LCR's Waterbox 20 Cube

[Lou City Reefing]

I would say so , maybe get water from LFS for a bit . I’ve always used instant ocean so can’t speak for other ones. What foods do you feed? Maybe they have more phosphate concentration and I’d recommend to stick to mysis only for a bit if possible , are you going for softies , lps, or sps? You can also just dose neo nitro

I make my own salt water as I have an RODI system at the house. I thought about going to IO solely due to the price. I feed TDO pellets once a day. I thought about switching to mysis. I want to keep softies/LPS

 

[dvgyfresh]

I make my own salt water as I have an RODI system at the house. I thought about going to IO solely due to the price. I feed TDO pellets once a day. I thought about switching to mysis. I want to keep softies/LPS

Ye those coral like dirtier tanks , nitrate 10+ , maybe lower water change or dose Neo nitro and feed more. I had high alk 9-11dkh but my nitrate was 20ppm + phosphate .1 -.5ppm all the time

 

[Lou City Reefing]

I make my own salt water as I have an RODI system at the house. I thought about going to IO solely due to the price. I feed TDO pellets once a day. I thought about switching to mysis. I want to keep softies/LPS

Ye those coral like dirtier tanks , nitrate 10+ , maybe lower water change or dose Neo nitro and feed more. I had high alk 9-11dkh but my nitrate was 20ppm + phosphate .1 -.5ppm all the time

Glad to know I can make it work based off your experiences! I’ll either start dosing neo nitro or ammonia, which I’ve been doing a ton of research on.

Should I add corals again prior to dosing for nitrates or get my nitrates up first?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Glad to know I can make it work based off your experiences! I’ll either start dosing neo nitro or ammonia, which I’ve been doing a ton of research on.

Should I add corals again prior to dosing for nitrates or get my nitrates up first?

You can add the coral ,would help to consume the nitrate instead of feeding algae or other things

 

[Lou City Reefing]

Received a shipment of corals from TSA today! All came in amazing shape and are doing super well in the tank.

Also, I mixed up a batch of ammonium bicarbonate to start dosing in the tank.

I mixed 20 grams of Ammonium Bicarbonate with 1L of RODI water and will be dosing 2mL daily to raise nitrates in my tank.

All knowledge of dosing ammonia comes from following the steps in this thread:
"DIY Ammonia dosing for low nitrate systems" - Randy Holmes-Farley

 

[Lou City Reefing]

I've been contemplating removing the MarinePure bio block I have in the 2nd chamber of my tank. I'd rather have a skimmer back there to help with oxygen exchange and skimming rather than additional bio filtration as I feel like the sand and the rock in the tank would be enough.


I would appreciate any opinions on this is possible! Also, if I do remove it, should I remove both pieces at once or slowly over time?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Bio filtration is just filtration , some may call it a nitrate factory but I never understood that it simply more room for bacteria to live to convert ammonia to nitrite /nitrate. That said I am in support of the skimmer over the bio block , although counter productive to you dosing nitrate lol

Just put the skim mate cup back into the tank , think of it as free dosing of organics

 

[Lou City Reefing]

Great update regarding Nitrates! I've been dosing 2mL of the Ammonium Bicarbonate solution every day since last Tuesday and my Nitrates are now up to 6.7.

My DkH is at an 8.5, which is weird because I did my weekly water change yesterday and I'm using Red Sea black bucket. I think it's because I have a ton of coraline algae growing? Should I start dosing Alk?

 

[dvgyfresh]

Great update regarding Nitrates! I've been dosing 2mL of the Ammonium Bicarbonate solution every day since last Tuesday and my Nitrates are now up to 6.7.

My DkH is at an 8.5, which is weird because I did my weekly water change yesterday and I'm using Red Sea black bucket. I think it's because I have a ton of coraline algae growing? Should I start dosing Alk?

Yes if your consumption is more than 1dkh between water changes you should be dosing. I like to keep my alk always within +/- .5 dkh . Right now I have 9.5 so I would be ok with anything 9-10

 

[Lou City Reefing]

Yes if your consumption is more than 1dkh between water changes you should be dosing. I like to keep my alk always within +/- .5 dkh . Right now I have 9.5 so I would be ok with anything 9-10

Any tips to dosing Alk? I've never dosed before, so this is all new to me! Quite exciting!

 

[dvgyfresh]

Any tips to dosing Alk? I've never dosed before, so this is all new to me! Quite exciting!

Kalkwasser is very easy , does alk and calcium - you just add it to your top off water. Finding the dosage is the harder part lol. I personally use all for reef for the most simplest

 

[Lou City Reefing]

I’ve been seeing some “polyps” floating around my tank recently. Not like coral polyps, but like little dusters? I’m not sure how to explain them, but I’ve found some hanging out on my rock work just today.

Does anyone know what they may be? They’re circled in the photo.

 

[dvgyfresh]

Micro feather dusters you are right, Excellent filter feeding friends

 

[Lou City Reefing]

Micro feather dusters you are right, Excellent filter feeding friends

You know, I truly appreciate you always responding on my thread lol! You’ve been more than helpful and I love the advice/feedback

 

[dvgyfresh]

You know, I truly appreciate you always responding on my thread lol! You’ve been more than helpful and I love the advice/feedback

Thanks for the kind words , I saw your thread / tank and decided to follow along as we share similar tanks. I love sharing information and helping ! Just don’t think I’m always right lol as I kno I’m not

 

[Lou City Reefing]

Wish I could keep my PH this high! You can definitely tell we are on vacation because this is consistently the highest I’ve seen my PH ever lol!

~8.27 at peak
~7.88 at lowest

 

[Lou City Reefing]

I'm experiencing high alkalinity (Alk) consumption in my tank for no apparent reason. I performed a water change on Sunday, as usual, and tested the alkalinity today to check, finding it at 7.4 dKH. Out of curiosity, I mixed a fresh batch of 4 gallons of saltwater, which is my typical weekly water change volume, using my usual salt, Red Sea Coral Pro, and let it mix as instructed. The fresh batch tested at 12.1 and 12.2 dKH across two tests.


I have four small coral frags but a significant amount of coralline algae. Is it possible that the coralline algae is consuming that much alkalinity in about a week's time?

 

[dvgyfresh]

I'm experiencing high alkalinity (Alk) consumption in my tank for no apparent reason. I performed a water change on Sunday, as usual, and tested the alkalinity today to check, finding it at 7.4 dKH. Out of curiosity, I mixed a fresh batch of 4 gallons of saltwater, which is my typical weekly water change volume, using my usual salt, Red Sea Coral Pro, and let it mix as instructed. The fresh batch tested at 12.1 and 12.2 dKH across two tests.


I have four small coral frags but a significant amount of coralline algae. Is it possible that the coralline algae is consuming that much alkalinity in about a week's time?

It’s possible, additionally bacteria growth can use up alkalinity. My tank consumed .1 dkh of alk daily with only rocks lol sometimes more depending on bacteria / corraline

 

[Pipers Reef]

how is the nanomat going? What adapter did you end up using?

 

[Lou City Reefing]

I'm thinking about removing the Red Sea Nano Roller Mat. I feel like the inconsistency of water level is effecting the salinity. I probably just don't have it setup correctly with the 3D printed piece, but I'd rather have stable salinity lol. Although, I will be adding a Ice Cap K1-nano to help filtrate!