homer1475's Biocube 29 Build Thread

I typically go with the newer regent personally. Tests start to get wonky one way or another towards the end of a regent.

And yes reference cards and a LFS double check are all workwhile.
 
No comparison card came with the kit, and my closest LFS is a 2 hour drive lol. I will email salifert when I get home and see if they'll send me a comparison card or even new reagents. Just seems odd that one kit would give one number and another a totally different.
 
yeah it is a calibration fluid basically.

I dont know if I had any in any of my kits though. I might have snagged some from my LFS
 
Ok so I figured out what I was doing wrong. When it says you flip the syringe over and take the reading, I was still reading it like the red sea kit, instead of reading from the tip to the plunger. So when I was reading 7.2 titrant used, it was actually 2.8.

Thats a huge DUH moment as my tank right now is cloudy as h*ll from adding to much of randys 2 part. My tank right now sits at over 12DKH(the kit doesn't go high enough), and its so cloudy I can't even see in it. Will this over dose hurt anything, or will I wake up to everything dead in my tank? MY PH isn't horrible(sitting at 8.3), so that doesn't worry me, just concerned about the overdose.
 
Ok so I figured out what I was doing wrong. When it says you flip the syringe over and take the reading, I was still reading it like the red sea kit, instead of reading from the tip to the plunger. So when I was reading 7.2 titrant used, it was actually 2.8.

Thats a huge DUH moment as my tank right now is cloudy as h*ll from adding to much of randys 2 part. My tank right now sits at over 12DKH(the kit doesn't go high enough), and its so cloudy I can't even see in it. Will this over dose hurt anything, or will I wake up to everything dead in my tank? MY PH isn't horrible(sitting at 8.3), so that doesn't worry me, just concerned about the overdose.

Yea, that's bad. If the water is cloudy but the pH is still reasonable, then you may be fine, it may have just precipitated, causing a "snow storm" of precipitated calcium carbonate.

Always good to do a water change if you can, and you'll want the alkalinity to come down kinda quickly, as keeping it very high can damage coral tissues longer term. SPS people have kept their alkalinity at 11dkh before for extended periods of time in hopes that growth would increase, but often it is/was found to just burn the growth tips of acros. LPS might be more tolerant, but it's still not ideal.

Water changes would be good, and if your pH does spike (or if you test with another source that indicates that the pH is bad), you can always nuke your alkalinity/pH with a few DROPS of vinegar (a little goes a LONG way I found out).
 
Its not a snowflake snow storm, more like how when you add ALK it becomes cloudy until its mixed in.

So it just isn't dissolving into the water anymore?

Yes, vinegar will bring down, but if you want to use it, use it slowly.

It sounds like from this thread they recommend just leaving it be and letting it fall on its own over time.
 
Yeah after reading that thread, I think I'm just going to leave it be.

Well atleast I did learn how to read the salifert kit properly.

Thanks for the quick reply reef. :thumbsup:
 
Well after surviving that holy **** moment in my last post, I've gotten the dosing thing down and my alk is rock steady at 9. To be quite honest, my corals have never looked happier.

I've now decided I need to start dosing CA also. Tested it over the last couple days and while Kalk is keeping it constant, its pretty low at 360(My previous test from 2 weeks prior was at 420). I've gone from weekly testing to biweekly as my params have been pretty stable. I tested it for 2 weeks every day and its been steady at 360 now that I started adding Kalkwasser to my topoff, but even with my weekly water changes it's not raising.

So I ordered BRS 2 part in bulk(it was way cheaper then all the measuring cups, funnels, and jugs they send in their "kit") and we'll see how it goes.

Just a side note, I've read a few times now that aiptasia X will kill green paly's so I ordered some more of that and I'm going to try it. I would like to kill individual polyps instead of a whole colony. I still like them, but their starting to encroach and smother some prized zoas(my wife's fruit loops that have finally started to grow), so just keeping them at bay is what I'm trying to accomplish.
 
aiptasia X = concentrated kalk wasser (or close enough)

I've been using the BRS 2 part pre-measured to 1 gallon containers for almost a year now. It works well, but if using ghetto gallon jugs, just make sure to double check that the bottom of the jugs haven't been smashed and are in good condition. I had one leak after a few weeks from the high alkalinity. Not sure if the warming from adding the powder to the water caused the plastic to weaken or what, but it wasn't leaking before, and then it did slowly weep, but it was enough to make a mess in my stand. I still replaced it with a cheap-o gallon container, I was just pickier about which cheap-o gallon container I used for it.

I would just keep alk and calcium dosing at equal levels once you get it initially in balance. Every now and then I'll boost the alkalinity explicitly, but they generally stay pretty consistent with each other.
 
I have several water jugs laying around. I like to use them for various things(extra salt water, RO/DI for my FW tanks, etc), so I'll buy a couple gallons of RO/ at walmart and use the jugs.

I didn't order the ALK part as I'm pretty happy with the randys part 1 recipe. It's simple and way cheaper then buying their chemicals. A 4 pound bag of arm and hammer is like 20$ at BJ's wholesale which will make about 10 times the amount of ALK as the BRS one gallon jug of soda ash. It also seems like people have issues with getting it mixed up(you mentioned about having to heat it up), the baked baking soda mixes up very easily. The only downfall is it takes a bit longer to makes randys recipe as you have to bake the baking soda first.
 
I think I've finally figured out my upgrade path....

65G deep blue aquatics DT, with a 30G sump and self built stand. I want to go bigger, but my wife has a specific place picked out and 40inches long is the max i can go. So 36" tank gives me the perfect stand size for it to fit in that location. Other tanks are cheaper(marinland, aqueon, etc), but the deep blue is the only one in that size I can be 100% sure is not tempered glass.

I'm going to just piece it together and hope to have it wet by the end of this summer. I'm thinking of going with a kessil ap700 for lights as it should be plenty enough to stretch the length of the tank, other equipment I'm open to suggestions. Of course the apex and mp10's will transfer over, everything else will be new.

Ordering the tanks when my income tax check comes in so I can at the least get to work on a sump and stand. This will be my first tank build so I'm excited to get working and reading on setups.
 
I would go with a different tank so you have a minimum of 24 inches front to back. You will regret that 18 in no time with the larger tank.

I would also suggest a t5 unit for lighting. With you only needing 36 you could get away with a unit for less then 1/2 what the kessil would cost. Or spend about the same and get a combo unit.

Did you look at sc aquariums at all? You can get them undriled if you wish to add an overflow
 
Deep blue says they use tempered glass in select models on the 65 gallon description.....they have great prices! Real cheap! I would find a tank,stand package for good savings. I can't find anything that states glass thickness on deep blue. I like soulpatch recommendation on going 24 deep. Regardless if u "need" the extra back or front space, it adds water volume which is always better. Most people's limitations on tanks are width, like mine was. I could not go further out due to wall in a corner, but adding the length gave me greater volume.

Go ecotech radion! Kessil, I looked at, but seems so limited, boring, etc. Mounting options aren't cool. Two xr15 pros are good. Then add the ecotech module for apex. Then ur set.
 
There's actually one or two German brands I liked for light fixtures, and one which may have just been created. Saw it at bulk reef website. So many options nowadays. My xr30pro is amazing. I still don't have the sun up to sun down settings where I want them...but it's ez to manipulate on the fly. I'm using reeflink still for the lighting. Apex for the pumps. Reeflink for the vectra. 2 battery backups, one for mp40's, and one on standby for the vectra. Ecotech customer service has been great with my questions. Remotely controlling my lights and helping me create points of change on spectrum. Etc.
 
I would go with a different tank so you have a minimum of 24 inches front to back. You will regret that 18 in no time with the larger tank.

I would also suggest a t5 unit for lighting. With you only needing 36 you could get away with a unit for less then 1/2 what the kessil would cost. Or spend about the same and get a combo unit.

Did you look at sc aquariums at all? You can get them undriled if you wish to add an overflow

Actually I've been reading the mars aqua thread, and thinking that might be the route I go, still not sure yet. SC Aquariums only make cube tanks unless you go 100G or larger. I don't want to go that big and neither does the wife. I would have to go up to a 80G for anything thats not 18" wide, but then its also 48" long. I could have one custom made, but I'm not prepared to shell out for a custom tank.

Deep blue says they use tempered glass in select models on the 65 gallon description.....they have great prices! Real cheap! I would find a tank,stand package for good savings. I can't find anything that states glass thickness on deep blue. I like soulpatch recommendation on going 24 deep. Regardless if u "need" the extra back or front space, it adds water volume which is always better. Most people's limitations on tanks are width, like mine was. I could not go further out due to wall in a corner, but adding the length gave me greater volume.

Go ecotech radion! Kessil, I looked at, but seems so limited, boring, etc. Mounting options aren't cool. Two xr15 pros are good. Then add the ecotech module for apex. Then ur set.


Deeb blue has a spec sheet on all their tanks, only the bottom is tempered on the 65.

http://www.deepblueprofessional.com/resources.html

click the tank specifications at the top.
 
Um sc had many non cube tanks starting. There us a 60, 80, 90, ect that are all non cube and around your desired 36 length but are 24 deep
 
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