A New Dawn
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No. I'm just getting back into the hobby again after a few years .and have not used Tropic Marin balling light yet.
My plan was to go with the BRS Pharma and Part C because it seems to be the most cost effective method based on a couple of video's I've seen.
If you've had good success with BRS Pharma in the past,(and based on your tank, it looks like you have), I dont know that I would switch to something completely different.
Just my take on it.
My plan was to go with the BRS Pharma and Part C because it seems to be the most cost effective method based on a couple of video's I've seen.
If you've had good success with BRS Pharma in the past,(and based on your tank, it looks like you have), I dont know that I would switch to something completely different.
Just my take on it.
OP
OP
Today's project was getting the dosing pumps hung, plumbed, and primed. Waiting on GHL to deliver another powerbar so I can get the other three connected and operational but they're still showing a status of processing after three days. I'll start tidying up the wiring while I await its arrival.
southerntnreefer
Valuable Member
Looking great!
OP
OP
Been a bit of a learning curve coming from the Reef Angel but I'm getting it, slowly LOL. Operationally, it has been flawless thus far but it also isn't really doing much right now.
OP
OP
Diatoms or dinoflagellates popped up in our 150g a few days ago. The tank has been up and running for eight months now but it didn't have any corals (tried some test frags a few months back that all died). The tank was started with dry rock (had one or two pieces of live rock from our 75g to seed it) but on Jan 31st, I decided to snatch a couple more rocks from our 75g that also had a couple acroporas that I was willing to sacrifice (main colonies were still in the 75g). After a week, they looked normal. On Feb 7th, I decided to transfer most of the corals from the 75g to this 150g. For the first few days (four I believe), everything appeared normal and the tank was consuming about .3 dKh per day (negligible prior to the corals being added).
For lighting, I run six T5s (B+, ABS, P+, B+, ABS, B+) and four Kessils A360s. The Kessils were running at 25% intensity and 50% color but I changed the intensity and color to peak at 15% around Feb 11th (wish I had documented the change). I started getting some diatoms or dinoflagellates forming on the rocks approx Feb 15th. They die off (for lack of a better term) but return a few hours after lights on.
Lastly, alkalinity consumption dropped significantly when the diatom/dinoflagellates showed up (dosing went from 60ml per day down to 15ml per day). I'll revert the changes to the intensity/color channel on the Kessils and observe. I expect the nutrient levels to continue to rise as things balance out with the increased bio-load so it will likely remain impossible to attribute anything to a single source.
So there are a number of things that happened at once so it's impossible to narrow down a causal factor. The fish load had been low (three small fish for about seven of the months the tank has been up) so the NO3 and PO4 have largely been too low to measure. The tank now has 18 fish and obviously gets fed a lot more. As of Saturday, NO3 was approx 1ppm and PO4 was .006ppm. I also sent in a Triton ICP and N-Doc so it will be interesting to see what is shown there (Triton results typically show about 1/3 of the PO4 my Hanna comes up with so I'm expecting the ICP to show 0).
For lighting, I run six T5s (B+, ABS, P+, B+, ABS, B+) and four Kessils A360s. The Kessils were running at 25% intensity and 50% color but I changed the intensity and color to peak at 15% around Feb 11th (wish I had documented the change). I started getting some diatoms or dinoflagellates forming on the rocks approx Feb 15th. They die off (for lack of a better term) but return a few hours after lights on.
Lastly, alkalinity consumption dropped significantly when the diatom/dinoflagellates showed up (dosing went from 60ml per day down to 15ml per day). I'll revert the changes to the intensity/color channel on the Kessils and observe. I expect the nutrient levels to continue to rise as things balance out with the increased bio-load so it will likely remain impossible to attribute anything to a single source.
So there are a number of things that happened at once so it's impossible to narrow down a causal factor. The fish load had been low (three small fish for about seven of the months the tank has been up) so the NO3 and PO4 have largely been too low to measure. The tank now has 18 fish and obviously gets fed a lot more. As of Saturday, NO3 was approx 1ppm and PO4 was .006ppm. I also sent in a Triton ICP and N-Doc so it will be interesting to see what is shown there (Triton results typically show about 1/3 of the PO4 my Hanna comes up with so I'm expecting the ICP to show 0).
southerntnreefer
Valuable Member
Definitely forward momentum.lok forward to reading your findings
OP
OP
I wont; I'll let the nutrients come up and let things work themselves out. I've never had a tank where this remained an issue for more than a couple weeks and I doubt this will be any different.
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OP
OP
ICP results are back and the only surprise there was phosphates were higher than I've been seeing via the Hanna; every other time I've had results from Triton, their results were roughly a third of what I was measuring.
Triton vs Home Test Kits (test kit used)
Salinity 34.28 - 34.7 (macro-element calculator vs GHL probe)
Alkalinity 7.52 - 8.0 (Hanna)
Calcium 423 - 415 (Red Sea Pro)
Magnesium 1359 - 1350 (AquaForest)
Nitrate (NO3) 1.5 - 1 (N-Doc vs Salifert)
Phosphate (PO4) .033 - .015 (Hanna ULR)
ICP results
N-Doc results
Edit: I ran the Hanna Phosphate standard and got a result of .38 which is within the .37-.43 range the standard should show.
Triton vs Home Test Kits (test kit used)
Salinity 34.28 - 34.7 (macro-element calculator vs GHL probe)
Alkalinity 7.52 - 8.0 (Hanna)
Calcium 423 - 415 (Red Sea Pro)
Magnesium 1359 - 1350 (AquaForest)
Nitrate (NO3) 1.5 - 1 (N-Doc vs Salifert)
Phosphate (PO4) .033 - .015 (Hanna ULR)
ICP results
N-Doc results
Edit: I ran the Hanna Phosphate standard and got a result of .38 which is within the .37-.43 range the standard should show.
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OP
OP
Did a three day blackout on the tank (not completely blacked out) that I lifted last night. The brown plague is coming back already (about six hour into the light cycle). I went ahead and purchased a 40w UV sterilizer but it wont arrive until Wednesday. I have a few acropora hanging on but the majority have died. I need to order a microscope so I can figure out exactly what I'm dealing with as well.
southerntnreefer
Valuable Member
Loving this build. Glad it's all going forward on a good note.
OP
OP
I got the UV sterilizer up and running yesterday so hopefully we start to see real progress (dinos were coming back pretty strong the past couple days). Also ordered a new return pump (Iwaki MD70RLT); manifold pressure was a bit low with the UV sterilizer online but more importantly, the Reeflo's rear seal has already started leaking. Since it's in the basement, I don't need particularly quiet pump so I went with something ultra reliable and I should pick up about 50% more flow as well (be nice to get an extra inch of water in the display if it all works out).
Also calibrated all of the probes and re-routed their cables to eliminate potential interference (my conductivity has been bouncing around quite a bit the past week or so). I suspect the addition of a second power bar was partially responsible for this. Speaking of the power bar, it finally arrived from GHL (was ordered Feb 11th and received Mar 10th...). Love the products but their customer support in the US sucks.
Swear I'll get to those other wires some day...
Also calibrated all of the probes and re-routed their cables to eliminate potential interference (my conductivity has been bouncing around quite a bit the past week or so). I suspect the addition of a second power bar was partially responsible for this. Speaking of the power bar, it finally arrived from GHL (was ordered Feb 11th and received Mar 10th...). Love the products but their customer support in the US sucks.
Swear I'll get to those other wires some day...
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southerntnreefer
Valuable Member
Looking pretty sexy already!!I got the UV sterilizer up and running yesterday so hopefully we start to see real progress (dinos were coming back pretty strong the past couple days). Also ordered a new return pump (Iwaki MD70RLT); manifold pressure was a bit low with the UV sterilizer online but more importantly, the Reeflo's rear seal has already started leaking. Since it's in the basement, I don't need particularly quiet pump so I went with something ultra reliable and I should pick up about 50% more flow as well (be nice to get an extra inch of water in the display if it all works out).
Also calibrated all of the probes and re-routed their cables to eliminate potential interference (my conductivity has been bouncing around quite a bit the past week or so). I suspect the addition of a second power bar was partially responsible for this. Speaking of the power bar, it finally arrived from GHL (was ordered Feb 11th and received Mar 10th...). Love the products but their customer support in the US sucks.
Swear I'll get to those other wires some day...
OP
OP
It looks like we're winning the war on the dinos. I've seen very little the past couple days. Some remains on the couple of acroporas that haven't been killed but I don't imagine they will hang on for more than a week at this point (both the acros and the dinos).
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