5G minimalist tank experiment

[THE REEF WHISPER]

This is my tank after a 3 years you will get there and this is just a 13.5 gallon

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Nice scape!

Thanks. Unfortunately there was only 24hrs in between deciding I want to have reef tanks and cycling the first tank, which means nothing really was figured out in advance, only that I want to run everything on low voltage, preferably USB, cause of my kids being around and I also want this to be superquiet.

According to this everything else changed in the last month apart from heaters and pump. Tank sizes, numbers, lights, filter box, planned inhabitants, aquascape - including this aquascape above.

Now it more looks like this below - with that "nice" filter box and airline valve in the background (hopefully soon covered by corals)

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Nice scape!

Thanks. Unfortunately there was only 24hrs in between deciding I want to have reef tanks and cycling the first tank, which means nothing really was figured out in advance, only that I want to run everything on low voltage, preferably USB, cause of my kids being around and I also want this to be superquiet.

According to this everything else changed in the last month apart from heaters and pump. Tank sizes, numbers, lights, filter box, planned inhabitants, aquascape - including this aquascape above.

Now it more looks like this below - with that "nice" filter box and airline valve in the background (hopefully soon covered by corals)

You do need to use a different set of a testing like a liquid I would consider API testing liquid kit saltwater and the master reef it's the easiest for a beginner and I used it and it's better good

 

[dinosaur_1552]

You do need to use a different set of a testing like a liquid I would consider API testing liquid kit saltwater and the master reef it's the easiest for a beginner and I used it and it's better good

At this point I don't think I need proper test kit G .

Strips are ok for cycling and the best tool to monitor phyto cultures nutrient content.

Saying this I am not arriving to the battlefield unprepared ("budget" build ehh!?? ):

But I am not planning to use these until I start to dose AFR + introduce harder to keep corals

 

[dinosaur_1552]

I got a budget PAR meter (AquaHorti reef) from amazon and had a first look at the lights.

First I tried to test whether the par meter is a keeper or not - as I don't and won't have an apogee etc I set my fluval nano 4.0 at matching heights with the manufacturer tests and measured par with it (not using the meters underwater mode - which seems to be a multiplier!?)

Manufacturer values/measured values:

8cm 1200/1215
15cm 380/371
30cm 115/114
46cm 50/51

The 30cm measurement :

While its ofc not a scientific test, based on the above I am quite pleased with the meter and I will keep it, its gonna be good enough for me.

Then I measured the fluval against the AquaKnight/hipargero A029 and unfortunately that light is 2x stronger in the center - that one draws 30W but even when set it to 21W (which the fluval draws from mains) it is still substantially stronger and has much less green/red component as well - however fluval seems to have better coverage, nicer colours to my eyes, has no fan and quiet operation is crucial for me. Also these are dead center measuremens, so tells nothing about how strong par is sideways.

I will at some point do some proper comparison in between the two lights regarding coverage etc.

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As far as how strong lights I need - the bottom of my tank is 25cm from the light, the top rocks are ~14-13cm so I might get around 400-450 PAR, which I am quite pleased with, seems to be a reasonable average value based on the average irradiance on this chart below:

If its not enough, I will likely get more fluvals instead of switching lights, my whole assembly is setup for this light and most other lights have fans which is a no go for me.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

As a continuation of the above I measured the tank as well and I got lower values than expected, like 270-280 PAR on the top shelf etc. It seems as soon as I immerse the sensor in water the values drop around 40%+ on that few mm, same moment the sensor is covered in water.

This meter has an IECF mode which I didn't know what the heck that is, looked like a plain multiplier, so I read after it.

Reading the booklet they say its an Immersion Effect Correction Factors mode - waters different refraction value means light is scattered in a different way in the sensor etc etc and they fix it with a plain multiplier, which they figured out in a lab for this sensor.

Now this all sounds quite dodgy - fixing something with a simple multiplier - so I googled around and to my big surprise thats exactly what apogee is doing and even apogee sensors are using same multipliers:

https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...EQFnoECBoQAQ&usg=AOvVaw2l8TI4wzQ2F1hqZ6glw-_Q
With turning on the IECF mode on the sensor and slowly submerge it under water, as soon the sensor is covered I vaguely get the same value as I'd expected in air (maybe a tiny bit more, like 6-7%), but it seems if I really wanted I could figure out my exact multiplier for this specific sensor based on the apogee paper above.

I though don't need the exact multiplier, the built in is good enough for me and it likely doesnt matter if its 405 or 420 par on that shelf (I am also getting 200 par in most of the tank).

So overall I am quite happy with the air values being very consistent with fluval factory measurements and immersion factor making sense when I submerge the sensor.

 

[THE REEF WHISPER]

Well I just test like once every 2 to 3 weeks because my tank is stable but for you I would recommend every week or every couple days I made the same mistake as not testing a lot but I'm trying to say not to use the strips they are very inaccurate and no reefer would recommend that

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Things are rolling fast, tanks cycled, so I spent some time with them to catch up a bit.

Measured everything, salifert oxygen is 5ppm, which I found a bit low, not sure if it's a test error or oxygen is really this low, prolly will make a glass of saltwater "boiling" with an airstone for a day and measure that - if it comes up higher on the test I will think about how to oxygenate the tank better.

Rest:
Calcium 405
Magnesium 1250
Alk 6.8

Though atm there is nothing in the tank which consumes the above, I think it's a good time to experiment a bit, try dosing and bring the values where I want, so I add 10 drops of AFR daily (~around a 1ml) and see what happens.

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I also added all sludge bacteria product I could buy sub 10£, added like 5 different bottles even though I suspect they mostly contain the same bacteria strains Also added phyto to both tanks.

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I spent most of the time with setting up the phyto cultures, a decade ago we did some small scale culturing with normal plant fertiliser and I started this first batch with the same - I just saw that by now guillards is widely available, so I ordered some and gonna use that for the next batch.

Thats gonna be all the phyto culture, nanno and tetra, small bottles and a single bulb, I am gonna get the same 25cm tank as a cube, so its much taller and covers all lines etc inside the tank, cover sides/bottom with mirror vinyl and hang the USB light in the middle. Measured PAR it does ~200 PAR at the close side of the bottles, not bad from a 5W light. I spent some time balancing the air in between bottles and making them quiet, now it is quiet, but airflow is low as well - will adjust if needed.

Not much else remained on the task list, next weekend I prolly get some CUC and start hunting some nutrient soak soft corals

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Today:

Calc - 450
Alk - 7.7
Magnesium - 1125 (measurement error!?)

Also did another round of ammonia dosing to 2ppm, this has gone in 36 hours, also nitrite dropped from 2.25 to 0.75 in the last 24hrs as well, so tank looks good at this point.

I now turn on lights for 5 hours daily with an extra hour sunrise and sunset, at peak it's around 30% - mostly blue - light, I will definitely need a canopy as it disturbs my eyes a lot.

Next is shopping

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Pods, stars, first corals added weekend and a bit of a recovery is happening with the first lights.

 

[dinosaur_1552]

Before adding corals I tortured them with RX and h2o2 - unfortunately h2o2 seemed to be a bit too concentrated for mushrooms and they threw up substantial amount of their guts.

Also have a minor ammonia spike, prolly some stuff which died off but didn't manage to wash off - I just let the tank ride it out adding a bit of a colony here and there.

A cute thing, a piece of mushroom gut(!?) seems to have ejected from one of the mushrooms and is very active, walks around a lot and starts to have a shape - maybe its a baby mushroom?