Sick Kole Tang?
- Thread starter allendehl
- Start date
Ok folks, tang is still doing well so I assume it is ich and not velvet. Given my conditions at home I plan in going hypo in DT for 30 days. Not the most agreed on method out there but it seems to have worked for lots of people.
I plan in removing all corals and inverts from my DT, do I need to have a special kind of light for the corals in QT during the process? I have a normal 5000K LED bulg setup...would that do it a few hours a day?
I normally calibrate my refactometer to zero using RODI. Is this enough or should I use a different calibration method?
I plan in removing all corals and inverts from my DT, do I need to have a special kind of light for the corals in QT during the process? I have a normal 5000K LED bulg setup...would that do it a few hours a day?
I normally calibrate my refactometer to zero using RODI. Is this enough or should I use a different calibration method?
Ok, I'll answer my own calibration question. Found this excellent post by [MENTION=368903]Rover88[/MENTION]
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25412571&postcount=4
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showpost.php?p=25412571&postcount=4
:thumbsup:
I am in the last 8 days of this same thing.
Hardest part was catching them all. I removed every single thing from the tank, placing the rock on towels or in Rubbermaid totes. It wasn't fun. But once you have them all out just keep it empty for 72 or 76 or whatever people say. I went for 80 because why not? I've gone 70+ days already what is a few more.
I treated with Cupramine. Only one of my fish died after being caught and placed in the quarantine, the rest pulled through. I treated with Cupramine for 4 weeks then removed it. The rest has been monitoring time because it's not like I cannot them back until the tank has been fallow long enough.
Going forwards... quarantine every time. It's a rough mistake to learn from and I wish I had taken the wisdom of others and not learned it for myself.
Tastee
Member
When I raise salinity in my QT I do so by adding salt water to the ATO instead of RODI. I find that is a simple and effective way to gradually increase salinity. I also did this in my DT when I was first setting it up (first fish went in at 1.020 before raising to 1.024).
hkgar
Active member
Calibrating with RO/DI water can cause some variation at 35 ppt. Also, how do you now the RO/DI water is actually 0? I have a storage barrel for my ATO and the water going in is zero TDS but if I take out a sample it will register above zero as the contaminants will get into the barrel.
I use RODI simply because I don't have cal fluid.
My specific refractometer was designed with the intention of being calibrated at 0 ppm with RODI water. While I know there can be some fluctuations with not 'pure' RODI, I'm fairly sure the 1-2 PPM that it picks up contaminants with in my barrel isn't going to swing it too far considering that the PPM of saltwater is something like between 10,000 and 30,000.
Most hobbyists aren't wielding scientific instruments with precise tolerances. Any fluctuations I'm going to have from using RODI water stored in a barrel are likely within the tolerances of the refractometer itself.
As for any adjustments to the curve, I'd agree with you. It would be better to calibrate with 1,026, you would get your most accurate reading if that was the case. What I do is calibrate to RODI, check what my tank reads, and match my water change to that, so even if it is 'off' from 1.026, its at least the same going in as it is going out.
I have twice checked my refractometer in the 8 months I've had it against a 1.026 solution (Local reefer has it) and both times I did my calibration with my RODI water was bang on accurate at 1.026.
So while not ideal, its close enough to have not caused me any issues!
hkgar
Active member
That would work fine. Just keep the change to no more than .002/day
