Timfish Posted March 18, 2016 Author Share Posted March 18, 2016 Doing better than I expected! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted March 22, 2016 Share Posted March 22, 2016 Just from looking at the RODI unit you had donated. It looks like this one though I haven't got a chance to pop it open. http://airwaterice.com/reefkeepers-rodi/typhoon-iii-extreme-150.html. and they do have a filter pack and membrane that totals $91. Should I do that or I know you said there is some from HD that I can use and when I start running it should I have it go straight in to the tank since I have to get the initial 150gal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted March 23, 2016 Author Share Posted March 23, 2016 I would just get the replacement filter cartridges, before getting the RO membraine I would test the current one. Chipp Walters is the guy who donated it and he didn't use it very long before he upgraded the filtration for his house. It's possible all the filters are in good condition but you will at least need the sediment, DI and carbon filters in the next 6 months or so. To test it run the output for an hour or so or make 5 gallons then test the TDS level of your tap water and the output of your filter, the reading out of your filter should be about 5% or less than your tap water. You can fill your tank directly but if you overflow it I'm not taking any of the heat from your wife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 yeah I opened up the membrane house and it looked good. It did have a 150 marking on it. Putting up a pic of the Acuascape, was talking to Bobcatreefer at the meeting and was asking how it was coming along. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted March 24, 2016 Share Posted March 24, 2016 And tell Chipp Walters thanks for me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted April 5, 2016 Share Posted April 5, 2016 Ok just ordered all my test kits and RODI new filters. So hopefully everything is waiting for me when I get home. Stand 150 overflow 100 sump 40 pumps 123 piping 50 dry rock 25 light and timer 153 Instant Ocean 45 RO/DI Filters 63 Test kit and supply 148 Total $897 Red Sea Alkalinity refill 9 API High and Low PH 10 temp floating 2 MD refractometer 50 Red Sea Magnesium refill 11 nitrate nyos 25 Red Sea Calcium refill 10 Phosphate API 8 Ifrared Therm 23 Total $148 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted April 11, 2016 Share Posted April 11, 2016 Was able to repair the tds alarm on the rodi. Turned it on about 15 min ago to do the first clean out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted April 12, 2016 Share Posted April 12, 2016 got about 20g in it last night about how full do you want me to fill it? Since I know you want to put the sand and everything in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted April 15, 2016 Share Posted April 15, 2016 I am about a little over a 100 gallons right now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 Thanks for coming over yesterday. Here are the pics from midnight last and some from this morning. The only thing I will have to work on with you is the drainage is a little loud. Midnight This morning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted April 30, 2016 Share Posted April 30, 2016 would using the stockman method be good or do you prefer something else? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 1, 2016 Author Share Posted May 1, 2016 I've never really messed much with any of the various plumbing variations that reduce the noise. When I have a nosy overflow I've found just placing a piece of eggcrate over the drains so nothing can fall down into the fittings and clog them then putting a few inches of bioballs on top does a very good job. Plastic shotgun wading or plastic hair curlers work well also. Inverts are looking very good. An ammonia level (NH3 or ammonium NH4+) of 2 mg/l is higher than I was expecting but the inverts obviously don't seem to mind. Since corals feed off ammonia I've had very good results adding hardy corals as soon as possible. They are in my opinion the most critical component for biological filtration in reef systems. If they continue to look as good as they are we'll keep adding more and will add probably add fish in a few days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 2, 2016 Share Posted May 2, 2016 Yesterday evening the leather and mushrooms started only opening about half way. Ammonia is still bouncing 2 to 4 and I top off in the mornings to keep the sump half full. salinity still reading about 1.023. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 6, 2016 Share Posted May 6, 2016 The ammonia is was still high today as I talked to Tim. He had me get a ammonia remover. I didn't have time to make it to a real fish store so went to Petco and got Ammo Lock. I hope I will see an improvement in the morning. This is what my ammonia level looked like after work today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Hmmmm, I think this is the first time I've seen ammonia get that high when setting up a tank. It's also unique it hasn't started to drop after a couple days. I guess the silver lining is documenting when things go wrong and the process of correcting it. Couple of things we need to look at was did anything accidentally get in the tank like cleaning products ie glass cleaner or spray deoderizers. Was it possible something was on the rocks we used; I've been using limestone from landscape places for decades with out this issue but since we have some left over it easy to double check to see if that's the source. I also have some of the dry sand we used and can check that to see if it's possible it's the source of the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 6, 2016 Author Share Posted May 6, 2016 Here's our initial plan of attack: A big water change with water from an established tank and activated carbon. Water from established systems will introduce more bacteria and reduce the ammonia level significantly. The benefit I believe in using bacteria from a healthy system is it is probably more diverse than bottled cultures. It is also easy for me to get so I'll bring 50-60 gallons this afternoon. For carbon I use small canister filters I make from PVC, I'll bring one that will hold a couple of cups of carbon and we'll leave it in your sump for a while. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 7, 2016 Author Share Posted May 7, 2016 To be honest I don't have an explaination yet why the ammonia level jumped so high. Going over stuff with you yesterday afternoon it's clear there's wasn't an issue with cleaning agents getting in your system somehow. What's more is none of the mushrooms are letting go or "jumping" which I would expect with water quality issues and the tube corals on the live rock have some tentacle extension so they are feeding, another indicator the water quality may not be as bad as the ammonia test indicates. And the hermit crabs are running around eating, which may not mean much with them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 7, 2016 Share Posted May 7, 2016 Well I guess I have all the luck the ammonia is still around 3 or 4 and it looks like the adaptasa is already coming back and wasn't sure what this is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 8, 2016 Share Posted May 8, 2016 This morning the ammonia is down to 2 and the yellow leather is opening up again. The green leather is still shedding a layer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 10, 2016 Share Posted May 10, 2016 Ok ammonia starting to ack right so sat down and did all my test. Salinity - 1.024 Ammonia - .5 Cal - 400 ppm Mg - 1400 ppm Alkalinity- 3 Meq/L or 8.4 dKH Nitrate - 40ppm pH - 8.4 Phosphate - 0 ppm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 11, 2016 Share Posted May 11, 2016 Ammonia is at .25 tonight and green leather is looking good this evening Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 13, 2016 Author Share Posted May 13, 2016 I have to apologize for not keeping up this last week! I still haven't tried the experiment with the rock or sand so don't have a clear idea why we saw an ammonia spike but it looks like the water change with water from the same established aquariums as the initial startup has cycled the tank. Nitrates - With ammonia jumping to 4 I wouldn't be surprised to see nitrate levels go over 100 ppm. it may take 4-6 months, maybe longer depending on how high it max's out at, but as we add more corals those readings will drop back to undetectable. Even though nitrate is something I do not bother with I do think it helps you get an idea on how corals are using that form of nitrogen it you keep tracking it initially. Resist the urge to rely on the ol' eye test for a few more months. It's important I think to note how these corals already added have reacted to the high ammonia and high nitrate readings. I have frequently seen either or both blamed for corals not looking good when there are detectable amounts in conjunction with corals being upset. I'm not saying .25 for ammonia and 40 for nitrate is ok but the corals are dealing with it and expanding and feeding off of it. When I see small detectable levels of ammonia and/or moderate or high levels of nitrate and corals not opening up I know there's some cause that has disrupted the corals feeding that has let nitrate and ammonia to show up as a result, not a cause. Chasing ammonia or nitrate in these situations can be wasted effort. Cautiously, keep adding new animals. Mushrooms, zoas, leathers and hardy stony corals all need to be considered and monitored. The ones that look like they are doing well need to have additional colonies added as quickly as possible. Corals and algae compete with each other for nutrients and conduct some sophisticated biological and chemical warfare against each other. The faster we can get corals established and growing the less of a problem we will have with algae. For the cleanup crew I would recommend a couple of urchins. Many people like snails but I've been pretty disappointed with them over the years. (I got a picture someplace I'll try to find but one tank I was called on to check had a bunch of snails on the glass but none on the rock covered with hair algae except for a bald area kept clean by an urchin.) I would normally not be too worried about water changes at this point but with the spike in brown algae you have on the rocks from the ammonia I would start doing 10 or 15 gallon water changes weekly siphoning off as much of the algae as possible with each water change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 The is all from when I got home of Thursday night. Hermits had cleaned a lot of the sand A few of the corral I forgot the name so will need your help but 1) the green toadstool looking good 2) Mushrooms looking good 3) unknown blue zoas looking good (With all the different names I've stopped trying to keep track of them - Timfish) 4) unknown green zoas looking good 5) Cactuses looking good 6) Not sure what this one is think a hammer (Think that's right, once it get's larger it'll be easier to see if it's a hammer or anchor - Timfish) 7) unsure what this is but looks good (It's a cabbage, looks better than in my holding tank but it should spread out quite a bit more - Timfish) 8) Hair is coming in nicely (Never though of using GSP to achieve the "Chia" look in a reef tank - Timfish) 9) and unknown monti looking good (purple lip montipora we should see good polyp extension in a few days - Timfish) thanks for these again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timfish Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 The Purple Lip Monti is one that will help decide what corals will do ok and where some may need to be placed. It will grow in lower light levels but to get a nice purple lip and green hue to the colony it needs fairly bright light. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobbyb3 Posted May 16, 2016 Share Posted May 16, 2016 ok was gone to training this weekend so had the wife look after the tank. I ran my test this morning and Salinity was at 1.024 Ammonia was a .10 Nitrates at 20 The brown algae has stop but now looks like I'm getting some hair algae you can see in the videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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