NanoGeek's JBJ RL 45!

[NanoGeek]

Another thing is I got a HM tds meter when I got my RODI filter, which I hooked up tonight. I am doing a test run with the rodi filter now, and the water reads 0 tds. The RODI water I got from the lfs reads 9. Could their water be causing my algea bloom and/or cloudy water? The last 2 water changes has came from a lfs that is closer to my house and thats when I started seeing small brown spots starting to form.

 

My ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate is all 0. I did get some red sea test kits for nitrate, phosphate, alk, calcium, and magnesium but I havent used them yet.

[NanoGeek]

Checked my TDS of my fresh RO water in my ato reservoir from the lfs and it reads 17! So I dumped it out and putting in some new water from my new filter. I still have 10 gallons of salt water from the lfs and 5 gallons of RO. Im just going to dump the saltwater, and save the 5 gallons of fresh RO for my kids betta tanks. I change their water every 2 weeks.

 

About mixing my saltwater, do I need any particular type of pump or will just a cheap submersible one from petco work?

[Wretched]

Never trust anyone's water but your own Any submersible pump with enough flow to keep it constantly mixing wil work. Keep changing your filter floss as much as possible. Run your gfo in your reactor if you have it. Read up the required amounts for our tank, for instance. I run 8 oz of GFO, 6 oz of carbon in a media bag sitting ony my media rack, I just had to up my amounts because i'm getting diatoms and today it's 80% better. Tomorrow i'm sure i'll be clear. Then i'll remove the bag and go back to my normal chemipure elite.

[NanoGeek]

Never trust anyone's water but your own Any submersible pump with enough flow to keep it constantly mixing wil work. Keep changing your filter floss as much as possible. Run your gfo in your reactor if you have it. Read up the required amounts for our tank, for instance. I run 8 oz of GFO, 6 oz of carbon in a media bag sitting ony my media rack, I just had to up my amounts because i'm getting diatoms and today it's 80% better. Tomorrow i'm sure i'll be clear. Then i'll remove the bag and go back to my normal chemipure elite.

Would I keep the gfo in the bag inside the reactor? Or dump it in the reactor. Its the small 50 gram package thats good for up to 50 gallons. In order for me to fit my reactor I have to take out my fuge basket full of live rock. Im going to tell you all the media I have, what would you all ditch and what would you keep? I am running both media baskets as of now.

 

So in one on the left it has filter floss on top, both original bags of carbon, and ceramic rings that came with the aquarium in the middle, and the bottom has filter floss and the seachem phosnet gfo bag.

 

The right one has filter floss on top, chemipure blue bag in the middle, and the two black original sponges on the bottom.

 

Maybe I can ditch some stuff, remove my rock from the fuge and put in the baskets somewhere, and put my reactor where it should go. I just dont know what should go where. Maybe I got too much crap back there.

[NanoGeek]

Had my first suicides this morning. 2 snails made their way out of the tank somehow with the lid on. I found one on the floor and one in my shoe. Still trying to figure out how they got out because their shells were definitely bigger than the space between the glass and the lid.

 

On another note, my water was crystal clear this morning before I went to work without the lights, now that I am home its cloudy again. What gives....also my rw4s stay on low all night. Maybe they are blowing the algea off the rock during the day and making it cloudy. Like I said my filter floss is full of brown algea every evening.

 

But I am going to be making 10 gallons of water tonight for a good water change and cleanup tomorrow. Looking forward to that!

[Wretched]

You can keep the media inside the bag and throw it into the reactor. That's what I would do if I was going to use a reactor. Take out original ceramic rings... Here's what I run, not saying it's the right or best way(best for me though). Everyone has their own preferrences but here you go:

 

1> Filter Floss

(http://www.amazon.com/Value-Pack-Filter-Floss-600-square-inches/dp/B00B50UPE0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437179107&sr=8-1&keywords=Filter+floss)

2> Chemipure Blue

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JE5UWB4?refRID=AGTNWGTQFSZ1CERRN62S&ref_=pd_ys_sf_s_rp_a1_3_p)

 

I only have one media basket as my skimmer is in the first chamber on the right.

 

I'm not sure what or how, but that keeps up with my crazy bioload for a 45g. My nitrates were only 5-10 and it was leaning more towards the 5 mark... I never test.

 

I always have suicides with those snails. These Tiger conchs and Mexican turbo snails are making my tank real pretty alone. It has to be your water. I'd keep doing water changes that you know are correct salinity, temp and TDS. If you do them correct your tank should only improve by the WC

[NanoGeek]

You can keep the media inside the bag and throw it into the reactor. That's what I would do if I was going to use a reactor. Take out original ceramic rings... Here's what I run, not saying it's the right or best way(best for me though). Everyone has their own preferrences but here you go:

 

1> Filter Floss

(http://www.amazon.com/Value-Pack-Filter-Floss-600-square-inches/dp/B00B50UPE0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1437179107&sr=8-1&keywords=Filter+floss)

2> Chemipure Blue

(http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JE5UWB4?refRID=AGTNWGTQFSZ1CERRN62S&ref_=pd_ys_sf_s_rp_a1_3_p)

 

I only have one media basket as my skimmer is in the first chamber on the right.

 

I'm not sure what or how, but that keeps up with my crazy bioload for a 45g. My nitrates were only 5-10 and it was leaning more towards the 5 mark... I never test.

 

I always have suicides with those snails. These Tiger conchs and Mexican turbo snails are making my tank real pretty alone. It has to be your water. I'd keep doing water changes that you know are correct salinity, temp and TDS. If you do them correct your tank should only improve by the WC

Thanks wretched! Ok so tomorrow I will definitely remove the ceramic rings, maybe the carbon and try to fit the live rock in the media baskets so I can use my reactor.

 

Does my saltwater need to be mixing until I put it in the tank or do one 5 gallon bucket for an hour then another 5 gallon bucket for an hour? I only picked up one cheap powerhead today for that.

[HarryPotter]

Thanks wretched! Ok so tomorrow I will definitely remove the ceramic rings, maybe the carbon and try to fit the live rock in the media baskets so I can use my reactor.

 

Does my saltwater need to be mixing until I put it in the tank or do one 5 gallon bucket for an hour then another 5 gallon bucket for an hour? I only picked up one cheap powerhead today for that.

If you mix it in the tank you might get some nasty slime- at least that's what happened to me.

[Wretched]

I have a 32 gallon brute food grade tash can that I use for waterchanges... but NEVER do changes inside the tank, EVER. If you can go to home depot, pick up a brute... so you can perform larger changes when needed... but if you're stuck to 5g... mix it until your salinity and temp are correct and the waters clear. If you're using red sea coral pro, mine usually takes 1-2 hours MAX to be clear and on point.

[NanoGeek]

Yea I wouldn't ever do the changes in the tank. Im just going to go to home depot tomorrow and pick up a 20 gallon brute can so I can get all my water mixed in the same container.

[Wretched]

Yep, it'll be fine to do a 15-20g change. I have done it quite a few times as long as paramters match That's your best bet for sure... Keep me posted

[NanoGeek]

Ok cool, i will plan to do a 15 gallon change then. The only parameter I am kind of worried about is ph. I have tried every natural way I can think of and/or been told to do and it stays around 7.8 to 8.0. The only thing I havent done is run an air hose outside from my skimmer. I have seachem marine buffer, but read the borate isnt good so I havent used it but once when I first got it. It worked then, but dropped back down the next day. Have to wait and see what the ph is of the new salt water tomorrow.

[NanoGeek]

Yep, it'll be fine to do a 15-20g change. I have done it quite a few times as long as paramters match That's your best bet for sure... Keep me posted

Picked up a brute 20 gallon can today and mixed up 15 gallons of water. The red sea salt mixed perfectly, ph was spot on as was salinity. I made the water at 35ppt because I want to gradually raise my salinity to that. Before the change I was at 33ppt. For some reason my water was coming out of my rodi unit at 78 degrees so it matched my tank already, but after the water mixed for an hour or so the temp was slowly rising close to 80 so I just did the change then. How would I cool the water in this case? I bought another heater today to use, but turned out I didnt need it. I did take the ceramic rings out of my media basket, fit my live rock in there and dumped the gfo in my reactor. I couldnt fit the bag in there so I just had to cut it open and pour it in. I let the reactor run in a bucket of old saltwater for a few minutes to make sure no cloudy water was coming out and installed it in my tank. The little pump on the media reactor seems weak, I do see water coming up and out the top slowly though so I suppose its working.

 

Seems like my algea is 95 percent gone! My water was still a little cloudy this morning and I am waiting to see if the water change helped with that any. Sand is still settling at the moment.

[HarryPotter]

Picked up a brute 20 gallon can today and mixed up 15 gallons of water. The red sea salt mixed perfectly, ph was spot on as was salinity. I made the water at 35ppt because I want to gradually raise my salinity to that. Before the change I was at 33ppt. For some reason my water was coming out of my rodi unit at 78 degrees so it matched my tank already, but after the water mixed for an hour or so the temp was slowly rising close to 80 so I just did the change then. How would I cool the water in this case? I bought another heater today to use, but turned out I didnt need it. I did take the ceramic rings out of my media basket, fit my live rock in there and dumped the gfo in my reactor. I couldnt fit the bag in there so I just had to cut it open and pour it in. I let the reactor run in a bucket of old saltwater for a few minutes to make sure no cloudy water was coming out and installed it in my tank. The little pump on the media reactor seems weak, I do see water coming up and out the top slowly though so I suppose its working.

 

Seems like my algea is 95 percent gone! My water was still a little cloudy this morning and I am waiting to see if the water change helped with that any. Sand is still settling at the moment.

I'm glad your tank seems like it's progressing towards the better!

 

Cool the water using a frozen bottle of water or a fan

[NanoGeek]

I'm glad your tank seems like it's progressing towards the better!

 

Cool the water using a frozen bottle of water or a fan

Frozen water bottle sounds good, i will definitely put a few in the freezer for the future. Thanks, Im so glad to finally see that the algea is gone, makes me feel one step closer to putting in some corals!

[NanoGeek]

Before and after 6 days ago

 

 

 

And today

 

 

So happy the algea bloom cleared! Hope my cuc still has food... The pic from today was earlier today after my lights fully ramped up. Seems the longer the lights stay on it gets a little cloudy, then its clear again by morning. Trying to figure this one out.

 

Been home all day just wishing I had something tank related to do, but I had nothing lol. Maybe tonight after the kids are sleeping I will get out my new red sea test kits and try them all out!

[HarryPotter]

Wow that cleared up beautifly!!!!!

 

During your cycle you really don't need lights at all! Shut them off if you're worried with diatoms

 

How's the CUC- thoughts?

[NanoGeek]

Wow that cleared up beautifly!!!!!

 

During your cycle you really don't need lights at all! Shut them off if you're worried with diatoms

 

How's the CUC- thoughts?

Cuc is good. They did a great job along with some seachem phosnet gfo. Cant say which one worked better. The only thing with the cuc is I keep finding snails in the floor in the mornings. All were nerite snails. I have my lid on so I am still trying to find how they get out. I think its in the back around the overflows because thats where they all hang out for some reason, but I have the lid backed up to the rear wall so I am still unsure.

 

Will definitely buy bigger snails when I need more.

[HarryPotter]

Cuc is good. They did a great job along with some seachem phosnet gfo. Cant say which one worked better. The only thing with the cuc is I keep finding snails in the floor in the mornings. All were nerite snails. I have my lid on so I am still trying to find how they get out. I think its in the back around the overflows because thats where they all hang out for some reason, but I have the lid backed up to the rear wall so I am still unsure.

 

Will definitely buy bigger snails when I need more.

 

So which snails do you like? Im trying to decide on my CUC order.

[NanoGeek]

 

So which snails do you like? Im trying to decide on my CUC order.

Well I didnt get to decide the snails I wanted. I just got the 45 gallon package. I wanted some trochus snails, but they required overnight shipping and I didnt want to pay the extra money just for those snails. Even though with priority shipping I had my order the next day.

 

Honestly I dont really care for any of them. The Nerites and the Nassarius are all staying on the back wall up top. The nerites find their way out. My Hermits and pistol have made meals out of most of the florida ceriths, and the small ceriths just look like little turds in my sandbed, so I cant decide if there is one I like the best. So next time I will just buy turbos or trochus locally

[HarryPotter]

Well I didnt get to decide the snails I wanted. I just got the 45 gallon package. I wanted some trochus snails, but they required overnight shipping and I didnt want to pay the extra money just for those snails. Even though with priority shipping I had my order the next day.

 

Honestly I dont really care for any of them. The Nerites and the Nassarius are all staying on the back wall up top. The nerites find their way out. My Hermits and pistol have made meals out of most of the florida ceriths, and the small ceriths just look like little turds in my sandbed, so I cant decide if there is one I like the best. So next time I will just buy turbos or trochus locally

 

Yuck thanks for the heads up. Im going to just get something that burrows in the sand (Dunno yet) and more Trochus for my tank then.

[NanoGeek]

 

Yuck thanks for the heads up. Im going to just get something that burrows in the sand (Dunno yet) and more Trochus for my tank then.

The little ceriths are supposed to burrow in the sand, but I havent seen it happen yet. They move so I know they are alive, but they have stayed on top so far.

[NanoGeek]

I tried out all of my new red sea test kits, I hope I came up with correct readings as they are a little more difficult to use vs. The API kits I have. Here is the readings I came up with.

 

Salinity 1.025

NO3 10

P04 .08

Ca 415

Mg 1340

Kh 8.1dkh

temp 79.9

 

Does everything look ok? Or is there anything that could use some work?

[HarryPotter]

I tried out all of my new red sea test kits, I hope I came up with correct readings as they are a little more difficult to use vs. The API kits I have. Here is the readings I came up with.

 

Salinity 1.025

NO3 10

P04 .08

Ca 415

Mg 1340

Kh 8.1dkh

temp 79.9

 

Does everything look ok? Or is there anything that could use some work?

 

 

IMO looks perfect- great parameters for a cycle finishing up! I hope you're still feeding the tank to give the CUC some food?

[NanoGeek]

 

 

IMO looks perfect- great parameters for a cycle finishing up! I hope you're still feeding the tank to give the CUC some food?

Thanks! Yes, my clowns get fed once everyday, I always try to squirt some food towards the bottom for my goby, pistol, hermits. They all seem to eat everything within a minute or two, hopefully they are leaving some for the cuc.