No sand or sand bed

[paulojbsilva]

I realized something today...the flow going trough my phosban reactors is very very very low... it seemed fine but today I decided to do the math. Took a 10ml flask and saw how many seconds it took to fill. Result, 12 liters/hour...
What would you consider a good flow, since in the first reactor I have Seachem Matrix Carbon and Purfiltrum on the second.


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[paulojbsilva]

Oh, and a full tank shot.

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[paulojbsilva]

Guys, I'm about to throw the towel and remove the sandbed. Last shot now. I've done two uge water changes with Melev's method, I cleaned my sump clean as whistle, the tank is getting cleaner every day, but the nitrates just won't go down 30/25...any more suggestions? Next step will be live rock and water only...


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[paulojbsilva]

Oh, and since I have a shallow sand bed, that thing was siphoned very thoroughly.


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[paulojbsilva]

Time for something stupid...a friend told me that soft corals consume some nutrients besides what the symbiotic algae provide. He advised me to get one or two hardy ones. So... I got a Cladiella and a Discosoma. Strange thing...I tested the water from the tank they were at. It's a private tank with huge colonies of softies. The damn nitrates where off the chart, pH very low. Regarding those factors, I'm way better now my nitrates are getting close to 20 something.
Oh, and my strombus is keeping everything under surveillance

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[paulojbsilva]

Ok...long time without updates, going to resume a bit. Figured out my tank problem. Faulty hydrometer, salinity sky high, only fish and some inverts survived. Problem solved, head against the wall several times, old rock removed, new rock in, corals in, more cuc in, everything happy (took 2 weeks to do this). Hope everything get more stable with time, but went from totally disappointed to ansious to get my tank more stable.

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[paulojbsilva]

Hey everybody!
My tank is getting somewhere, and this time seems like the good direction. Got pods all over the place, ofiurus crawling everywhere (one is about 15cm, but never comes out totally from a dead coral skeleton.
Now for my questions. On that same coral skeleton there are a few more inhabitants. I think it's a pistol shrimp. I lured him out today but he is faster than my iPhone, so I only got a crappy photo.

I can listen to some clacking noises after feeding the fishes and that's when he comes out. Until now, no harm done to anything, not even the ofiuru that lives with him. At night I can see 3 very little shrimps roaming around the cave entrance...
Is this something I should be worried about?

The other question is about the chemical values...
The pH is on 7,8 and alkalinity is at 6,7dkh. On the other hand Calcium is at 500 and Magnesium is at 1500. Could this 2 be precipitating the Alk? Will Kalkwasser help me with this or should I start 2 part dosing?
Even so, everything looks healthy and alive!


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[paulojbsilva]

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