Creeks 90 gallon intro. with some ?'s

Tyreef2016 · Jul 1, 2016

Hey guys,
Fairly new to this site, i have been hiding in the shadows for a little. figured i'd make a post about my tank and introduce myself to the R2R family. I gained interest in this hobby about 2 years ago and started with a bio-cube. now i've finally made the jump t0 a 90 gal reef. like everyone i've had my ups and downs but can say I'm fairly happy with where my tank is going. my setup is pretty basic right now. 2 mp10ws for flow, 2 radions 30w for light and a sump with skimmer and fuge with cheato. also just running chemi-pure elite for now. as you can tell i still have a few things to figure out and some equipment that needs to be purchased. my tank is just over 6 months old and beginning to finally come together for me. except for my sand bed being dirty. grrr.

now having said that. I'm trying to fish for some knowledge.

I run my radions on a daily light schedule. its blue morning and night and more white in the middle of the day. does growth change in the corals with more blue or white light? also could the white be why my sand is so dirty? should i cut back the whites? also prolly doesn't help i added the second light around 4 months in so parts that had no light are now being lit.

also i recently received my friends 90gpd ro/di system. seeing as how it isn't brand new I'm worried about just hooking it up and believing the water is good to go. is there anything i should do before hand or to test the final product? i am changing the 3rd cartridge. also the ro membrane seems clean and still usable.

also what is the most reliable test kit now a days? i have api right now. I've found the most important thing for me is test test test. but if my results are wrong I'm just gunna end up making a big mistake.

thanks for stopping by and reading about my tank!! feel free to drop some knowledge on me! always looking to better myself and my tank .

Starwar · Jul 1, 2016

Honeslty sounds like your on the right track. Did you use tap water to fill the tank since your rodi isnt setup? I would suggest getting a good tds "total dissolved solids" meter. Use it to test the tap, ro and final di water and see what you get. Final stage should read 0 tds. Your blue spectrum is mainly responsible for coral growth but they do need white as well. Your algea problem could be caused by nutrients in the water. Do you have a power head aimed near the sand bed to prevent detritus from settling? I use api as well because i find it locally but i hear good things about red sea test kits.

Tyreef2016 · Jul 2, 2016

Starwar said:
Honeslty sounds like your on the right track. Did you use tap water to fill the tank since your rodi isnt setup? I would suggest getting a good tds "total dissolved solids" meter. Use it to test the tap, ro and final di water and see what you get. Final stage should read 0 tds. Your blue spectrum is mainly responsible for coral growth but they do need white as well. Your algea problem could be caused by nutrients in the water. Do you have a power head aimed near the sand bed to prevent detritus from settling? I use api as well because i find it locally but i hear good things about red sea test kits.

I learned my lesson about tap water in my biocube days lol! i have been picking it up from a local shop that helped me setup this tank. just finally got tired of lugging 20 gals around every week. i saw home depot had a tds meter and also amazon had one that came with a ph pen also. was no more then 20$ tho. not sure if it will do the job? thanks for the feedback!

ReeferMaddness843 · Jul 2, 2016

I have one of the cheaper Amazon tds meters as well and it works perfectly for what I need. 101ppm at tap and 000ppm after rodi.

Waters · Jul 2, 2016

Tyreef2016 said:
Hey guys,

I run my radions on a daily light schedule. its blue morning and night and more white in the middle of the day. does growth change in the corals with more blue or white light? also could the white be why my sand is so dirty? should i cut back the whites? also prolly doesn't help i added the second light around 4 months in so parts that had no light are now being lit.

also i recently received my friends 90gpd ro/di system. seeing as how it isn't brand new I'm worried about just hooking it up and believing the water is good to go. is there anything i should do before hand or to test the final product? i am changing the 3rd cartridge. also the ro membrane seems clean and still usable.

also what is the most reliable test kit now a days? i have api right now. I've found the most important thing for me is test test test. but if my results are wrong I'm just gunna end up making a big mistake.

thanks for stopping by and reading about my tank!! feel free to drop some knowledge on me! always looking to better myself and my tank .

Regarding color, based on my research, the bluer spectrum (20K) will produce more color, while the whiter side of the spectrum (14K) produces more growth. I run my Radions from 17.5-20K throughout the day. While a ton of white light can contribute to algae growth, I would look more towards excessive nutrients such as Phosphates or Nitrates. As far as the test kits, anything is more reliable than API unfortunately. Both Salifert and Red Sea make good test kits IMO.

ReeferMaddness843 · Jul 2, 2016

I also had an Api test kit that I now realize was used improperly and always got 0 no3 on. Till one day I shook the heck out of part 2 and got a true reading. Needless to say the mixture of whatever in part 2 was totally off so got truly inaccurate reading. Switched to Salifert and never looked back.

Tyreef2016 · Jul 2, 2016

Waters said:
Regarding color, based on my research, the bluer spectrum (20K) will produce more color, while the whiter side of the spectrum (14K) produces more growth. I run my Radions from 17.5-20K throughout the day. While a ton of white light can contribute to algae growth, I would look more towards excessive nutrients such as Phosphates or Nitrates. As far as the test kits, anything is more reliable than API unfortunately. Both Salifert and Red Sea make good test kits IMO.

ReeferMaddness843 said:
I also had an Api test kit that I now realize was used improperly and always got 0 no3 on. Till one day I shook the heck out of part 2 and got a true reading. Needless to say the mixture of whatever in part 2 was totally off so got truly inaccurate reading. Switched to Salifert and never looked back.

exactly it always says 0 nitrate and i know that can't be.