Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

OK, thanks.

I haven't ordered kits yet, so there's time to change. :)

 

[Miami Reef]

Does the water appear different yet?

The lights just turned on, and it’s like watching an HDR film. Wow!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

The lights just turned on, and it’s like watching an HDR film. Wow!

Nice!

 

[SomeHappyFish]

It is a rounding issue, but the phosphate ULR is better. It measures higher (which you will probably need for PO4 experiments), and the timer on the PO4 checker is much longer.

It updated the issue of the Phosphorus checker by extending the auto shutoff time. If you use the same vial for C1 and C2, the checker will often shut down before inserting the vial back in because you will need to shake the vial for 2 minutes.

It’s a race against the clock with the Phosphorus. The checker’s accuracy is identical, and the reagents between the checkers are interchangeable (identical chemicals and amounts with different labeling on the outside.)

The difference between 0.01 and 0.015ppm is insignificant. It’s not like you plan to keep ULN, anyway.

TL;DR: the phosphorus checker uses different conversions than the standard (more work), shorter shutoff time, lower upperlimit, with a barely better accuracy (which is likely just due to rounding.)

Heard about this issue shutting down issue but it never happened to me yet.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Head about this issue shutting down issue but it never happened to me yet.

1 in 5 test for me. God forbid I get a text, I look up and it’s off.

 

[Miami Reef]

The shutoff timer is 3 minutes. You need to shake for a solid 2 minutes. That extra minute is spent removing and entering the vial from the egg, getting the reagent away from the packet edges, cutting the packet, getting all the reagent in, rubbing the vial from smudges, aligning the vial correctly, etc

I’m very precise with my testing, so I end up missing it. A workaround is using 2 separate vials: one for C1 and one for C2. That’s what I do now, anyway, so the timer concern isn’t much of an issue.

I still prefer the phosphate ULR checker for the other reasons outlined above.

 

[elysics]

1 in 5 test for me. God forbid I get a text, I look up and it’s off.

Neat psychological and practical tip: wear gloves, the powder is somewhat toxic anyway. As long as you wear gloves you're probably less likely to touch your phone or do anything else other than finishing testing

 

[SomeHappyFish]

The shutoff timer is 3 minutes. You need to shake for a solid 2 minutes. That extra minute is spent removing and entering the vial from the egg, getting the reagent away from the packet edges, cutting the packet, getting all the reagent in, rubbing the vial from smudges, aligning the vial correctly, etc

I’m very precise with my testing, so I end up missing it. A workaround is using 2 separate vials: one for C1 and one for C2. That’s what I do now, anyway, so the timer concern isn’t much of an issue.

I still prefer the phosphate ULR checker for the other reasons outlined above.

That's strange. I don’t experience this issue... I just tested it by turning it on, then pressing C1, and now C2 is displayed on the screen.My timer has been running for 6 minutes, yet the screen still shows C2. I guess I have a lucky egg. The inspection number is 8966BS on mine.

I pre cut my packet and leave it in the box, I clean the outside of the vial under 1 second with a cloth for glasses before pressing C1 or C2.

*Edit: The hanna turned off after 9min 54 seconds.

 

[Miami Reef]

That's strange. I don’t experience this issue... I just tested it by turning it on, then pressing C1, and now C2 is displayed on the screen.My timer has been running for 6 minutes, yet the screen still shows C2. I guess I have a lucky egg. The inspection number is 8966BS on mine.

I pre cut my packet and leave it in the box, I clean the outside of the vial under 1 second with a cloth for glasses before pressing C1 or C2.

Just making sure, are you using the ULR Phosphorus or are you using the ULR Phosphate kit?

The Phosphorus (ppb) is the one with this issue.

Auto-off	after three minutes of non-use and two minutes after reading

HI736 Phosphorus Ultra Low Range Checker HC (Saltwater) - Hanna Instruments

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[BryanM]

The 800 watt may be seasonal, being removed in summer and any shoulder season where it's not needed. Not having it in place just removes a possible failure point. A bonus of the Finnex heaters is that they act as a grounding probe for water they are in contact with, helping ensure that if a device leaks actual current, it will trip a GFCI (more on that setup later as I plan to use many GFCI) rather than waiting for me to reach into to the sump to complete the circuit in bare feet on the basement floor.

fwiw, my reasoning behind running both heaters all the time is based on usage and a schedule, so they get mostly the same amount of use. One will be used to heat the tank from midight to noon, the other from noon to midnight. Logic in the apex will override if the temp is low (or high), in case of one failing.

So a lot of fault tolerance, and a little longevity.

 

[BryanM]

I was worried because he didn’t eat initially, but I bought Reef Masstick from Biota, and that seemed to get him eating again.

He’s thriving! He’s the cutest fish I have.

Biota doesn’t allow any outside visitors in their facility for biosecurity reasons. They bring the orders to your car. :)

I bought 3 of them .... my tang gang :o

 

[SomeHappyFish]

Just making sure, are you using the ULR Phosphorus or are you using the ULR Phosphate kit?

The Phosphorus (ppb) is the one with this issue.

HI736 Phosphorus Ultra Low Range Checker HC (Saltwater) - Hanna Instruments

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

Yes I use the Phosphorus (ppb) HI736. Here's a video. Vial or no vial I have 10min to do my stuff haha.

*Edit: It's not letting me upload the video because of size. I will be back

 

[BryanM]

15-18 months. I feed heavy heavy heavy. Frozen 5 times a day and flake 4 times a day. I have well over 10 tangs in this display. So I curb aggression with fast food.

Hows nitrate and phos with this feeding, yowza!

I am also trying to curb aggression feeding more, but I'm not even half of where you're at today.

 

[BryanM]

On that topic, anyone think it unwise to put questionable crabs into my brute basement cans?

I don't see why not, as long as it can't get sucked in to a return pump..... Sadly that's what happened to my sump urchin.

 

[BryanM]

With regards to hitchikers - I found mostly w/GLR that they were in the bag, out and about.

I also find crabs easy to catch, and I do not believe any are reef safe, but the longer I read about others feeding habits its pretty clear I am a light feeder..... So maybe that's why I've not had success with reef safe crabs.

Just do yourself a favor and don't be like me.... Not knowing what a mantis shrimp was, and added two of them to the tank (and there's been at least two others that were hiding when the rock went in). Apparently my gulf live rock was a mantis hotel.

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

With regards to hitchikers - I found mostly w/GLR that they were in the bag, out and about.

I also find crabs easy to catch, and I do not believe any are reef safe, but the longer I read about others feeding habits its pretty clear I am a light feeder..... So maybe that's why I've not had success with reef safe crabs.

Just do yourself a favor and don't be like me.... Not knowing what a mantis shrimp was, and added two of them to the tank (and there's been at least two others that were hiding when the rock went in). Apparently my gulf live rock was a mantis hotel.

Bryan - my friend says hello, this was 2 days ago:

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Parameters for Incoming Live Sand and Rock

TBS recommends a sg of 1.024 to 1.028 and at temp range of 70-78 F.

Tank water is circulating at 72-73 deg F (depends on which of the 6 thermometers is most accurate). Lol

I’m starting at the low because the weather here tomorrow is “wintry mix”, and I doubt the containers will be seeing temps much over 70 anywhere along the trip. Over time I will be raising it to the 75-78 F range.

Current salinity is a bit under 53 mS/cm, so the sg is around 1.026 and I’ll likely keep it at about that level.

I’ve not measured anything else, but the alk is likely above 7 dKH and below 10 dkH since I started with normal IO, dropped the alk a bit with muriatic acid to reduce cloudiness, and have been running my refugium which has macroalgae in it that might be dieing back (just guessing on that since it is hard to know).

 

[WhatCouldGoWrong71]

Hows nitrate and phos with this feeding, yowza!

I am also trying to curb aggression feeding more, but I'm not even half of where you're at today.

Its funny, @Miami Reef and I have been talking about this too.

60 days ago my nitrate was 35, I’m down to 12 per my last ICP 7 days ago. 30 days ago the ICP said my PO4 was .33 I banged GFO and Phosphate RX pretty good through the month. I was .08 the other day. I put Reef Roids in my tank yesterday and today I tested .12. I have very very strong lighting, and an equally long photo period. Growth is good which is supported by 450mils of CA dosed daily, my CARX is at 6.4 at 100 mil a min and I also do a little more than 4 gallons of kalk. I bumped my reactor up today as I have fallen 23 ppm back the last 2 days. I also have an insane amount of CUC. But I also do the normal other exports.

 

[Miami Reef]

Its funny, @Miami Reef and I have been talking about this too.

60 days ago my nitrate was 35, I’m down to 12 per my last ICP 7 days ago. 30 days ago the ICP said my PO4 was .33 I banged GFO and Phosphate RX pretty good through the month. I was .08 the other day. I put Reef Roids in my tank yesterday and today I tested .12. I have very very strong lighting, and an equally long photo period. Growth is good which is supported by 450mils of CA dosed daily, my CARX is at 6.4 at 100 mil a min and I also do a little more than 4 gallons of kalk. I bumped my reactor up today as I have fallen 23 ppm back the last 2 days. I also have an insane amount of CUC. But I also do the normal other exports.

Great tank! You inspired me to buy more tangs (2 in QT today.)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Live Sand and Rock Delivery

Live sand and rock comes today (well, I should say, Delta now says today). Very excited for it and TBS has been very good about communication.

TBS had two shipping options for me and I picked the cheaper one (Delta) despite TBS saying Southwest was their preferred carrier. With multiple direct Delta flights from Tampa to Boston each day, what could go wrong? lol

Maybe not my best decision. Next shipment, will go with Southwest.

I know that shipping issues are a common discussion at Reef2Reef, but not so much for direct air cargo flights, so I'll give my experience and thoughts here.

The rock and sand was dropped off at Tampa some time in the late afternoon. Since TBS had told me the likely incoming flight to Boston would be arriving at 10 AM with a backup of a 2 pm arriving flight, I was happily surprised to hear that it would catch an earlier flight that was supposed to arrive at 1 AM. Great. I figured I'd get a very early start, beat the Boston rush hour traffic, and be home with it by 8 AM.

Well, that was actually a curse, not a blessing. The Boston to Tampa plane that was supposed to bring back my rock had an equipment failure in flight and had to return to Boston. That is why it was rescheduled to arrive at Tampa and then leave Tampa unexpectedly late and my rock would be able to be on it when normally it could not catch that flight. Hours passed, and Delta finally cancelled both the Boston to Tampa and Tampa to Boston flights. Presumably they could not fix the equipment problem. No rock delivery that night.

OK, next flight leaves at 7 AM. That's the flight I originally expected and would be good. Delta had all night to get my 9 boxes set for that one. Reading between the lines, they failed to do anything like that. The Delta manager said they recovered the boxes from the ramp at 5 AM and returned them to the warehouse. That was probably the death knell for catching the 7 AM flight. In any case, the 7 AM came and went without my boxes. It arrives in Boston in a few minutes. lol The Delta excuse: they do not control what planes the cargo gets on. Um, OK, but then who does? Did someone decide that a box saying "Live" on it is in no hurry?

We are now scheduled on the 2 pm arrival backup flight. That's OK, just not good service from Delta. It doesn't take off for a while, so I won't be sure it made that flight until later today.

Lessons learned

1. Listen to TBS and go with Southwest for delivery.

2. The Delta cargo tracking app is especially useless. It listed 1:10 AM as the expected delivery time for hours after 1 AM, even when they knew the flight had already been cancelled at least 6 hours before. It also sometimes listed crazy times. For a while early on it said 6:30 pm delivery, which did not even make sense. Then shortly later it registered that 1:10 AM consistent with what TBS had been told.

3. Just my speculation, but I'm thinking that faster delivery of the premium top off rock is probably more important than for the base rock and sand that is potentially going to cycle some any way (though with my refugium and a little rock in it being set up a few weeks ago, that effect might be minimized some).

4. If something seems unusually good (like a unexpected flight), wonder why. lol

5. We are still on schedule for the original backup flight which leaves in a couple of hours. Wen (TBS) indicates that there is sufficient O2 in the boxes for that flight delivery to be fine, so I am not overly concerned, assuming Delta follows through properly.