Odyssey350kc Posted June 26, 2016 Author Share Posted June 26, 2016 My wrasse passed away about 2 weeks ago and I have been contemplating some new fish. At first I wanted a trio of anthias, but after talking to a few people i've decided against it. So here is my new list of fish i want to add, What do you think? Purple firefish Royal Gramma Yellow Candy hogfish Fathead "sunset" anthia my current fish, 2 clowns and 2 orangestripe cardinals Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted July 14, 2016 Author Share Posted July 14, 2016 Has anyone ever seen one of these tanks. I was at my local pet store today and saw one. It looks huge, would make an awesome frag tank. Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted July 26, 2016 Author Share Posted July 26, 2016 Did a little work on my tank recently. I ended up replacing 3 pumps (1 for each return, and 1 for reactor) with just one 1200gph pump that i bought off of ebay for just $33 shipped. link http://www.ebay.com/itm/281918770824?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&var=580891238253&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT I also plumbed in a check valve so my returns don't drain the tank down as much, its much nicer. I made a video too, giving a full tour of my tank, check it out 2 Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted July 27, 2016 Author Share Posted July 27, 2016 Got some new livestock today. Royal gramma Mandarin six line wrasse Cleaner shrimp electric flame scallop 1 Quote Link to comment
pablom617 Posted July 28, 2016 Share Posted July 28, 2016 Awesome build, I'm really liking what I'm seeing. Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted July 29, 2016 Author Share Posted July 29, 2016 Awesome build, I'm really liking what I'm seeing. Thanks, I'm really trying to get it going good. It has been up for so long but never thrived. I'm really trying to get some better coral growth. I never really fed any of my corals until about a month ago, and i'm already starting to see a difference in them. Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted February 23, 2017 Author Share Posted February 23, 2017 Well I tried to get my tank back on track but I have not had success. Many of the corals are dying off and i cant figure out why. So I took some readings on my tank - It has been almost 3 weeks since my last water change and this is what i got. - To me these levels all seem fine, i know the calcium is slightly low, but that wouldn't be enough to be killing off my corals. Right? My only thought was the bucket i use to mix my salt has a brass nozzle (perhaps it is leaching some copper) hardly seems like it would be enough to have any affect. If anyone has any ideas please let me know. I really want to get my tank looking good, and I am starting to lose hope. Salinity - 1.025 Ph - 8.34 Temp - reefkeeper reads 76.3 - thermometer reads 78 Calcium 380 Alkalinity 10.9 DKH Magnesium 1280 ppm ammonia - undetectable nitrates / nitrites - old test kit doesn't seem to work Rodi - all filters and di resin replaced recently Feeding regimen - 1/2 cube mysis, 1/2 cube cyclops, 1 teaspoon phytochrom - daily lightng maxspect razor 5:30am - 0% - 0% 6:00am - 10% - 10% 10:00am - 70% - 40% 2:00pm - 70% - 70% 6:00pm - 40% - 70% 9:00pm - 0% - 0% Quote Link to comment
J-Ranko Posted February 23, 2017 Share Posted February 23, 2017 Are almost all your corals "dying off"? If so, it's definitely something in the water, and your parameters don't look off, so it could well be something you're not measuring (e.g., copper). I'd get nitrates tested just to rule that out. I recommend lots of carbon and maybe Poly-filter to remove whatever could be poisoning them. The poly-filter has the advantage of changing color and indicating what could be in the water. Do a water changes from a plastic container (no metal). Start with those steps. If you're corals are deteriorating at a rapid pace, more drastic measure maybe necessary, but it doesn't seem so yet. 2 Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted September 13, 2017 Author Share Posted September 13, 2017 I know its been forever since a post, but I am going to try and do a weekly update with any changes i have made. Since my last update many of my corals have died. I tried changing the carbon and gfo more often, feeding more, feeding less, nothing seemed to work so I pretty much gave up, All I have done in the past 6 months is regular water changes. However 2 weeks ago I purchased a water softener system for my home and decided to change all of my rodi filters including the ro membrane so I can start fresh from the bottom up and I would like to get my tank back to something i can be proud of. A lot of my corals look like they are getting too much light to me, In particular my button polyps.(see pic) A couple others are only still alive where they are in the shade. This seems odd to me since my led light is only maxing out at 60%. But I lowered it down to a max of 40% the see what happens. I also had my mp10 turned down to a low flow which i decided to turn back up to about 80% power. So we will see if my changes make any difference. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Hope you can get it turned around. Did you ever get a nitrate and low range phosphate test kit? Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted September 13, 2017 Author Share Posted September 13, 2017 8 hours ago, Tamberav said: Hope you can get it turned around. Did you ever get a nitrate and low range phosphate test kit? I have a low range phosphate kit but it reads almost nothing every test. And I have a friend coming over this week with a good nitrate kit to test. 1 Quote Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 10 hours ago, Odyssey350kc said: I know its been forever since a post, but I am going to try and do a weekly update with any changes i have made. Since my last update many of my corals have died. I tried changing the carbon and gfo more often, feeding more, feeding less, nothing seemed to work so I pretty much gave up, All I have done in the past 6 months is regular water changes. However 2 weeks ago I purchased a water softener system for my home and decided to change all of my rodi filters including the ro membrane so I can start fresh from the bottom up and I would like to get my tank back to something i can be proud of. A lot of my corals look like they are getting too much light to me, In particular my button polyps.(see pic) A couple others are only still alive where they are in the shade. This seems odd to me since my led light is only maxing out at 60%. But I lowered it down to a max of 40% the see what happens. I also had my mp10 turned down to a low flow which i decided to turn back up to about 80% power. So we will see if my changes make any difference. The changes you made sound like good ones to me. I noticed in the video you posted near the top of this page that the flow seemed a little low, so I'm glad you turned the MP10 up. Are you feeding the corals? Also, the last Alk reading you posted seemed a little high to me. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 Ya alk seems high to me too. Forgot to mention that. 1 Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 So I had my buddy come over and test the stuff i haven't tested for today. I also tested my alk, mag, and calcium. Nitrites 0 Nitrates 0 Ph 8.3 ammonia 0 Phosphates 0 temp 79 alk 10.5dkh mag 1280ppm calcium 390 Yes Calcium seems low so I will increase my dosing schedule and test again tomorrow see how its doing. 12 hours ago, Weetabix7 said: The changes you made sound like good ones to me. I noticed in the video you posted near the top of this page that the flow seemed a little low, so I'm glad you turned the MP10 up. Are you feeding the corals? Also, the last Alk reading you posted seemed a little high to me. I had been broadcast feeding the corals small amounts, but this week I am starting to spot feed them every other day with coral frenzy food with a turkey baster Quote Link to comment
Weetabix7 Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 15 minutes ago, Odyssey350kc said: So I had my buddy come over and test the stuff i haven't tested for today. I also tested my alk, mag, and calcium. Nitrites 0 Nitrates 0 Ph 8.3 ammonia 0 Phosphates 0 temp 79 alk 10.5dkh mag 1280ppm calcium 390 Yes Calcium seems low so I will increase my dosing schedule and test again tomorrow see how its doing. I had been broadcast feeding the corals small amounts, but this week I am starting to spot feed them every other day with coral frenzy food with a turkey baster In addition to that, I'd see about getting the Alk lower. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 If you do not have significant algae that is sucking up your nutrients giving a false reading. I would say your chemistry is out of wack. Having low nutrients, and HIGH alk is generally considered a bad thing. I tried to look up the reason briefly but couldn't find the exact reason, just that it seems to cause issues. Why are you running your alk at 10.5? Corals are adaptive but evolved to be in natural sea levels parameters. 1 Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted September 14, 2017 Author Share Posted September 14, 2017 Sounds good. I remember previously seeing the alk should be around 10 but I guess somewhere around 8 is more appropriate. I'll keep an eye on my readings and see if I can get them back to normal. Honestly I haven't tested anything in months so Its not like I was keeping it at 10 on purpose. Just happened to be that way when I tested today. Seems like my doser might be set a little high. 24 minutes ago, Tamberav said: If you do not have significant algae that is sucking up your nutrients giving a false reading. I would say your chemistry is out of wack. Having low nutrients, and HIGH alk is generally considered a bad thing. I tried to look up the reason briefly but couldn't find the exact reason, just that it seems to cause issues. Why are you running your alk at 10.5? Corals are adaptive but evolved to be in natural sea levels parameters. 1 Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 Ah, be sure to check dates if you read old threads, not sure if that is what happened. I think higher alk used to be a thing but NSW is the way to go now. Quote Link to comment
PieMan2k Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 I'm using Red sea coral pro salt with an all content of 11 out of the bucket but I can't for the life of me figure out how to lower alk. If you find out please let me know. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 14, 2017 Share Posted September 14, 2017 15 minutes ago, PieMan2k said: I'm using Red sea coral pro salt with an all content of 11 out of the bucket but I can't for the life of me figure out how to lower alk. If you find out please let me know. Switch salt brands to one that has NSW parameters. 1 Quote Link to comment
PieMan2k Posted September 15, 2017 Share Posted September 15, 2017 11 hours ago, Tamberav said: Switch salt brands to one that has NSW parameters. Do you have a recommended brand? Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted September 22, 2017 Author Share Posted September 22, 2017 Another thing I have noticed about my tank is that I have no coraline algae after 3 years you would think some. But no. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 On 9/14/2017 at 10:19 PM, PieMan2k said: Do you have a recommended brand? Red Sea blue bucket instead of the coral pro will get you there. Quote Link to comment
Odyssey350kc Posted September 26, 2017 Author Share Posted September 26, 2017 So why do all of these salt companies continue to manufacture these salts with such high alk and calcium if it kills corals. I have trouble believing that companies like instant ocean would put out a product that people have used for years without issue, in fact was recommended to me by many members, that is so problematic. Quote Link to comment
Tamberav Posted September 26, 2017 Share Posted September 26, 2017 17 hours ago, Odyssey350kc said: So why do all of these salt companies continue to manufacture these salts with such high alk and calcium if it kills corals. I have trouble believing that companies like instant ocean would put out a product that people have used for years without issue, in fact was recommended to me by many members, that is so problematic. If you have low nutrients then you want NSW. People who use carbon dosing especially to get ULNS always always always! are after an alk around 7. If they run a high alk with low nutrients, this leads to alk burn. I am not sure what the true cut off is considered for ULNS and if it requires a carbon dose. You can have a salt mix with higher calcium and alk and just use that as the "dosing" part, so when you do a partial water change, it brings the parameters up for what got used that week but the tank itself may still be around NSW. Higher alk is fine in some cases and some people probably recommend it in a tank with higher nutrients. Salt mixes are fine but the individual parameters can cause issues depending on the chemistry of the individual tank. Higher parameters, especially alk used to be a more common thing people ran but with advancements in the reefing industry, more of the new salt mixes coming out are closer to NSW as that is sort of the thing now-a-days. This is just the understanding I got when I started carbon dosing a few years ago. I'm not saying this is an issue, but if you can't find the issue, its worth thinking about. Drastic changes ofc aren't recommended. 1 Quote Link to comment
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