Mhucasey's SPS obsession

[markalot]

Thanks for the reply.

Well that cute bag of calcium nitrate I bought came with a link to a web page for the concentration and the page is dead, so cute but useless. Help an ignoramus out ... is there anyway to judge how strong my mixture is?

I've got RO/DI in a 1 liter bottle and I've added 6tsp (did you see how I mixed units there ) of the calcium nitrate. If I was smart I think I should be able to fill a smaller container with a set amount of saltwater, making sure nitrate is un-measurable, then dose a fixed amount of my concoction, test Nitrate, and from that somehow figure out where I am. :hmm3:

 

[mhucasey]

Thanks for the reply.

Well that cute bag of calcium nitrate I bought came with a link to a web page for the concentration and the page is dead, so cute but useless. Help an ignoramus out ... is there anyway to judge how strong my mixture is?

I've got RO/DI in a 1 liter bottle and I've added 6tsp (did you see how I mixed units there ) of the calcium nitrate. If I was smart I think I should be able to fill a smaller container with a set amount of saltwater, making sure nitrate is un-measurable, then dose a fixed amount of my concoction, test Nitrate, and from that somehow figure out where I am. :hmm3:

Yeah that caculator was the only one I've found that has the CaNitrate. Try this:
You have 150Gallons, close enough to my old volume for the test.
Test the current nitrate value. Add 1/8 tsp solid to your overflow box. It will dissolve into the water going to your sump and then distribute to the tank. It should raise your nitrate value by no more than 2 or 3 ppm. Wait about 2 hours and test again.

You can use the rise in nitrate to give you the amount 1/8 tsp gives, then work from there. I have been adding 1/4tsp to raise nitrate by about 2 or 3parts for the 195 gallon net volume I have.

 

[markalot]

Thanks Matt,

I will test Nitrates tomorrow and if still <1 I'll try a dose.

 

[mhucasey]

Some pics from tonight...

Kitchen side of the reef:

Family room side of reef:

My pathetic attempt at macro pics, I need to get a real camera:

I'm definitely seeing some growth and polyp extension that wasn't there before, and the algae growth hazed the glass on the Flubber tank in about a day and a half, which is faster than it has been recently. If I see any uptick in algae, i will increase the flow through the pellet reactor slightly.

Speaking of the flubber reef, it's looking really good:

 

[sahin]

Tank is looking great. :beer: Even flubber reef looks pretty good despite being flubbery. [No Biggles, I didnt say that]

 

[cFloor]

Both tanks are coming along nicely. I might have missed it, but are you planning on adding sand to the sps tank or keeping it BB.

 

[mhucasey]

Tank is looking great. :beer: Even flubber reef looks pretty good despite being flubbery. [No Biggles, I didnt say that]

Thanks Sahin. I noticed biggles has some hammer corals in his tank...even he can't refuse a bit of flubber:lolspin:

 

[mhucasey]

Both tanks are coming along nicely. I might have missed it, but are you planning on adding sand to the sps tank or keeping it BB.

Thanks!
I would love sand, but with the shallow tank and the vigorous flow the sand would end up in a pile in the back. The laminar flow along the bottom is really amazing!

 

[markalot]

Both tanks looking good!

 

[reefmutt]

Nice, Matt!
Looking really good.. Still jealous of your set up!

 

[mhucasey]

Both tanks looking good!

Nice, Matt!
Looking really good.. Still jealous of your set up!

Thanks guys! I'm quite happy with the setup as well!

 

[markalot]

Did my first nitrate dose today after measuring 0 (clear) on the salifert test. I did 1/4 tsp because I remembered wrong but it only raised nitrates to 1 or just under. I figure you expected me to screw it up so you recommended too low a dose. Thanks for the hand holding here, it really helps.

 

[glaukos]

well done matt buddy:thumbsup:
Both tanks look awesome!

 

[biggles]

Thanks Sahin. I noticed biggles has some hammer corals in his tank...even he can't refuse a bit of flubber:lolspin:

I have flubber in the peninsula just as Matt has noted, nothing wrong with a reef dedicated to mainly flubber either for that matter just as long as it's in another continent :beer:
I do like the sand in that tank Matt so it's not a total loss mate :thumbsup:

 

[mhucasey]

Did my first nitrate dose today after measuring 0 (clear) on the salifert test. I did 1/4 tsp because I remembered wrong but it only raised nitrates to 1 or just under. I figure you expected me to screw it up so you recommended too low a dose. Thanks for the hand holding here, it really helps.

I certainly didn't recommend that much because I thought you would screw it up It is a little bit of a leap of faith that adding Nitrate will be ok. When I first started doing it a few years back, lots of people here though it was nuts. Im glad it worked out. Now that you have tried that dose, you can start to dial it in by adding additional doses and testing. Im interested to see how your reef responds to keeping the reef with a few ppm Nitrate.

One thing I do to help dial that in is to keep my feedings as uniform as possible - feed twice a day, one frozen, one pellet. That will keep the Nitrate input from food to a more constant level.

 

[mhucasey]

well done matt buddy:thumbsup:
Both tanks look awesome!

Thanks Mike!

 

[mhucasey]

I have flubber in the peninsula just as Matt has noted, nothing wrong with a reef dedicated to mainly flubber either for that matter just as long as it's in another continent :beer:
I do like the sand in that tank Matt so it's not a total loss mate :thumbsup:

The weird thing is that the SPS in that tank are doing better than the ones in the SPS tank. I can only attribute that to possibly more available nutrients due to the live rock and sand. Both tanks now have roughly equivalent light and the sump is shared. There is a bit less flow in the flubber tank but not that much less. Its very strange.

 

[biggles]

That's strange that the acros sharing the same water are doing differently Matt I don't think the water in the two reefs would be that different if they share the same sump despite the different setups. If it is the case that the water is more rich in the flubber tank i would increase the return flow to that system to force more water from that display into the SPS display - mix the water more.

 

[mhucasey]

That's strange that the acros sharing the same water are doing differently Matt I don't think the water in the two reefs would be that different if they share the same sump despite the different setups. If it is the case that the water is more rich in the flubber tank i would increase the return flow to that system to force more water from that display into the SPS display - mix the water more.

That's a good suggestion so I have gone ahead and done that

 

[Reefvet]

I can only attribute that to possibly more available nutrients due to the live rock and sand.

Or just the opposite. A higher level of bacteria in the water column due to the lower flow rate and local rock/sand hosting of beneficial bacteria.

Any measureable difference in nitrates between the 2 tanks ?

Any detritus visible on the bare bottom tank ?