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Kindanewtothis
8 hours ago, seabass said:

It usually takes a couple of weeks for it to break in.  In the meantime, the bubbles shouldn't hurt anything.

It's been working for a month now. I have red several post about it, seems to be a frequent problem. I'll wait.

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Kindanewtothis

There are many post about it on other forums. I took it back to my lfs, they wanted to test it. In their tank, no bubbles... I take it back home... of course I doesn't work...

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GH is General Hardness (the measure of magnesium and calcium dissolved in water)

KH is Carbonate Hardness (the measure of carbonates and bicarbonates dissolved in water)

dKH is degree of Carbonate Hardness (which is how we measure KH)

 

21 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Know anything about GH? Is that something that should be tested?

We test for calcium and magnesium separately.

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Just a FYI, we usually don't bother testing alkalinity (dKH), calcium, or magnesium until we start keeping stony corals.  Then we test for alkalinity consumption.  Once we determine the need to start dosing alkalinity (to replace consumption), then we also have to start testing and dosing calcium and magnesium.

 

Salifert makes good kits for alkalinity, calcium, and magnesium.

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Kindanewtothis
7 hours ago, seabass said:

Just a FYI, we usually don't bother testing alkalinity (dKH), calcium, or magnesium until we start keeping stony corals.  

Ok so for the anemone I don't need to test these?

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Yes, in theory, your won't meet to test these until you get stony corals (which use these elements to build their skeletons).  However, if significant coralline algae develops, these elements will also be consumed, and dosing might still be recommended (although water changes are often enough to satisfy just coralline).

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42 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

So right now I should be ok testing nitrit, nitrat, ammonia and phosphate?

Basically.

 

  • I don't test nitrite.  It is usually undetectable and it isn't very toxic in marine environments.
  • It's good to have an ammonia test kit on hand, but I usually don't continue testing past establishing the nitrogen cycle.  However, it might be necessary to test after a death, a disruption, a tank transfer, or adding livestock.
  • Nitrate and phosphate are important nutrients.  In a system without macroalgae, neither should become undetectable with a good low range test kit.  Weekly testing is usually sufficient unless dosing becomes necessary.
  • A pH kit usually isn't required unless you are doing something which might affect it (like dosing Kalkwasser or some other buffer, or use a calcium reactor).
  • Eventually, it would be nice to own an alkalinity test kit.  Monthly checks are usually sufficient until dosing becomes necessary.  But like I mentioned, alkalinity isn't consumed by your anemone (it's primarily consumed by SPS and LPS corals, as well as coralline algae).

My recommendation for test kits is that Salifert can be used for everything.  Although for phosphate, I like to use a Hanna ULR Checker.  Some people use a Hanna Checker for alkalinity as well, but I choose to use Salifert for alkalinity.

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25 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Starting to have some coralline algae but not enough to change something I guess.

Yeah, coralline algae is normal, and good.  Normally water changes will be enough to makeup the consumed elements.  Like I said, as the coralline becomes more extensive, you'll want to start testing alkalinity.  However, I wouldn't worry about it just yet.

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Kindanewtothis

Thinking about switching to a bigger tank for a 50. It's 18 inches wide instead of 14 for my actual tank and 36 instead of 31. I think I could you everything I use right now (filter, lights, etc). Would need 20 more pounds of live rock. I don't know, I guess it would be more stable since more gallons?

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1 hour ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Would need 20 more pounds of live rock. I don't know, I guess it would be more stable since more gallons?

You wouldn't "need" any more rock, especially if you keep your livestock plans the same.  Can you get anymore of that restaurant rock?

 

Stability would be about the same.

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Kindanewtothis
1 minute ago, seabass said:

You wouldn't "need" any more rock, especially if you keep your livestock plans the same.  

Knowing myself, I would add more fishs.

 

2 minutes ago, seabass said:

Can you get anymore of that restaurant rock?

Not sure, the ad is gone... Found some at 5$ a pound. They were in a tank for 8 years. The guy rent aquariums for appartement building halls or for restaurants. Will see if I make the change. 

 

3 minutes ago, seabass said:

Stability would be about the same.

I thought bigger was easier. 50 is not big enough to make a difference? I don't want to go bigger cause I would need a third light, bigger filter I guess, bigger skimmer for sure.

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4 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

Found some at 5$ a pound. They were in a tank for 8 years. The guy rent aquariums for appartement building halls or for restaurants.

You got pretty lucky with the first batch.  But you never know what problems you might be transferring to your tank.  I'd probably recommend quarantining the new rock before you add it to your new tank.

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Kindanewtothis

Good news! Restaurant guy still have rocks (the 15 years old ones). 

 

Found a 50 gallons tank, I should get it this week. I might need some advice on doing the transfert from the 30 gallons.

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1: make sure your new rocks are ready to be put in the tank, i.e. are cycled and have no potential for die-off. 

 

2: take rocks and livestock out of old tank, and put them in buckets. 

 

3: transfer most of the water from the old tank into the new tank. Try to avoid sucking up too much gunk. Leave a layer of water in the old tank, so the gunk stays in the old tank.

 

4: remove remaining gunky water from old tank and throw it away. Try to get as much gunk as you can out of the tank, so it's not in the sand.

 

5: place new and old rocks in new tank. 

 

6: place sand in new tank. 

 

7: fill up the new tank the rest of the way with new water. 

 

8: once all rocks are in their final places, put livestock in new tank. 

 

9: monitor for ammonia spikes for the next week or so. 

 

If the tank was older than two weeks, I'd say to thoroughly rinse the sand, or get new sand. But you haven't had much time to build up gunk in the sand in two weeks. 

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Kindanewtothis
4 minutes ago, Tired said:

5: place new and old rocks in new tank. 

 

6: place sand in new tank. 

I would have done the opposite to put the rock on the sand and not on the glass.

 

Also I did not use live sand but some very small rocks that is usually for fresh water tank. Could I mix it with live sand cause anyway I need to get more? 

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2 hours ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I would have done the opposite to put the rock on the sand and not on the glass.

 

Also I did not use live sand but some very small rocks that is usually for fresh water tank. Could I mix it with live sand cause anyway I need to get more? 

Rocks should be on the glass, not on the sand.

 

The small rocks offer no benefit to reef tanks and mixed with sand, can cause detritus to be trapped.

 

 

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Rocks need to be on the glass. If they're on the sand, they can shift and move around as sand shifts and things burrow, and can do things like crush inhabitants, fall over, and even fall against glass and crack it. 

 

I would replace the very small rocks entirely with sand. You don't need very much sand for most reef animals- just half an inch to an inch. Wrasses require a couple inches, jawfish a very deep area, but most tanks only need a tiny bit of sand. It's mostly for appearances, and to hold some beneficial worms and things.

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Kindanewtothis

And there is no problem in adding new live sand (as adding new live rocks I suppose) ?

 

I wanted to save some money and keep the small rocks I have in the bottom right now... I'll see what I do about the sand.

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  • Kindanewtothis changed the title to Kinda's Large Tank Adventure (LTA)

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