Brew's 187g slice of the ocean

[Victoria M]

I noticed you were busy and missed your daily harassment.

 

[Brew12]

Did I misunderstand that you turn the flow up? That is what I thought so NM then. lol.

I did turn it up recently, but it isn't unusual for me to run it at full flow. I normally only throttle it back for a week or two since that is when it is most efficient. So, while this batch hadn't been run at full flow I have run at full flow on and off for a year with the same setup.

I noticed you were busy and missed your daily harassment.

I miss it too! This place is an addiction!

 

[Janci]

Things have been so busy lately I haven't had my normal R2R time. I did have an issue with the tank this week that I feel is worth sharing....

I noticed my water was starting to be cloudy all of the time and my filter socks haven't been able to go 48 hours without clogging and turning orange. At first I thought it was a byproduct of this algae war I have going on (which I am winning, btw) but it wasn't. I think I would have figured out what the actual problem was earlier but I broke my light for under the stand and haven't had time to replace it yet.

For those who don't know, I try to get the absolute maximum out of my GFO. I like to heavily load my GFO reactor and adjust flow using a valve. Every week or so I take a PO4 sample of the water coming out of the reactor. If it isn't zero, I increase flow. When it stops reading zero with the valve fully open it's time to change. I do this because I can't stand throwing away perfectly good GFO. Well, I learned there are limits to how long GFO should be exposed to saltwater. It's been well over 2 months since I last changed my GFO since it was still reading 0ppm PO4. Unfortunately, the GFO itself is now breaking down and releasing a very find orange dust into my DT. Once I made that connection, I turned off the GFO reactor and my water cleared up in under an hour.
Note to self.... don't put nearly as much GFO in the reactor so it needs to be changed more often to avoid this in the future. I am going to start changing GFO at the 2 month mark regardless of how well it processes PO4. Fortunately, I don't see any adverse impact on my tank so that is a good thing.

Lessons learned:
- GFO has limited saltwater lifetime
- R2R time is the new "me" time

 

[Brew12]

Taking a "Mental health day" from work and going to play a round of golf soon. I've had some people concerned that I've stopped posting pictures because I've crashed my tank while dealing with this algae. I can assure everyone that is not the case. The tank hasn't been cleaned in over a week and still looks great imo. I should have time to get some good pictures tomorrow but I'll take a quick phone pic before I head out.

 

[Brew12]

 

[Eagle_Steve]

Looking good.

 

[SPR1968]

The tank looks beautiful, very nice indeed!

 

[Fudsey]

Looks as good as ever ! ! !

 

[anit77]

Can I ask why you still run GFO? Do you run a Fuge or ATS?

When my ATS is running correctly I get .02~.05 PO4. I had to rebuild the lights recently after one of them died. Bud (Turbo) was kind enough to point me in the right direction. During the the down time I ran NO3PO4X and really liked the results over the last month that I might keep dosing a little or switch to vodka. I went on the really light side for the amount dosed at 13-15ml/day for 325 gallons. No adjusting or ramping up the volume, just 13-15ml every morning. Initially PO4 got up there a little and I dosed Brightwell Phosphat-E at half the recommended amount and it kept me under .1 and I haven't used any for some time now.

The ATS is getting back into a groove, with the upgraded lights it will grow GHA like a beast. I still think I will dose 3-5ml/day of carbon. One of the 1st things I noticed since using it was the coral colors really started getting better. Especially the blues, but overall all the coral seem happier since I started using it, the PE is nuts. The only algae in my display is RTA. The glass stays pretty clean, I only go over it once a week or so and the build up isn't much. The frag tank does get crap growing in it but I swap the eggcrate racks out every 2 weeks.

The NO3 has been running low lately at .25~1 and I usually try to keep it around 5. I'm going to try and see if getting near zero on both will have any effect on the RTA. If not and the coral don't look happy I go back to my usual numbers and deal with it when I move later this year. This 210 display will eventually be a predator tank and I'm going to put up 400 gallon grow out display in the new house.

 

[Brew12]

Can I ask why you still run GFO? Do you run a Fuge or ATS?

When my ATS is running correctly I get .02~.05 PO4. I had to rebuild the lights recently after one of them died. Bud (Turbo) was kind enough to point me in the right direction. During the the down time I ran NO3PO4X and really liked the results over the last month that I might keep dosing a little or switch to vodka. I went on the really light side for the amount dosed at 13-15ml/day for 325 gallons. No adjusting or ramping up the volume, just 13-15ml every morning. Initially PO4 got up there a little and I dosed Brightwell Phosphat-E at half the recommended amount and it kept me under .1 and I haven't used any for some time now.

The ATS is getting back into a groove, with the upgraded lights it will grow GHA like a beast. I still think I will dose 3-5ml/day of carbon. One of the 1st things I noticed since using it was the coral colors really started getting better. Especially the blues, but overall all the coral seem happier since I started using it, the PE is nuts. The only algae in my display is RTA. The glass stays pretty clean, I only go over it once a week or so and the build up isn't much. The frag tank does get crap growing in it but I swap the eggcrate racks out every 2 weeks.

The NO3 has been running low lately at .25~1 and I usually try to keep it around 5. I'm going to try and see if getting near zero on both will have any effect on the RTA. If not and the coral don't look happy I go back to my usual numbers and deal with it when I move later this year. This 210 display will eventually be a predator tank and I'm going to put up 400 gallon grow out display in the new house.

Love the plans!

I run GFO right now because my fuge is off line. I pulled the macro algae out so I could go heavy with the vibrant. Once I'm convinced I've eliminated this contagion of a plant I'll cut way back on the Vibrant and get my fuge going again. With it going I rarely needed to use GFO.

 

[anit77]

Love the plans!

I run GFO right now because my fuge is off line. I pulled the macro algae out so I could go heavy with the vibrant. Once I'm convinced I've eliminated this contagion of a plant I'll cut way back on the Vibrant and get my fuge going again. With it going I rarely needed to use GFO.

A couple quick doses of Phosphat-E and you've dropped the PO4

I didn't buy into the carbon dosing bit for quite some time. If it wasn't for the led flood crapping out on my ATS I probably wouldn't have tried it. It does work but I wouldn't dose at what Red Sea recommends and go on the low side. Then ease it up if needed. The owner of my primary LFS says he's seen many people bleach their SPS with it.

 

[anit77]

This is pretty much a week of growth on a brand new screen. LEDs are turned down to 50%. At 100% it was only growing on the outer edges and the bottom strainer sheet. Really glad I went with the adjustable meanwell drivers.

 

[Brew12]

A couple quick doses of Phosphat-E and you've dropped the PO4

I didn't buy into the carbon dosing bit for quite some time. If it wasn't for the led flood crapping out on my ATS I probably wouldn't have tried it. It does work but I wouldn't dose at what Red Sea recommends and go on the low side. Then ease it up if needed. The owner of my primary LFS says he's seen many people bleach their SPS with it.

No doubt that Phosphat-E works. I believe it is lanthium chloride which works great to reduce phosphates. It does seem to cause problems with some tangs. The thought is that not all of it precipitates out when dripped into filter socks and ends up precipitating out in the DT. Some tangs seem to be very sensitive to it. If not for that, I would likely use the lanthium over GFO.

Carbon dosing is great, and I have done some of it to lower my nitrates as they climb while my fuge is off line. I've been using a cheap brand of vodka and am careful not to let my nitrates drop too low.

 

[mta_morrow]

FWIW I make my own NoPox. And it’s pretty cheap.

I double everything listed each time I make it so I get a gallon for I’m guessing $13

 

[Brew12]

FWIW I make my own NoPox. And it’s pretty cheap.

I double everything listed each time I make it so I get a gallon for I’m guessing $13

I feel NoPox is a bit deceptive. Most bacteria that it will cause to bloom have a nitrogen to phosphorous ratio of around 50:1. Ideally we want to export nutrients around 16:1. This means that over time we are likely to need some additional form of phosphorus remover like GFO or lanthium chloride. So, it does remove some PO4, but not enough imo.

 

[MyReefRobbedMe]

4 cans of Flex Seal later.....

Holy fumes batman! I've never used this stuff before.

Still on track to get a coating of poly on it tonight.

Hey Brew how did the flexseal hold to bare wood when you did yours . you didn’t have to prime it first right ? Btw It looks great . I plan to use on my new build coming up

 

[Brew12]

Hey Brew how did the flexseal hold to bare wood when you did yours . you didn’t have to prime it first right ? Btw It looks great . I plan to use on my new build coming up

It took a lot more than expected, but I didn't use any primer and it seems to hold up great.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

The tanks looking great, very nice indeed!

I'm playing catch up on your thread, but curious where you got the shelf frag rack in the middle. That reef rax?

 

[Brew12]

I'm playing catch up on your thread, but curious where you got the shelf frag rack in the middle. That reef rax?

I made it out of rock I got from BRS. It was a challenge but I love how it turned out. Unfortunately, they no longer offer the rock I used to build it.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

I made it out of rock I got from BRS. It was a challenge but I love how it turned out. Unfortunately, they no longer offer the rock I used to build it.

I've been looking to do something similar. Came out awesome! Even better its actual rock. Is your process of making it in this thread somewhere?