Sea lab 28 experiment

[GARRIGA]

Similar to taking a month supply of aspirin thinking you’ll only utilize what you need when a headache shows itself.

I’ll watch but if this was the magic pill it presents itself as then you’d think farmers would have incorporated it considering it’s been around a while, no dosing or calculations or testing needed. Plop Plop. Fizz Fizz what an ease it is.

 

[musel101]

Day one I will officially stop Dosing in my tank and only use sea lab no 28 I will update weekly with pictures.
Alkalinity 9.5
Calcium 490
Magnesium 1410
Phosphate 1.0
Nitrate 0.9

All the corals and clams and carpet anemone and fish all seem to be doing great in the tank. I will update you with water parameters, calcium, alkalinity, magnesium, etc. tomorrow.
And I haven’t done a single water change,
I dropped in another sea lab 28 block today

 

[musel101]

Day one I will officially stop Dosing in my tank and only use sea lab no 28 I will update weekly with pictures.
Alkalinity 9.5
Calcium 490
Magnesium 1410
Phosphate 1.0
Nitrate 0.9

On a side note, the copepod population has seem to explode
In the tank. I do have a ton of biological media if that helps with a ton of surface area. In the sump

 

[musel101]

Day one I will officially stop Dosing in my tank and only use sea lab no 28 I will update weekly with pictures.
Alkalinity 9.5
Calcium 490
Magnesium 1410
Phosphate 1.0
Nitrate 0.9

Update

Alkalinity 6.4

Calcium 530

Magnesium 1690

Nitrite, 166

Phosphate, 0.24

pH 8.3

Temperature 79 Fahrenheit

Will keep updating and continue the experiment. Visually everything looks like it’s doing great.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Update

Alkalinity 6.4

Calcium 530

Magnesium 1690

Nitrite, 166

Phosphate, 0.24

pH 8.3

Temperature 79 Fahrenheit

Will keep updating and continue the experiment. Visually everything looks like it’s doing great.

The visual result is good, but the trend in the parameters seemingly is not, assuming the results are accurate.

Alkalinity has steadily declined 9.5 --> 7.9 --> 6.4 dKH

calcium fell and then rose 490 --> 458 --> 530 ppm

magnesium has substantially risen 1410 --> 1485 --> 1690 ppm

If the values are correct, I'd personally stop the experiment since alk is getting down in the undesirable range and magnesium is pushing too high, IMO.

 

[Seansea]

Ya think the results match the guy who had the youtube video. Calcium and mag soar while alk bottomed out. He bragged about not doing testing just popping sea labs and when he checked his alk it was insanely low. Like 4 or something. His tank didnt look bad tho.

 

[GARRIGA]

Ya think the results match the guy who had the youtube video. Calcium and mag soar while alk bottomed out. He bragged about not doing testing just popping sea labs and when he checked his alk it was insanely low. Like 4 or something. His tank didnt look bad tho.

I know who you speak of. Tank does look impressive and it seemed as if after 20 plus years of reefing and using these wonder like shells. He just discovered you need to worry about alkalinity.

 

[musel101]

Ya think the results match the guy who had the youtube video. Calcium and mag soar while alk bottomed out. He bragged about not doing testing just popping sea labs and when he checked his alk it was insanely low. Like 4 or something. His tank didnt look bad

Possibly not sure exactly who you’re taking about. But you do have a point it can vary well be placement if you have it in front of a powerhead, it’ll dissolve completely and overdose your tank . I feel like you have to find the right amount of flow to dose the amount you want.

 

[musel101]

Ya think the results match the guy who had the youtube video. Calcium and mag soar while alk bottomed out. He bragged about not doing testing just popping sea labs and when he checked his alk it was insanely low. Like 4 or something. His tank didnt look bad tho

keep you guys posted nonetheless
So far numbers are off, but the tank looks good and still no water changes

 

[dolpator]

I know this is an older threaded. I am going to jump on this thread because it has pertinent information on another thread I am on and want to point out somethings. I have a friend that has been using this product for years. You can find his tank pics here (@K4Fish on Instagram). Now first off this is a very out of the ordinary way of doing a tank. As Randy as said in the post. I have read all the comments and I am going to add to it. My friend use these blocks in conjunction with dosing Alkalinity. He only test for Alkalinity, nitrates, and phosphates, and Magnesium. He will do water changes when needed, and will dose magnesium when needed. Alkalinity is dosed to maintain the tank at 8 dkh. He has a 110 gallon system and uses on block per week his tank. I will not lie to you, his calcium is very high, I think in the 600's, but he says there is no ill effects going on in his tank. Is Adams tank an anomaly, maybe, but it seems to be working for him and he isn't spending absurd amounts of money on supplements and gear to run his tank. He has one dosing pump dosing Alk. He hand doses Magnesium. So say what you will about the product, he has successfully found a way to utilize this product successfully in his system.

 

[Aquacrazed]

Bumping this, @musel101 what happened? You ran this experiment only a month.

 

[VintageReefer]

If this releases calcium sat a consistent rate I’d be sold

I have alk on a khguardian measuring and dosing if/when needed every 4 hours

I still have to do ca manually and don’t want to invest in the gear for it.

If I have my alk under control, would this be a feasible way to keep my systems ca Dosed and maintained?

If it adds too much could I break it in half and put in a smaller piece

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

If this releases calcium sat a consistent rate I’d be sold

I have alk on a khguardian measuring and dosing if/when needed every 4 hours

I still have to do ca manually and don’t want to invest in the gear for it.

If I have my alk under control, would this be a feasible way to keep my systems ca Dosed and maintained?

If it adds too much could I break it in half and put in a smaller piece

I’m sure one could do that in some fashion, but it seems like an excessive amount of work and reliance on calcium testing to me to try to keep an appropriate level. Lots of things will impact the release rate if whatever is in it, including the water flow, the exposed surface area, whether organisms are messing with it, etc.

 

[VintageReefer]

I’m sure one could do that in some fashion, but it seems like an excessive amount of work and reliance on calcium testing to me to try to keep an appropriate level. Lots of things will impact the release rate if whatever is in it, including the water flow, the exposed surface area, whether organisms are messing with it, etc.

What if I 3d printed an enclosure with strategic small holes printed, to limit and control the flow through it. Would also keep critters off of it

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What if I 3d printed an enclosure with strategic small holes printed, to limit and control the flow through it. Would also keep critters off of it

I’d still not bother due to the way dissolution will change as the chunk gets smaller, combined with uncertainty of what is actually in it.

 

[VintageReefer]

I’d still not bother due to the way dissolution will change as the chunk gets smaller, combined with uncertainty of what is actually in it.

 

[Aquacrazed]

So I got a can of the small nano cubes and I just started using it in my nano. Added a cube last night. I don't want to do an experiment though because I do want to keep up with my 30% water changes every week. I put the cube on a worm feeder at the top of the chamber my return pump is in. Seems like that's the lowest flow area in my tank. I am one of those reefers (lazy?) that look at coral and test/adjust parameters based on their health and don't chase numbers. Will update on what happens.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

So I got a can of the small nano cubes and I just started using it in my nano. Added a cube last night. I don't want to do an experiment though because I do want to keep up with my 30% water changes every week. I put the cube on a worm feeder at the top of the chamber my return pump is in. Seems like that's the lowest flow area in my tank. I am one of those reefers (lazy?) that look at coral and test/adjust parameters based on their health and don't chase numbers. Will update on what happens.

Are you adding alk? It does not seem to claim to add any.

 

[Aquacrazed]

Are you adding alk? It does not seem to claim to add any.

I am not. I am hoping my weekly 30% water changes will take care of it. It's at around 7dkh right now and I'll be doing a water change tomorrow. Any suggestions?

 

[VintageReefer]

I am not. I am hoping my weekly 30% water changes will take care of it. It's at around 7dkh right now and I'll be doing a water change tomorrow. Any suggestions?

Thats that’s not enough for you to maintain alk and ca in a nano?