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Concerned About Hammer and Flow


hoostie

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I started the tank on 3/27 and have since added the livestock below. The clown, zoas, and mushroom frags seem to be doing great. However, the hammer's polyps are considerably thinner, but the same length compared to the LFS. I'm thinking flow may be the issue. So, I was wondering what others were running their MP10s at? Currently, I'm running reef crest at ~40% max. I haven't tested alkalinity or calcium, but ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates all look good.

 

Livestock:

  • 10 snails (astrea, cerith, and nassarius)
  • Misbar clown
  • Radioactive dragon eye zoas
  • Blue ricordea mushrooms
  • Purple hammer

 

Video:

https://imgur.com/a/c0a9SW5

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Alkalinity and phosphates are the two main parameters you would be interested in right now.

 

I would suggest either taking a water sample to the local fish store or acquiring test kits for these two parameters immediately.

 

If alkalinity and phosphates both appear to be where they should be (more than 7 dKh and more than .03 ppm, respectively) then it's fine and is simply adapting to your tank's conditions.

 

In that case it's probably fine, but it is worth pointing out that this is not a reef crest coral at all.  It's more of a lagoon type of coral, but it's quite adaptable under favorable conditions.

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7 hours ago, mcarroll said:

Alkalinity and phosphates are the two main parameters you would be interested in right now.

 

I would suggest either taking a water sample to the local fish store or acquiring test kits for these two parameters immediately.

 

If alkalinity and phosphates both appear to be where they should be (more than 7 dKh and more than .03 ppm, respectively) then it's fine and is simply adapting to your tank's conditions.

 

In that case it's probably fine, but it is worth pointing out that this is not a reef crest coral at all.  It's more of a lagoon type of coral, but it's quite adaptable under favorable conditions.

Thanks! The alkalinity is at ~8 dKh. The phosphates test I could find on short notice wasn't the best, but it appears somewhere near 0 ppm. I'll have to order a better one tonight! Also, switched to lagoon mode and dropped the speed down a notch. 

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PHOSPHATES

The test was probably OK, so don't expect wildly different results if you spring for a second kit.  (Folks talk smack about cheap kits all the time that work fine...without really knowing what they're talking about. 

 

Cheaper kits just aren't super accurate.  But we also don't need them to be super accurate.

 

Zero is zero and that's the most important phosphate number on there (the one to be avoided!).  :-) 

 

After zero the only concern is that phosphates stay over 0.03 ppm....which is easy to see even on a cheap test kit.  It's not very important to your system what the number is over .03...just that you can tell it's over the minimum.

 

Assuming you have this kit....I may be wrong:

phosphatecolorchart2.jpg 

Online it's hard to see, but in person you should be able to detect that there's a little blue in the color of your test sample vs the reference on the card for 0.0 ppm.  If there's a little blue, then you may be just fine.

 

Making a side-by-side test with a "blank" sample where you test pure RODI to generate the 0.0 ppm color might help you see the difference more clearly than the comparison with the card but you'll need a second identical test tube to do it.

 

What can make a difference and give you untrustworthy results is a test kit that's past it's expiration date though....so DO double check the date on the product.

 

If you get a digital meter for this, they are harder/more comlicated to use, but are definitely more accurate.  Get the Hanna HI713, at least in my opinion...it has the best compromise of good range and good precision.  The "ultra low range" HI774 would be OK too, but has a VERY narrow, low range....but is also more precise.

 

NITRATES

How about your nitrates?   Unless you find out that your test was completely wrong this really isn't that crucial, but it would be very good to know both while we're at it.  :-)

 

FLOW

I might leave the pump alone on "Reef crest" (how you had it) until we get all the facts together....especially since it appears now that (lack of) nutrients may be the real culprit.  Vortech pumps have VERY soft flow...on the borderline of poor performance...so keeping them jacked up pretty high is usually a requirement.

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3 minutes ago, mcarroll said:

PHOSPHATES

The test was probably OK, so don't expect wildly different results if you spring for a second kit.  (Folks talk smack about cheap kits all the time that work fine...without really knowing what they're talking about. 

 

Cheaper kits just aren't super accurate.  But we also don't need them to be super accurate.

 

Zero is zero and that's the most important phosphate number on there (the one to be avoided!).  🙂

 

After zero the only concern is that phosphates stay over 0.03 ppm....which is easy to see even on a cheap test kit.  It's not very important to your system what the number is over .03...just that you can tell it's over the minimum.

 

Assuming you have this kit....I may be wrong:

phosphatecolorchart2.jpg 

Online it's hard to see, but in person you should be able to detect that there's a little blue in the color of your test sample vs the reference on the card for 0.0 ppm.  If there's a little blue, then you may be just fine.

 

Making a side-by-side test with a "blank" sample where you test pure RODI to generate the 0.0 ppm color might help you see the difference more clearly than the comparison with the card but you'll need a second identical test tube to do it.

 

What can make a difference and give you untrustworthy results is a test kit that's past it's expiration date though....so DO double check the date on the product.

 

If you get a digital meter for this, they are harder/more comlicated to use, but are definitely more accurate.  Get the Hanna HI713, at least in my opinion...it has the best compromise of good range and good precision.  The "ultra low range" HI774 would be OK too, but has a VERY narrow, low range....but is also more precise.

 

NITRATES

How about your nitrates?   Unless you find out that your test was completely wrong this really isn't that crucial, but it would be very good to know both while we're at it.  🙂

 

FLOW

I might leave the pump alone on "Reef crest" (how you had it) until we get all the facts together....especially since it appears now that (lack of) nutrients may be the real culprit.  Vortech pumps have VERY soft flow...on the borderline of poor performance...so keeping them jacked up pretty high is usually a requirement.

Ha, that is the test I got. It definitely wasn't 0, but obviously not 0.25 ppm. Nitrates are still at 0. Dosed some Seachem Reef Builder to bring the alkalinity to 11 dKh. However, I think I did it too fast. Everyone got mad for about an hour, but look solid now. Set the pump back to the same. Realized I should view this as an experiment where I change one variable at a time. 

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4 hours ago, hoostie said:

Ha, that is the test I got. It definitely wasn't 0, but obviously not 0.25 ppm. Nitrates are still at 0. Dosed some Seachem Reef Builder to bring the alkalinity to 11 dKh. However, I think I did it too fast. Everyone got mad for about an hour, but look solid now. Set the pump back to the same. Realized I should view this as an experiment where I change one variable at a time. 

Why did you dose to bring alkalinity up? Your 8 alk was fine, what is your target? Meaning what does your salt mix at. 

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