So you got a new fish tank Newbie

[deeppitt]

Thank you Rev.
I will adjust my acclimation accordingly.

Do you know of a way to measure my flow-rate? BTW, the water emits into the tank at 4 locations: front-left-top, front-right-bottom, back-left-bottom, and back-right-top. For reasons unknown, it creates movements that look like waves washing across the star-polyps and hammerhead about every 5-10 seconds.

I calibrated to scope when I first got it (February) according to their directions. I don't have an external reference to compare against. Do you think I should move my SG down to 1.024?

I will start doing some reading on closed-loops. I fear it will involve that most-dreaded of words: "plumbing" :eek2:

 

[reverendmaynard]

Well, you can measure return pump rates by emptying a know volume out of the tank, turning the pump on and timing how long it takes to fil l back up. A few calculations should get you to gph. Internal flow, like powerheads provide? Not that I know of.

Random flow like that is best.

No, that's fine. Seems to be a personal preference kind of thing. SW averages 1.026.

Oh yes! Plumbing indeed!

 

[ratherbediving]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7293280#post7293280 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kendog261
stupid question but does it also remove chlorine and other additives in city water?

I don't think anyone answered this question yet... the RO/DI units I have seen have a couple carbon filters before the RO membrane... these will remove chlorine. Unfortunately, a lot of municipalities (like San Diego) use chloramine, which isn't as easy to remove. In this case, some chloromine might make it past the carbon prefilters, but should get filtered out by the RO membrane. Unfortunately, this can shorten the life of the membrane. If you are concerned about this, I'd just check the output of the RO filter with a TDS meter every once in awhile... this won't test for chloramine in particular, but should tell you if the filter overall isn't working properly.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Thank you all for helping Deeppit. We chemistry nerds got together a few years ago all the chloramine problem and Randy summarizes it in this article-Chloramines. In general we decided that most two carbon filter RO/DI units would successfully remove chloramine. The RO stage may not remove the residual ammonia but the DI will.

 

[baddraw]

just a little tip for the new people like me, i learned a valuable and expensive lesson over the weekend. had a complete die off of everything in my tank, seems the water params were way out of whack and i didn't have a clue, turns out my test kit is way out of date (1999). so check your date codes folks never know when you may buy a test kit thats been sitting around for ages, and it does make a difference.

 

[WaterKeeper]

Right On Baddraw.

This is especially true of kits with liquid reagents. Some of those kits will lose effectiveness in less than six months. Never buy kits with liquid reagents that look as they have been gathering dust since the pyramids where built.

Dry reagent hold up better; especially those that come in the little single dose powder packs. Those are protected from moisture and oxygen, both of which cause reagent deterioration. In general most dry reagents will usually be good for about two years. As one gains experience with testing you get a feeling for correct color development and can usually tell when things decline as the colors appear off. When you have done about 30 million tests, like the Old WaterKeeper, you also know when they don't taste right.

 

[deeppitt]

Following the Rev's recommendations, I put a foxface in the tank. Since one hour after I released him, he's been ripping at all of the hair algae in the tank. My largest growths of the stuff are already a thing of the past.
But, wow... what a 'fraidy-cat. The slightest rapid movement outside of the tank or bump from another fish and his coloring mottles, the spines erect, and he hides near a rock.
Still, he does calm down soon, he is a lot of fun to watch, he is a beautiful fish, and my filter pads keep clogging up with un-eaten sprigs of hair-algae.

Thanks, Rev.!!!! :fish1:

 

[WaterKeeper]

All recently aquired fish are gun shy. I mean every place they've been after capture has had people chasing them. If he was from a LFS he probably had people thumping on the tank. Reduce the lighting for a couple of days and approach the tank slowly. After he finds that this is a less hectic home he'll clam down.

 

[reverendmaynard]

No problem deep.

Yeah, mine is definitely the most skittish fish in my tank. I'd like to say he'll calm down a lot, but I'm still waiting for mine. He's a lot better than he was, but still spooks easy, and will hide for 5-10 mins after being spooked, even if it's feeding time.

Remember that, even though the foxface is now eating up the HA, most of it is coming back out the other end. Work on upgrading your flow and nutrient export (skimming/macro algae) or soon the HA may be replaced by a type of algae that the foxface can't/won't eat.

 

[Dudester]

On a different topic ...


My tank's been up'n running for 7 months now. I have a variable-depth substrate (mixture of CaribSea Aragamax Select and CaribSea AragAlive) from 0-3" deep, with variations resulting from the flow in the tank. I had a temporary problem with an elevated pH (8.4-8.5) which caused a lot of sand clumping, and this has resolved. I've recently learned that this clumped sand probably contains a lot of "nasties" and that I should not break up the clumps and, instead, I should discard them. I would like to do this and replace it with new sand. With that background, I have 2 questions:

1. When I originally bought the sand, I rinsed the entire bag of "non-live" sand with R/O water to remove the dust. I did not use the entire bag of washed sand and, being the pack rat that I am, I simply sealed the bag as best as I could and placed it in the garage. Is this 7-month old washed sand that's been in my garage usable, or should I get new sand? If it's usable, should I re-wash it before use?

2. What's the best way to add sand to an established tank without causing a massive sand storm? I would guess I could add it in a covered cup filled with sand and tank water and slowly lower it to the bottom, pouring it out there. Of course the pumps would be off during the process. Is there a better way?

 

[reverendmaynard]

The best way to add new sand is to use a length of pipe or hose and a funnel.

Place the pipe in the tank so that one end is at the bottom and the other end is sticking up out of the water. Use the funnel to pour the sand into the pipe, and the sand comes out the bottom.

 

[Dudester]

Thanks, reverend, that's a great idea. Seems like a 2-person job, one to pour and one to direct the sand to the desired locations. Also, I'd worry that the soggy/newly rinsed sand would just clog up the hose and funnel - is this not a problem?

Any comments about the old sand?

 

[WaterKeeper]

I'd just re-wash it. It probably could go in without washing but if you have things like cars and workshop items, i.e. paints that you use in there it is better washed. The sand itself doesn't go bad.

A major cause of sand clumping is not poor water chemistry but lack of sand critters to browse the bed. Take a clump and soak it in about a 1/4 strength bleach solution. If the clump falls apart then it is biological clumping and not carbonate cementation. You can break up large clumps and not create too much of a problem, just mainly a sand storm. That is only a temporary fix however. You need some sand shifting organisms in the bed. Seeding with true LS or getting some from a fellow reefkeeper is one solution. A detrivore kit can also be used. Good ones contain pods, worms, mini-stars and mini-cukes that help remove excess biological growth and stir the bed. Note-I avoid the larger cukes as they tend to eat too much good stuff on the sand. It is a very wise move to take such action because, over time, an inactive bed will cause major problems.

Rev, have you tried feeding him Zoloft?

 

[deeppitt]

Dudester,
I recently applied my sand using the funnel/pipe technique and thought I'd share what I learned.

1. with your funnel-pipe in the water, the water inside the pipe has risen to nearly the funnel; so, any cloggy sand only needs to be tamped down as far as the water-line where the water will break it up and it will gently and slowly fall inside the pipe to the bottom. The pipe won't clog.
2. Because the sand falls slowly, you have plenty of time from when you load up your funnel to when the sand first comes out the bottom. It is not a hectic operation.
3. because the sand falls slowly, if you lose patience and lift your pipe too soon, you end up throwing sand all over everything. A-yep, been there.
4. I started this as a two-man process, but quickly abandoned it to a one-man. Two people just get in the way.

I had a lot of sand to apply, so I used a 2" pipe with a chopped up milk carton as the funnel, all hooked together with the "handy-man's secret weapon..... duct tape". (Red Green)

FWIW

Cheers...

 

[reverendmaynard]

WK,

Yes, I did, but he complained that the side effects were worse than the condition.

 

[Dudester]

WaterKeeper - I'll try the bleach trick tonight and let you know how it goes. Just a few days ago I got a fighting conch to help stir up the sand bed, as the conch I got with my original clean-up crew died several months ago. My nassarius polygonatus snails are pretty good at stirring up the sand, however, but I'm sure the conch will help.

Now that I think back more carefully, I'm pretty sure I washed the sand out with regular tap water, so I'll be sure to first wash it in RO H2O before putting it in my tank (and after inspecting it for mold formation - afterall, it's been in a wet bag for 7 months).

deeppitt - Excellent technical and practical information, thanks so much. I'll perform the procedure as prescribed! Just so happens I have some duct tape laying around.

 

[Dudester]

I placed 2 separate clumps from different locations in the tank into a 1/4 strength bleach solution. I allowed them to sit in there for 15 minutes and after that time, they were still comletely rock solid, no dissolution whatsoever. I guess this indeed represents calcium precipitation or "carbonate cementation" as you put it. I'll go ahead and remove the rest (another day, perhaps) and then replace with some new sand. My sand bed should be pretty "active" since it's composed of about 20% purchased live sand (when it was initially set up 7 months ago).

On another note, what's your outlook on siphoning a "shallow" sandbed? I have a friend who has an immaculate reef that's been up for 3 years, and he siphons different sections of his sandbed about twice/month. I also recall that Steve Weast siphons his sand bed. What are your thoughts?

 

[WaterKeeper]

I am from the old school that doesn't like to disturb the bed. Siphoning off debris from the top of the bed is OK but we try not to go deeper. The rational behind this is that anoxic zones in the bed take time to develop. Moving the sand around pretty much aerates it and destroys those zones. This means the bed won't remove nitrate to any great degree. This, of course, only applies to DSB tanks as shallow bed tanks seldom have anoxic/anaerobic zones with the high oxygen tension they obtain.

You can try a vinegar bath to see if that un-cements the sand. If it does you can reuse it but it would really need a cleaning like I described here.

I would be watching you alkalinity levels more closely as carbonate precipitation only usually occurs if it is high. In some cases adding large doses of two part additives can also create problems. Especially if they are not allowed sufficient mixing time between adding Part 1 and 2.

 

[Dudester]

I would be watching you alkalinity levels more closely as carbonate precipitation only usually occurs if it is high. In some cases adding large doses of two part additives can also create problems. Especially if they are not allowed sufficient mixing time between adding Part 1 and 2.

Very insightful, WaterKeeper. I am, in fact, dosing a large amount of a two part additive (B-Ionic at 1 ml/gallon of system water). My problem, however, is that my alkalinity is perhaps too low and not too high. Despite this large addition of B-Ionic, I still have to add baking soda regularly to maintain my alkalinity above 7.7 dKH. After starting threads here and here, it appeared that the origin of my clumping problems was an elevated pH and not an elevated alkalinity. For anyone interested, the above links themselves contain very helpful articles with respect to clumping sand and elevated pH levels.

And WaterKeeper, thanks for your take on sand siphoning.

 

[JohnL]

This thread was automatically split due to performance issues. You can find the rest of the thread here: Part II