Randy's Tank and Learn Thread

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Elegance Coral

The baby elegance I got continues to do well and, I think, slowly grow. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Salinity Reduction

Since my salinity is significantly higher than I want, likely due to AWC pump problems, I determined I need to remove about 20 gallons to drop salinity to 35 ppt.

Since I’m lazy, I don’t feel like doing that with buckets across the basement to a sink drain. I have a take off point between my return pump and where it goes upstairs to the display, and I managed to adapt that take off to the AWC drain line, so it is slowly sending some of the water to a drain, and all I have to do is ensure it does not go too fast or too far.

The Tunze ATO will be adding the water back as needed. :)

 

[rtparty]

Molybdate Dosing

Since molybdate is a needed trace element and it was quite low in my tank (and also low in IO in rtparty’s salt study) I decided to dose it.

I bought this from Amazon:

Amazon.com : Sodium Molybdate - Na2MoO4*2H2O, >99% Pure - 1 Pound : Patio, Lawn & Garden

Amazon.com : Sodium Molybdate - Na2MoO4*2H2O, >99% Pure - 1 Pound : Patio, Lawn & Garden

a.co

$26 plus shipping for a pound that will last me for centuries. Share it with your friends. lol

Sodium molybdate dihydrate
Na2MoO4*2H2O
About 40% molybdenum by weight

Dissolve 10 gram in 1000 mL RO/Di. Concentration is 4000 mg/L or 4 mg/mL.

Adding 1 mL per 100 gallons boosts molybdenum by 4mg/378 L = 0.011 mg/L (11 ug/L).

According to Oceamo, my molybdenum is 1.6 ug/L. I want to boost it to 15 ug/L, or a rise of 13.4 ug/L.

I estimate my water volume is about 900 liters, so I need to add about 12,000 ug (12 mg).

Thus I would add 3 ml of my dosing solution of 4 mg/ml.

I will add that in several smaller portions to prevent high concentrations from impacting organisms before it mixes in.

I also added a similar concentration to my new salt water.

@rtparty

Thank you sir!

Can you PM me when you have chance?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Lighting Measurements for Magnifica

In an effort to try to determine why my magnifica did not like its rock island and why it may prefer where it is now, here are some readings that suggest to me it may not be light. Par is measured with a VBR Aqua.

Top of rock island: 245 (about what I measured previously)

Just under the water surface above the rock island: 440

Right where the anemone currently is, sensor facing up: 200

At anemone face sideways away from wall (which is how the anemone is mostly oriented): 80

A few inches to the side, out from under the middle tank support, facing up: 260

Near the top of the overflow but under water: 380

The last two measurements were taken because the anemone passed through these locations on the way to where it is now (where it has stayed for a week).

For completeness sake, this is the current light setup. Keep in mind the top three colors are the single coral pop AI bar, while the others are the three AI freshwater bars. The coral pop is the second from the back in the layout. Thus, the 200 where it is now may have more deep blue/uv than the 240 at the coral island, but much less than at the last two measured locations.

 

[rtparty]

Salinity Reduction

Since my salinity is significantly higher than I want, likely due to AWC pump problems, I determined I need to remove about 20 gallons to drop salinity to 35 ppt.

Since I’m lazy, I don’t feel like doing that with buckets across the basement to a sink drain. I have a take off point between my return pump and where it goes upstairs to the display, and I managed to adapt that take off to the AWC drain line, so it is slowly sending some of the water to a drain, and all I have to do is ensure it does not go too fast or too far.

The Tunze ATO will be adding the water back as needed. :)

Watch it closely as the ATO may time out if it runs too long.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Watch it closely as the ATO may time out if it runs too long.

Yes, I discovered that when I tried to use it for a different purpose. lol

The removal is slower than the ATO delivery, so I’m hoping it doesn’t stay on long enough to time out, but I have been monitoring it. :)

 

[rishma]

Dang. I was sure it was going to be lighting. I guess flow is more likely?

This whole saga has helped me resist some great anemones.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Dang. I was sure it was going to be lighting. I guess flow is more likely?

This whole saga has helped me resist some great anemones.

It might have had that effect on me as well. Lol

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Low Temp Issues

I figured out why the tank temp dropped so much recently. Turns out one of my two Finnex heaters no longer heats when plugged in. The inkbirds were properly telling it to heat, but it declined.

It was bought new earlier this year. So much for titanium heaters being much better than glass heaters. lol

 

[Freenow54]

Elegance Coral

The baby elegance I got continues to do well and, I think, slowly grow. :)

beauty

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

beauty

Thanks! I got it from dwest as an offspring from his elegance that he had for 20+ years. :)

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

AWC pumps

It looks like my failed BRS 50 ml per min dosers I used for my AWC should still be under warranty since I bought them less than a year ago. I wrote to BRS to see if they will be replaced. :)

 

[b1llvance]

Low Temp Issues

I figured out why the tank temp dropped so much recently. Turns out one of my two Finnex heaters no longer heats when plugged in. The inkbirds were properly telling it to heat, but it declined.

It was bought new earlier this year. So much for titanium heaters being much better than glass heaters. lol

I’ve had 2 finnex titanium heaters fail on me this past year. I believe both of them leaked through the top. I switched to BRS and haven’t had an issue.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’ve had 2 finnex titanium heaters fail on me this past year. I believe both of them leaked through the top. I switched to BRS and haven’t had an issue.

Thanks. How can you tell what happened to them? Mine just seems nonfunctional.

 

[MrPike]

AWC pumps

It looks like my failed BRS 50 ml per min dosers I used for my AWC should still be under warranty since I bought them less than a year ago. I wrote to BRS to see if they will be replaced. :)

I really haven’t had much luck with the 50ml pumps when they are used as an Ato, literally burned through a dozen on service accounts. I’m sure brs will take care of you but I don’t think this is an isolated event.

 

[dwest]

Thanks. How can you tell what happened to them? Mine just seems nonfunctional.

I’ve tried others but I always end up back with eheim heaters. Kinda like IO salt.

 

[JayM]

High Salinity

I figured out why I have high salinity. Both of the AWC pumps (BRS 50 mL/min dosers) have lost the will to go on. Probably the outflow pump died first, leaving just inflow.

Anyway, I’m in the market for better pumps. Maybe Stenner, but I’m open to ideas. :)

I may have mentioned this earlier, but I've been using a pair of AC Infinity pumps to do AWC for about 6 months now and they have been spot-on so far.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Nickel Dosing

Since nickel was low in my Oceamo icp, I decided to dose a diy. I bought nickel sulfate hexahydrate from Amazon:

Nickel sulfate hexahydrate is about 22% nickel by weight.

Making a solution of 1 g (contains 220 mg of Ni) per L in ro/di gives a concentration of about 220 ug/mL.

In my tank I want to boost Ni by about 4 ug/L It’s currently below 1 ug/L and adding 4 ug/L boosts to a bit under 5 ug/L.

My tank system is about 900 L so I need to add 3,600 ug, or about 16.4 mL the stock solution. I’ll add it in several doses spread out so it gets a chance to mix in without local concentrations getting too high.

Since the rtparty salt mix study showed normal IO on the low side for nickel, I dosed a similar amount to my new salt water.

 

[X-37B]

Nickel Dosing

Since nickel was low in my Oceamo icp, I decided to dose a diy. I bought nickel sulfate hexahydrate from Amazon:

Nickel sulfate hexahydrate is about 22% nickel by weight.

Making a solution of 1 g (contains 220 mg of Ni) per L in ro/di gives a concentration of about 220 ug/mL.

In my tank I want to boost Ni by about 4 ug/L It’s currently below 1 ug/L and adding 4 ug/L boosts to a bit under 5 ug/L.

My tank system is about 900 L so I need to add 4,500 ug, or about the stock solution. I’ll add it in several doses spread out so it gets a chance to mix in without local concentrations getting too high.

Since the rtparty salt mix study showed normal IO on the low side for nickel, I dosed a similar amount to my new salt water.

Are there any benefits from dosing nickel other than bringing up the levels?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Are there any benefits from dosing nickel other than bringing up the levels?

It is used in some enzymes, including some that process urea. Will it make any difference in my tank? No idea. But something seems to be negatively impacting certain organisms in my tank, including some soft corals.