180 GALLON PENINISULA FOAM ROCK WALL..... in 2 weeks
- Thread starter Mav2
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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 :spin2:
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 :spin2:
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:
iwishtofish
Active member
It's been a while since I last posted a update and any pics so i thought i would take the opportunity.......
Your tank is looking very nice! Do you have any close up shots?
Just curious - I can't see your lights in this picture. Is it just the angle, or are they raised up high?
Mav2
New member
Your tank is looking very nice! Do you have any close up shots?
Just curious - I can't see your lights in this picture. Is it just the angle, or are they raised up high?
Thanks very much. I'm still not happy with it thought, but that may be just down to my impatience (...it has only been running for 9 months)
The lights lay flat on top of the tank and the coving/border around the edge hides the tubes. I will post some more pics along with some close-ups
Just curious - I can't see your lights in this picture. Is it just the angle, or are they raised up high?
Thanks very much. I'm still not happy with it thought, but that may be just down to my impatience (...it has only been running for 9 months)
The lights lay flat on top of the tank and the coving/border around the edge hides the tubes. I will post some more pics along with some close-ups
iwishtofish
Active member
Thanks for posting the pics - even better looking!
It looks like you have good coralline growth, and that the algae is under control. Do you have individual reflectors on the T5 bulbs? I imagine its about time to change them - isn't 9 months about the lifespan of T5s?
How are your levels now that the tank is more mature?
It looks like you have good coralline growth, and that the algae is under control. Do you have individual reflectors on the T5 bulbs? I imagine its about time to change them - isn't 9 months about the lifespan of T5s?
How are your levels now that the tank is more mature?
Mav2
New member
Thanks "Iwishtofish" ....the coralline is doing well, which is only recently the case (...growth has really picked up over the last couple of months)
The T5's all have individual reflectors but I also have two Aquarays (...no reflectors) I'm going to swap out the first two blubs in the next two weeks, the others were bought later so i will swap those in a couple of months.
I just checked some of my water parameters :
Nitrate (Aqua test kit) - Undetectable (..for the fist time ever....last test was two months ago)
Phosphate (API test kit) - between 0.0 and 0.25 (mg/L)
The T5's all have individual reflectors but I also have two Aquarays (...no reflectors) I'm going to swap out the first two blubs in the next two weeks, the others were bought later so i will swap those in a couple of months.
I just checked some of my water parameters :
Nitrate (Aqua test kit) - Undetectable (..for the fist time ever....last test was two months ago)
Phosphate (API test kit) - between 0.0 and 0.25 (mg/L)
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?
Mav2
New member
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