REEFER 500 - STICKS & STICKS

[Saltees]

Just taken, FTS.

Been dosing TM Elimi NP for a week, still battling PO4, gone from 0.35ppm to 0.40ppm (HANNA Phosphate ULR). NO3 stays firm at 12ppm according to NYOS test kit.

 

[Saltees]

Didn’t expect PO4 and NO3 to be an issue at this early in the hobby even with all dry artificial media, 0 TDS water and TM salts. 10 days into carbon dosing with TM Elimi NP at double the recommended dosage, with little to no drop in number 0.35-0.36ppm PO4 and 12ppm NO3. Which prompted me to take a more aggressive approach cautiously...TM Elimi Phos RAPID. I dropped 2ml into the skimmer neck and 6 hours later...

Wow, that’s 0.06ppm drop in PO4 from just 2ml and I have the 500ml bottle. Having said that, I’m still going to continue with carbon dosing with TM Elimi NP, but I’m going to pop 2ml of the TM Elimi Phos Rapid (LaCl) every other day till the PO4 is at 0.03ppm.

 

[CoralDanimal]

Didn’t expect PO4 and NO3 to be an issue at this early in the hobby even with all dry artificial media, 0 TDS water and TM salts. 10 days into carbon dosing with TM Elimi NP at double the recommended dosage, with little to no drop in number 0.35-0.36ppm PO4 and 12ppm NO3. Which prompted me to take a more aggressive approach cautiously...TM Elimi Phos RAPID. I dropped 2ml into the skimmer neck and 6 hours later...

Wow, that’s 0.06ppm drop in PO4 from just 2ml and I have the 500ml bottle. Having said that, I’m still going to continue with carbon dosing with TM Elimi NP, but I’m going to pop 2ml of the TM Elimi Phos Rapid (LaCl) every other day till the PO4 is at 0.03ppm.

Love your build thread! Feel free to take this unsolicited advice worth a grain of salt, but as someone who has recently used lanthanum chloride to reduce phosphates (I believe that's the active ingredient in TM Phos Rapid) I'd recommend going slower than you're pacing with how fast you drop phosphate. It can stress corals to have phosphate swing that fast, but there are also reports of large doses of LaCl negatively impacting fish as well. If you have an ORP monitor, you've probably seen that even a small dose of LaCl makes ORP plummet quickly.

My recommendation would be to dilute the 2ml into say 1000ml of RODI water and then slowly drip the diluted solution into the skimmer over 24 hours vs. all at once. Still achieves the same outcome, but more gradually than the current approach which would prevent any nutrient shock to the corals or LaCl shock to the fish / oxygen level

 

[Saltees]

Love your build thread! Feel free to take this unsolicited advice worth a grain of salt, but as someone who has recently used lanthanum chloride to reduce phosphates (I believe that's the active ingredient in TM Phos Rapid) I'd recommend going slower than you're pacing with how fast you drop phosphate. It can stress corals to have phosphate swing that fast, but there are also reports of large doses of LaCl negatively impacting fish as well. If you have an ORP monitor, you've probably seen that even a small dose of LaCl makes ORP plummet quickly.

My recommendation would be to dilute the 2ml into say 1000ml of RODI water and then slowly drip the diluted solution into the skimmer over 24 hours vs. all at once. Still achieves the same outcome, but more gradually than the current approach which would prevent any nutrient shock to the corals or LaCl shock to the fish / oxygen level

Thanks for the kind words. I'm watchful of the product as well, therefore I'm only dropping 2ml into skimmer for 500L total volume every other day. Also I'm continuing with the TM Elimi NP carbon dosing. Just fed with Reef Roids 4 hours earlier, now my PO4 is 0.37ppm.

 

[Dj City]

Good morning,

just checking in to see how the reef is progressing.
how's everything doing?

 

[Saltees]

Good morning,

just checking in to see how the reef is progressing.
how's everything doing?

Good to have you dropping in!

Lost my radiant and my orange backed wrasse, other than that all my fishes are fat. Not adding any more fishes, due to PO4 hovering at 0.35ppm, NO3 constant at 12ppm for the past 3 weeks to a month. Even at 2x the minimum dose of TM Elimi NP (Carbon Dosing). On the other hand, supplementing dose of 2ml TM Elimi Phos Rapid (LaCl) lowers 0.06ppm of PO4 consistently every other day, but quickly rises back to 0.35ppm on the day when it’s not added.

Not planning to dose LaCl aggressively but to aid the carbon dosing to bring down the PO4.

Torches, Hammers, Frogspawn are happy, but the Trachyphyllia, Cynarina, Acantophyllia are closing up and even receding. Not sure if it’s the PO4 or lights/flow.

Really hoping the ATS can be fully operational, the hair algae is very slow growing even on a 24hr light schedule. With the UV off for carbon dosing, I’ve got to scrub the glass daily to remove the “haze” on it.

Wish me luck, while I battle PO4!

 

[Dj City]

Have you looked into icp testing yet?

 

[Saltees]

Yes, about to, but undecided on which ICP kit yet. May pick up the Fauna Marin one.

 

[Shaka_Reefer]

Love the FTS man! I wanna put sand back in my system, which sand are you using?

 

[Dj City]

Yes, about to, but undecided on which ICP kit yet. May pick up the Fauna Marin one.

I use the ATI brand.
Very good icp test. That's the one I would suggest.

 

[Saltees]

Love the FTS man! I wanna put sand back in my system, which sand are you using?

Using the Caribsea Special Grade. Detuned my WAV to run at 60% max and added another bag in yesterday, a total of 3 bags for my 120G... no more bald patches I hope.

I’m letting the WAV pumps to shape my sandscape, area that is heavy on sand used to be the bald patch.

I’d arranged one WAV to push vertically and the other WAV to push horizontally with good result in reducing bald patches.

 

[Saltees]

I use the ATI brand.
Very good icp test. That's the one I would suggest.

I didn’t see ATI in my area though, most LFS carry Fauna Marin ICP kit and only 1 does Triton ICP. Thanks again!

 

[Saltees]

Time flies when you’re reefing. 4 months since getting the tank wet. I’m please to report the followings...

PO4 has droped to 0.12ppm as of today from a combination of carbon dosing with TM Elimi NP and a little help from TM Elimi Phos Rapid (LaCl). NO3 still holds firm at 12ppm. Likely to migrate to TM NP Bacto Balance, once I’ve exhausted the TM Elimi NP. As for LaCl, it will remain a backup to be used when additional help is needed to manage PO4. In the meantime the ATS is looking promising since I’d roughen the mesh 2 weeks earlier.

Added a PBT that I’d to rescue from the LFS, it was put amongst 30+ cleaner wrasses, and constantly harnessed by them. Quick QT in SEACHEM PARAGUARD for 1 hour and in it goes. Also added more Euphyllias all these while. All incoming corals go through CoralRX.

While getting the parameter stable for SPS, acquired some meat corals, such as Trachyphyllia, Acantophyllia, Cynarina and Scolymia.

 

[Saltees]

Finally, dropped my PO4 from 0.35ppm to 0.07ppm after a month of carbon dosing with TM Elimi NP.
I have my frogspawn receding and bailing on me, made the cut today to see if it helps.

 

[Saltees]

Things don’t look good for the fragged Frogspawn, still pretty much remained in the bone.

Last Friday, managed to remove the PBT from the display after 5 hours with a half drained tank and displaced rocks. Into the treatment tank immediately, starting to see bumps on the skin. Strangely my freshwater mollies (aka canaries) didn’t have any symptoms at all. Nonetheless, The PBT is going through the full TTM with H2O2 spliced in.

Had to get this a black widow BTA for my black percula clowns, just hope they’ll host it. Putting a fence around the BTA to encourage it to host on the chosen spot.

 

[ScottR]

Finally, dropped my PO4 from 0.35ppm to 0.07ppm after a month of carbon dosing with TM Elimi NP.
I have my frogspawn receding and bailing on me, made the cut today to see if it helps.

Nice build and great pics!!! Unfortunately, wall-type euphyllia don’t do well when fragged. It’s like one giant crown, just longer.

 

[Saltees]

Nice build and great pics!!! Unfortunately, wall-type euphyllia don’t do well when fragged. It’s like one giant crown, just longer.

Yes, lesson learnt. I'm staying away from wall-type, there are plenty of branching ones.

 

[Saltees]

An interesting acquisition over the weekend... a colony of Plates.

 

[Hot2na]

Just a question ,since i'm too lazy to read the whole thread: is your main drain coming into that ATS and then into your sump ? If so - I see the screen getting clogged with dirt ,etc after a while...also I acknowledge your fine effort on this build..so don't get upset please when I say that those cable ties holding your aquascape together are an eyesore at best...

 

[Saltees]

Just a question ,since i'm too lazy to read the whole thread: is your main drain coming into that ATS and then into your sump ? If so - I see the screen getting clogged with dirt ,etc after a while...also I acknowledge your fine effort on this build..so don't get upset please when I say that those cable ties holding your aquascape together are an eyesore at best...

Thanks for dropping by! Yes the main drains into the ATS. So far there’s no clog so no need to adjust the gate valve, except to scrap off the algae every month or so . The ATS performed flawlessly. I’m feeding pellets via AFS 3-4 times a day, in amount to be consumed in 5 minutes max.

And yes the cable ties, I assume they will go away once I stick some acros over them, I took cue from Wesley’s scape where he cable tied the Tonga Branches together. Gotta bear with them for a while though.

As I’m going into my fifth month, keeping a stable low PO4 and NO3 will be high on my list , before embarking on SPS.

As for now I am enjoying my wrasses and LPS. BTW just added a rose band fairy wrasse! What a beaut!