Michael's 150gal build thread
- Thread starter mpderksen
- Start date
mpderksen
New member
Weekend update:
New additions from Live Aquaria all doing great. Now I sit tight and let things get stable. Finally ordered the ULR HANNA, so I don't have PO4 readings yet, but here's where we are today.
pH. 7.9-8.1, daily
SG. 1.026 (cond probe on Apex konked out on me)
ORP 335
Temp 77°F
ALK 8.5
NO3 4
Ca 556!
PO4 and Mg not tested
2-part dosing at 30ml/day each.
AWC just went online at 1 gallon/day
Some thoughts: I plan to turn off the 2-part for 1 week, then retest.
Do you think 1 gallon/day is enough? I'm tempted to adjust to 1%/day, or 1.5 gallon.
I have zero idea what a good Nitrate target is. Once I get my PO4 number, I can consider taking the GFO offline. Changing it every 6 weeks has helped in my algae battles over the years. When I skip, I get growth.
I also mounted the cable raceway under the tank. Looks so much better than before. In the second picture you see a bucket. That's going to become the fuge as soon as I figure out the return plumbing from it to the sump.
New additions from Live Aquaria all doing great. Now I sit tight and let things get stable. Finally ordered the ULR HANNA, so I don't have PO4 readings yet, but here's where we are today.
pH. 7.9-8.1, daily
SG. 1.026 (cond probe on Apex konked out on me)
ORP 335
Temp 77°F
ALK 8.5
NO3 4
Ca 556!
PO4 and Mg not tested
2-part dosing at 30ml/day each.
AWC just went online at 1 gallon/day
Some thoughts: I plan to turn off the 2-part for 1 week, then retest.
Do you think 1 gallon/day is enough? I'm tempted to adjust to 1%/day, or 1.5 gallon.
I have zero idea what a good Nitrate target is. Once I get my PO4 number, I can consider taking the GFO offline. Changing it every 6 weeks has helped in my algae battles over the years. When I skip, I get growth.
I also mounted the cable raceway under the tank. Looks so much better than before. In the second picture you see a bucket. That's going to become the fuge as soon as I figure out the return plumbing from it to the sump.
mpderksen
New member
Lots of testing fun this last weekend.
SG 1.0245, temp 77°F, pH 7.98 (at time of testing)
Big 3: Alk 5.2!, Ca 600+, Mg 1500+
Small 2: Nitrates 4.0, PO4 0.18
In short, a mess. Dosing pumps had been turned off. Turned the Alk back on, but leaving the Calcium one off for now. Also made my next batch of Saltwater a little higher at 1.027 to creep that back up.
I talked to Jeff tonight at LifeReef and ordered a new skimmer. I knew the one from the 75 would be too small for this tank.
I also relocated the very loud Avast ATO pump to the garage water change station. Since I ran the Aquabus cable, I have an EB4 out there. Perfect for the remote location. Finally, I added a circulation pump to the New Saltwater Brute and set that outlet to run 5 min every morning to keep it mixed.
Gave a huge pile of LPS to 4 guys in the local club, and got some new frags in exchange. They're in a frag rack for a few weeks to watch for bubble algae etc.
Hope to replace the emergency drain bucket with a real fuge in the next few months.
mpderksen
New member
Testing day again. In spite of a 1/2 cup of GFO, PO4 remains at 0.18ppm. Too bad the cost per test on these HANNAS is so high, or I'd check the effluent of the reactor. Patience is free.
Nitrates still sit at 4. I called Jeff at LifeReef, based on the positive comments here. In a month I'll have a more appropriate skimmer for this tank. My Reef Octopus has performed without adjustment for several years. It's just not rated for this size tank.
Alk dosing has raised my level to 6.16. Still low, but up a full point in the week. Steady application and time.
Missing the tiny Ocellarus from Live Aquaria. For the last 3 days. Found a cave in the back maybe? Hope so.
Hope to get out the dSLR for some real pics this weekend...
Nitrates still sit at 4. I called Jeff at LifeReef, based on the positive comments here. In a month I'll have a more appropriate skimmer for this tank. My Reef Octopus has performed without adjustment for several years. It's just not rated for this size tank.
Alk dosing has raised my level to 6.16. Still low, but up a full point in the week. Steady application and time.
Missing the tiny Ocellarus from Live Aquaria. For the last 3 days. Found a cave in the back maybe? Hope so.
Hope to get out the dSLR for some real pics this weekend...
mpderksen
New member
Let's start with pictures:
Comparison in size of the LifeReef (27" high, which is a bit extra) and the Reef Octopus 110INT. Which one do you think will have more dwell time?
Here it in installed and churning away. I have 3-4" of clearance, exactly like I wanted from the tall stand.
Now tonight's testing numbers:
Alk - 6.3
Ca - 600+
Mg - 1500+
Nitrate - 0.5
PO4 - 0.06ppm
I've increased my Alk dosing from 20:00/day (4, 5:00 runs) to 28:00/day. My 2-part with the Calcium is off completely. I'm doing Auto Water changes with a DOS unit at 1.5gal/day, which is about 1%.
So, even before adding the new, high powered skimmer or getting the 'fuge running, my Nitrate and Phosphate are lower than I'd like. Should I be concerned? Should I feed more?
Comparison in size of the LifeReef (27" high, which is a bit extra) and the Reef Octopus 110INT. Which one do you think will have more dwell time?
Here it in installed and churning away. I have 3-4" of clearance, exactly like I wanted from the tall stand.
Now tonight's testing numbers:
Alk - 6.3
Ca - 600+
Mg - 1500+
Nitrate - 0.5
PO4 - 0.06ppm
I've increased my Alk dosing from 20:00/day (4, 5:00 runs) to 28:00/day. My 2-part with the Calcium is off completely. I'm doing Auto Water changes with a DOS unit at 1.5gal/day, which is about 1%.
So, even before adding the new, high powered skimmer or getting the 'fuge running, my Nitrate and Phosphate are lower than I'd like. Should I be concerned? Should I feed more?
JonezNReef
Member
Nice skimmer! Will be interesting to see how it does. I wouldn't be concerned with a good problem. You might have to dose your fuge in the beginning... maybe at worst. If you can feed more I would. I'm looking into how to dose frozen and liquid foods slowly throughout a 24 hour period. Saw a thread where a guy had a mini fridge with a doser in it that I might try. My concern is ending up with too high P and N feeding that much because they aren't a problem at the moment.
mpderksen
New member
Michael's 150gal build thread
Finally got my crosscut saw back (I really don't like loaning tools out...). So I could start my stand casework. I used solid red oak, even though I hate it, because it matches the rest or our cabinets in the house. I couldn't prestain because my wife is making noises about recoloring the kitchen ones.... I did manage to have router bits that matched the profile so my doors look just like the rest.
The 2 end doors will have black screen material for air flow for the electronics. And I need to get the middle stile trimmed to hang the last doors. That will be set with pocket screws so it's easy to remove if I ever need to remove the big sump.
I should be able to finish up the lower half this weekend. Then we'll decide if I'm building side shelves and a top. Just realized the picture below is before I routed the panels. You'll see that in the final, hopefully Sunday.
Finally got my crosscut saw back (I really don't like loaning tools out...). So I could start my stand casework. I used solid red oak, even though I hate it, because it matches the rest or our cabinets in the house. I couldn't prestain because my wife is making noises about recoloring the kitchen ones.... I did manage to have router bits that matched the profile so my doors look just like the rest.
The 2 end doors will have black screen material for air flow for the electronics. And I need to get the middle stile trimmed to hang the last doors. That will be set with pocket screws so it's easy to remove if I ever need to remove the big sump.
I should be able to finish up the lower half this weekend. Then we'll decide if I'm building side shelves and a top. Just realized the picture below is before I routed the panels. You'll see that in the final, hopefully Sunday.
mpderksen
New member
Getting some GHA starting to grow in the highest light areas. Ordering a remote fuge from LifeReef. Hopefully I can get some macro growth that will outcompete the DT.
To make matters a bit worse, I changed out my Brute water supply containers for some plastic drums. They were used for bleach, but I rinsed them well, them soaked with some vinegar. So the skimmer is totally overflowing. Corals and fish all look completely fine. Once the levels get low enough, I'll transfer back to the Brutes and clean them again/better.
The good news about that is I got my 6 float valves. So I can wire those in while they are empty and leak test.
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To make matters a bit worse, I changed out my Brute water supply containers for some plastic drums. They were used for bleach, but I rinsed them well, them soaked with some vinegar. So the skimmer is totally overflowing. Corals and fish all look completely fine. Once the levels get low enough, I'll transfer back to the Brutes and clean them again/better.
The good news about that is I got my 6 float valves. So I can wire those in while they are empty and leak test.
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mpderksen
New member
Too long since an update. But this is the tank's 5 month anniversary, so I thought I'd add a few things. Warning, I'm not starting with the typical coral and fish pics, but I'll get there. Today I have the support hardware stuff.
Starting in the garage. I finally got the water station "œdone". I got a few basic cabinets to hold the testing kits, food, even a box of new DI resin, just in case. I did a decent job of cable management, using a scrap piece of raceway. I have float valves in the barrels, and a solenoid on the RODI system. The EB4 shuts down the flow when the switch sends a signal to the BreakOut Box. No more flooded garage when I forget I'm making water!
Next we have the LifeReef refugium area that is really cranking along. Last week I had trimmed the cheato down to a tennis ball size. As you can see, it's gotten seriously bigger in 7 days. This is the second week of that level of growth, and my PO4 now is below detection limit with my HANNA ULR. I've completely taken the GFO reactor offline at this point, and the DT algae has receded to almost non-existent. You can see I'm using the MARS Hyrdo light, and I'm running it 12 hours, from 10:00pm to 10:00am. I have a Rio1200 providing the flow to make is spin/tumble.
Nothing super special here, other than to show the 2 new pipes on the right that are the flow from the fuge back into the sump. The LifeReef skimmer is still churning out a ton of goo. It looks white just now because I overflowed it while doing some maintenance. Typically it produced dark green toxic waste. The recent addition of 4 tangs makes a good skimmer even more important.
Last thing to note is that I've been struggling with my Alk dosing level, as compared with my Calcium. I had switched from B-Ionic to Randy's recipe for the Alk, because I was using up that gallon before the Calcium one. Still, I was NO WHERE near a 1:1. Today, I actually tested the New Salt Water that the Apex is using for the Auto Water Change. I'm using IO Reef Crystals, and had mixed it up to 1.022, since my DT was high. (To bring it down slow).
SG. 1.022
Alk. 5.3
Ca. 537
Mg 1600
I'm pretty surprised to see such a low Alk number, as compared to the Ca in newly made water. My DT tests are
SG. 1.028
Alk. 8.1
Ca. 391
Mg. 1260
I've added a few minutes to my Ca dosing pump, and keeping the Alk one the same for now. I need to watch my Mg and make sure it doesn't drop much, but I think I'm losing about 100ppm every few weeks. I wonder if I should consider a different salt mix, or if I had an off box.
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Starting in the garage. I finally got the water station "œdone". I got a few basic cabinets to hold the testing kits, food, even a box of new DI resin, just in case. I did a decent job of cable management, using a scrap piece of raceway. I have float valves in the barrels, and a solenoid on the RODI system. The EB4 shuts down the flow when the switch sends a signal to the BreakOut Box. No more flooded garage when I forget I'm making water!
Next we have the LifeReef refugium area that is really cranking along. Last week I had trimmed the cheato down to a tennis ball size. As you can see, it's gotten seriously bigger in 7 days. This is the second week of that level of growth, and my PO4 now is below detection limit with my HANNA ULR. I've completely taken the GFO reactor offline at this point, and the DT algae has receded to almost non-existent. You can see I'm using the MARS Hyrdo light, and I'm running it 12 hours, from 10:00pm to 10:00am. I have a Rio1200 providing the flow to make is spin/tumble.
Nothing super special here, other than to show the 2 new pipes on the right that are the flow from the fuge back into the sump. The LifeReef skimmer is still churning out a ton of goo. It looks white just now because I overflowed it while doing some maintenance. Typically it produced dark green toxic waste. The recent addition of 4 tangs makes a good skimmer even more important.
Last thing to note is that I've been struggling with my Alk dosing level, as compared with my Calcium. I had switched from B-Ionic to Randy's recipe for the Alk, because I was using up that gallon before the Calcium one. Still, I was NO WHERE near a 1:1. Today, I actually tested the New Salt Water that the Apex is using for the Auto Water Change. I'm using IO Reef Crystals, and had mixed it up to 1.022, since my DT was high. (To bring it down slow).
SG. 1.022
Alk. 5.3
Ca. 537
Mg 1600
I'm pretty surprised to see such a low Alk number, as compared to the Ca in newly made water. My DT tests are
SG. 1.028
Alk. 8.1
Ca. 391
Mg. 1260
I've added a few minutes to my Ca dosing pump, and keeping the Alk one the same for now. I need to watch my Mg and make sure it doesn't drop much, but I think I'm losing about 100ppm every few weeks. I wonder if I should consider a different salt mix, or if I had an off box.
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d2mini
Premium Member
Is Randy's recipe supposed to be the same as Bi-onic (or other products)?
I don't know why, but i assumed they were all different, so you couldn't dose the same amount of each (different) product.
So, I just checked this calculator and for the numbers I input, it says you'd need 428ml of Randy's Alk Recipe 2 and only 134 ml of ESV Bi-onic.
http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html
I don't know why, but i assumed they were all different, so you couldn't dose the same amount of each (different) product.
So, I just checked this calculator and for the numbers I input, it says you'd need 428ml of Randy's Alk Recipe 2 and only 134 ml of ESV Bi-onic.
http://reef.diesyst.com/flashcalc/flashcalc.html
mpderksen
New member
To be completely accurate, I am using BRS soda ash, but think I used Randy's #1? In any case, before I switched, I was using 4 doses of 7 min with a 1.1ml/min pump, so roughly 32ml/day of the B-Ionic, but actually had the Ca pump completely off, but maintaining 600+ppm Ca!
Now, I'm pretty stable just over 8.0, but using about 50ml/day of the soda ash, and 5ml/day of Ca?
Plan to convert to a CaRx soon, but everything in the tank looks happy, growing and good color. No phosphate, bu5 I'm feeding heavily. So I won't worry too much about the specific numbers.
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mpderksen
New member
I wanted to start by getting my MG in line. I have a bucket of SeaChem Reef Advantage Mag, and from their calculator, I needed 640g to go from 1260 to 1350. I added this amount to a gallon of RODI, let it sit most of the day, then added it all. I waited about 3 hours and just tested. I use the Salifert test kit for mg (with a left over Red Sea titration syringe). It was exactly 1260 again. Like HUH!?!?!
Oddly, my Alk tested at 8.68 (Red Sea kit), up from just 8.1 yesterday. Also, my Calcium was at 522, while yesterday it was 391 (HANNA). Yes, these tests have standard deviations, but I am pretty careful, so I believe that the numbers are relatively accurate.
So what's the interplay here? My low MG was suppressing my Alk, and as I add more, the Alk is "œreleased" and I get a higher level? Sure doesn't explain how 640g of MG could result in NO change.
D2mini linked me to a BRS video that says I should stop dosing, test every day, and find out just how much my tank is using. I'm going on a vacation soon, but I'll do that when I get back, since I need enough data points to make the test worth it.
Does anyone have some insights into the Chemistry? Or are the kits just not accurate enough to draw any conclusions, and I need more repetitions to get a solid answer?
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Oddly, my Alk tested at 8.68 (Red Sea kit), up from just 8.1 yesterday. Also, my Calcium was at 522, while yesterday it was 391 (HANNA). Yes, these tests have standard deviations, but I am pretty careful, so I believe that the numbers are relatively accurate.
So what's the interplay here? My low MG was suppressing my Alk, and as I add more, the Alk is "œreleased" and I get a higher level? Sure doesn't explain how 640g of MG could result in NO change.
D2mini linked me to a BRS video that says I should stop dosing, test every day, and find out just how much my tank is using. I'm going on a vacation soon, but I'll do that when I get back, since I need enough data points to make the test worth it.
Does anyone have some insights into the Chemistry? Or are the kits just not accurate enough to draw any conclusions, and I need more repetitions to get a solid answer?
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mpderksen
New member
Hope this link works. I took a video of the cheato ball rotating in the fuge. This jus under 2 weeks of growth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5jDJjLKo2g
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5jDJjLKo2g
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