madsalt Posted February 11, 2015 Share Posted February 11, 2015 My next water change will be tomorrow and it will only be the second one since we started this. I did not want to do them too close together, I am thinking weekly until I get the levels where I want. I am hoping that I can get away with bi-weekly changes once I get the nitrates down. This morning the ph is 8.13 but I expect that will raise to around the 8.3 range once the day gets going. I will test this evening when I get home and imagine that mag will be where it needs to be so I wont have to test that as much. I expect alk to be in the 7 range and will continue to raise it until I reach the 9 range where I will try to maintain it. My leather had polyp extension this morning but the lights were out. If they are retracted when I get home I will move the leather to a lower spot in the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 11, 2015 Author Share Posted February 11, 2015 I think that's a perfect plan to not have the water changes too close together. Did you get a replacement nitrate kit? Once your alk and nitrates line up, if you are truly interested in no water changes, we can discuss possible alternative strageties to maintain your tank levels for Ca, alk, Mg stable and also account for the nutrient level (phosphate and nitrate) as well. This may require some additional purchase of reactors but we'll let your water parameters decide what is needed once we have some stability. I believe you mentioned possibily reconfiguring your sump into a 4-baffle sump for more even distribution of drain from the two overflows and more room for a fuge or a place to grow some frags? I thought your sump was functional as is but I always understand the desire for some reconfiguring. For the uneven draining of the overflows, I consider that a non-issue for functionality but if it is something you don't prefer, your idea of making your sump with a central return chamber has merit. Just a thought, would putting a ball valve on one drain to even it's flow not achieve something similar? Or is it really the longer run and the associated noise that bothers you too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 So I came home an tested the tank, the parameters were pretty much where I expected. Alk - 7.6 Calc - 400 Mag - 1440 Phos - 0.05 Nitr - 0.05-0.10 I need to get a red sea test Sali - 1.025 Ph - 8.28 I will be doing a water change tomorrow so I expect the nitrates and phosphates to drop some. The corals are doing good with no signs of distress. I would like to see better polyp extension on the red and purple digi as well as the warp green mont. I have never had a red cap monti so I'm not sure what it should actually look like. My cactus looks good and show good polyp extension. My zoas and frog spawn all look good as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 12, 2015 Author Share Posted February 12, 2015 The red monti polyps don't really show much but can get bigger than expected. They are kind of hard to see sometimes as they are the same color as the background base of the plate. That's great that all of the corals don't look distressed anymore! Did you see my questions in my earlier post MadSalt? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 12, 2015 Share Posted February 12, 2015 I have not gotten a new test kit for phosphates yet, I actually let mine work longer and I was very careful with the addition of the reagents. My test matches the one from RCA. I hope to have a Red Sea test kit tomorrow or Friday, gotta wait for funds I was hoping to open some room in the sump for frags once I get there. I was also thinking about adjusting the sump to put my skimmer in a section that is not as deep in order to remove that extension piece I showed you. I lose some adjustability by having that on there. I have a ball valve on the longer run of return pipe and it still seems to run faster and yes the noise So there are certainly a few reasons why I would like to redesign my sump but coming up with an effective solution could be a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 So only one test done today, I didn't get to my water change Alk - 7.8 I am almost to that 8 mark, I did not add any supplements today in order to slow down the talk increases. I will add supplements tomorrow and probably will not get to a water change until monday. The corals still look ok, now signs of distress. Although they are not showing signs of positive change either, just maintaining it looks like. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 I definitely like the look of that alk concentration a lot better than what you had before! With changing parameters, you'll usually see a halt of growth until the corals get used to the conditions... even if the conditions are even better than before. Once everything has stabilized and some time passes, I'd bet you'll get some good responses from your coral then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 13, 2015 Share Posted February 13, 2015 Same here. Its been a slow increase with only adding alk dosage for 80 gallons which is less than half of what I should be putting in. I was worried about a large swing by adding too much, I figured slow and steady. Everything else is right in line with where it needs to be. I imagine a couple more doses and a water change or two and I will be in the maintain phase for my parameters with minor tweaks as the corals hopefully hit their stride and become more comfortable. The phosphates and nitrates will be in line as well after another water change or two. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 13, 2015 Author Share Posted February 13, 2015 You're tank seems to be coming in line nicely and I'm glad you're taking your time to do it. Once everything is hitting it's stride and the water parameters are fluctuating less, we can discuss what you want to do to maintain your parameters. Of course, the easiest is water changes from a stability point-of-view... maybe not a labor intensive point of view. We can also look into kalk dosing in your topoff water, 2-part dosing with peristaltic pumps, or a CaRX. This is of course just concerning your foundation elements, alk, calcium, and Mg. For you nutrient levels, it seems that GFO is working well for you for phosphates, which leaves us with nitrates. The continued water changes will probably keep them at a level that is acceptable but if you want to get away from water changes, then you'd probably want to look into other strageties for nitrate reduction. A deep sandbed is out as your sand sifting goby will destroy any opportunity to keep the sandbed anaerobic. You could look into feeding less, carbon dosing (vodka, vinegar, biopellets, etc), more macro algae, or adding a substantial amount of live rock in the sump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 I managed to get a water change in last night, its nice to have 35 gallons of RODI water at the right temp all the time. Alk - 8.0 Phos 0.06 - last number was 0.05 you know how fickle these tests can be so I'm not worried. I will probably change out my GFO again since my phosphates were so high to begin with again, I have been around this number for a few days. Mag - 1440. Ph - 8.21 Nitr - 0.05 Calc - Didn't test Temp - 78.5 - This is higher than normal because I forget to turn my heaters to auto. Not a huge swing, it was a little higher when I woke this morning. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 As I raise my alkalinity of course my ph is going up as well. At what point should I be concerned with my ph? I am working towards an alk of 9 and with that I would imagine my ph will easily be at around 8.4 given how much it has raised since I started bringing my alk levels up. At 8.4 I am definitely at the high end of the saltwater ph scale. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 I think you have nothing to be concerned about regarding pH. I'd guess it would go up marginally from this point even while attempting to attain 9.0 dKh. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 When the lights went off at 10 last night, I was at 8.28 and as they are coming on at 10 and things get going I am at 8.23. I have been seeing a point to a point and a half rise and fall. Is it possible that as my alk comes up to a more suitable level that I will see less rise and fall in the ph and a more stable consistent number? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Upgrades in about a week or so. I added 2 Gen 2 Radions a month or so ago and will adding a third one here in about a week.. This will definitely give me the light I want across the entire tank. Apex additions include WXM for my lights and pumps, Salinity and leak detection modules. I might even add the breakout box I am considering a new skimmer since my skimmer is rated for a 150 gallon tank. Now with the amount of rock and sand I would say I am just above the recommended level for my reef octopus. I was thinking about going with a Skimz Monzter SM163 DC Internal Protein Skimmer (rated up to 317 gallons). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 I'm a big fan of my Skimz SM201. Very high quality for the build. I'm also a big fan of you upgrading the size of the skimmer for your size tank and livestock level. I think it'll help with keeping nutrients low. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 14, 2015 Author Share Posted February 14, 2015 If you're looking into Skimz, I'd look into the SM203. It has the DC pump that allows a variable output on your pump and is probably more efficient for power usage as well. I'd honestly go one bigger for skimmer size than the SM163. It says it's rated for 317 gallons but those skimmer ratings are always high. My SM201 is rated for 211 gallons heavily stocked and 528 gallons lightly stocked. Based on that, I'd say the 317 rating on the SM163 would be more the light stocking rating and if your tank is heavily stocked, it would be pushing it to keep up. Just based on percentage of heavy rating to light rating for the SM201, that would put the heavy stocking rating for the SM163 around 127 gallons. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 14, 2015 Share Posted February 14, 2015 Listen to you being the voice of reason lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 15, 2015 Author Share Posted February 15, 2015 Don't get used to it! [emoji6] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 So I went to Galveston this weekend so no tests were done until tonight. I am not sure what to think of my tests as my alkalinity has dropped considerably from my last test. Unless I have been done something really wrong with the my tests up until now I have no idea what happened. My last test showed alk at, 8 my test today showed an alk of 6.7. I am not sure what this means, I can't imagine alk dropping that much considering I have been supplementing. I did not add anything Sunday or Monday as I wanted to see how it would look when i got home. My phos is .06 Salinity is 1.025 Ph is 8.33. Ph has been pretty steady at for the last few days doing its little swings. I added another round of alk this evening and I will hopefully be doing a water change with a test later in the evening. Everything in the tank looks good. Nothing dying out but nothing doing much either, just maintaining. The red cap monti does seem to be doing a little though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 I could see the alk dropping 1.3 dKh over a weekend of no supplementing. It does sound a little high for usage considering your livestock but it's possible. Anytime I get an odd result that I wasn't expecting, I always make it a point to retest. Sometimes, it just could be a slight miscalculation or accidentally pulling in less reagent than you thought, etc. It doesn't hurt to double-check to make sure before you make any changes to the tank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 So you're thinking about a peninsula tank? I remember the layout of the room as being basically a square room off the side of the front entrance. What orientation were you thinking in regards to a peninsula style tank? I tend to like the current setup... just toss a couple of lounge type chairs in there and a small drink table for extended viewing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 I am just kicking the idea around. If I pull the trigger I was thinking about coming off the wall it is on now. If I go off the other wall, it would cut the room in half and probably look weird. My wife is a fan of the current setup and was actually looking at chairs last night for the room. Once I get the rest of the equipment upgrades that might help with the decision. If I start to get the coral growth and look I want, I may not mess with success and just enjoy what I have. I will hopefully be doing a water change today and more testing tonight to see if my alk has come back up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 I was imagining the room cut in half by a tank and thought it would look a little odd in that room. If you had a square tank sitting in the middle of the room with a middle overflow, I think that might get you somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
madsalt Posted February 18, 2015 Share Posted February 18, 2015 Uh oh that could be a really cool look, with seating around the walls. I wonder what size I could get away with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted February 18, 2015 Author Share Posted February 18, 2015 You got me, the limiting factor on size I've found is really not based on the room but more so on the spouse. [emoji4] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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