MrWheelock
Valuable Member
Have to love great customer service! I gotta ask though why such a small clean up crew?
New Swiss 1900 liter (500G) Build
- Monster Build
- Thread starter Laith
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Laith
Well-Known Member
Yes, it is a bit on the light side in terms of CUC.
I prefer to go light and take it from there. Having a lot of CUC dying for lack of food just adds to the problem... I guess it's a balancing act.
What would you suggest in terms of numbers/type?
MrWheelock
Valuable Member
Oh idk I dont buy into the 5 per gallon or whatever. Im in the same boat as you. In my 75 i have maybe 5 to 10 blue leg hermits, a few banded trochus, banished my red emerald to the sump, and I use to have conchs but they dont survive long so I stopped getting them.
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Laith
Well-Known Member
So the other day I saw clear liquid on the top of my ATO reservoir. I couldn't see any leak... tasting it I thought at first it was saltwater but then I realized I was tasting my calcium dosing solution!
Looking around I noticed that the tubing had come off the output side of the dosing pump and the pump must have been dosing onto my ATO container for a day or two. Tested for Ca and it was a bit lower than I normally keep it (430-450ppm) so I manually dosed a bit to bring it up.
Then I decided to:
They won't be coming off now ;Joyful. I'm going to do this with all my dosing pump connections...
Looking around I noticed that the tubing had come off the output side of the dosing pump and the pump must have been dosing onto my ATO container for a day or two. Tested for Ca and it was a bit lower than I normally keep it (430-450ppm) so I manually dosed a bit to bring it up.
Then I decided to:
They won't be coming off now ;Joyful. I'm going to do this with all my dosing pump connections...
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Laith
Well-Known Member
As I was basically at 0 NO3 for a while and I don't like low nutrients I decided to dose KNO3, adding 1ppm of NO3 per day for a week which brought my NO3 up to 3ppm. I stopped dosing to see what would happen and today NO3 was back down to about 1.5ppm so I'll dose more, probably 2ppm per day until I get up to 5-10ppm. I have a red monti that pales when NO3 is too low and it got a bit darker when I was dosing but is paling again.
I thought that the GHA forest that I had growing was sucking up alot of the NO3, which it probably was. But now the GHA is basically gone due to my addition of algae eaters (the tangs, lawnmower blenny and sea hare) as well as probably the low NO3 and PO4 (currently at 0.025).
Curious to see what happens now. I'm wondering how much of an effect on nutrients my RE rollermat is having: it works very well. That and the great skimmer might be keeping my nutrients lower than I like. But both are adjustable so I just need to find the right balance!
I also have to keep in mind that I still have a very low bioload in the tank...
Anyone have any success feeding a sea hare? I don't want him to starve now that most of the GHA is gone.
I thought that the GHA forest that I had growing was sucking up alot of the NO3, which it probably was. But now the GHA is basically gone due to my addition of algae eaters (the tangs, lawnmower blenny and sea hare) as well as probably the low NO3 and PO4 (currently at 0.025).
Curious to see what happens now. I'm wondering how much of an effect on nutrients my RE rollermat is having: it works very well. That and the great skimmer might be keeping my nutrients lower than I like. But both are adjustable so I just need to find the right balance!
I also have to keep in mind that I still have a very low bioload in the tank...
Anyone have any success feeding a sea hare? I don't want him to starve now that most of the GHA is gone.
MrWheelock
Valuable Member
I purchased one and when he was done demolishing the algae I took him back and got store credit, they were happy that I fattened him up.
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Laith
Well-Known Member
I got my Apogee PAR meter so now I have a better idea of PAR levels. I tried the Seneye PAR meter I have but it is difficult to use in the depth of this tank, needs to be connected to my laptop to get the readings and it doesn't correct the reading if you're not holding it horizontal (trouble measuring the light at angles). The Apogee with the long stick is perfect and easy to get readings anywhere in the tank.
Love these Mitras lights... I'm getting great coverage and even with the depth of the tank I'm getting about 100-150 PAR on the bottom and between 250-350PAR at the tops of the three hills. And this with the lights 20cm above the water and not all channels running at 100% ;Joyful.
So time to fix the corals to the aquascape. So ordered eight packs of this:
Love these Mitras lights... I'm getting great coverage and even with the depth of the tank I'm getting about 100-150 PAR on the bottom and between 250-350PAR at the tops of the three hills. And this with the lights 20cm above the water and not all channels running at 100% ;Joyful.
So time to fix the corals to the aquascape. So ordered eight packs of this:
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Laith
Well-Known Member
Let's see, some other updates on the system...
KH 8.0, Ca 450ppm, Mg 1540ppm, NO3 1.5ppm, PO4 0.025ppm, SG 1.026...
The AWC system is working great. The reservoir of fresh saltwater lasts about 16 days at 1% (16.5 liters) change per day. Then the Profilux stops the Litermeter and powers the solenoid for the fill from the RO/DI unit. When full I add 9 kgs of the Fauna Marin salt to get 1.026 SG and then I turn the Litermeter back on.
The top up reservoir also fills automatically from the RO/DI unit once it is empty.
Absolutely love not hauling buckets anymore! ;Joyful
I have to increase the frequency of changing the prefilters on the RO/DI unit. I used to change them every six months but I saw that the sediment filter had actually darkened more than I've ever seen with the volume of water that was now going through the unit (especially the two complete fills of the tank). So I've decided to change the sediment and carbon prefilter every three months. The DI cannister swap/fill is now necessary about once a month.
The tank is looking good with very clear water. The flow I'm getting with the six Tunzes and the Gyres is great. I have the Tunzes on the Surge program on the Profilux so they ramp up one after the other until all are running at max and then they ramp down to minimum one after another (currently an hour between each pump ramping up and down).
I'm cleaning the glass about once every three or four days. The GHA phase is basically over thankfully!
The clowns have spawned twice now in this tank
.
Next:
- I've preordered the GHL ION Director which measures for Ca, Mg, Na, K and NO3. It can also control dosing accordingly... They should start shipping in March.
- Look at changing the lighting spectrum. I will probably lower the amount of white light and increase blues... or have the ratio different during different parts of the lighting period. Not yet decided.
- Order and install the large Tunze macro algae reactor which should now be available.
- Learn the programming logic of the Profilux so I can fully use its capabilities.
- Put together a fish list so I can start populating the tank. First I need to get netting across the top as I may want some wrasses...
- More coral!
KH 8.0, Ca 450ppm, Mg 1540ppm, NO3 1.5ppm, PO4 0.025ppm, SG 1.026...
The AWC system is working great. The reservoir of fresh saltwater lasts about 16 days at 1% (16.5 liters) change per day. Then the Profilux stops the Litermeter and powers the solenoid for the fill from the RO/DI unit. When full I add 9 kgs of the Fauna Marin salt to get 1.026 SG and then I turn the Litermeter back on.
The top up reservoir also fills automatically from the RO/DI unit once it is empty.
Absolutely love not hauling buckets anymore! ;Joyful
I have to increase the frequency of changing the prefilters on the RO/DI unit. I used to change them every six months but I saw that the sediment filter had actually darkened more than I've ever seen with the volume of water that was now going through the unit (especially the two complete fills of the tank). So I've decided to change the sediment and carbon prefilter every three months. The DI cannister swap/fill is now necessary about once a month.
The tank is looking good with very clear water. The flow I'm getting with the six Tunzes and the Gyres is great. I have the Tunzes on the Surge program on the Profilux so they ramp up one after the other until all are running at max and then they ramp down to minimum one after another (currently an hour between each pump ramping up and down).
I'm cleaning the glass about once every three or four days. The GHA phase is basically over thankfully!
The clowns have spawned twice now in this tank
Next:
- I've preordered the GHL ION Director which measures for Ca, Mg, Na, K and NO3. It can also control dosing accordingly... They should start shipping in March.
- Look at changing the lighting spectrum. I will probably lower the amount of white light and increase blues... or have the ratio different during different parts of the lighting period. Not yet decided.
- Order and install the large Tunze macro algae reactor which should now be available.
- Learn the programming logic of the Profilux so I can fully use its capabilities.
- Put together a fish list so I can start populating the tank. First I need to get netting across the top as I may want some wrasses...
- More coral!
OP
OP
Laith
Well-Known Member
Unfortunately the Sea Hare didn't make it. It is very difficult to tell if they are ok or not as I saw him several times since I got him not moving for a while. But this time he wasn't moving for longer than usual. To make sure I put him in a plastic bowl in the sump with a big piece of Nori algae but no reaction after several hours.
So just a heads up: a sea hare doesn't take weeks to starve. If I'm right in assuming he starved (based on the fact that all the other livestock is doing great) then it happens very quickly. This happened no more than two days after most of the GHA accessible to him was gone.
So for me, no more sea hares unless I know someone will take him as soon as most of the GHA is gone from the tank!
So just a heads up: a sea hare doesn't take weeks to starve. If I'm right in assuming he starved (based on the fact that all the other livestock is doing great) then it happens very quickly. This happened no more than two days after most of the GHA accessible to him was gone.
So for me, no more sea hares unless I know someone will take him as soon as most of the GHA is gone from the tank!
crusso1993
7500 Club Member
Wishing you and your loved ones good tidings!
OP
OP
Laith
Well-Known Member
Laith
This thread is a treasure trove of ideas. My 8 footer build starts in earnest next week. I’ve been thinking through / dealing with many of these issues in the fish room build. Thanks for documenting it!
This thread is a treasure trove of ideas. My 8 footer build starts in earnest next week. I’ve been thinking through / dealing with many of these issues in the fish room build. Thanks for documenting it!
OP
OP
Laith
Well-Known Member
You're welcome. It has been fun documenting it! ;Happy
Let us know if/when you start a build thread!
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