reptileguy112
Active Member
Ok, the zoas don't look very healther but they opened up so that is a good sight.
What do I need to test in water?
- Thread starter reptileguy112
- Start date
- Tagged users None
reptileguy112
Active Member
I made a skimmer. Im hoping it can take out some skimmate!
reptileguy112
Active Member
This is what the skimmer looks like. Sorry for bad sketch, lol
Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Excellence Award
Expert Contributor
Article Contributor
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2014
- Messages
- 67,498
- Reaction score
- 63,897
What conditioner?
Randy Holmes-Farley
Reef Chemist
Staff member
Super Moderator
Excellence Award
Expert Contributor
Article Contributor
R2R Research
My Tank Thread
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2014
- Messages
- 67,498
- Reaction score
- 63,897
Nothing died from low magnesium in a few days.
The nitrate reading may be inaccurate if you have nitrite as it can make nitrate read way too high. Neither nitrite nor nitrate killed the fish.
Try measuring ammonia.
Do not add phosphoric acid for any reason except to boost phosphate in unusual circumstances.
The nitrate reading may be inaccurate if you have nitrite as it can make nitrate read way too high. Neither nitrite nor nitrate killed the fish.
Try measuring ammonia.
Do not add phosphoric acid for any reason except to boost phosphate in unusual circumstances.
UK_Pete
Active Member
Did you ever add phosphoric acid? If so you might have a phosphate problem, as phosphoric acid is practically pure phosphate. If you add even a couple of drops your phosphates will shoot up, and phosphate will become bound to the rocks and sand (I recently needed to dose phosphate, I used phosphoric acid, I hugely overshot because of lazy calculating and measuring, and I had a hair algae outbreak as a result, I needed to use granular ferric oxide for 3 weeks to get phosphate back under control and leached from the rock, that was from a couple of drops in 55 gallons).
If you have ever added any phosphoric acid at all, you will probably need to deal with a phosphate problem. Having a good phosphate test is almost essential anyway. Before deciding which to get I think its worth asking here, as you need one that can reliably measure to 0.03 ppm really (thats very low).
Re the homemade skimmer, I have quite a bit of experience with diy skimmers, and using limewood stones, and I don't think it will be very effective. Limewood works OK for a couple of weeks if you have a powerful airpump, but the stone rapidly gets clogged and the air flow goes right down IME. If you want to DIY a skimmer, I recommend getting a proper skimmer pump at least, as a spare for a quality skimmer. But if you are new to skimmers, its not easy to make one thats highly effective. If you want to do it still, copy a design thats proven. Their operation is much more complex than it appears, and I recommend just picking up a second hand decent pin wheel / needle wheel one. BTW whats complex is not immediately apparent to the eye, but things like backpressure on the venturi intake (from external water level), and flow / resistance of the passage of water through them which affects the height of the water in the actual skimmer (which affects whether it will skim, flood, or not skim at all), surging (when the pump intakes a lot of air, flow reduces, skimmer water level changes, and that keeps happening in a cycle) etc. Its really hard to make a good one from scratch IME, unless its got a very large 'barrel' which tends to damp out the cyclic variations. Airstone skimmers are simpler and easier, but as the airstone clogs skimmer performance goes down frequently, and is never as good as a pump skimmer in the first place IMO.
If you have ever added any phosphoric acid at all, you will probably need to deal with a phosphate problem. Having a good phosphate test is almost essential anyway. Before deciding which to get I think its worth asking here, as you need one that can reliably measure to 0.03 ppm really (thats very low).
Re the homemade skimmer, I have quite a bit of experience with diy skimmers, and using limewood stones, and I don't think it will be very effective. Limewood works OK for a couple of weeks if you have a powerful airpump, but the stone rapidly gets clogged and the air flow goes right down IME. If you want to DIY a skimmer, I recommend getting a proper skimmer pump at least, as a spare for a quality skimmer. But if you are new to skimmers, its not easy to make one thats highly effective. If you want to do it still, copy a design thats proven. Their operation is much more complex than it appears, and I recommend just picking up a second hand decent pin wheel / needle wheel one. BTW whats complex is not immediately apparent to the eye, but things like backpressure on the venturi intake (from external water level), and flow / resistance of the passage of water through them which affects the height of the water in the actual skimmer (which affects whether it will skim, flood, or not skim at all), surging (when the pump intakes a lot of air, flow reduces, skimmer water level changes, and that keeps happening in a cycle) etc. Its really hard to make a good one from scratch IME, unless its got a very large 'barrel' which tends to damp out the cyclic variations. Airstone skimmers are simpler and easier, but as the airstone clogs skimmer performance goes down frequently, and is never as good as a pump skimmer in the first place IMO.
Similar threads
