mhart032 Posted April 24, 2019 Author Share Posted April 24, 2019 Quick update, My phosphates fell to 0.00 on the hanna checker, ALK is 7.8 Mag is 1260, Calcium is a little low at 360. no nitrates, ammonia or nitrites. Im a little worried about the 0.00 phosphates and no nitrates i really wanted a little just to be on the safe side. Ive been feeding 3 times a day frozen in the mornings and evenings and pellets during the day and still no phosphates. I might have to dial back the fuge a little and remove some micro algae. I still haven't connected the Alkatronic back up. I am noticing that im using alk but i have not dosed anything in the tank yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post mhart032 Posted April 25, 2019 Author Popular Post Share Posted April 25, 2019 I finally got the light bar finished and set up, I still need to update them and attach them to the apex, and i know i need to get 2 more diffusers , I think its pretty unique. I've not seen anyone do much like this, let me know what you think. 6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBMarlin Posted April 25, 2019 Share Posted April 25, 2019 Light bar setup is very cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted April 29, 2019 Author Share Posted April 29, 2019 Having some DKH issues, alk is dropping and having issues keeping it up, i think i will setup a kalk reactor in line with the ATO to keep it up. Phosphates finally went back up to .02 which im great with. still no algae other than the fuge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 1, 2019 Share Posted May 1, 2019 I would suggest aiming for a higher number for phosphates. At .02 mg/l PO4 your corals are likely going to be deficient, at the very least you'll have to watch nitrogen very carefully. Here's links to research done by Southampton University showing the problems caused by phosphate deficiency: www.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/files/file/Nutrient enrichment.pdf https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fmars.2015.00103/full https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0025326X17301601?via%3Dihub Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 1, 2019 Author Share Posted May 1, 2019 I've been thinking about that, I think I'm going to cut the fuge back to lighting every other day. See if I can get it up a little higher and stabilize for a couple months. I'm thinking dosing the kalk will help with the alk and calcium, and the PH swings as night. Hopefully the phosphates will fall in line when the decreased lighting of the fuge. I appreciate the info I'll give it a read. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 So i have been having some noise issues with the return pump. It works well just been a little noisy. I have been looking at different options and i think im going to go with the Abyzz A200 i have some travel coming in the next 2 months and really thats the one thing i dont want to fail, I did recently pickup a Neptune AFS as well. i plugged it into the system and it shut down all my modules and i had to reprogram my entire apex to get everything working again. what a POS. That quickly went back to BRS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 20, 2019 Author Share Posted May 20, 2019 forgot.. Oh and Angel fish are d!cks 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 21, 2019 Author Share Posted May 21, 2019 (edited) I cant seem to keep my phosphate up. last week it was .03 from undetectable, i fed heavy for several days 3 times a day, i reduced fuge lighting to every mondays thursdays and saturdays. thinking it would be .05-6 and i would be happy, checked this morning .00 i have not done a water change yet on this system in 3ish months. i dont get it. any ideas? Edited May 21, 2019 by mhart032 ive used hanna and redsea test kits to check. both are very very close to the same. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted May 21, 2019 Share Posted May 21, 2019 I was reading various replies to this same question yesterday on a national forum. A few folks said that substrate and rocks can absorb PO4 to a certain degree, especially in newer systems. The other thing mentioned is that heavy skimming can remove phosphate via skimming out bacteria that are consuming the PO4. And I scanned back a little but did not see this: are you running a fuge with any kind of algae? That can also be consuming PO4. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 22, 2019 Author Share Posted May 22, 2019 I am running a big fuge, well roughly 20gals give or take, with chaeto and sea lettuce. I've cut the lighting to help some. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jolt Posted May 22, 2019 Share Posted May 22, 2019 I would say there is a good chance the fuge is overkill at this stage of your tank lifecycle. It looks like you have hardly any bioload from the pictures, so in that case there is not much in the way of excess nutrients to be consumed by the fuge? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted May 22, 2019 Author Share Posted May 22, 2019 I have 14 fish although smaller fish. maybe i need to cut the fuge back, although its really saved me from algae and issues in the display big time. i guess i can cut the sea lettuce out. its a phosphate magnet from the start. Ill pull it tonight and see what kind of difference that makes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SChambers Posted June 21, 2019 Share Posted June 21, 2019 Really interesting read, thanks for all the detail... I would love to be able to get something like this setup as I get more experience in the hobby. Any updates on progress for the tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted June 21, 2019 Author Share Posted June 21, 2019 7 hours ago, SChambers said: Really interesting read, thanks for all the detail... I would love to be able to get something like this setup as I get more experience in the hobby. Any updates on progress for the tank? Thanks i appreciate that, no real updates, Everything is the same, dosing phosphates to keep them up, had a small dino outbreak but fixed that up with dosing phosphates, went through a small patch of cyno, kicked the fuge back on to its fullest and backed off the phosphates a little and its clearing up. i havent really added anything as its mainly a fish only tank with live rock for the time being, im leaving out of town for 11 days in Aug on vacation so made the decision to not have to worry about corals and crashes while im gone for that long of a period. but the fish are doing great, no issues there, i did add a UV in line that i can kick on with the apex as needed. Ill take some pics this evening for a true update. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mhart032 Posted March 24, 2020 Author Share Posted March 24, 2020 Just a quick update, had an issue with low po4 and no3 browned out most my sps, but things are recovering and doing well. posting some pics. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee McDonald Posted May 14, 2020 Share Posted May 14, 2020 How did you solve the problem of going from the RedSea metric plumbing to standard plumbing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.