water change thread

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timrandlerv10

New member
I read somewhere a guy had measured out the amount of salt required for a water change in terms of inches of PVC pipe, but I can't find it anywhere...anyone?

While were here, anyone ever use coil denitrator? Thoughts about them?




Thanks!
 
You could always just add salt to the pvc pipe with a measuring cup. Just half cup per gallon. I use a little more since I make my SW to about 1.025. Depending on what salt you use and what salinity you want the amount of salt could be quiet different.
 
The person in question (his name is Kevin; I don't recall his RC name) achieved his measurement by trial and error until he found an amount that worked for him and the salt he was using for an exactly measured amount of water in his automated water change system. He then cut the PVC to match and plugged the bottom.

I do the same thing with a black line on the outside of a semi-transparent plastic cup, although mine is not so precise so I check it anyway after it mixes for a while!
 
It would be easy to get the exact amount.. Just mix 1 gallon of SW and measure the exact amount of salt it takes to get the salinity you want. Then times that by how ever many gallons your container holds.. Then its just a matter of cutting the pipe to hold x amount of salt
 
Thats if you used the same pvc cap as him and a the same salt :) Your right it probably would have gotten you close.. But if you just want to get it close then just use 1/2 cup salt per Gallon and your SW should be about 1.023
 
you win :) I'll start with that and try to build my own!

Any good ideas on how to easily use that skimmer I got from you on a 29?

And I still can't get my nitrates below 10-20 on my 75. Got macro (caluerpa and chaeto), skimming wet, reduced feeding, more frequent water changes....ideas?
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13310042#post13310042 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by timrandlerv10


Any good ideas on how to easily use that skimmer I got from you on a 29?
Click to expand...

lol not sure I understand the question. You can either hang it on the back of the tank or set it in a sump. Put the pump 3-4"below the water and plug it in :P
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=13310042#post13310042 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by timrandlerv10
And I still can't get my nitrates below 10-20 on my 75. Got macro (caluerpa and chaeto), skimming wet, reduced feeding, more frequent water changes....ideas?
Click to expand...
Is there anything in your tank that is showing your nitrates are a problem? Sometimes the "undetectable nitrates" issue is exaggerated. I've seen many tanks with 10-20 nitrates when the owners still maintain good husbandry and the tanks are fine.
If you really want to try a denitrator, go for it. It won't cost any more than ~$20, and it's easy to build. I've read a few threads where people had good luck with them, and the science behind it seems pretty solid.
You could also try dosing vodka, or biological additives such as biozyme or SAT.
 
for some reason i'm nervous about dosing vodka...i dont think thats something i want to do forever, at it seems like if you stop, the bacteria would lose their footing...

everything seems to be coming along well--the frogspawn have really started growing--cleaner water, good calcium/alk/mg, lower nitrates, new lights--as well as the anemones. the four tub's blues are still tiny, and the hair algae is still growing very well...sigh...
 
There isn't a simple fix for No3. Pretty much all the stuff in the other thread is about all it takes.. Just slack off on feeding. Be sure to remove/clean any filter media. Ect ect I'm sure you remember them all. If your tank isn't overloaded I don't really thing you need to resort to any above normal means.. You should be able to get your tank down to less then 5 No3 just with Live rock, live sand and a good skimmer. Really when people dose vodka or use coil denitrators its cause they have either a high bio load or they are trying to get the No3 down to dead 0. 10 or less I wouldn't worry about. 20 is a little high IMO. But if your corals are doing good I'd just leave it alone and see what it does.. Some times the tank just needs time. Just be sure to keep doing all the other suggestions.
 
I was unsure of vodka dosing at one time, too. But after reading the Notes from the Trenches last month, I feel a lot better about it. (http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/index.php)
A much more 'scientific' way of going about dosing it. I hate the "start with 'start with X ml and see how it goes' methods. Although it is true you have to do it continuously, but once the bacterial colonies are established you can easy back on the dosing.
Is there room for anymore live rock? Sometimes the bacteria just need some more surface area to colonize to balance out the bioload. At one point I added a few highly poruos "oblong" liverocks in less-viewable places and it helped my no4 a lot.
But like 8ball said, most of the time with relatively low nitrates like that, patience is your best bet. Tough to mess anything up while waiting :)
 
It's always good to clean off the surface of the liverock. If detritus builds up it will give algae a better foothold and nutrients to feed off of. It's possible to have too much rock, as well as too little.
Turkey basters work well for cleaning the liverock.
 
I try to go with 2Lbs per gallon. I've moved my rock around a lot so I'm not exactly sure how much I have. But I've never removed rock with out adding one back. So I should still be about right.

You can clean the rocks off. But really with good flow and all the other stuff you shouldn't really need to. I never blow off my rocks in my displays and they keep 0 No3. Now in my Frag tanks since they are BB I stir them up quiet a bit when I'm doing a water change.

If you have plenty of rock and you have given it plenty of time to establish. My guess is either you are over feeding or your skimmer isn't cutting it or both lol.
 
I've found the "x lbs per gallon" rule of thumb to be very inaccurate. The weight doesn't matter as much as the porosity (Never thought I'd be using that word). Porous means more surface area which means more bacteria. You can have 3 lbs/gal, but if the rock is solid, it's virtually useless. You need just enough rock to provide enough surface area, but not too much to the point that it restricts water flow. I've had to re-stack my tank many times to eliminate dead spots. Lots of trial and error. It'd be nice to know more about fluid dynamics...
But, it's best not to mess with the rocks, unless you're certain that's the cause of the issue.
 
The LB per gallon is just a guide line.. Sure rocks vary.. But most people are using Fiji, Marshall island, Tonga Branch, ect ect.. It gives you a rough Idea.. Most people don't have enough LR. Either because of looks or because it takes about 1000 bucks to fill a 180 lol.. 2Lbs per gallon comes out to be a lot of rock. In fact I have some in my sump to keep the clutter down in the display. I don't really think you can have to much.. Dead spots are an issue.. But as long as you have a high turn over from multiple spots your pretty safe.. I try to run at least 30x Turnover in all my tanks. Even with so much rock and sand in my 190.. When I just took it down and moved all the rock and live sand to the temp tank.. I let the water settle for a day or so then tested the No3. It read 0.. Well it could be below 5ppm cause I didnt' do the low level test just the standard.. But by all accounts moving the 200LB sand bed and 400Lbs of rock to a new tank should have caused a pretty big spike in my water parameters :) But 2 weeks later so far so good.
 
The LB per gallon is just a guide line.. Sure rocks vary.. But most people are using Fiji, Marshall island, Tonga Branch, ect ect..
Click to expand...
You'd think, but I've seen and heard about some crazy set-ups, hahaha.
It's true it's difficult to have too much, but possible. 9 times out of 10 people have too less flow as opposed to too much rock.
But in the case of timrandlerv10, it's probably best to let the tank do it's thing at this point. If it's still around 20 in 2 or so months, I'd look into dosing some SAT for awhile, or building a denitrator.

Wow, what type of sand are you using? I've got to break down my refugium and DSB and move it Saturday. I've got a feeling it's going to lose a lot of life. Have any advice on moving the sand with as little impact as possible?
 
LOL my sand is a mix of everything.. I've had 70LBs of it since 2003 :) Most of it Came from Tampa bay Saltwater.. I've added some Fiji Pink and a few other kinds here and there over the past couple of years. When I setup a new tank or add one I always take some sand from one of my established tanks and then just add it back with some other sand.

No way to move it without just scooping it out. Every time I've had to move mine including this past time. I scoop it out into buckets with enough SW to cover the sand.. Then I just rinse the sand in tank water.. Easiest way to do that is fill another bucket about half full with sand add about a gallon or so of SW. Swirl it around poor the water out.. I do this about 2- 3 times then add the sand to the new tank. IMO the biggest thing is to get the sand into the new tank and spread out with water moving over it as quick as you can.. You don't want it sitting in buckets for several hours if you can help it.. Rinsing it in tank water will help get any funk out of it, but at the same time keep the sand alive. I always just make up new SW to replace the water used to rinse the sand.. Like now I put off my water change for a couple of days till it was time to break down the tank :)

Most of the time you still get a little spike though.. I was very surprised when my No3 Stayed 0. I had even moved most of my SPS to my other system cause I new a mini cycle was on its way lol. I think in my case I just have enough LR and LS to keep my parameters in check.
 
Most of the sandbed life is in the top 1/2". If you can move that with a minimum of lateral shifting, you should retain good populations of your infauna.

Last time I moved a sand bed I think I used a dust pan to scoop off the top layer.
 
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