Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Hey how did you change the name of this thread?
A Reefaholic's 1000+ Gallon Mixed Reef System Build
- Thread starter Dustin1300
- Start date
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
I know, right
Just started plumbing the media reactors in and looks like Geo forgot to put the silicone rings on the two units. Once I send water to them I'll guess that they will leak but we'll see!
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Reactors did not work out yesterday as they started leaking like crazy once I put cap on. Premium Aquatics/GEO were very helpful this morning and sending out new rings at expedited rate. Hopefully I can bring those online tomorrow night and start to see a decline in phosphates at least. Monoprice order of cables/organization is scheduled for today and my acrylic sheets will be here too
On a more negative note....My nitrates are through the roof! I registered 100+ ppm last night but nitrites were still reading so I'm wondering if the Nitrites are effecting the reading. (Salifert Test Kits) 40 gallon water change had no impact on my testing yesterday morning/night.
Cycle Params:
All Params (In 4 days I went from 5ppm to 100+ppm on Nitrates
):
On a more negative note....My nitrates are through the roof! I registered 100+ ppm last night but nitrites were still reading so I'm wondering if the Nitrites are effecting the reading. (Salifert Test Kits) 40 gallon water change had no impact on my testing yesterday morning/night.
Cycle Params:
All Params (In 4 days I went from 5ppm to 100+ppm on Nitrates
):
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Holy Nitrate spike Batman!
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Been waiting for the nitrite spike but did not expect something like this!
I figured Nitrites were through the roof on Saturday but I was gone to a race so did not test. I had about a 40 hour gap between tests so would guess I just missed them as we know they had to go to Nitrite first
I added nothing else except for the Ammonia.What's everyone's thoughts? Just do a lot of water changes over the next month? Bring ATS online immediately as the Carbon/GFO are not going to have any effect on the Nitrate?
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Got orders in as expected but had a long day so not up for working on the tank all night. I at least got a couple of the sides together for the Frag QT Tank, glue backside tomorrow, bottom Wednesday, and top on Thursday. Hopefully Friday night I can route out the top and then do a water test this weekend. Not quite as big of a project as the sump was!
Haffs09
Member
Nice start on the frag tank!
I dosed my system (400-425gal) with 1/4 cup of ammonia last Friday. That sent my ammonia through the roof! With an API test kit, I read somewhere between 4-8ppm! It tested the same on Saturday and today it read between 0.25 and 0.50ppm. Nitrite is at 1.0 ppm and Nitrate is between 20-40ppm. I need to do some more reading, but do you continue dosing ammonia until the Nitrite spike subsides?
I dosed my system (400-425gal) with 1/4 cup of ammonia last Friday. That sent my ammonia through the roof! With an API test kit, I read somewhere between 4-8ppm! It tested the same on Saturday and today it read between 0.25 and 0.50ppm. Nitrite is at 1.0 ppm and Nitrate is between 20-40ppm. I need to do some more reading, but do you continue dosing ammonia until the Nitrite spike subsides?
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Thanks! I could not stop there and after sitting down for an hour let my ADD () kick in and headed back down to secure the back which I ended up going with black acrylic on. After another hour or so of organizing wires I'm really calling it quits for the night!
***As far as the ammonia, you are to keep it between 1-4 ppm (As over 4 ppm can be overwhelming to the bacteria and kill off the colony). Maybe my salifert ammonia kit was off but mine never went that high and I have far less volume than you currently! Has the tank already been cycling? You are to stop testing once you can have 1ppm of ammonia converted to nitrate in a 24 hour period which means the cycle is as complete as it can be.
) kick in and headed back down to secure the back which I ended up going with black acrylic on. After another hour or so of organizing wires I'm really calling it quits for the night!
***As far as the ammonia, you are to keep it between 1-4 ppm (As over 4 ppm can be overwhelming to the bacteria and kill off the colony). Maybe my salifert ammonia kit was off but mine never went that high and I have far less volume than you currently! Has the tank already been cycling? You are to stop testing once you can have 1ppm of ammonia converted to nitrate in a 24 hour period which means the cycle is as complete as it can be.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Tonight I got the frag QT tops/bottoms welded on and hopefully can route it out tomorrow night and possibly do a water test! I also got the o-rings in for the Geo 420 Reactors and installed and they are still leaking....Anyone have any advice on the Geo Reactors? Should I lubricate the o-rings somehow?
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
I've posted in the equipment forum too. Geo's website does not provide much of anything in regards to FAQ/manuals. I thought maybe it was leaking because I placed the top on when it was wet since I had earlier tested it without the o-rings? If I don't have any luck soon I might give Jeremy at PA a ring to figure out something with them!
Floyd R Turbo
Either busy or sleeping
Don't use vaseline or aquaphor, it's petroleum based. Used silicone grease that stuff is awesome and reef safe
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Sounds like a fair deal. Same recommendation that I got from the equipment forum too! I was able to get the reactors to function properly without leaking by giving it a third try and cleaning out the ring position/top so they were dry. Barely any residue from the GFO/Carbon but guess it was enough to cause a leak. I'll pick up some silicone on my next trip to Lowes and start using it on all my o-rings on the reactors/unions. I'd guess it will increase the life on the o-rings and help me from having to replace them as often on one union I'll use often which holds the pipes to the filter socks.
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Glad to have you. Hope your not tagging alone:lol2:
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Not much to report tonight as I did not make it home until later. I routed the frag QT tank and just put water in it. So far, so good and no leaks. Onto another project tomorrow night
Out in the garage by 'The Beast':
Filled with water down in the basement:
Out in the garage by 'The Beast':
Filled with water down in the basement:
Dustin1300
Reefaholic
Not a lot of progress to report past couple of days. Been cleaning up the fish room and getting the wires organized which has been a bigger feat than originally anticipated. Tonight I also did a ~40 gallon water change to help start bringing these nitrates down. In the next week hope to do following:
- Get order in with BRS for RO/DI unit to make it more efficient (Have thread opened to get advice on this for large system if anyone else has recommendations for larger systems)
- Fill fish QT system and get it up and ready for fish
- Put fish list together and start ordering some fish with Premium Aquatics Monday to pick up next weekend
- Design where ATS will be in system and have FloydRTurbo help if my design is not up to snuff
- Plumb in Frag QT system and figure out lighting....(Possibly PAR38 LED light)
- Get order in with BRS for RO/DI unit to make it more efficient (Have thread opened to get advice on this for large system if anyone else has recommendations for larger systems)
- Fill fish QT system and get it up and ready for fish
- Put fish list together and start ordering some fish with Premium Aquatics Monday to pick up next weekend
- Design where ATS will be in system and have FloydRTurbo help if my design is not up to snuff
- Plumb in Frag QT system and figure out lighting....(Possibly PAR38 LED light)
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