FarmerTy Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 I'm happy to introduce Madsalt's reboot of his 1-year old tank... we'll call this the Madsalt 180, version 2.0. He's been generous enough to allow me to poke and prod at his tank and to give him a 2nd opinion on what he's currently running with and what he wants to add down the line. I won't say too much more as I'll let him speak for himself on this thread where he can go more deeply into what his desires are for the reboot. I will post for now his current tank parameters so we know what we're working with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Parameters measured by Madsalt January 29th: temp 77.6 ph 8.21 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0 phos 22 I need to change my GFO calc 440 dkh 7 I went ahead and ran his tank water through my own tests: Salinity - 1.023 NO3 - 24 ppm PO4 - 0.14 ppm Ca - 450 ppm Mg - 900 ppm Alk - 5.3 dKh So from the results of the test, it seems the salinity could be brought up a bit. Typically 1.024 - 1.026 is acceptable for a reef tank. Looks like we do have nitrates in the system at roughly a concentration of 24 ppm. They aren't alarmingly high but higher than recommended for a reef tank. I aim for anywhere between 1-5ppm in my tank but a level up to 10 ppm does not set off any alarms. We've already discussed the phosphate level and it seems in line with your results of your test that we ran while I was there. Madsalt had just replaced his GFO and even within the 6-7 hours since replacement, it had already brought down the concentration from 0.20 ppm to 0.15 ppm. Anything below 0.1 ppm is what I aim for and if you are keeping a SPS-dominant system, than I prefer 0.03 ppm. Calcium is a little higher than recommended at 420 ppm but its not a number I would be concerned about. The Mg is really low and may be due to the lack of water changes and any form of supplementation. A good number to aim for is 1280 ppm. Alk is much lower than your API alkalinity test shows. It's at 5.3 dKh and acceptable values are anywhere from 7-11 dKh. Again, probably a result from a lack of water changes and any form of supplementation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 5, 2015 Author Share Posted February 5, 2015 Here's a new video Madsalt did of his new aquascaping. I have to say, it looks great in person! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I was lucky to get the two lights i have at $1000 bucks. I am going to work on getting one more. With my tank, three lights will cover each 2 foot section nicely. For now I am going to have to strategically place corals in the best lit areas. The two I have now actually do pretty good. For you Ty i picked up a Hanna Phosphate Checker, I am ready for this lol Attached Thumbnails IMG_4927.jpg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 JeeperTy, on 29 Jan 2015 - 09:23 AM, said: Well, looks like you already mastered the tank videos with crazy music so I can jump past that step in the mentor program! Mental note... make another video and have crazier music than Madsalt this time around! That was my first video and I decided to use that song called Devil's Den because that is what this hobby is like. Once you go into the Devil's Den it's all over. I will say though the tank has much better color than that. Hopefully as we move along I will be able to better perfect the video making process Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 From Ty Done and done! You beat me to the punch! We'll get you going in no time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 So to get things going here are my current parameters temp 77.6 ph 8.21 ammonia 0 nitrite 0 nitrate 0 phos 22 I need to change my GFO calc 440 dkh 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 From Ty I'm diggin the aquascaping, now what I pictured from your description but it looks awesome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 So Ty came over and we chatted about the tank, we have a plan moving forward. Right now the goal is to get the parameters where they need to be. Because I never really did anything with corals except for a few Zoas and such keeping everything perfect wasn't a necessity. We found the phosphate to be a little high at 0.22 but has since come down to 0.09 with a fresh batch of GFO. Ty found the nitrates to be elevated with his test kit and the alkalinity to be a bit low. I do not do water changes but I am going to do them for a few weeks to brings things into balance. Once the parameters are where we like them we are going to come up with a plan for dosing as the need arises during the addition and growth of new corals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 20% Water change completed and so far everyone looks happy. Parameters are listed, still have to get mag test kit. May have to dose alk to get it up to where it needs to be. The last test done by Ty was right around this range so it might take quite a few water changes to get it where it needs to be. 2015-02-07 16:12 Nitrate 0 API test kit showing 0ppm 2015-02-07 16:01 Calcium 440 2015-02-07 15:57 Ph 8.18 2015-02-07 15:57 Temp 77 2015-02-07 15:56 Phosphate 0.08 After water change 2015-02-07 15:55 Alkalinity 5.76 After water change Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Hmmm, I was hoping your alk would increase more than that with the water change. It actually might be a better idea to go ahead and dose your alk and Mg up to normal levels and then just use the water changes to maintain them. I would honestly toss that API nitrate test. It has to be expired or something to give you 0 ppm when you have >20 ppm in your water. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I will probably head to RCA tomorrow and pick up some two part and mag. I will see what test kits they have and grab what I need. I was hoping to see a bigger increase in the alk as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 From Ty If they have salifert or red sea nitrate test kit, I would grab that. I know Aquatek has the Red Sea nitrate test kit if RCA doesn't. I wouldn't raise your alk more than 1 dKh/day and your Mg 100 ppm/day. If you are picking up the 2-part, I believe they have the BRS brand. If so, just use their handy online calculator to estimate the dose needed to bring it up for the day. http://www.bulkreefs...reef-calculator Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 So I started dosing today. it always scares me when I start dumping things into my tank. I started Calc, Alk and Mag. For the Calc and Alk I dosed the recommended amount and the Alk has already increased from 6 to 6.6. For the Mag I only dosed half the amount because the dosage would have been a very large amount based on the water volume. I do not have my Mag test kit so I do not want to dose to much although I do know it needs to come up. I did have my water tested and I did show some nitrates based off that kit. I was about .10 so that is down from the .22 based off Ty's test kit so that is good. I will be performing another water change or two so I am sure my phosphates and nitrates will come down more. New corals added: pavona coral...aka cactus coral red forest fire digitata purple digitata green warp speed moniti red chalice coral. And a little video of the tank and corals. Gotta work on the blue light thing when taking videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 From Ty What type of calcium, alk, and magnesium supplement did you pick up? That's great to hear that your alk has increased. You really shouldn't need to dose Ca at all, you were already above the recommended value. For nitrate, do you mean 10 ppm, down from my 22 ppm? Btw, if RCA tested it for you, they use API which I find highly inaccurate too. I trust it to tell me if I'm high or low but not for an actual concentration. But from your water changes, you're probably at least at a ballpark around 10-15 ppm so it should be much improved already. While normally I wouldn't suggest adding any corals until the water parameters get in line, they must be doing fine for now if you haven't mentioned any detoriating conditions. Keep an eye on the anemone. He's getting too dangerously close to the MP-40 for my likes. Everything else looks good. Just monitor the new additions and look for polyp extension as well signs of distress. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 I went with the Reef Builder powder for calc and alk and b-ionic liquid for mag, that was the only mag they had. I will switch to powder once this runs out or maybe before. I will probably order my next round of supplies from BRS For the nitrate I just wanted to see if my test kit was out of whack and it seems it is, their kit read about 10. It was RCA. I went with the corals because rockstarwiggle hooked me up for 25 bucks. All the corals look great with polyps showing on all of them and good color so far under blue lights grin.png . Those are the only corals I will be adding for a little while. I chose them because they are nice starter corals and I knew I would be bringing the levels up slowly. Once I know these corals are stable and are actually showing some growth, I will add more. (given the parameters are stable) rock.gif Yea my anemone has decided it wanted to go walk about and decided it would walk up the glass. I have a cover on the mp40 just in case. If it doesn't come down by the morning, I will move it in the hopes it will stay. It has already moved higher and back a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 From Ty Sounds like you got it all under control. I agree with you, those corals will be good test corals as you bring all your levels in line. Good call on having the covers on the MP40s. I've never had an anemone get cut up in my powerhead but I'd hate for the first time to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 So as we watch things grow and mature, I need to figure how to take good pictures and videos. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 Mag test kit check although I don't think I want to use it after seeing all the steps involved lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 From Ty It's a doozy! Luckily it rarely ever changes so you can just test once/month and be set Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 First test of Mag has been completed and I am 1200, up from 900 from Ty's test. The 1200 number comes from one water change and a total of 300ml of b-ionic. At this point one more water change and 150ml of b-ionic and I should be right around the magic number I need, give or take a little. Second round of alk has been added so I will give it some time and check it in a few hours. I am only dosing about half the recommended amount in order to move the alk slowly and not cause a major swing. If I am able to get above 7 with this dose and move .5 with each dose, I am good with that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 10, 2015 Share Posted February 10, 2015 From Ty The numbers are looking promising Madsalt. Just be careful how quickly you are bringing up the numbers. You can cause just as much damage raising them up too fast as to the levels dropping fast. Once you get them to recommended levels, I would stick with water changes for a bit to maintain stability. I think 2-3 months into that stability, you're going to like how your corals are responding to it... with increased growth rates and coloration. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 New set of tests Alk - 6.9 Mag - 1300 Phos - 0.05 Ph - 8.3 So those are the big numbers I am working on. I imagine that after todays supplement additions my Alk will be above 7 to 7.5, my mag will be around 1400, and the phos might be around .03 or .04. My Ph is the highest it has been in my tank at 8.3. I usually float around a little over 8 to around 8.2 or so depending on the time of day, I am ok with 8.3 All the corals in the tank look good, no signs of distress but it could still be a little too early to see any issues. The one thing I noticed today was my devils hand leather had no polyps out, It isn't retracted just no polyps. I did increase the light intensity a bit so that might it, i might have to move it down a little. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 That's great that the dosing and water changes have gotten your alk and Mg in line. The GFO is doing its thing on the phosphate levels so the only unknown is your nitrates. I'd imagine the the water changes have helped for the nitrate level but I'm curious where they are at. Seems like you're on the right road and we can see if just consistent water changes will keep your levels in line. 8.3 is actually a great pH level so that's a great sign. I haven't really kept much leathers but hear they can be a little finicky with light changes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.