Reefer 350

[seabass]

Awesome!  Things will certainly color back up in time.  Do you know if you completely lost any colonies that you particularly care for, or is it just too soon to tell for sure?

[DSFIRSTSLTWATER]

Great news Harry. I'm glad things are looking better for your tank 

[HarryPotter]

17 minutes ago, seabass said:

Awesome!  Things will certainly color back up in time.  Do you know if you completely lost any colonies that you particularly care for, or is it just too soon to tell for sure?

 

I lost my red planet colony minus a small frag or two, two millipora mini colonies, and an unknown blue acro colony. My biggest montipora pieces are still 50/50 at this point, with lots of white spots that are  NOT spreading. 

[vegasgundog]

[HarryPotter]

 

Another waterchange 🙄. Cmon corals. You can’t be unhappy with textbook water! Bubbled the tank and acros had some slime, I think that’s a good sign. 

 

[Reefkid88]

Lets hope for a turnaround Harold !!! 

[HarryPotter]

I think the borders between dead areas and live areas are more defined- a good thing. Indicates that the spreading is over 

 

[HarryPotter]

 

ATI results are back!  

 

It shows elevated Aluminum, Tin, and Zinc, and suggests I check for significant metal contamination. There's the rusty razor! (This sample was ~12 days ago, since then I have had at least 4 25% water changes, which is a ~70% dilution factor.  My RODI is perfect, all 0'd. 

 

 

[FISHnChix]

33 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

 

ATI results are back!  

 

It shows elevated Aluminum, Tin, and Zinc, and suggests I check for significant metal contamination. There's the rusty razor! (This sample was ~12 days ago, since then I have had at least 4 25% water changes, which is a ~70% dilution factor.  My RODI is perfect, all 0'd. 

 

 

Interesting.. I believe the first time i had seen a report like this was on your thread within the last year. Have you done this test before and if so how much higher was the metal contamination this time?

[HarryPotter]

27 minutes ago, Weikel said:

Interesting.. I believe the first time i had seen a report like this was on your thread within the last year. Have you done this test before and if so how much higher was the metal contamination this time?

 

My first ICP test was 9/12/17, a year ago. I can’t really see my results on my phone, but they are here: https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/aquarium/auswertung-b/icp-oes/51269/

 

I would need to go backwards in this thread to find why I did an ICP test the first time- I don’t recall.

 

edit: found it, I did one because they were on sale for Black Friday. When I get on my laptop I’ll compare, but I see that I did post no heavy metals. 

 

 

[HarryPotter]

Apex, how is my ph 8.5? Alk is a bit low but fine. This tank wants to kill me. 

[dvr6]

dinos?

[seabass]

57 minutes ago, HarryPotter said:

Apex, how is my ph 8.5? Alk is a bit low but fine. This tank wants to kill me. 

When was it calibrated?

 

Even if accurate, I still think it'll be fine.

 

"If the pH is down to 8.5 or less there is nothing that you need to or can usefully do. Water changes are neither necessary nor useful" - Randy Holmes-Farley, http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031222

[HarryPotter]

46 minutes ago, dvr6 said:

dinos?

 

What? 

[HarryPotter]

1 hour ago, seabass said:

When was it calibrated?

 

Even if accurate, I still think it'll be fine.

 

"If the pH is down to 8.5 or less there is nothing that you need to or can usefully do. Water changes are neither necessary nor useful" - Randy Holmes-Farley, http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1031222

 

My reply didn’t go through 🙄

 

Calibrated a a few months ago, who knows. It might be time for a replacement, it’s super old. It is the original that came on this (used) apex lite years ago. And it was used for years by the prior owner. I know pH in itself is not a parameter most reefers moniter, but IMO it’s useful to watch for alkalinity or aeration problems. 

 

Whats odd is that the kH dropped to 6.9, lower than I try to keep it, but the pH climbed. Usually they go together. Mg is fine too, 1290, and I don’t have a Ca test 😬

[HarryPotter]

On 9/23/2018 at 8:23 AM, HarryPotter said:

 

 

1 week later- coralline looks good. I’ve never had no algae AND coralline growth.... so this is new. For the billionth time, shoutout to ReefCleaners rock. Threw it in right out of the box, and it doesn’t leach a thing- algae doesn’t grow on the rock any more than it does elsewhere. 

 

 

 

     Ordered an aquatic life smart buddie booster pump for the RODI system. I get terrible performance with the 500TDS well water at <45psi. This should take that to above 80, as well as auto flush the membrane to make my DI last longer. I am pretty sure it will pay for itself in resin within a year. 

[mitten_reef]

13 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

1 week later- coralline looks good. I’ve never had no algae AND coralline growth.... so this is new. For the billionth time, shoutout to ReefCleaners rock. Threw it in right out of the box, and it doesn’t leach a thing- algae doesn’t grow on the rock any more than it does elsewhere. 

 

 

 

     Ordered an aquatic life smart buddie booster pump for the RODI system. I get terrible performance with the 500TDS well water at <45psi. This should take that to above 80, as well as auto flush the membrane to make my DI last longer. I am pretty sure it will pay for itself in resin within a year. 

How's that efflo looking?

[HarryPotter]

1 hour ago, micoastreefing said:

How's that efflo looking?

 

The base/encrusted disk of it looks dead, but not like "skeletal" dead. Like white and no PE. The main part of it looks "okay", coming back. I am having major problems with keeping alkalinity  stable. Huge fluctuations, 2+dkh,  that I cant explain.  I have checked dosers for calibration, my dosing program, my WC water, hanna reagent, etc. For example two days ago it was 7.5. Last night it was 5.6, yes 5.6. With 20ml daily dosing, which should have prevented that much of a drop.

 

And the high pH alarms!

Last test was last night: 

1.026, 5.6dkh (WC+ manually dosed  it back to 7), 1290 Mg. 

 

I have made a chart where I am writing recording daily measurements of:

• Date
• Salinity
• Dosing amount
• Alkalinity
• Magnesium 
• Calcium (Kit on the way) 
• Phosphates (On the way)

@micoastreefing I do want automated monitoring on the 300. I was waiting on apex Trident, because of the sheer amount of $$$/life that will be in there.....but god knows when that will come out. Other option would be the KH Guardian Pro which has been out and has pretty darn good reviews. One of the conditions of me taking care of that tank was that I would be able to minimize maintenance/ stress. 

[dvr6]

23 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

 

What? 

Oops sorry about that.  I posted in the wrong thread by mistake.

[HarryPotter]

Live rock lovers: 

 

Would there be any issue within putting KP live rock into my sump instead of into the display? Using a reddish plant-refugium light. 

[seabass]

I've contemplated that before too.

Pros:

• May help restrict unwanted hitchhikers
• Introduces various bacteria and other plankton
• Doesn't affect the current aquascape in the display

Cons:

• Restricts the movement of some beneficial fauna into the display
• Doesn't allow tank inhabitants to forage off of the rock
• May not offer the fauna on the rock the benefit of the conditions in your display (like flow, feeding, light)

[mitten_reef]

2 hours ago, HarryPotter said:

Live rock lovers: 

 

Would there be any issue within putting KP live rock into my sump instead of into the display? Using a reddish plant-refugium light. 

Here's just my opinion, if you're hoping to re-establish the microfauna population within your display tank as quickly as you can, then it'd be best served by placing those live rock right in display.  and over the next few weeks you could move the rock down to the sump of this one or the 300, and continue to be a part of more comprehensive biological filtration.  

 

After all these little critters are mostly scavengers in one form or another, they're mostly gonna stick within and around the rocks, they're aren't gonna go free-swimming in your sump to get carried up with the return flow.  WIll it happen, sure, eventually, but putting it directly in the display will likely be the fastest route.  Concerns over hitchhikers would certainly need to be considered.   

[HarryPotter]

97PSI is sweet 😮 went from 16 post membrane to 4! 

[Christopher Marks]

Nice boost pump pressure, that should really improve your production and safe a ton of time! 👌

[FISHnChix]

1 hour ago, HarryPotter said:

97PSI is sweet 😮 went from 16 post membrane to 4! 

Wait are you saying that you got lower tds out of the rodi section by boosting pressure?