Jackson's 115 Gallon Custom Cube 32x32x26

[rovster]

I'm dosing Sodium Nitrate. Its lab grade and I mix up a concoction with RO water. I think 8g/100mL. Sometimes I'll mix it at double potency.

You can use Potassium nitrate, which is eddentially stump remover from the big box stores. Also called Salt Peter.

Some dose using a product called Seachem Fluorish I think. Its a planted tank thing. Please do your research though. There's a big thread on the other forum discussing this.

Dosing nitrate is what finally pulled my tank out of its funk. That and some nutrient control, but reflecting back, it was probably the nitrate.

 

[Johnyman]

Thanks



That is extremely interesting! I tested my no3 and it's somewhere between 2-5ppm which is the lowest it has been since I first setup the tank and had the initial cyano outbreak. What are you dosing to elevate nitrate? I'll give it a shot.

That could happen with low phosphate (zero) too, my cyano issue appeared when i had 50 ppm nitrate and zero phosphate and it was solved by adding phosphate potassium with bacteria (Biogro 123)! Whenever there is an instability in the redfeld ratio by one of the 3 components... cyano will take advantage !!

 

[rmgaspar]

Hello,

Trully inspirational this tank ... to be honest I think is the first topic I read all the posts ...

How do you dose Kalk? Not in a Kalk reactor as I could see it. What pump do you use for dose if you mix in osmose water?

Also in my previous tank that crashed due to three day power outage I only saw minor growth in SPS after almost one year although the color were all there. In your experience how long since the beginning of the tank you would should expect to see growth?

All the best,
Rui

 

[jackson6745]

I'm dosing Sodium Nitrate. Its lab grade and I mix up a concoction with RO water. I think 8g/100mL. Sometimes I'll mix it at double potency.

You can use Potassium nitrate, which is eddentially stump remover from the big box stores. Also called Salt Peter.

Some dose using a product called Seachem Fluorish I think. Its a planted tank thing. Please do your research though. There's a big thread on the other forum discussing this.

Dosing nitrate is what finally pulled my tank out of its funk. That and some nutrient control, but reflecting back, it was probably the nitrate.

Ok thanks. I'll do some research.

That could happen with low phosphate (zero) too, my cyano issue appeared when i had 50 ppm nitrate and zero phosphate and it was solved by adding phosphate potassium with bacteria (Biogro 123)! Whenever there is an instability in the redfeld ratio by one of the 3 components... cyano will take advantage !!

Yup! Thanks for reminding me. I noticed the same over the years.

Hello,

Trully inspirational this tank ... to be honest I think is the first topic I read all the posts ...

How do you dose Kalk? Not in a Kalk reactor as I could see it. What pump do you use for dose if you mix in osmose water?

Also in my previous tank that crashed due to three day power outage I only saw minor growth in SPS after almost one year although the color were all there. In your experience how long since the beginning of the tank you would should expect to see growth?

All the best,
Rui

Thank you Rui. I dose kalk as a supplement to 2 part dosing. I have it on a head of my GHL doser, dosing 400ml of a saturated kalk+vinegar mix. This cuts down the amount of 2 part that I use... a little

As for seeing growth, if the tank is doing well you can almost see growth daily. You should see very noticeable growth differences each month, if you don't something is off. Could be pests, water parameters, lighting etc... Look back at the pics in the beginning of my thread and notice the time frames for growth reference.

 

[reefmutt]

I have been dosing Seachem's Flourish (potassium nitrate) for about 6 months. It is very effective. I also use calcium nitrate that I bought from a hydroponics shop.
The Flourish is useful because it adds some potassium as well but since it is designed for the hobby, if you are using a lot, it's not cheap. The calcium nitrate is a crystal so it goes a loooong way, it's so concentrated.
For your uses, with the size of your tank and the fact that n is already at 2-5ppm. The Flourish would be easy to find and not very expensive to use..

 

[markalot]

I bought CaNO3 off of Amazon but the web link to the analysis on the bag doesn't work. I decided to buy more off of Amazon from another vendor who specified 99% pure and I ended up with a box that contained an unmarked bag of white pellets. :mad2:

Call me crazy but I'm not going to use these. Loss of $9.99.

I think I will try stump remover in the future since there are many who've had good results with it.

 

[jackson6745]

I'll try the flourish to start. Thanks for the suggestion. I don't think I'll have any issue maintaining a higher nitrate level with my bioload. I just cleaned things up drastically with many "corrective" water changes + less feedings .

 

[Big E]

My two cents.............I never saw any specific link with the numbers, but I know----

Detritus + light = Cyano

I think your general maintenance & cleanup is a better approach......it may take a few weeks longer, but a baster and siphon tube are priceless

 

[mhucasey]

All T5???? Enquiring minds want to know!

 

[sahin]

Whats the T5's combo and duration. 10 tubes of T5 is a lot of light. Where did you even source a 10 tube unit? Is it a an ATI Sunpower or Powermodule?

 

[jackson6745]

My two cents.............I never saw any specific link with the numbers, but I know----

Detritus + light = Cyano

I think your general maintenance & cleanup is a better approach......it may take a few weeks longer, but a baster and siphon tube are priceless

This post stuck in my head I got lazy. I used to shopvac my sump with each water change, removing all detritus from my rock rubble zone. Well, I let a few months go by without cleaning it out and there was quite a bit of detritus in there. I still have cyano in the display, but I'm hoping this nutrient reduction will help out. I also lowered my po4 to .03 with rowa.

All T5???? Enquiring minds want to know!

Yup Shadowing was a major issue for me as my corals grew large. I killed a few off in the spring, but the tank is growing again, and I don't want the same issue. Only problem that I see is not being able to pull the same color as I did under the 400w radium. I think I can tweak the colors to be very good regardless... we'll see.

Whats the T5's combo and duration. 10 tubes of T5 is a lot of light. Where did you even source a 10 tube unit? Is it a an ATI Sunpower or Powermodule?

You know I've been wanting to do this for a while . I found a deal in the for sale forum here on RC that was too good to pass (Thanks Tyler). It's a 10 bulb powermodule. The don't make these 10 bulb units anymore. It's the right amount of bulbs to cover my 32"x32" footptint. I'm running 6blue+, 3coral+, and 1 aquablue special. This spectrum looks decent (20k), but I'll do more research on bulb combos.
This is wired on 2 channels with 2 and 8 bulbs. I have 2 bulbs (blue+) running for 10 hours, and the remaining 8 bulb running for 6 hours. I'll see how corals respond to see if I need to shorten or raise fixture etc. I still have 2 blue reefbrites running as well.

Open for suggestions of course

A couple iphone pics
IMG_4428 by rich colombo, on Flickr

IMG_4425 by rich colombo, on Flickr

The pearlberry
IMG_4426 by rich colombo, on Flickr

 

[ReefWreak]

Glad you got it all set up nicely. I'm interested to see how your colors respond to the new light. It already looks like your LPS and zoas took to the T5s right away.

Frags are doing great btw, so thanks again! Although after our discussion, I'm paranoid as heck about having AEFW and hopefully this weekend I'll be able to break out the macro lens to give my polyps a real good inspection.

 

[markalot]

Looks good Rich, can't wait to see how the colors work out under t5. How long do you run your reef brights?

 

[jackson6745]

Glad you got it all set up nicely. I'm interested to see how your colors respond to the new light. It already looks like your LPS and zoas took to the T5s right away.

Frags are doing great btw, so thanks again! Although after our discussion, I'm paranoid as heck about having AEFW and hopefully this weekend I'll be able to break out the macro lens to give my polyps a real good inspection.

Glad to hear the frags are doing well. AEFW are a pain in this game for sure. Don't go crazy though. I see more guys kill their tanks with dips, than the fw killing corals. Just keep an eye out for the telltale bite marks on the shaded side of the colony. If something isn't right with a coral, lack of PE, weird color, I would give it a dip in bayer to be safe.

Looks good Rich, can't wait to see how the colors work out under t5. How long do you run your reef brights?

I'm expecting some lighter colors initially, but an increase in growth. I definitely need the growth after losing and fragging so many pieces. Im just happy that I didn't lose all my SPS, because at one point that's where I was headed. Reefbrites are on 12hrs daily. They only put out 80 par. I use them more for dawn/dusk and added pop to the spectrum.

 

[westreef]

How high you hang your fixture from the water surface? Have you been able to measure the par values?

By the way, looking very nice!!

 

[jackson6745]

How high you hang your fixture from the water surface? Have you been able to measure the par values?

By the way, looking very nice!!

Thank you . The fixture is 9" above the water line. No par values yet. Ill borrow a friends par meter this week and check it out.

 

[Chris Lakies]

I think your on the right path with your lighting schedule. I used to run all 8 bulbs for 8 hours per day and things didnt grow well. Dropped it to 6 full bulbs and 10 hours 2 bulbs now much greater color and things are growing again with better PE.

 

[TylerHaworth]

You know I've been wanting to do this for a while . I found a deal in the for sale forum here on RC that was too good to pass (Thanks Tyler).

Looks great Rich, shipping that thing had me crazy stressed!

 

[sahin]

Tank is looking great Richard. This will most certainly be a VERY good test; seeing how the ATI T5 stacks up against the mighty 400w 20K Radium.

I've been having crazy thoughts of going 400W Radium with T5 and LED over my 47G...:hmm4:

But deep down I dont think the results will be all that much different. And I will have to deal with crazy heat.

Can you take down top shots, as well as a long video (pausing a second or two above the corals) to get an idea of the state of corals now. And do a similar video in a couple of months. You have a similar video or two somewhere on your thread so it would be great to compare. :thumbsup:

 

[Big E]

Good to see things coming back around Rich

You're going to love the T5's..............the only thing I miss about my halides is the shimmer lines. As mentioned be careful, they are more potent than 400w halides.