zoo tank updates

Thanks to all who turned out this morning. Quite a showing: Adam, Paul, Steve, Robinson, Dave (Pircs), Vince and who else? Oh yeah, me! Thanks to Adam for bringing down and beginning the set up of the 37 gallon sea horse display. Perfect size for the available space! We also started work on the Kalk system. Vince will try to finish tomorrow as well as change out the sump ball valve. Is anyone available to help out? if so PM him so see when he plans on arriving. i am hopeful that this solves our calcium problem. For unknown reasons we have been unable to maintain adequate Ca levels despite the daily addition of 2 cups of dowflake calcium. Everything tests out OK. Copper test showed no copper. The two test sps frags paul brought in are aliuve but can look better. lets hope Vinces system saves the day.
 
Thanks to all who turned out this morning. Quite a showing: Adam, Paul, Steve, Robinson, Dave (Pircs), Vince and who else? Oh yeah, me! Thanks to Adam for bringing down and beginning the set up of the 37 gallon sea horse display. Perfect size for the available space! We also started work on the Kalk system. Vince will try to finish tomorrow as well as change out the sump ball valve. Is anyone available to help out? if so PM him so see when he plans on arriving. i am hopeful that this solves our calcium problem. For unknown reasons we have been unable to maintain adequate Ca levels despite the daily addition of 2 cups of dowflake calcium. Everything tests out OK. Copper test showed no copper. The two test sps frags paul brought in are aliuve but can look better. lets hope Vinces system saves the day.
 
we should also try to get a water sample out to Tim at ABC Reef... he's a chemist and had said he could run a gamut of tests for us

Also, Vince, thanks for the float switches and the idea for the acrylic holders.... I always love a chance to use the blow torch... and dont feel bad, I ruined one while drilling also
 
lol...acctually blowtorching, while being very fun...lol...i have found to be ok but it bubles the acrylic and blackens it. i use 2 flat stones to lay the acrylic across on my grill and just wait until it is nice and sof to bend with some plyers. then i do a quic dip in cold water to keep the for more stead for the final tweeking. BUT the tourch is alot more fun to use...lol...
 
A huge THANKS to Vince for removing the sump ball valve which eliminates the microbubble issue and for setting up a kalwasser drip system. I am hoping that allows for more stable alk/ca parameters and thus sps health.

I will also order a phosban reactor to supplement our current filter media bucket system since I'm not sure that such a passive system allows for sufficient chemical filtration re. carbon and GFO.

Anyone have any corraline encrusted live rock for sale or donation for the sea horse tank? We will need a few pieces to seed the new display. Also at some point we may have to remove/replace some DIY rock with real live rock. Vince and I will bring a water sample to ABC reefs for comprehensive chemical analysis if I can set that up.
 
Glad the micro bubbles are gone. Is there any chance the water is to clean. I wonder if we are starving the SPS's and LPS's. What if we shut off the skimmer for a couple of days and see how the SPS's behave.
 
that wouldnt make sence, if anything there are to many nutrients. since there is a great amount of cyno growth there has to be a substancial presence of nitrates and phosphates for this cyno to consume and take over the sand and rock.
 
I'm not sure nitrates and phosphates are the nutrients we are interested in... are we still using that same batch of salt from the original buy??
 
but those are the nutrients that the skimmer is taking out, so there wouldnt be any point of shutting it down. no there is different salt that the very first.
 
The only veryable in the tank that we can control is the Home Made Rock. yes i know many people have it in there tanks at home and what not but was it the same rock that sat in the creek like this did. who knows what has been dumped into that creek up stream from where we let it sit for a month or 2. anything could have gotten into or attached to that rock that could be harmful to the tank. There are no other explanations for why we can keep animals that are very sensitive to water conditions. we have ruled everything else out.
 
I doubt we are over skimming... but ( and this is a question) do skimmers also remove other trace elements (iodine, strontium, etc)
Did the latest SPS die??
 
No i dont believe that iodine or stronium attach to the surface tention of the bubbles because they arent large enought. also we have had the skimmer down before for some time with just a small hang on back running. yes the last SPS died. unless the keeper have worst hands than I, I highly doubt that is the problem. soap doesnt matter either...all of these things will be skimmed out in a matter of hours and how.
 
I largely agree with vince. I still remain cautiously optimistic that bthe switch to kalkwasser has helped. Using the 2-part additives, we have never achieved reliably stable Ca and Alk paramters. One thing sps requires is stability regardless of absolute levels. Nonetheless it is possible that our rock became contaminated somewhere along the process. Hopefull, testing this weekend by Tim (ABC reefs will help rule that out. I will ask him to primarily test our water for heavy metals. Any ideas of what else should be tested for? Our own tests show all standard parameters (other than calcium and alkaqlinity to be at good levels: NO3, NO4, PO4, Ph, Mg, Copper.
 
Adam, we have purchased salt aqt different times from the original batch but it has all been IO. What are possible concerns about the salt?
 
hey not good....found some things on portland cement. here is what i found as some of the major components in portland cement.
"Portland cement is made up of four main compounds: tricalcium silicate (3CaO Ã"” SiO2), dicalcium silicate (2CaO Ã"” SiO2), tricalcium aluminate (3CaO Ã"” Al2O3), and a tetra-calcium aluminoferrite (4CaO Ã"” Al2O3Fe2O3). In an abbreviated notation differing from the normal atomic symbols, these compounds are designated as C3S, C2S, C3A, and C4AF, where C stands for calcium oxide (lime), S for silica, A for alumina, …"

so from that chem compound i would say that homemade rock in excess amounts could potentionaly, if not cure totaly and even if cured totaly, leach aluminum based bonds into the water. this inturn would inhibit the growth or life of calcius corals.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12236366#post12236366 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fatrip
hey not good....found some things on portland cement. here is what i found as some of the major components in portland cement.
"Portland cement is made up of four main compounds: tricalcium silicate (3CaO Ã"” SiO2), dicalcium silicate (2CaO Ã"” SiO2), tricalcium aluminate (3CaO Ã"” Al2O3), and a tetra-calcium aluminoferrite (4CaO Ã"” Al2O3Fe2O3). In an abbreviated notation differing from the normal atomic symbols, these compounds are designated as C3S, C2S, C3A, and C4AF, where C stands for calcium oxide (lime), S for silica, A for alumina, …"

so from that chem compound i would say that homemade rock in excess amounts could potentionaly, if not cure totaly and even if cured totaly, leach aluminum based bonds into the water. this inturn would inhibit the growth or life of calcius corals.
Click to expand...

Vince:

I have suspected something had to be wrong with those rocks. It is the only variable that I can see. Other than the rocks everything else in that tank is top of the line including skimmer, sump, lights, and even corals. I realize there was some question about the lighting not being strong enough but IMO that wouldn’t cause the SPS to die the way they have been. When SPS don’t have enough light they usually brown out before they STN. In this tank they have been bleaching out before the STN. That to me indicates a chemical problem or too much light. We know from the PAR readings it is not too much light. Also I want to say that the above is just one idea and I could be wrong. I think it may be worth looking into further based on your findings Vince.
 
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