Kinda's Large Tank Adventure (LTA)

[seabass]

1 hour ago, DevilDuck said:

I recently switched to grape calupura from chaeto.  It grows just as fast as chaeto, it will attached to rocks, and tangs will eat it, so it becomes another food source too.

I forgot about the Tang; that's not a bad idea.

[Kindanewtothis]

4 hours ago, DevilDuck said:

carbon dosing

What do you mean by dosing? When I use carbon I put a pouch of carbon in the canister.

[DevilDuck]

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/md-2021-03-liquid-carbon-dosing-breakdown-why-and-how-to-do-it

[seabass]

Not activated carbon; it means dosing a carbon source (like vinegar or vodka):

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/content/post/md-2021-03-liquid-carbon-dosing-breakdown-why-and-how-to-do-it

 

It requires a good protein skimmer to remove the excess bacteria.  And it's generally used to create an ultra low nutrient system; but I suppose that it could be used to help control nutrients.

 

Personally, I feel that it can be a bit tricky and time consuming.  It's a totally different type of reef keeping and it might not be totally compatible with a system that has recently recovered from dinos.

 

Edit: Haha, DevilDuck and I posted at the same time. 👍  Weird we picked the same link.

 

Here are a couple more:

• https://www.melevsreef.com/articles/dosing-vodka-why
• https://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php

 

[DevilDuck]

@seabass Thanks for the clarification and additional links!

@Kindanewtothis I just started vodka dosing recently. I'll keep you in the loop on how it performs. 

 

  

[Kindanewtothis]

I've use the microscope yesterday, the walls are turning brown.... thank god it's diatoms but I think I did saw one dino.

 

The UV is in the tank since last night.

[A.m.P]

Dino's will always be in your system, they only become an issue when your nutrients get out of sorts or something hammers your biodiversity and allows them to become dominant.

[Kindanewtothis]

Eggs?

[seabass]

1 hour ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Eggs?

Yep.  But don't expect baby snails.

[Kindanewtothis]

20 minutes ago, seabass said:

Yep.  But don't expect baby snails.

They will be eaten?

[Jakesaw]

2 hours ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Eggs?

Definitely snail eggs.  Been reading up on those and the pattern is what I've seen pics of online.  

[seabass]

33 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

They will be eaten?

Yep.

[Kindanewtothis]

Hob Refugium came in... it needs an air pump. Tried with one I use for the pods but it's not powerful enough. Going to the lfs later.

 

Now I need chaeto.

 

 

[seabass]

16 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Hob Refugium came in... it needs an air pump.

You might get better flow by using a water pump instead.

[Kindanewtothis]

19 minutes ago, seabass said:

You might get better flow by using a water pump instead.

They recommand a fluval Q5 air pump (10-50 gallons). It needs 1 liter by minute but it's designed for clownfish breeding...

 

I'll see what I can find.

 

[Kindanewtothis]

32 minutes ago, seabass said:

You might get better flow by using a water pump instead.

Do I need high flow with chaeto?

[DevilDuck]

You want slower flow so that the chaeto has time to absorb the nutrients in your water. Depending on how you light the refugium you may need to rotate the chaeto clump from time to time so that it gets equal lighting on all sides. I run my refugium light on a reverse schedule from the display tank to keep pH up at night and flip the plant mass over once a week.

[Kindanewtothis]

6 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

You want slower flow so that the chaeto has time to absorb the nutrients in your water. Depending on how you light the refugium you may need to rotate the chaeto clump from time to time so that it gets equal lighting on all sides. I run my refugium light on a reverse schedule from the display tank to keep pH up at night and flip the plant mass over once a week.

So an air pump is the way. It's an hang on back refugium so it gets the lighting from a Ai prime. I might add a clip-on plant lamp but it would have to be directed away from the tank.

[seabass]

40 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

They recommand a fluval Q5 air pump (10-50 gallons). It needs 1 liter by minute but it's designed for clownfish breeding...

This was the pump they referenced on the same page as the breeder box: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08JPR51YS/

It says it's 200 L/H (that's 3.3 liters per minute) adjustable down.  However, I'd think that any adjustable 50 gph fountain pump which can mate up to the tubing should work alright.

 

37 minutes ago, DevilDuck said:

You want slower flow so that the chaeto has time to absorb the nutrients in your water.

I'm not sure that it's that flow dependent, and we're talking about 200 GPH here.  Some people find that it will grow better if the flow will make it tumble (perhaps because that might allow more uniform lighting).  I feel that lighting is probably more important than a particular flow rate.  But that said, slow flow should work too.

[A.m.P]

1 hour ago, Kindanewtothis said:

So an air pump is the way. It's an hang on back refugium so it gets the lighting from a Ai prime. I might add a clip-on plant lamp but it would have to be directed away from the tank.

You're gunna' need a light.

[Kindanewtothis]

1 hour ago, A.m.P said:

You're gunna' need a light.

Would something like that do?

https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07WT2YQNX/ref=cm_sw_r_apan_glt_i_NE1XEBEW000PKV916EFT

 

[Kindanewtothis]

2 hours ago, seabass said:

This was the pump they referenced on the same page as the breeder box: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B08JPR51YS/

It says it's 200 L/H (that's 3.3 liters per minute) adjustable down.  However, I'd think that any adjustable 50 gph fountain pump which can mate up to the tubing should work alright.

 

I'm not sure that it's that flow dependent, and we're talking about 200 GPH here.  Some people find that it will grow better if the flow will make it tumble (perhaps because that might allow more uniform lighting).  I feel that lighting is probably more important than a particular flow rate.  But that said, slow flow should work too.

I finally went with the fluval air pump, I chose simplicity. It's a bit noisy.

 

Found chaeto. They guy also have caulerpa. @seabass you talked about macroalgae before (cannot find the post). What would you think about it in the tank? I know you have to remove some of it because it spread. But he says tang eat it.

[A.m.P]

That should work fine, 10W might even be a bit much.

[seabass]

3 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

What would you think about it in the tank?

If it's palatable to your Tang, it'll probably just eat it.  However, you could potentially grow the macroalgae in the refugium and feed what you harvest back into your tank.

[Kindanewtothis]

I was planning to put the chaeto in the fuge and the caulerpa in the tank to try and see how it looks and see how the tang reacts. It's now way more yellow that when I got it but I still want to diversify its food sources.