180 Gallon Foam Rock Wall Penisula in 2 weeks
- Thread starter Mav2
- Start date
Mav2
New member
I think I may have omitted the fact, i filled the new tank with mainly tap water(80%) the rest a mixture of RO and water from my old tank.
It wasn't really practical to use RO water instead. Of course I realised the promblems that may be caused with the high levels of phosphates but i did have a plan....
Water parameters yesterday were:
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 popm (I thinks the mangroves are doing a marvelous job along with the protein skimmer)
Hardness: 180
Alk: 240-300
PH: 8.5
However...yesterday I bought my phosphates test kit (along with a bottle of 37.5% proof voka)
Phosphates: 5-10 (not good), I knew the levels were gonna be high and some of my rock and sand has developed a rust like brown algae.( Despite the fact I have 100ml of phosphate remover in the sump, to be fair, my calculations were incorrect and this should have been 200ml)
I worked out the NQV (net aquarium volume i.e Display tank + Sump + skimmer - rock displacement ( around 30% of Display and sump) and started my voka dosing
1ml per 25 Gallons, therefore for 3 days I will be dosing 5ml per day, days 4-7 I will adjust the dosing amounts (...there was a thread on reef central with instructions on this, I will make sure I find it so I can give proper thanks to its author)
By weeks 3-4 by nitrates and phosphares should be pretty close to 0
....fingers crossed
(Apparantly, as voka is carbon based the nitrate and phosphate molecules are attracted to this carbon source and converted to a easy to remove (via the protein skimmer) substance, which also apparantly leads to an increase in skimmer performance. There is a potential side effect for which a ozone reactor or activated carbon (which I have hanging in the sump) negates....I'll let you know how I get on
It wasn't really practical to use RO water instead. Of course I realised the promblems that may be caused with the high levels of phosphates but i did have a plan....
Water parameters yesterday were:
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10 popm (I thinks the mangroves are doing a marvelous job along with the protein skimmer)
Hardness: 180
Alk: 240-300
PH: 8.5
However...yesterday I bought my phosphates test kit (along with a bottle of 37.5% proof voka)
Phosphates: 5-10 (not good), I knew the levels were gonna be high and some of my rock and sand has developed a rust like brown algae.( Despite the fact I have 100ml of phosphate remover in the sump, to be fair, my calculations were incorrect and this should have been 200ml)
I worked out the NQV (net aquarium volume i.e Display tank + Sump + skimmer - rock displacement ( around 30% of Display and sump) and started my voka dosing
1ml per 25 Gallons, therefore for 3 days I will be dosing 5ml per day, days 4-7 I will adjust the dosing amounts (...there was a thread on reef central with instructions on this, I will make sure I find it so I can give proper thanks to its author)
By weeks 3-4 by nitrates and phosphares should be pretty close to 0
....fingers crossed
(Apparantly, as voka is carbon based the nitrate and phosphate molecules are attracted to this carbon source and converted to a easy to remove (via the protein skimmer) substance, which also apparantly leads to an increase in skimmer performance. There is a potential side effect for which a ozone reactor or activated carbon (which I have hanging in the sump) negates....I'll let you know how I get on
Mav2
New member
Today is day 4 of the vodka dosing regime, parameters are as follows:
Nitrates: 7.5 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Phosphates: 5 ppm
As per regime, upped the dose today (x2 for days 4-7), dose today 1ml
Algae has not grown at all, fish and coral look healthy. still gaving to stir the sand every two days.
Nitrates: 7.5 ppm
Nitrite: 0
Phosphates: 5 ppm
As per regime, upped the dose today (x2 for days 4-7), dose today 1ml
Algae has not grown at all, fish and coral look healthy. still gaving to stir the sand every two days.
Mav2
New member
It's been a while since I last posted. So I thought I would add some recent tanks shots. During the last 3 weeks, I went through some troublesome "Cyno" problems. .....It was everywhere. I was changing water every 3 days, cleaning the rock and sand; daily ......and finally.....a bottle of "anti -Red" later....... ALL GONE....yes all of the cyno is gone:lolspin:
Why did you choose to go with these connection's? Anything specific?
I am looking at plumbing my tank here soon and looking for ideas.
What parts did you use, I see a bulkhead but never something smooth like how that one is.
Mav2
New member
Its been a while....tank has been running for 18 months now:
Water parameters:
Salinity: 1.023
KH: 7.3 (2.62)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .25
PH: 8.1
Phosphate: .0 -0.25
Calcium: 465
Temp: 28
Magnesium: 1380
6 x T5s ( 2 x 50:50 aquablues, 4 aquablue plus) 2 x aquaray strips (blue)
....not a lot of coral growth. Any ideas?
Water parameters:
Salinity: 1.023
KH: 7.3 (2.62)
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: .25
PH: 8.1
Phosphate: .0 -0.25
Calcium: 465
Temp: 28
Magnesium: 1380
6 x T5s ( 2 x 50:50 aquablues, 4 aquablue plus) 2 x aquaray strips (blue)
....not a lot of coral growth. Any ideas?
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Love the aquascape on this tank! Looks really good and keep up the good work. You have coral progression pics?
Mav2
New member
Thanks for the comments. This hobby is killling me! Algae problems due to my impatience then Algae problems due to my LFS , RO units failure etc, etc. All parameters seem to be pretty good at the moment but have cut out the Vodka dosing for a while, bought new lights, added circulation pumps, upgraded from a Eheim 1260 - 1262 return pump, added carbon to the sump(...I know this should have always been there), added mangroves (they died out 3 weeks ago).....However, bought two cleaner shrimps today...they were dead within 8 minutes !!!!
Mav2
New member
In previous post I meant to say....i upgraded from a 1250 eheim to a 1262.
Visted my LFS yesterday, apparantly since they upgraded their systems two months ago "most" of their shrimps have been dying in 15 MINUTES. They are no longer ordering cleaner shrimps and have had their water tested my their supplier but cannot figure WHY !!!
Visted my LFS yesterday, apparantly since they upgraded their systems two months ago "most" of their shrimps have been dying in 15 MINUTES. They are no longer ordering cleaner shrimps and have had their water tested my their supplier but cannot figure WHY !!!
Mav2
New member
trickedout900
New member
Your rockwork looks pretty sharp, how are the tangs getting along?
