Shapelock DIY N/P reducing Pellets or Nuking the tank...

[jason2459]

Hey banker, good luck with the Vertex Pellets. I think they are a PCL based product as well?

I turned off the pumps to the UGF plates to get as close as possible to the patent setup and just see what happens. I'll probably turn them on again in about 6 months and again, see what happens.

I do notice a lot more pods and if I look closely I think they are shaking their fists at me. So, I might turn it back on sooner. They absolutely love the RUGF and it really makes the entire bottom of the tank a refugium for them. I also think the RUGF is why I've never had a problem with nitrates likeI do with phosphates.


BTW, saw the thread where you got robbed. Yikes!! :fun5:

 

[thebanker]

Cool, keep us posted on how it goes. Is Vertex PCL? I thought it was something else. I'll have to check that thread that lists all the biopellets.

Yeah that robbery incident SUCKED! Thanks for the concern.

 

[jason2459]

I thought they were a PCL based but looks like they are PHA. Just looked at a picture of one of their bags. PHA sound promising.

I'll definitely keep this thread updated with any changes.

 

[thebanker]

Apparently they are PHA. I'm posting updates in the Vertex thread. I still have a whole bottle of I.O. PCL, just in case the Vertex pellets don't work, I'll go back to the Petsmart solid vodka method!

 

[jason2459]

lol @ the petsmart comment.

One other thing I forgot to mention that is different this time around is I'm not running the HOB refugium currently. Mostly because of lazyness of just not getting it set back up after the move. :bigeyes:

So, if anything brings down the po4 it would have to be the pellets because I have no macro algae in a refugium and I'm not running GFO.

Did two quick tests when I got home:

Nitrate 5
PO4 .36

PO4 I'm expecting to fluctuate up and down right now just from test variations but I found it interesting the nitrate went up to a solid 5. Turning the RUGF off is the only thing that has changed.?.

Feeding habits are the same (which is overfeeding I know) and I did a water change yesterday. Skimmer production is normal which is a very nasty nog.

I'm also seeing an increase every day in the amount of pods. I do not think they like the RUGF being turned off and being turned into a plenum. I think I'll go with out it for at least this first month which I should see how the pellets do by that time but turn it on after that. I didn't realize how well it was working and creating such a sanctuary under there.

 

[jason2459]

Back with two more test results after having a very bad thought of everything dieing off causing amonia and nitrite spikes. :thumbdown

Both came back as 0. :thumbsup:

 

[thebanker]

What's your bio load? I had my nitrate problems when I had a large fish load.

 

[jason2459]

I consider myself heavily stocked and overfeed.

2 mated Ocellaris that are constantly providing fish food
1 Yellow watchman paried up with a tiger pistol shrimp
1 Stary eyed blenny
2 long fin fairy wrasses (male/female and hope they become mated)
1 mystery wrasse
1 shark nose goby

1 torch coral
1 blasto
1 duncan

1 crocea clam

bunch of cerths, dwarf cerths, and nerite snails (the nerites are constantly multiplying) lost count

around 50 blue leg hermits.
1 red leg hermit


938432084789327492389237492387 various different pods (yes, I counted every single one of them.)


I think that's it. Everyone is healthy, growing, mating, and multiplying. Including the algae and cyano. :lol2:

 

[thebanker]

That's not THAT many fish. 8 in a 55 isn't bad. I have 7, but I will say that the refugium is what overcame the pest algaes in my tank.

 

[jason2459]

I used to run grape calurpa in my refugium and it did amazing with a reverse photo period. Didn't have as big of a problem as I do now with algae or cyano but I also was lightly stocked, didn't have near as powerful lighting system as I do now or ran it as long, and I barely fed much.

This time around with my tank setup I tried growing chaeto and didn't have any success with it. It kept shriveling up. Gracilaria and ulva did good though but didn't seem to take in as many nutrients as I needed.

 

[thebanker]

I have grape caulerpa and chaeto in my refugium that's lit by a 7100k bulb 24:7. Grows like mad... I don't see any detrimental effects to running it around the clock.

Some say it's unnatural, etc... but so far so good. Once my biopellets "ramp up" I might try going to a reverse photoperiod just to see if it makes a difference.

 

[jason2459]

You'll think this is crazy but I was lighting my calurpa for 12hours 9pm to 9am by a cheap 18w actinic t-8 florescence hood over the refugium. Used the spill over of light as a moon light. Calurpa was always growing and never went sexual.

 

[thebanker]

I use the spillover on mine as moonlight too, on occasion.

 

[jason2459]

Wow, I've been testing my pH every evening before the main lights go out since adding kalk to my ATO. That's not the wow factor though it was at steady 8.3 again.

But because my handheld probe also has ORP on it I periodically switch it over to that and it's typically really super low. Tonight I think it's the highest its ever been. I'd have to look back at my posts to confirm which I'm to tired to do so right now. But ORP was 264 tonight! For my tank that's high. Don't know if kalk or the pellets have anything to do with that or not. Not sure what is but wow. I'm not expecting it to stay there but just wanted to make note of it.

 

[jason2459]

I did a quick look back on this thread and looks like at one time in my previous experience with shapelock I recorded an ORP value of 233. Getting over 200 is really good for my tank and has never happened as far as I'm aware of with out using either an ozone generator or these pellets. Even using an ozone generator my ORP was only getting up to around 220.

I think it has to do something with the bacteria or pellets. Could be an indicator that the bacteria growth has started. If it's anything like last time there's going to be some good changes and fast. Which I need to watch my corals pretty closely now. Not so worried about oxygen levels but more so a quick decline in phosphates and ticking off my corals.


I do notice the algae has gotten thicker and growing still since I took those last pictures. We'll see what happens now and who will out compete who.

 

[thebanker]

Is it nerdy that I'm excited about your results?

 

[jason2459]

lol

I'm excited and nervous too as I can't just pull out the pellets this time if something really bad happens.

 

[jason2459]

I'm not so sure the pods are surfacing because the flow is turned off anymore. I think they are going after this:

There is the white haze again on my glass and the pods are all over it. I think they are loving all this extra bacterial food. I bet it would be great to put gravel into the bottom of a refugium with pellets mixed in to feed tons of pods.

Cyano is definitely decreased from growing back the past day or two.

Corals are still looking good. Skimmer seems normal.

 

[jason2459]

Couldn't help myself and did some tests. Nothing to interesting yet.

Salinity 35
Temp 83.6
pH. 8.28
ORP 239
Nitrate 5
PO4 .22

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk

 

[jason2459]

Duncan is very ****ed tonight. Looked back on this log and it's the same coral that was ****ed the last time I was using shapelock. Didn't know if it was the shapelock or drop in PO4 originally when it happened and I was worried. I'm not so worried this time. Other two corals look ok. The Torch is not as stretched out as normal but it certainly doesn't look like this:

So, I checked my parameters and I have to say the duncan does not like PO4 to decrease and takes a bit for it to stabilize to the new parameters.

Temp: 81f
PH: 8.29
ORP: 279!!!
Salinity : 35
Nitrate a light 5
Phosphate: .11

Big drop from the last reading. I'll have to check it again in a few days.

Edit: accedently typed in .21 it's .11