The Desktop Reef

[geekreef_05]

ok, morning test results...

 

Magnesium: 1400 ppm -> Still low despite increased dosing overnight. But feels like more consistent intake of Mg. 

 

Ive added 0.3ml immediately and increased the dosing pump to 2ml/day of Mg.

At this point my Mg use will be equal to my dosing of  all-for-reef.

[mitten_reef]

On 2/1/2021 at 10:52 AM, geekreef_05 said:

Here's a few pictures from coffee break at 1030am local time. The Torches and Goni's have nicely opened up. 

Of course the very sensitive GSP is still hiding 🙂

 

 

Goni Garden, 

 

Torch Corner: 

 

whoa...that's a lot of corals for a one month old tank.  rocks are still bright white.....

looks like you're very diligent at taking various measurements - so hope that helps you weather the new tank uglies that appear to have not arrived yet.

btw, found this thread from the reef roid thread, go easy with that stuff in such a young tank, but torches probably love them as target feeding.  don't know anything about the cloudy water issue in my personal experience, certainly not long-lasting one.  once the return pump kicks back on, things get filtered thru fairly quickly for me.    

[geekreef_05]

Heck Yes its alot of coral for a new tank. 

Thats why I posted a warning to new reefers within this thread, not to do what Ive done! 

 

Now that doesnt get us any closer to answers with reef roids! 

 

So Mitten_Reef, 

(1) What kinda reef do you have? Mixed, LPS, etc

(2) Are you target or broadcast feeding?

(3) How often are you feeding? 

(4) What quantity are you feeding? 

(5) What measure success can you attribute to the reef roids? 

 

🙂

[mitten_reef]

4 minutes ago, geekreef_05 said:

Heck Yes its alot of coral for a new tank. 

Thats why I posted a warning to new reefers within this thread, not to do what Ive done! 

 

Now that doesnt get us any closer to answers with reef roids! 

 

So Mitten_Reef, 

(1) What kinda reef do you have? Mixed, LPS, etc

(2) Are you target or broadcast feeding?

(3) How often are you feeding? 

(4) What quantity are you feeding? 

(5) What measure success can you attribute to the reef roids? 

 

🙂

1. heavy-sps reef, but I have LPS and zoas, Here's the tank journal https://www.nano-reef.com/forums/topic/374445-mitten_reef’s-im30l/page/94/  the last two pages don't have any decent pics, just keep going backward from 94

 

2. broadcast - left the return pump on a least one cycle of feed mode (ie. about 10 min).  sometimes if I'm doing things around the tank, I'd hit the feed button again, to keep the food in the display side for a little longer.

3. almost daily? 😅 I skipped a day here and there, not particularly a good-routine reefer.

4. been doing about 1/8 teaspoon of reef roid for a long time 2+ years, starting with about twice a week led up to "almost daily".  recently also added two more freeze-dried (powder) food mix from brightwell to the slurry in addition to reef roid

5. honestly, i don't know when it comes to my SPS.  I see "reaction" in all non-sps corals.  the real question is, is that a feeding reaction AND are they actually feeding?  but overall, it's been fine, so I didn't wanna mess with it.  it's feeding something in the tank.  

[geekreef_05]

thanks Mitten thats super useful! 

[geekreef_05]

Notepad time. After work testing: 

 

Magnesium: 1440ppm -> slight increase over the morning. Getting closer to stable. Amazing how much Mg LPS corals will consume. 

 

Ive immediately dosed 0.3ml and I'll up the dosing to 2.5ml/day. 

Mg is now at a higher consumption rate than calc in my reef. 

[geekreef_05]

I dont think I ever updated NR on the equipment behind the reef. I finally got all the dosing lines and cables zip tied up and mostly hidden behind the legs of the desk. All the electronics & wires, except dosing pumps are taped under the desk itself. It mostly works to create the appearance of very few wires or tubes showing, 

 

Here are the equipment pic's: 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two small containers - one with all-for-reef, another with Mg. 

And the two large containers are my RODI top off reservoirs. 

 

Liquid is being moved by 3 daisy-chained X1s. Im a big fan of how easy it is to use this pump. 🙂 

 

[mitten_reef]

3 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

thanks Mitten thats super useful! 

It’d be helpful if I can tell that you actually dropped by to look at my coral growth and colors etc since you asked how they did with the food. 
unless you’re just gonna take my words for it. 🤷🏻‍♂️
realizing last time you were on, the feature might not be available. But you now can react to any posts, the little heart button on the bottom of each post, to give commenter quick feedback/acknowledgement. 

[geekreef_05]

haha - Appreciated and noted! 

 

For sure i looked at your tank journal, I was focused at the Dec 2020 FTS. Its easy to tell that you have mature corals and clownfish. Whatever your doing is obviously working well, so from that I was ready to assimilate your experience and advice like the borg.  

 

Your totally right. Years ago on NR liking a post wasnt a feature. Im still acclimating to the updates and moreso the new etiquette.

I'll go like a bunch of posts now 🤓

[mitten_reef]

35 minutes ago, geekreef_05 said:

haha - Appreciated and noted! 

 

For sure i looked at your tank journal, I was focused at the Dec 2020 FTS. Its easy to tell that you have mature corals and clownfish. Whatever your doing is obviously working well, so from that I was ready to assimilate your experience and advice like the borg.  

 

Your totally right. Years ago on NR liking a post wasnt a feature. Im still acclimating to the updates and moreso the new etiquette.

I'll go like a bunch of posts now 🤓

eh, etiquette is overlooked these days.  ppl just want to a) show off their tanks or b) get their questions answered.  ppl often forget (overlook?) that not every answers on these forums actually come with a proof of experience/success.   Don't get me wrong, I like showing off my tank too.   But I sure would love to see the tank of anyone who gives me any advice to see if we're on the same reefing competency level.  ok sorry for the rant.  and welcome back to reefing, will be following your progress.  

 

I really appreciate that you stopped by to check out both threads, thanks.  

[geekreef_05]

Morning Mg Test:

 

Magnesium: 1320-1360ppm -> Super low. 3 nights in a row, Mg is used up at an accelerated rate overnight. 

 

Ive dosed 0.5ml immediately and set the dosing pump to custom parameters, with extra dosage overnight. Total daily is now set to 4ml.

This is now double what Im dosing in all-for-reef. Tonight I'll do a complete set of tests as we're mid week. 

[geekreef_05]

Quick note before my lunch break ends.. 

...i noticed a couple torches not liking their tentacles touching, so i made a quick torch shuffle over lunch break. The new layout seems good, everyone looks large and happy. I'll post a picture soon of the final layout. From here out Im gonna focus on keeping my hands out of the tank, Ive been in there everyday since stocking day 😞 Poor clownfish and shrimp are not super happy with me.

 

I'll also say in the last week there has been an explosion of life when it comes to pods and baby snails. Im super pleased with how the algae barn pods worked out. 

 

 

[geekreef_05]

Its after work test time again. I took about 30mins this afternoon to raise salinity 1ppt. I did it over 30mins, but still had a negative effect. Corals are now returning to normal. Frogspawn seems to be heavily effected. It may have got stung by a torch or perhaps is succumbing to being in a place of high flow after a couple weeks now. Im gonna keep an eye on it. I might move it, but we'll see.  

 

Temp: 79.5F

Salinity: 32.9ppt

Magnesium: 1440ppm -> slight increase over this morning. I dosed 0.5ml immediately and set the pump to 5ml/day, increased at night.

Calcium: 520ppm -> steady. New Hanna Checker calc test should arrive soon and that may yield different results. 

ALK: 10.7
Nitrates: 5ppm 

Phosphate: 0.36ppm 

 

Phophates are high because of the LPS food and reef roids feedings I suspect. I'll remove the carbon and toss in some chemi-pure this evening. Tomorrow I can prep a water change if needed. I can see the green glow of an algae bloom approaching on the rock as well. 

 

[DevilDuck]

21 hours ago, geekreef_05 said:

I dont think I ever updated NR on the equipment behind the reef. I finally got all the dosing lines and cables zip tied up and mostly hidden behind the legs of the desk. All the electronics & wires, except dosing pumps are taped under the desk itself. It mostly works to create the appearance of very few wires or tubes showing, 

 

Here are the equipment pic's: 

 

 

 

 

 

There are two small containers - one with all-for-reef, another with Mg. 

And the two large containers are my RODI top off reservoirs. 

 

Liquid is being moved by 3 daisy-chained X1s. Im a big fan of how easy it is to use this pump. 🙂 

 

 

 

Again you have inspired me, I'll have to "borrow" these ideas for my setup!

Any worry about algae or other nasties forming in the clear containers by a window?

 

[freestylejunki32]

man im jealous of all those torches, they look great! What reservoir are you using for ATO? i have always used a 1 galloing milk jug with top cup open enough to fit pump into haha but id like to get something a bit more proper and with a lid

[geekreef_05]

This is my ATO reservoir, https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01N805BEA/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I got the smaller sized 1.5L for my dosing containers. 

[geekreef_05]

3 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

 

 

Again you have inspired me, I'll have to "borrow" these ideas for my setup!

Any worry about algae or other nasties forming in the clear containers by a window?

 

They are below the window line and dont actually get direct sunlight. So sunlight isnt a concern for me there. Its possible that bacteria will develop from the ambient light, but only time will tell. I'll have to keep an eye on it. 

[geekreef_05]

Ugh, super sad news this morning. 

 

The frogspawn was dying this morning. Significant flesh lost overnight and polyp bailout ongoing. Knowing that survivability was extremely low, I removed it from the aquarium. I feel super sad. My goal is to ensure nothing dies in my aquarium. I take full responsibility for this. The first sign of stress occurred on stocking day last week. Yesterday afternoon raising the salinity by 1ppt over 30mins was too much for it. Combine that with the fact it was living at its highest threshold for water flow in where it was placed in my tank and it couldnt recover. 

 

I moved a torch into its spot. My reef, being torch focused, is very high flow. It was a real gamble putting a frogspawn in there. And this is a good lesson for those interested in frogspawn - its very a sensitive LPS coral!  

 

Ok, morning test time:

 

Salinity: 32.9ppm

Magnesium: 1440ppm -> finally dosing enough to prevent a drop overnight! 

Phosphate: 0.22ppm -> getting lower. Im gonna pushing coral feeding backing to 1/wk. Chemi-pure is helping. 

 

I increased Mg with a 0.5ml immediate drop. And pushed up dosing to 6.2ml/day. 

I forgot to note that last night I dropped all-for-reef dosing to 1.8ml/day. I need to check ALK this afternoon for sure. 

 

 

 

[debbeach13]

Sorry about the the frogspawn. Every one hopes every coral they get will "Live Long and Prosper".  I am not sure anyone has not experienced some losses with a reef tank. Hang in there. So far your doing great!

[geekreef_05]

Much appreciated! 

[mitten_reef]

1 hour ago, geekreef_05 said:

I increased Mg with a 0.5ml immediate drop. And pushed up dosing to 6.2ml/day. 

I forgot to note that last night I dropped all-for-reef dosing to 1.8ml/day. I need to check ALK this afternoon for sure. 

IMO:  This reef might be too young for you to keep dialing the dosage on a daily basis, in fact, I won't even recommend it for older reef (unless it's a high-consumption one).  you could be giving the tank more of a knee-jerk reaction.  your deviation range probably will be within the "safe zone" over the course of 2-3 days. in which case, you can then average out the daily dosing volume based on the 2-3 day change, vs daily bounce around.  Just a thought, cuz it seems you keep increasing and decreasing daily without significant "leveling out" results.    

Also don't rule out those varying levels from minor error in testing.  minor differing quantity of reagent and/or water sample, for example, could affect your results.  unless you always do your tests in duplicate or triplicate to get average results, i won't pin all trust in the daily change you see based on single-test results.  

[geekreef_05]

Thanks Mitten! Excellent points and I completely appreciate the open feedback. Lets note there, this is a high consumption reef and does require consistent checks until a point of stability is reached, thats why Im focused on Mg, which is consumed heavily by torch corals. 

 

Super good conversation for any newbie reefers following. Again - dont do what I have done. I know it looks tempting, but dont, its a giant shock to the bio-system and thats what Im managing this point. Its not at all easy and requires extreme diligence, which is why Im testing 2x daily. 

 

Mitten, one super notable point, that I had thought of, with Mg, is that it may take 2-3 days for it to really level out and show its true levels. But Im now at 6-days post stocking, I should be seeing those effects. What NR.com needs is a table I can input this into and notes to attach, so you can see action/reaction and my notes in a concise timeline.  Ive been reacting in a very immediate fashion to my observations. Note sometimes I will do a test twice if I think something was off - happened this morning with Mg. And if there is a difference.. test happens for a 3rd time. 

 

That said, what Ive noted is a steady increase in Mg use in my aquarium. I keep increasing my dosing, although levels have mostly been maintained in the 1360-1440 range, which is quite safe. Im shooting for 1500 Mg  -> higher end for sure and Im gonna get there slowly by making daily increases. And generally my calcium/alk has been stable, but yesterday was a bump-up because I increased salinity (and too quickly). So Ive bumped dosing down for a night. When the numbers return, I'll adjust all-for-reef dosing accordingly. 

 

Calc, ALK, Phos and nitrate certainly can be measured, basically by the hour, as dosing or media effects them immediately. 

Mg is the mystery that Im really playing with, but I feel like Im right dead center in the process of having this beast tamed. 

 

But what we're learned, for anyone following, is that Mg does get used up rather quickly. Perhaps not within an hour, but within a few hours for sure. Observationally we can say this because every night Ive witnessed a drop in Mg through the evening and more steady numbers during the day, given that I was dosing the same amount hourly. And we're talking about a 0.1ml increase by the hour at night held the numbers steady for the first time.

 

So, getting close to cracking the mystery of Mg 🙂

 

Again Im say that Im testing 2x daily because Ive shocked the reef  with a single day of stocking. This is giant stress to the biological system and its only 10.5 gallons of actual volume. Everything is settling, changing their intake of elements as they settle, probably on an hourly basis. Changes happen fast in a small body of water and its imperative to be on top of things in this case. There will be at least a 1-month period to reach any decent point of stability. I suspect next week I'll continue 2x daily tests before backing off to 1x day and then 1x wk...and then only when needed. 

 

Thanks Mitten! I hope this conversation helps others understand. 

[geekreef_05]

Lunch time ALK & Calc Test, 

 

Calcium: -> 550ppm, Nice and high, no worries.   

ALK: 9.2 -> Back to my preferred normal (dropped quickly as predicted), after the spike from salinity up. And Ive set the dosing pump back to original settings. 

 

Things look good. Snails are getting busy in full view, polyp extension is great on the SPS and torches are looking big and comfortable. 🙂

I'll take some photo's and post this evening.

[geekreef_05]

After work test time:

 

Salinity: 32.9ppm

 

Magnesium: 1560ppm -> almost perfect. I dropped dosing from 0.5ml every 2 hours to 0.1ml for the next 4 hours. This should drop me  to 1500ppm and then the pump is set to continue at 0.5ml every 2 hours for the evening.  Tomorrow morning I'll have to set my Mg dosing pump schedule to .glup..hopefully the new normal!  

 

Phosphate: 0.18ppm -> Getting even lower. Chemi-pure & biological filters are working, which is good. Im not going to do a water change at this point. I'll wait. It will be even lower tomorrow and probably back to low levels in a couple days, if Im not feeding reef-roids.  

 

Problem: Hanna Checker only provides 5 or 6 reagent packs with this particular kit, limiting the buyer to 5 or 6 tests. Thats bogus! I ordered more reagent, but they wont come in for a few weeks. I have my old school set, which I can switch to, but its 20+yrs old and not this precise. So I'll be rationing my Phos tests as I have two reagent packs left. At this point, I probably wont do one until I feed reef-roids again. 

 

Problem Solved: I noticed that my dosing setup had microbubbles in the lines occasionally. I would clear the line and re-prime, because every 0.1ml counts for me.. Im not sure where the connection gaps were, so right after work I sealed all the connections with reef safe silicone. So far looks like it fixed the problem.  👍

 

[geekreef_05]

Morning Mg Test:

 

Magnesium: 1560ppm -> Steady all night! First time there wasnt a drop. Im backing it off slightly at this point to settle at 1500ppm.