I received a box of rocks today.

[NY_Caveman]

I always forget to hit the "like" button when I run across posts that I like.

I like this whole thread!

@NY_Caveman you have waaaaaaaay more patience than me. maybe it's because you are upstate NY and i'm from the Bronx NY. What you went through with the tanks being cracked, scratched and whatnot would have had me LIVID!!!

Your build is coming along beautifully.

Thanks DJ. Now if only that patience would stretch to the rest of my endeavors.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Lanthanum Chloride, Agent Green. works everything to get my phosphates down and the GFO reactor pretty much keep my phosphates in line.

That is what I used. Agent Green. Easy, controllable and predictable down to the drop.

 

[jsker]

That is what I used. Agent Green. Easy, controllable and predictable down to the drop.

Just be careful of how often you use it, I was reading the Dr. SanJay was using it regularly on it slowed down the growth of this corals. I will look for the article late and post a link. There is also great debate along the same lines in different thread.

I used PHrx also, but like the Agent Green better since there was not such a drastic drop. Some member pick the Lanthanum Chloride up from pool stores, but I am not a chemist and very risky

 

[NY_Caveman]

Just be careful of how often you use it, I was reading the Dr. SanJay was using it regularly on it slowed down the growth of this corals. I will look for the article late and post a link. There is also great debate along the same lines in different thread.

I used PHrx also, but like the Agent Green better since there was not such a drastic drop. Some member pick the Lanthanum Chloride up from pool stores, but I am not a chemist and very risky

Over two weeks I added it three times.
6 drops
7 drops
7 drops
35 gallons actual total water volume.

At least three days apart each. So far, the PO4 level has remained lowered after each dosage.

 

[NY_Caveman]

We are loving this freebie Green Toadstool Leather from IPSF.com. Not sure if it is just opening more or already growing, but it is probably 10-15% bigger in a week. Thought a quick video might show it off better than an image

 

[jsker]

Over two weeks I added it three times.
6 drops
7 drops
7 drops
35 gallons actual total water volume.

At least three days apart each. So far, the PO4 level has remained lowered after each dosage.

dose 35 ml, your dosing way to little. For 80 gal water volume I dose 10 ml

 

[NY_Caveman]

dose 35 ml, your dosing way to little. For 80 gal water volume I dose 10 ml

I am taking it down 0.1 ppm at a time. Since 1 ml solution removes 1 ppm per 10 gallons, 3.5 ml removes 1 ppm from my 35 gallon system.

3.5 ml = 70 drops
1 drop = 0.0143 ppm
7 drops = 0.1 ppm

Sound correct?

EDIT: my PO4 is currently 0.47 ppm

 

[NY_Caveman]

dose 35 ml, your dosing way to little. For 80 gal water volume I dose 10 ml

Just looking, your recent numbers here are listing PO4 at 0.02 ppm. If you dose 10 ml of Agent Green In 80 gallons you will remove 1.25 ppm of PO4. I hope I am wrong somewhere but that seems off the way I am reading it.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Remember my friends dosing chemicals should be last resort when dropping parameters. I had to use the Red Sea no3 dropper as well. If you do use these chems it should weened off similar to medication, like for example opioids, xanax, depression meds, prednisone (aka asthma) or you will severely damage the living system. As such in humans dropping from using a week of prednisone to nothing can be very bad, extremely bad with opioids, and depression meds etc. what I’m getting at is, your putting your reef on medication that is in the same category of what I have listed.

Make sure once your parameters are where you want them the next day cut the dosage in half for three days, then again in three days cut the dosage in half. So example person a would take three prednisone per day for a week, then next week they would take two, then the next week 1, now here is where it’s important. It doesn’t go to zero after one, drop it to 1/2 or 3/4 etc then from there in one or two days go from a half to 1/4 or well 5/8 but usually people do 1/2 then 1/4 then on meds usually stop. With our systems by the time your at 1/2 to 1/4 it’s out of the system. Stopping to fast will crash your system and can be extremely severe. If you plan on dosing this forever you need to be concerned about stripping the water to clean for things to live. In addition it also can add to the mixture of things to go wrong. The more simpler the system the better it is to figure out when something goes wrong. Nobody wants to find out after they have lost their tank.

@NY_Caveman i only say this because is hate for something to happen to you gorgeous tank. We all know how hard you have worked and your patience has paid off. Your tank is still very new, as mine is. You will get bacterial blooms until it matures which is usually over a year. Just be super careful when doing this, we do not want to add stress and or strip the water to clean.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Well heard. I feel a measured use of Lanthanum Chloride as a chemical binder is different from something like regularly dosing potassium nitrate. You are right though that it is important to consider what even a small change in Phosphate could do to a new, small system. Whether I think a new level is “better” or not.

EDIT: This is also not meant as a long term method. Just a brief attempt to reduce the level and see if it holds.

 

[jsker]

Just looking, your recent numbers here are listing PO4 at 0.02 ppm. If you dose 10 ml of Agent Green In 80 gallons you will remove 1.25 ppm of PO4. I hope I am wrong somewhere but that seems off the way I am reading it.

I use the Agent Green like Phosphate RX, one drop per gallon to cut the phosphate in half and then reduce dosage from there by half.
Example if I would like to go from a 4 to a 2 I should dose 80 ml and then 40 ml the following dose if I need to. I usually try to keep my phosphates at .03 to .04 and they will get as high as .08 when I am busy with life. If one want to bring down the phosphate slow the dose less. This works for my situation.

The reason I am saying dose more is that your number is staying the same when you dose

Hello,

Remember my friends dosing chemicals should be last resort when dropping parameters. I had to use the Red Sea no3 dropper as well. If you do use these chems it should weened off similar to medication, like for example opioids, xanax, depression meds, prednisone (aka asthma) or you will severely damage the living system. As such in humans dropping from using a week of prednisone to nothing can be very bad, extremely bad with opioids, and depression meds etc. what I’m getting at is, your putting your reef on medication that is in the same category of what I have listed.

Make sure once your parameters are where you want them the next day cut the dosage in half for three days, then again in three days cut the dosage in half. So example person a would take three prednisone per day for a week, then next week they would take two, then the next week 1, now here is where it’s important. It doesn’t go to zero after one, drop it to 1/2 or 3/4 etc then from there in one or two days go from a half to 1/4 or well 5/8 but usually people do 1/2 then 1/4 then on meds usually stop. With our systems by the time your at 1/2 to 1/4 it’s out of the system. Stopping to fast will crash your system and can be extremely severe. If you plan on dosing this forever you need to be concerned about stripping the water to clean for things to live. In addition it also can add to the mixture of things to go wrong. The more simpler the system the better it is to figure out when something goes wrong. Nobody wants to find out after they have lost their tank.

@NY_Caveman i only say this because is hate for something to happen to you gorgeous tank. We all know how hard you have worked and your patience has paid off. Your tank is still very new, as mine is. You will get bacterial blooms until it matures which is usually over a year. Just be super careful when doing this, we do not want to add stress and or strip the water to clean.

Good points

 

[NY_Caveman]

I use the Agent Green like Phosphate RX, one drop per gallon to cut the phosphate in half and then reduce dosage from there by half.
Example if I would like to go from a 4 to a 2 I should dose 80 ml and then 40 ml the following dose if I need to. I usually try to keep my phosphates at .03 to .04 and they will get as high as .08 when I am busy with life. If one want to bring down the phosphate slow the dose less. This works for my situation.

The reason I am saying dose more is that your number is staying the same when you dose

Hmmmm. Each time I added the 6-7 drops PO4 dropped about 0.1 ppm as I expected. Started at 0.72 ppm two weeks ago and sitting at 0.47 ppm now (assuming the Hanna Checker test is accurate). As I wanted to move slowly I am satisfied with that pace even though some might say my current level is too high.

It seems to me you are dosing too much, but it seems to you I am dosing too little. If we are both testing and getting the results we expect, then that is what matters, but I am still confused why it seems we are dosing differently (assuming we have the same concentration of solution).

 

[jsker]

Hmmmm. Each time I added the 6-7 drops PO4 dropped about 0.1 ppm as I expected. Started at 0.72 ppm two weeks ago and sitting at 0.47 ppm now (assuming the Hanna Checker test is accurate). As I wanted to move slowly I am satisfied with that pace even though some might say my current level is too high.

It seems to me you are dosing too much, but it seems to you I am dosing too little. If we are both testing and getting the results we expect, then that is what matters, but I am still confused why it seems we are dosing differently (assuming we have the same concentration of solution).

It could be that I have a substrate and that would make a larger area for the phosphate molecule to attach, I also feed really heavy and I would assume that we also be the reason that I am doing more they are have too.

 

[Sarah24!]

Hello,

Well the difference is dosage would be similar to a human for medicine as well. For an example it’s going to depend on the age, height, weight of said patient. Same goes with the tanks they are each two completely different bodies of water and living ecosystem. Plus (not sure but the water size is different as well I think), anyway if I have a male patient who is in for trauma care, we have to dose the medication based on severity, height weight etc. so say for an example he is in for heart attack symptoms, and he is only 140 pounds, (and to make this easier ekg checks out) but we start him on blood pressure meds carevaedial, linseopro etc or others but he would possibly get 1.0 mg twice daily of carvaedial and maybe linseopro twice daily. A person with say the same symptoms and out come but is 250 pounds 6 foot roughly would get 1.5 or even 2, based on his volume or condition.

So it’s the same with even normal over the counter Advil, one can take up to 2400 mg a day and or 8 of 200 mg. But that’s not for all people some can take one, or three etc. just depends on the person and no one person is the same. So for our tanks no one tank is the same, they are similar but different, like humans we all have a brain (well some do lol) viral organs lungs heart etc. our tanks we all have salt water parameters, marine lights, flow live rock etc. it’s a full biological system as we are so to speak. Yes we are a more complex organism, but same concept.

I would recommend doing what’s best for your own tank. I made the mistake of always keeping nitrates at 2-5 and my tank did amazing. It was suggested I go to 15-20 ppm and my tank hated it. Increased the light by 33% and my tank hated me. Just depends on your crittters and what they like .

 

[NY_Caveman]

It could be that I have a substrate and that would make a larger area for the phosphate molecule to attach, I also feed really heavy and I would assume that we also be the reason that I am doing more they are have too.

That is likely the answer. You have a full bioload on your system and feed heavily. The food is essentially a way of dosing Phosphate. I am feeding about 1/16 of a teaspoon daily (mix of mysis and Coral Frenzy 0.5mm), so not adding much Phosphate to the system at all.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Hello,

Well the difference is dosage would be similar to a human for medicine as well. For an example it’s going to depend on the age, height, weight of said patient. Same goes with the tanks they are each two completely different bodies of water and living ecosystem. Plus (not sure but the water size is different as well I think), anyway if I have a male patient who is in for trauma care, we have to dose the medication based on severity, height weight etc. so say for an example he is in for heart attack symptoms, and he is only 140 pounds, (and to make this easier ekg checks out) but we start him on blood pressure meds carevaedial, linseopro etc or others but he would possibly get 1.0 mg twice daily of carvaedial and maybe linseopro twice daily. A person with say the same symptoms and out come but is 250 pounds 6 foot roughly would get 1.5 or even 2, based on his volume or condition.

So it’s the same with even normal over the counter Advil, one can take up to 2400 mg a day and or 8 of 200 mg. But that’s not for all people some can take one, or three etc. just depends on the person and no one person is the same. So for our tanks no one tank is the same, they are similar but different, like humans we all have a brain (well some do lol) viral organs lungs heart etc. our tanks we all have salt water parameters, marine lights, flow live rock etc. it’s a full biological system as we are so to speak. Yes we are a more complex organism, but same concept.

I would recommend doing what’s best for your own tank. I made the mistake of always keeping nitrates at 2-5 and my tank did amazing. It was suggested I go to 15-20 ppm and my tank hated it. Increased the light by 33% and my tank hated me. Just depends on your crittters and what they like .

Right. I am certainly not changing what I do based on another’s tank. I was more concerned that he seemed to be dosing too much based on the directions that came with my bottle. As long as we each know the effect on our systems I am satisfied.

 

[NY_Caveman]

I grabbed a picture from the side after the whites went out today before leaving for work. The iPhone 7 Plus just does not like the blues at all.

I also caught a Trochus snails cleaning a Cerith snail. Pretty funny. Hopefully he was not trying to perform an unnatural act.

The Cerith snail was starting to go on the move and I really wanted to watch and see what would happen, but I had to go. Nice to see the clean up crew cleaning the clean up crew.

 

[reacclimating 2 the hobby]

Where did you get your starboard?

 

[NY_Caveman]

Where did you get your starboard?

BoatOutfitters.com

I have used them three times now and am well satisfied. I note you can choose custom when ordering to select dimensions and thickness. I always leave some space on the edge between the glass for the silicone seam (about 1/4”-1/2" which also creates a bit of a detritus trough for easy cleaning). I have only used black, but by their samples I note that the "Sea Foam" color is closest to aragonite sand by my eye.

 

[NY_Caveman]

My iPhone 7 Plus takes pretty good pictures under white light. Under blues only the phone is challenged. I tried a few things with the phone and some Photoshop witchcraft. It did not come out well. These were my best attempts.

A couple of them still look pretty cool, but the detail is lacking in the rockwork.

I was watching the Duncan heads for a while under the red LED of my spelunking light

Their feeders were out again all night, but they still are not opening fully during the day. They are barely opening at all. I gave them a small late night target feeding and they seemed to respond well.