TheWB’s IM Lagoon 50

[TheWB]

First FTS of 2022 to document the progress.

 

[TheWB]

Finally, after 6 months of procrastinating and one custom 3d printed reducing barb connection, the Reef Octopus Varios 2 return pump is finally online.

Out with the old.

Possibly I should clean my pumps more often lol.

In with the new.

Tip of the cap to Eric at eelrivercoral.com for making that part for me, it works perfectly.

 

[TheWB]

Some top down shots of the newer sps pieces.

Green Digi

Slimeball Anacropora

Bubblegum Digi

Dunno, maybe someone could help me out with an
ID here.

Green Slimer, not all the way back but at least it’s mostly green now.

Red monti cap

More red monti cap

 

[TheWB]

Unfortunately I think the Speckled Kraks did not make it.

This is what the rock they were sharing with the Lemon Lime Favites looked like last night…

and then this morning.

Overnight they just melted away. Not totally unexpected, they went through the wringer in transport and were never open. I’m kinda surprised the Favites are still there.

 

[MrRedAmber]

Unfortunately I think the Speckled Kraks did not make it.

This is what the rock they were sharing with the Lemon Lime Favites looked like last night…

and then this morning.

Overnight they just melted away. Not totally unexpected, they went through the wringer in transport and were never open. I’m kinda surprised the Favites are still there.

What would cause something like this?

 

[jcolliii]

Considering how cold the water is and the extra day, those corals are looking great! Bummer about the Kraks - any on the other side, or are they all gone? I had some scrambled eggs melt away on me before. I thought the Paly types were a but more resistant to that, but sorry to see it happened. Favias are nearly bullet proof in my experience, and the color still looks good, and the anacro and the bubblegum look good as well. Glad things are looking up! Here is what the polyp extension on my colony looks like - so yours looks pretty good to me!

Here it was when I got it. When it senses food in the water, you'll see a bit more PE, but usually, it's more like this.

Nice shiny new pump, too! Looking good!

 

[TheWB]

What would cause something like this?

Bad luck and really cold water mostly. Short version is FedEx took too long to deliver the package this coral was in and stored it in a freezing cold warehouse for an extra night. By the time the package was picked up by me and the corals were acclimated it was just too late. There were about 15 speckled krak Zoas on there and now there is no trace of any of them. They melted away and my hermits probably picked away any traces that were left.

 

[TheWB]

Considering how cold the water is and the extra day, those corals are looking great! Bummer about the Kraks - any on the other side, or are they all gone? I had some scrambled eggs melt away on me before. I thought the Paly types were a but more resistant to that, but sorry to see it happened. Favias are nearly bullet proof in my experience, and the color still looks good, and the anacro and the bubblegum look good as well. Glad things are looking up! Here is what the polyp extension on my colony looks like - so yours looks pretty good to me!

Here it was when I got it. When it senses food in the water, you'll see a bit more PE, but usually, it's more like this.

Nice shiny new pump, too! Looking good!

They appear to be all gone. Really it’s like they were never there. Youre right, everything else seems like they will make it so that’s good.

The pump is almost too much even on its lowest setting. With the proper manifold attached to the two outlets I think this pump could probably provide all the necessary flow in my tank without any wavemakers. Something to think about for a later discussion with my 3d printing guy. I think I can turn it down a little more by using the Apex to control it but when I tried to implement a program the pump stayed on at 100% which was not good. I think it broke my smaller gorgonian. The only way I could turn it down was to disconnect it from the Apex and manually put it on its lowest setting. I’m sure it will work fine with the Apex eventually but as usual I don’t know what I’m doing with the programming so I’ve got some learning to do.

 

[Oredigger77]

I'm glad you get to figure this out before me. I finally made it through your thread and the journey has been fascinating.

I don't have an Apex but I'll probably add one to my tank eventually.

 

[TheWB]

You made it!!!
There are no prizes or rewards for finishing.
I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s mostly me feeling my way around in the dark but there’s probably a useful nugget or two in there if you look really hard. Ya know, like wire management clips or something.

I think you’ll be very happy with the Varios pumps for your SR120. Based on the flow I’m getting on the lowest setting I think you will only need two, not three. Although if you use three, and added an Apex or Hydros Wave Engine to be the controller, and get creative with the outlet nozzles you could probably get away with no wave pumps. Which on your particular tank would be very cool.

 

[Oredigger77]

Not that I want to hijack your thread but I was thinking something similar reading through. But . . . There are 6 return nozzles on the back of the tank from the sump and it came with three 500 gpm+ pumps so I'm not sure what will be the best path running three 700 gpm pumps at 70% or trying to plumb to three nozzles from each 700 gpm pump and run two at 100%. Luckily that's a future me problem.

I like the idea of no wave pumps since I've got some good views on the side panes of my tank. I'll have to look into those systems more.

 

[TheWB]

Not that I want to hijack your thread but I was thinking something similar reading through. But . . . There are 6 return nozzles on the back of the tank from the sump and it came with three 500 gpm+ pumps so I'm not sure what will be the best path running three 700 gpm pumps at 70% or trying to plumb to three nozzles from each 700 gpm pump and run two at 100%. Luckily that's a future me problem.

I like the idea of no wave pumps since I've got some good views on the side panes of my tank. I'll have to look into those systems more.

Don’t sweat it, it’s relavent hijacking and I’m happy to hash it out with you.

I realize that the pump is rated for less than 800 gph but at 100% my tank looked like it was boiling over. My display area is basically 29” (inside dims) x 19.5” x 16” high. Yours will be about 71x19x16 if I’m remembering it correctly. Based on what I saw 3 of these pumps would have that thing going pretty good. Add 6 RFG’s on some loc-line so they can be aimed in different directions and see how it goes. You can always add wavemakers if you need them but with the right setup I don’t think you will. I could be wrong, it’s theoretical at this point, but if your getting the pumps anyway why not try it?
If you want to change the flow rates throughout the day you’ll need an Apex or a Hydros Wave Engine though, to get the 0-10v control.

 

[TheWB]

I tested today after changing out 8 gallons last Sunday when I switched the return pumps. I have not made any additions of calcium or alkalinity other than the water change. On 12/29 which is when I last tested my dkh was at 11.3 and at that point I removed the CO2 scrubber. I also tested newly mixed saltwater at that time and it had dkh of 8.3 so theoretically changing out 8 gallons of 11.3 dkh water with 8.3 dkh water plus some consumption from 16 lps and sps corals in the tank you would think I’d have lower Alk, right? Todays test was 11.1 dkh. Calcium changed from 470 on 12/29 to 460 today. These are both within the margin of error for the tests ( Hanna checker for dkh, Red Sea for Cal ). At this point I have no idea what it would take to get this tank to consume some Calcium or Alkalinity. I also can’t quite wrap my head around dkh over 11 when the salt mixes at 8.3ish. The coral all looks fine so I’m not declaring an emergency or anything, I just do not understand how my tank works which is sort of frustrating. I’d like to see some more predictable behavior.

 

[jcolliii]

Weirder and weirder. Some things that I would try/check...

1) Do you have a saltwater store local that will confirm your test results? Or a fellow reefer? Preferably with a different method?

2) What is the salinity in your tank right now, and what are you checking that with? The only way I can think of to increase alk without adding something to the water is by concentrating the ions (remove only water).

3) What is the source of your topoff water - RODI? Could there be some ions in your topoff water?

4) What has your nitrate levels been over the past couple weeks, and did they drop rapidly? Big drops in nitrate can affect ALK. I put this last, because it would take a big drop... like 50 or 60ppm.

EDIT: N/M on 4, CBO asked on the last page...

 

[TheWB]

Weirder and weirder. Some things that I would try/check...

1) Do you have a saltwater store local that will confirm your test results? Or a fellow reefer? Preferably with a different method?

2) What is the salinity in your tank right now, and what are you checking that with? The only way I can think of to increase alk without adding something to the water is by concentrating the ions (remove only water).

3) What is the source of your topoff water - RODI? Could there be some ions in your topoff water?

4) What has your nitrate levels been over the past couple weeks, and did they drop rapidly? Big drops in nitrate can affect ALK. I put this last, because it would take a big drop... like 50 or 60ppm.

EDIT: N/M on 4, CBO asked on the last page...

I do have a store I can go to but it’s an 80 mile round trip so it’s not easy to just drop in. The fact that the Hanna checker is very close on the calibration fluid and that it read the fresh mixed water at close to the parameters listed by the manufacturer (TLF) leads me to believe it’s not a testing error.

I use this

High Precision Hydrometer

Ensure that your equipment is reading correctly and your aquarium is at the right salinity with Tropic Marin's High Precision Hydrometer. Many tank inhabitants are sensitive even to minor changes of the water conditions. Unfortunately as we've all experienced, salinity reading equipment as...

www.bulkreefsupply.com

to double check my Refractometer and the Apex salinity probe. I’ll check it again in the morning when I turn off all the pumps to do my weekly water change. Salinity probe currently reads 35.6 and it’s usually a little high compared to the hydrometer. I just use that to monitor trends, not for an exact reading.

I use an RODI system with two prefilters, the membrane and then three DI stages, cation, anion and then a mixed bed. ICP testing showed no irregularities except for a little bit of silica. This same water mixed with salt tested at 8.3 dkh which is right where it’s supposed to be.

Nitrate was 8 on 12/29 and 4 today. A drop but not much of one. Nothing close to a 50-60ppm drop.

It‘s weird all right, I’m with you there.

 

[jcolliii]

Aliens? Kids? No, seriously, do you have kids? I caught kids of one of my wife's friends that were visiting elbow deep in my tank once... needless to say, they've never visited again.

You don't use conditioner after RODI (just to eliminate)?

What coral additives (not majors) do you use regularly?

Try this experiment. Take a good sized scoop of your sand in a clean new plastic disposable cup (at least 1/3 sand). carefully decant all of the water from the sand sample - really let it drain well. Fill the sample container nearly to the top with NSW and let it sit somewhere warmish - a sunny countertop or something like that so the temp stays up. Stir up the water every so often. After a day, 2 days, then a week check the alk. A few other folks have reported anomalous rising alk stopped after removing sand.

This, perhaps, might make sense. Detritus in the sand bed fuels the bacterial cycle - which is what we want. Bacterial respiration uses O2 and produces CO2. happy bacteria make a lot of CO2, which lowers pore water pH. Low pH can lead to aragonite dissolution, which could definitely raise alk in the pore water. That slowly infuses back into the aquarium. If you try that experiment, try not to drain away the organics in the sand bed... something to try anyhow.

EDIT: Aragonite dissolution would also explain elevated Ca...

 

[TheWB]

Aliens? Kids? No, seriously, do you have kids? I caught kids of one of my wife's friends that were visiting elbow deep in my tank once... needless to say, they've never visited again.

You don't use conditioner after RODI (just to eliminate)?

What coral additives (not majors) do you use regularly?

Try this experiment. Take a good sized scoop of your sand in a clean new plastic disposable cup (at least 1/3 sand). carefully decant all of the water from the sand sample - really let it drain well. Fill the sample container nearly to the top with NSW and let it sit somewhere warmish - a sunny countertop or something like that so the temp stays up. Stir up the water every so often. After a day, 2 days, then a week check the alk. A few other folks have reported anomalous rising alk stopped after removing sand.

This, perhaps, might make sense. Detritus in the sand bed fuels the bacterial cycle - which is what we want. Bacterial respiration uses O2 and produces CO2. happy bacteria make a lot of CO2, which lowers pore water pH. Low pH can lead to aragonite dissolution, which could definitely raise alk in the pore water. That slowly infuses back into the aquarium. If you try that experiment, try not to drain away the organics in the sand bed... something to try anyhow.

EDIT: Aragonite dissolution would also explain elevated Ca...

I have one 18 yo child still at home and there is noooooo way she has done anything to the tank. Can’t even get her to give the fish some food if I’m going to be gone all day.

That was a thoroughly well thought out and reasonable experiment which you have explained flawlessly, and you’ve given me way too much credit for being able to pull it off successfully lol. My sand is pretty dirty though, too bad there are no resources on this forum for rip cleaning sand beds…..
Maybe I need to look into a cucumber or a bunch of nassarius snails to get to the areas I can’t reach without tearing the tank apart.

 

[TheWB]

So this came today.

I’m not sure how I feel about it.
These are with my iPhone 13 Pro

and these are with my iPad Pro.

These were taken with all three filters attached in the order that is shown in the booklet. They all still seem very blue. I got this because my old filter set doesn’t fit on the iPhone 13 Pro camera. This might be going back.

 

[jcolliii]

Pics look pretty good to me! It is rally tough to make a camera see what your eyes do with LED lighting.

Hmm... they are all 52mm threaded, huh? I may have to look into these, all of my Nikon lenses are 52mm filter size.

 

[TheWB]

Pics look pretty good to me! It is rally tough to make a camera see what your eyes do with LED lighting.

Hmm... they are all 52mm threaded, huh? I may have to look into these, all of my Nikon lenses are 52mm filter size.

$35 on Amazon