Hi Folks. First post in this forum. I'm mostly a lurker, but long time reefer - started keeping in the early 90's when a brown digitata was a rare piece of coral in a reef tank. Took a long break and got back into it over the past few years with a much larger and elaborate setup than my earlier days...
A brief overview of my system is as follows:
240 gal Display
450 gal Total System
Established 3/27/2010
Clean-up crew added 4/21/2010
First Fish added 7/25/2010
First Coral added 8/10/2010
All water comes from a BRS 6 Stage Chloramines RO/DI system with TDS always reading zero after the second DI canister.
Salt has been Red Sea Coral Pro until last two water changes which mixed approx 50/50 with Tropic Marin Pro Reef. 10-15% water changes every 3-4 wks.
Filtration:
* Bubble King 300 Deluxe External gravity fed directly by display tank overflow
* Carbon in fluidized reactor - changed monthly
* Filter socks in sump - cleaned weekly with vinegar/water in washing machine and finally rinsed in RO/DI water. Socks Replaced Monthly.
* Filter sponge as pre-filter to sump return pump inlet - cleaned weekly with vinegar/water and finally rinsed in RO/DI water
* 150 lbs+ Live Rock between Display and Frag Tank
* 100 lbs+ Live Sand (SSB in Display plus DSB in Fuge)
* 40 gal Refugium with Chaeto
Circulation:
* Vortech MPW40 x 2
* Tunze 6105 x 1
* Tunze Wavebox x 1
* Dart Gold (Sump return and feed to frag tank & fuge)
Lighting:
* 3x 250W Reeflux 12K MH's - 10hr photoperiod
* 2x 80W T5's (Dimmable for sunrise/sunset) - 12 hr photoperiod
* T5's on fuge and frag tank
Heating/Cooling:
* 400W heater in sump and fan over tank controlled via Profilux.
* All tanks are housed in a dedicated fish room (In wall display).
* Fish room has it's own ventilation and A/C system.
* Tank Temperature maintained between 25.9 C (78.6 F) and 26.4 C (79.5 F) during day.
* Tank Temperature maintained between 25.4 C(77.7 F) and 25.9 C (78.6 F) during night.
Control/Supplementation/Feeding:
* Profilux II Plus EX system with ORP, pH, Temp, Salinity Control
* Profilux 4 channel dosing unit for top off (trigged by Conductivity probe) and Balling Salts (Alk, Ca and Mg)
* Julian Sprung's Sea Elements and Sr dosed at about ½ or less the recommended amounts on a weekly basis
* DT's Phytoplankton added every few days
* Rod's Reef Food once/day and Formula Two Flake once/day
Livestock:
* Sailfin Tang
* 2x Blue/Green Chromis
* About a dozen aquacultured Acro frags
* 3 larger Maricultured Acro's (about 3-5" each)
* 2 aquacultured Pocilliopora frags
* 3 aquacultured Seriatopota frags
* 1/2 dozen or so aquacultured Montipora frags
* Misc Acans, Favia, Zoo's
* All above inhabitants have been dipped/quarantined before adding to the tank
* Misc reef safe Hermit crabs and snails
Parameters:
* pH (8.2-8.4 depending on time of day) - Profilux electrode
* Alk (9.6-9.9 dKH) - Salifert
* Ca (420-440 mg/L) "“ Tropicmarin
* Mg (1300+) "“ Infrequently checked with a Seachem kit
* N03 (0) - ELOS
* NH3 (0) - Salifert
* P04 (<0.01 mg/L) - Tropicmarin
* Salinity (53.0-53.2 ms) - Profilux electrode
* Redox (generally low to mid 400 mv, but in the low 500's for the past few days) - Profilux electrode
I will also say that I often double check the above readings via other test kits or measurement devices to ensure that they are not reading off for some reason. For instance, I use a refractometer (cal'd) for salinity and it syncs with the Profilux electrode very closely ~35 ppt. I also have a digital temp gun that reads surface temps of the water and a separate digital thermometer which are all within a few tenths or so of a degree. I also cal'd all of my electrodes a few weeks ago so they should be dead on.
Now onto my issue. My tank has been very stable aside from a small Alk drop of about 0.5 dKH several weeks ago when I found the dosing line clogged with Alk solution that solidified (Note: Don't let this hang to close to splashing water or this is what happens). My Redox levels generally fall within 400-450 but have sometimes dipped into the high 300's. I just noticed a couple days ago that it was reaching 500. I've heard that this can be detrimental to life and am a bit concerned and frankly confused that I'm now seeing numbers in the 520+ range. I just cleaned the electrode with vinegar, rinsed it with RO/DI water and dropped it into some 220 mv cal solution and it read between 220 and 221 so I'd say it's reading properly. Keep in mind that I have done nothing differently from my normal chores in the past several days aside from add 2 small Monti frags. My fish seem to be acting perfectly normal and appear healthy. Some (although not all) of my SPS corals are lacking in polyp extension. I'm not clear if this is at all related to the Redox value, but it does seem rather peculiar to me. Although I don't think it's related, one frag of Seriatopora Hystrix has decided to bleach out of nowhere while another is doing just fine.
My basic questions are as follows:
1.) Should I be concerned with the high Redox?
2.) Is the high Redox likely to cause poor polyp extension?
3.) Given the background above what could lead to such a high Redox?
4.) Is there something available that could safely lower the Redox without leading to other issues.
FWIW I've read RHF's article on Redox and know he's of the opinion that it's not worth checking unless you are using Ozone at which point it becomes a fail safe for over dosing Ozone into the aquaria. I'm using it more as a gauge to identify any changes within the system by noting a large swing in level (like what I'm seeing now although I would have expected a drop not an increase). Appreciate any insight.
A brief overview of my system is as follows:
240 gal Display
450 gal Total System
Established 3/27/2010
Clean-up crew added 4/21/2010
First Fish added 7/25/2010
First Coral added 8/10/2010
All water comes from a BRS 6 Stage Chloramines RO/DI system with TDS always reading zero after the second DI canister.
Salt has been Red Sea Coral Pro until last two water changes which mixed approx 50/50 with Tropic Marin Pro Reef. 10-15% water changes every 3-4 wks.
Filtration:
* Bubble King 300 Deluxe External gravity fed directly by display tank overflow
* Carbon in fluidized reactor - changed monthly
* Filter socks in sump - cleaned weekly with vinegar/water in washing machine and finally rinsed in RO/DI water. Socks Replaced Monthly.
* Filter sponge as pre-filter to sump return pump inlet - cleaned weekly with vinegar/water and finally rinsed in RO/DI water
* 150 lbs+ Live Rock between Display and Frag Tank
* 100 lbs+ Live Sand (SSB in Display plus DSB in Fuge)
* 40 gal Refugium with Chaeto
Circulation:
* Vortech MPW40 x 2
* Tunze 6105 x 1
* Tunze Wavebox x 1
* Dart Gold (Sump return and feed to frag tank & fuge)
Lighting:
* 3x 250W Reeflux 12K MH's - 10hr photoperiod
* 2x 80W T5's (Dimmable for sunrise/sunset) - 12 hr photoperiod
* T5's on fuge and frag tank
Heating/Cooling:
* 400W heater in sump and fan over tank controlled via Profilux.
* All tanks are housed in a dedicated fish room (In wall display).
* Fish room has it's own ventilation and A/C system.
* Tank Temperature maintained between 25.9 C (78.6 F) and 26.4 C (79.5 F) during day.
* Tank Temperature maintained between 25.4 C(77.7 F) and 25.9 C (78.6 F) during night.
Control/Supplementation/Feeding:
* Profilux II Plus EX system with ORP, pH, Temp, Salinity Control
* Profilux 4 channel dosing unit for top off (trigged by Conductivity probe) and Balling Salts (Alk, Ca and Mg)
* Julian Sprung's Sea Elements and Sr dosed at about ½ or less the recommended amounts on a weekly basis
* DT's Phytoplankton added every few days
* Rod's Reef Food once/day and Formula Two Flake once/day
Livestock:
* Sailfin Tang
* 2x Blue/Green Chromis
* About a dozen aquacultured Acro frags
* 3 larger Maricultured Acro's (about 3-5" each)
* 2 aquacultured Pocilliopora frags
* 3 aquacultured Seriatopota frags
* 1/2 dozen or so aquacultured Montipora frags
* Misc Acans, Favia, Zoo's
* All above inhabitants have been dipped/quarantined before adding to the tank
* Misc reef safe Hermit crabs and snails
Parameters:
* pH (8.2-8.4 depending on time of day) - Profilux electrode
* Alk (9.6-9.9 dKH) - Salifert
* Ca (420-440 mg/L) "“ Tropicmarin
* Mg (1300+) "“ Infrequently checked with a Seachem kit
* N03 (0) - ELOS
* NH3 (0) - Salifert
* P04 (<0.01 mg/L) - Tropicmarin
* Salinity (53.0-53.2 ms) - Profilux electrode
* Redox (generally low to mid 400 mv, but in the low 500's for the past few days) - Profilux electrode
I will also say that I often double check the above readings via other test kits or measurement devices to ensure that they are not reading off for some reason. For instance, I use a refractometer (cal'd) for salinity and it syncs with the Profilux electrode very closely ~35 ppt. I also have a digital temp gun that reads surface temps of the water and a separate digital thermometer which are all within a few tenths or so of a degree. I also cal'd all of my electrodes a few weeks ago so they should be dead on.
Now onto my issue. My tank has been very stable aside from a small Alk drop of about 0.5 dKH several weeks ago when I found the dosing line clogged with Alk solution that solidified (Note: Don't let this hang to close to splashing water or this is what happens). My Redox levels generally fall within 400-450 but have sometimes dipped into the high 300's. I just noticed a couple days ago that it was reaching 500. I've heard that this can be detrimental to life and am a bit concerned and frankly confused that I'm now seeing numbers in the 520+ range. I just cleaned the electrode with vinegar, rinsed it with RO/DI water and dropped it into some 220 mv cal solution and it read between 220 and 221 so I'd say it's reading properly. Keep in mind that I have done nothing differently from my normal chores in the past several days aside from add 2 small Monti frags. My fish seem to be acting perfectly normal and appear healthy. Some (although not all) of my SPS corals are lacking in polyp extension. I'm not clear if this is at all related to the Redox value, but it does seem rather peculiar to me. Although I don't think it's related, one frag of Seriatopora Hystrix has decided to bleach out of nowhere while another is doing just fine.
My basic questions are as follows:
1.) Should I be concerned with the high Redox?
2.) Is the high Redox likely to cause poor polyp extension?
3.) Given the background above what could lead to such a high Redox?
4.) Is there something available that could safely lower the Redox without leading to other issues.
FWIW I've read RHF's article on Redox and know he's of the opinion that it's not worth checking unless you are using Ozone at which point it becomes a fail safe for over dosing Ozone into the aquaria. I'm using it more as a gauge to identify any changes within the system by noting a large swing in level (like what I'm seeing now although I would have expected a drop not an increase). Appreciate any insight.
