Classroom Tank - The Hollow Cove - Affton Reef Club - Reboot 20 Gal Long

[This guy is extra salty]

Well you can add another fish...

lol

[ChristopherDido]

@Tamberav @This guy is extra salty thanks for the comments. I'm gonna give it through this week to see if they budge, if not I will look at adding chemicals. What specific chemical should I be looking for to boost nitrates? 

Thanks and I'll let you know how the hammer does when I move it.

[This guy is extra salty]

Stump remover 

(potassium nitrate)

 

and use this calculator 

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

[ReefGoat]

I buy my liquid Nitrate and phosphate off of amazon. I use Seachem for the phosphate and ME Corals pharmaceutical grade Nitrate. The reefers that run Ultra Low Nutrient Systems that produce BEAUTIFUL corals successfully are very experienced and a lot of know how go into those tanks. Be careful when dosing these things to raise nutrients and monitor your levels closely. It can go sky high quickly. 

[Tamberav]

I started using flourish nitrogen NOT to be confused with regular flourish. There is also one called NeoNitro and the ME Nitrate. 

[ChristopherDido]

23 hours ago, This guy is extra salty said:

Stump remover 

(potassium nitrate)

 

and use this calculator 

http://www.theplantedtank.co.uk/calculator.htm

Thanks for that link.  

23 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

I buy my liquid Nitrate and phosphate off of amazon. I use Seachem for the phosphate and ME Corals pharmaceutical grade Nitrate. The reefers that run Ultra Low Nutrient Systems that produce BEAUTIFUL corals successfully are very experienced and a lot of know how go into those tanks. Be careful when dosing these things to raise nutrients and monitor your levels closely. It can go sky high quickly. 

Thanks for that Information, my goal is to really try not to use any chemicals if can be avoided.  But yes if I need to I will definitely watch closely and probably start by under dosing.

20 hours ago, Tamberav said:

I started using flourish nitrogen NOT to be confused with regular flourish. There is also one called NeoNitro and the ME Nitrate. 

I will try to look at both of those. 

 

Thanks all for the help.

 

Students

Tested Nitrate Again yesterday - Still Zero

They also test Ammonia - They got 0.05 (I rechecked it was actually Zero)

Ph - 7.4

and Phosphates - Reading around 10ppm on the API kit (wondering if that means I should start seeing Nitrates soon.)

 

Thanks all!

[ReefGoat]

I could be wrong but that's not dosing chemicals.......you're simply adding the nutrients themselves without having to load your tank down with overfeeding to try and get your nutrients up. Adding a chemical to me would be like. Chemiclean for Cyano and ReefFlux for bryopsis and things of that nature. 

[ChristopherDido]

19 hours ago, ReefGoat said:

I could be wrong but that's not dosing chemicals.......you're simply adding the nutrients themselves without having to load your tank down with overfeeding to try and get your nutrients up. Adding a chemical to me would be like. Chemiclean for Cyano and ReefFlux for bryopsis and things of that nature. 

Fair enough... I've just never added anything other than the standards like carbon.

 

Anyway, here's where we sit this morning... Being there was a false positive on ammonia when my students checked and when I double checked nothing was showing. Figured I would check again this morning and I checked nitrates again. Still being stubborn at zero. I'll pick up something over the weekend from my LFS, thanks for the suggestions!

 

The hammer seems to be settling in nicely in it's new home and opening up.

 

I'll keep updating as I go through this struggle. 

 

[ChristopherDido]

Quick update on the Battle. I walked into school today so noticed all my corals were open, which I did not see on Friday when I left. The brown slime(Dinos) is retreating, however still showing zeros on nitrates and phosphate. And now it looks like the red nasties (believe cyano) is taking off. Here's a few picks. Any further advice? I was not able to get any nitrates boosters over there weekend. 

[ChristopherDido]

Sorry haven't updated in a couple weeks, we had spring break and things have been a bit hectic. 

We are changing Battle tactics and trying Vibrant for reef aquariums by Underwater Creations Inc (I did not get sponsored nor donated to try this.) The reason I am trying it is because my tank at my house is riddled with bubble algae and the LFS I that helps with the classroom tank recommended this product and when I started researching I found people saying they've had success with Dinos and other things using it. Figured let's give it a shot on both tanks, so I'll be trying to document the success or lack thereof over the next few months till school gets out. Here's a few pics to see where we are at, as of Friday before adding the Vibrant. Thanks for following along.