TDS was no longer zero. Link to comment
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