Kinda's Large Tank Adventure (LTA)

[Tired]

Make sure you have enough shells, and of the right shapes. Scarlet hermits like thick, heavy shells, and Halloweens almost exclusively use cone snail shells. If you look them up online and go to the Images page, you can see the kind of shell they like. 

[Kindanewtothis]

29 hours - the phosphate is now 0.17. I'm taking out the phosphate remover (do you think it's still usable, they say to change it every 30 days on the box).

 

I'm also changing the carbon.

[Kindanewtothis]

I'm gonna clean the sandbed tonight and change about 3 gallons doing so. Since I'm gonna add salt, do I test my calcium, magnesium and kh before or after the small water change?

 

They were out of nitrogen supplement at my lfs, have to go back this week.

[seabass]

34 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I'm taking out the phosphate remover (do you think it's still usable, they say to change it every 30 days on the box).

I'm not really sure; I'd probably try keeping it wet (like in a ziploc bag).  But I assume it'll be alright.

 

 

30 minutes ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I'm gonna clean the sandbed tonight and change about 3 gallons doing so. Since I'm gonna add salt, do I test my calcium, magnesium and kh before or after the small water change?

Whatever you feel like.  But at this point, I wouldn't suspect your tank is consuming a lot of alkalinity, calcium, or magnesium.  However, as your LPS and coralline grows, you might see more consumption.

[Kindanewtothis]

48 minutes ago, seabass said:

I'm not really sure; I'd probably try keeping it wet (like in a ziploc bag).  But I assume it'll be alright

I guess it's not a risk worth taking vs the cost. Since I'm still at 0.17, I was thinking I could put it back in 3-4 days if it doesn't go down.

 

48 minutes ago, seabass said:

Whatever you feel like.  But at this point, I wouldn't suspect your tank is consuming a lot of alkalinity, calcium, or magnesium.  However, as your LPS and coralline grows, you might see more consumption.

I understand, but I mostly wanna test my kit and I thought that the salt addition would do a bigger difference.

[Kindanewtothis]

5 gallons water change, tank is much cleaner

 

Ca 500

KH 9.2

Mg 1400

 

I'll test the phosphate and nitrate again in the morning.

 

LFS called, they have a nitrogen supplement, I'll go there tomorrow.

 

The anemone moved again today...

[Kindanewtothis]

Nitrate is still 5ishhh

 

Phosphate went back to 0.19 ??? Do I put the remover back in the filter?

 

Edit: the orange ricordea looks better this morning. The lights are ramping up so it's not open but I think it's going better.

[seabass]

I don't know if we've ever had that good of look at this mushroom; and I think it's the first time you've called it a Ricordea Mushroom.  Ricordea need more light than a standard mushroom, which is why everyone was telling you to lower it.  However, I wouldn't change its position, as it has been moved around enough (and seems to be doing alright where it is).

 

Phosphate of 0.17 to 0.19 could be due to testing error.  Results jump around a bunch (it's more of a ballpark).  I'd certainly wait and see how phosphate is trending before I made changes.  The raise in phosphate can even be due to the activated carbon.  If it continues to rise, then yes, I'd probably consider adding back the phosphate pad.

[Kindanewtothis]

[Kindanewtothis]

16 hours ago, Kindanewtothis said:

tank is much cleaner

Not anymore, cyano is back.

[Kindanewtothis]

4 hours ago, seabass said:

and I think it's the first time you've called it a Ricordea Mushroom

It's now identify as Ricordea at my lfs (at least where they were because the sold them all), and from previous posts I understood that it was a Ricordea. But I'm still not sure.

[Kindanewtothis]

8 hours ago, seabass said:

and seems to be doing alright where it is).

At the store when it was open it was 1 1/2 inch wide.

[Kindanewtothis]

Ammonia is still 0 in the 10g. The tank has enter an ugly stage.

[Kindanewtothis]

Phosphate 0.34 ??? 

[Kindanewtothis]

Did a second test... 0.09?

[Kindanewtothis]

I trust the second test. Forgot to rince the bottle of the first one last time I used it.

[seabass]

Yeah, cyano can uptake phosphate (and nitrate) fairly quickly.  It's hard to get great accuracy with a hobby grade phosphate kit, but it still provides valuable information (albeit a just a ballpark).

[Kindanewtothis]

20 minutes ago, seabass said:

Yeah, cyano can uptake phosphate (and nitrate) fairly quickly.  It's hard to get great accuracy with a hobby grade phosphate kit, but it still provides valuable information (albeit a just a ballpark).

I started dosing nitrate today, I went easy on the quantity (it says 1 drop per gallon, I dosed 35 drops). Will monitor as well as I can but my nitrate test kit is not precise.

 

Edit: lfs told me to aim for 8 for nitrate, I red about 10. Test kit indicates 5 or 10 anyway so I suppose my aim is somewhere in between?

[rough eye]

1 hour ago, Kindanewtothis said:

I started dosing nitrate today, I went easy on the quantity (it says 1 drop per gallon, I dosed 35 drops). Will monitor as well as I can but my nitrate test kit is not precise.

 

Edit: lfs told me to aim for 8 for nitrate, I red about 10. Test kit indicates 5 or 10 anyway so I suppose my aim is somewhere in between?

you set up a tank 3 days ago and you're dosing nitrate? something is seriously wrong here. ugly phases will last a few months no matter what you do.

[seabass]

1 minute ago, rough eye said:

you set up a tank 3 days ago and you're dosing nitrate? something is seriously wrong here. ugly phases will last a few months no matter what you do.

Nitrate is for the 50 gallon, not the 10 gallon tank.

[rough eye]

2 minutes ago, seabass said:

Nitrate is for the 50 gallon, not the 10 gallon tank.

that's a relief. that one's two weeks old, right?

[seabass]

Yeah, something like that.

[Jakesaw]

How is your Royal Gramma doing in his new home.   

 

I almost bought one the other day but the RG was medium size and for my 10 gallon probably a bit oversized. I didn't think he'd find enough hiding comfort.  He's in a small tank at the LFS and hiding in a rock cravace.  

 

I will be moving to 20 L in a week or two ( I think ) and will look at him again if still available.  I'll need to see him eat though.

 

Is yours happy and swimming now.  

[Tired]

Grammas aren't really a swimming fish. They stick around their cave. If you provide a gramma with several good cave options, it should pick one and be happy. 

[Kindanewtothis]

6 hours ago, Jakesaw said:

How is your Royal Gramma doing in his new home.   

 

I almost bought one the other day but the RG was medium size and for my 10 gallon probably a bit oversized. I didn't think he'd find enough hiding comfort.  He's in a small tank at the LFS and hiding in a rock cravace.  

 

I will be moving to 20 L in a week or two ( I think ) and will look at him again if still available.  I'll need to see him eat though.

 

Is yours happy and swimming now.  

It never go far from its home, but it stays out longer. It seems alright but I think it needs more time to explore the rest of the tank.

8 hours ago, rough eye said:

you set up a tank 3 days ago and you're dosing nitrate? something is seriously wrong here. ugly phases will last a few months no matter what you do.

Sorry I wasn't clear, Nitrate is for the 50 gallons.