My 280g Custom upgrade.....

[danfeig]

I have found that the Kalk Stirrer is a major help. It's not like the old reactors where you were getting a paste and having to scrub or replace your power heads.

With the Kalk Stirrer, you are adding clear water to your system. The kalk powder residue all stays at the bottom of the stirrer.

 

[Osteoclast]

Spotter,
No I do not have a build thread. I have not had the time to put one together, not to mention responding to queries! I appreciate all of you that do develop tank threads as it is a major effort on your part. It is certainly a time saver for people developing reef systems. Thanks again to you and everyone else with a major thread for devoting your time to this.

 

[SPotter]

This is my alamo....

This is my alamo....

So you all know that I've been fighting the tank demons on my tank for a few months now. For a few months now my po4 levels have been elevated and no matter what I did the levels wouldn't come down. So I took a piece of rock out and put it in a 20g tank with new salt water, a heater and powerhead. After 18 hrs the po4 levels tested at .06ppm and after 48 hrs levels tested at .08ppm. At that point I decided that I would start thinking about how I could gradually pull rock out, dip in muriatic acid, seed and put back in the tank. Well before I could put the plan into action, my tank had a severe ich and possible velvet outbreak. I lost several fish in a very short period of time. At that point, I decided to take whatever surviving corals I had and move them to my 80g frag tank. I isolated that tank from the main system and put a hob filter on the tank and its own heater. Happy to say to the corals are responding well to their new environment and lower nutrients in the water. Now for the display tank....I decided to take the display down to hypo levels. In doing this, I vacuumed out almost the rest of the sand that was left in the tank and all but 6 pieces of rock that were left for some hiding spots. I lowered the sg down to 1.009 over a 48 hr period and thats where the tank has been for the last 8 days. Since going hypo I have only lost one more fish and everyone else is great. There are no visible signs of ich and everyone is eating and they are wishing that they could eat more but with the reduced filtration I have cut way back on the feeding.

This weekend I decided to dip the rocks in muriatic acid and rinse them off to see how they will look after wards. Here are some pics....

Here's how they look today after soaking in rodi overnight followed by being scrubbed and rinsed with rodi again.

I am thinking about doing the dip again since I have time before the rocks will go back in the tank.

I also decided to change out my return pump. I was running a Blueline 100hd and had to choke it back more than 60% and I believe this was contributing to some of my heat issues in the tank. The temp in my tank was hitting 79.3 degrees lately and my heater hasnt come on in weeks. Since the pump is located directly beneath my return lines there is very little head loss. I replaced the 100hd with the Blueline 40hdx today and so far the water temps are declining in the tank. The 40hdx still packs a powerful punch and have the return lines choked back a little.

Additional changes I will make.....

* new rock structures. I will be ordering rods and epoxy to help build some nice pieces.
* I have put my light up for sale and will look at other options for the tank once it is sold.

I definitely cut some corners and rushed things when I started this tank almost a year ago. The tank looks nothing like I had wanted it to at this point but next year this time I know it will be amazing.

 

[Adamc1303]

Good luck Steve hopefully this does the trick. The tank will look great in a year! How much Acid VS water did use? How long did you leave it dipped in the actual acid? Do you mind doing the same test again in the 20 gallon and letting us know the results. I am getting ready to dip in Muriatic this week too.

 

[nightOwl]

Looking good Steve. I am glad you are still hanging in there buddy. I think this may be a step in the right direction.

 

[danfeig]

Good luck Steve. I hope this works!

 

[Crazy_Beaver]

Good luck, I hope u are at the end of your problems!

 

[Dustin1300]

Like others have said, hope all goes well Steve. Looks like that smelt really good!

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy S3 using Tapatalk 2.

 

[Newbie Aquarist]

Hey Steve. I wish you the best and keep us updated on the rebuilding process.

 

[SPotter]

Good luck Steve hopefully this does the trick. The tank will look great in a year! How much Acid VS water did use? How long did you leave it dipped in the actual acid? Do you mind doing the same test again in the 20 gallon and letting us know the results. I am getting ready to dip in Muriatic this week too.

Hey Adam, I used a 10:1 ratio so 10g of rodi/1 gal of acid. I will start a test for the cleaned rock tonight and see how it goes.

 

[Adamc1303]

I picked up 4 gallons at home depot. I guess i'll do 2 20 gallon tubs. I figured i'll do muriatic 15 min. Hose down with regular water. Then dip in RODI to rinse off again. Then do it all again. Should take a few hours. Are you able to put your bare hands in the acid water to handle the rock?

 

[Rotknee]

I like that ATO and happy to hear about your upgrades. You will now have some options that will make you happy...I'm sure of it.

I'm in Princeton and don't know how you guys deal with this cold LOL. It was 79 degrees when I left Los Angeles. Now it is 28F and snowing.

Going to try to make it out to the Elos Aqua Studio before I leave. Not that I need another tank but it's been a while since the wife had a true reason to get mad at me for anything. Plus she got some nice new jewelry for Christmas. I deserve a new tank. Well, maybe just a small tank.

 

[SPotter]

I picked up 4 gallons at home depot. I guess i'll do 2 20 gallon tubs. I figured i'll do muriatic 15 min. Hose down with regular water. Then dip in RODI to rinse off again. Then do it all again. Should take a few hours. Are you able to put your bare hands in the acid water to handle the rock?

Definitely wear gloves! Try to get the ones that go over the elbows. I had a little of the solution leak into my gloves and nothing happened but I was nervous.

I like that ATO and happy to hear about your upgrades. You will now have some options that will make you happy...I'm sure of it.

I'm in Princeton and don't know how you guys deal with this cold LOL. It was 79 degrees when I left Los Angeles. Now it is 28F and snowing.

Going to try to make it out to the Elos Aqua Studio before I leave. Not that I need another tank but it's been a while since the wife had a true reason to get mad at me for anything. Plus she got some nice new jewelry for Christmas. I deserve a new tank. Well, maybe just a small tank.

Rodney.....that will definitely work with the anger factor!!!!

 

[SPotter]

So I tested a couple of pieces of rocks and put them in the 20g tank last night with some new water, a heater and a powerhead. I tested the po4 tonight and not happy with initial results @ .07ppm. I will definitely do another dip.

 

[danfeig]

So I tested a couple of pieces of rocks and put them in the 20g tank last night with some new water, a heater and a powerhead. I tested the po4 tonight and not happy with initial results @ .07ppm. I will definitely do another dip.

Steve, my friend, I hate to tell you this, but I think that you may be better off getting yourself new live rock. To still have high phosphates after the dip... it's not sitting very well with me.

A couple things I have been thinking about... your rocks should have cured a long time ago. Even if they didn't before everything was added to your tank, they should have shortly thereafter with all of the water changes and treatments you did. I remember that you were going to bind the rocks with rods and mortar. Could it be the mortar that is an issue? The few pieces that you recently dipped, did they have mortar attached?

I am not sure if it is worth all the treatment/dipping of the rocks. What will be leaching back into the tank once they are put back in? How long will it last? Someone is always breaking down a tank or perhaps your LFS has rock that is already cured.

Just a thought to consider....

 

[coralreefdoc]

Guys. The phosphate level of your "pure" RO/DI is likely .03 - .05 ... Mix that with some synthetic salt mix and a few rocks, with residual phosphates, and you're going to easily get an .07 PO4 reading ...

Nothing to be so concerned with as to dispose of all that costly, not to mention unrenewable, live rock ! Especially when most replacement live rock options will have the same, if not worse, problem(s) associated with them ...



Steve. I'd very much like to see you succeed, so if theres anything I can do to help you please dont hesitate ... You know how to get in touch with me if needed

Personally, Id never advise you to buy LR 2nd hand from someone breaking down their tank ... 90% of the people out there don't have a clue !

You'd just be inheriting their issues, which most likely would be worse than what you have going on currently. Be patient and continue to work on dipping/curing/leaching your current LRs. Follow up acid baths with RO/DI baths, doing large 75-100% water changes with the RO/DI once phosphates begin to creep up over .1 or so. This will eventually leach out the sequestered PO4s ...

Unless there's an underlying problem, such as the mortar/concrete issue danfeig brought up, then considering replacement may be more practical/feasible

 

[SPotter]

@Dan....I never got around to using the mortar that you suggested. How ling did you cure/soak your pukani rock before putting it in the tank?

@CRD......i tested the new water before placing the rocks in and the po4 came back on an low range kit.

My neighbor stopped while I was doing the dips to see what I was "cooking" in the cans. He looked at the bottles of muriatic acid and had some concerns that it was a weaker concentration than ehat is available at pool stores and other hardware stores. He's a Chemical Engineer for a pharma co and has a lot of experience working with this stuff. His concern was that the bottle did not disclose the concentration level and when he went to smell it, there was very little fumes or odor. The label said 90% less fumes and he said the only way to do that is dilute the concentration. I ran to my local achardware store last night and they had muriatic acid that had a 31.2% concentration. The biggest bottle they sold was 950ml so i got two of them. I dip the two rocks that i am testing tonight then let them soak in rodi for a couple of days before repeating my test. I font want to get rid of the rock because I do love the way pukani looks and it wasnt cheap. Also for me to replace with marco or other reef rock I will need a lot more. My wife wants me to start with new rock but thats because ahe likes the look of marco better and the way rock looks whens its new and clean.

Since I have a few more weeks of hypo I have some time to figure this out.

Thanks for everyones support and advice!


Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Osteoclast]

Concentrated HCl is highly flammable and toxic. Your neighbor is right. Home depot has concerated solutions that I use for pump cleaning. The solutions give off heat when exposed and have toxic fumes. I only use it outside with care and plenty of water available. The mortar itself is fine in terms of pO4. Good luck but I word call Mark at Marco rocks and start anew.

 

[danfeig]

@Dan....I never got around to using the mortar that you suggested. How ling did you cure/soak your pukani rock before putting it in the tank?

@CRD......i tested the new water before placing the rocks in and the po4 came back on an low range kit.

My neighbor stopped while I was doing the dips to see what I was "cooking" in the cans. He looked at the bottles of muriatic acid and had some concerns that it was a weaker concentration than ehat is available at pool stores and other hardware stores. He's a Chemical Engineer for a pharma co and has a lot of experience working with this stuff. His concern was that the bottle did not disclose the concentration level and when he went to smell it, there was very little fumes or odor. The label said 90% less fumes and he said the only way to do that is dilute the concentration. I ran to my local achardware store last night and they had muriatic acid that had a 31.2% concentration. The biggest bottle they sold was 950ml so i got two of them. I dip the two rocks that i am testing tonight then let them soak in rodi for a couple of days before repeating my test. I font want to get rid of the rock because I do love the way pukani looks and it wasnt cheap. Also for me to replace with marco or other reef rock I will need a lot more. My wife wants me to start with new rock but thats because ahe likes the look of marco better and the way rock looks whens its new and clean.

Since I have a few more weeks of hypo I have some time to figure this out.

Thanks for everyones support and advice!


Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

Hey Steve.

I had my rocks soaking out side for around six to eight weeks in the arizona sun. I was changing the water weekly and would alternate with freshly made saltwater and water from changes on my 150 gallon. The rocks seemed to cure after three weeks or so. They stayed outside much longer because my tank wasn't delivered. The rocks along with sand were then in my system for another four to six weeks, without fish (although I added 10,000 pods), with limited lighting, my skimmer and pumps running.

 

[SPotter]

Thanks for everyones input and I think what I am going to do is order 100lbs of marco to start off with. I will continue to work on the smaller pieces of pukani I have and see if I can remove the po4 from them. There's a couple of ambitious guys in my local club that might be interested in tackling the bigger pieces that I have. Its such a hard decision to make. Right now my corals are doing great in my frag tank so I am in no rush to get them back into the DT until I am 100% sure its ready.