Dmitri's 1000 gal DT journey!
- Thread starter Dmitri
- Start date
I had a few upgrade over last few weeks that I wanted to share.
First Tank just turned 7 months old, maturing well. ORP has been rising, ph has been steady and temperature well controlled
I have been trying to slowly raise my alk from 8 to 9 dkh over a period of one month. Testing every 3 days.
Nitrates have been around 10ppm mark
(I’m testing twice per week up from once a week, to make sure it’s steady)
Phosphates been steady at 0.04ppm
(Testing once a week)
Calcium I haven’t tested in over a month. Guessing it’s still at 500 mark, being that I’m running cal reactor.
Magnesium I haven’t tested in a month as well, same reason as Cal. Probably 1600 mark.
Reefbot has been working well. I have relocated to its new place where its been connected to permanent drain. Some additional plumbing needed to be done.
Ive got some new pets: gem / naso and really scopas tang (it has interesting coloration, more which than average scopas)
All three are in QT, eating well.
I’m waiting to get copperband butterfly fish and a unicorn tang. Then I’ll put them all in together into main display and cross my fingers.
I have added automatic neck cleaner for the slimmer and next need to plumb it to the drain- waste for automatic wash down system
I started to grow phytoplankton but first batch did not do well. I’m guessing it’s because either jug wasn’t sterilized. I’m looking to restart with a new culture in the next few days.
First Tank just turned 7 months old, maturing well. ORP has been rising, ph has been steady and temperature well controlled
I have been trying to slowly raise my alk from 8 to 9 dkh over a period of one month. Testing every 3 days.
Nitrates have been around 10ppm mark
(I’m testing twice per week up from once a week, to make sure it’s steady)
Phosphates been steady at 0.04ppm
(Testing once a week)
Calcium I haven’t tested in over a month. Guessing it’s still at 500 mark, being that I’m running cal reactor.
Magnesium I haven’t tested in a month as well, same reason as Cal. Probably 1600 mark.
Reefbot has been working well. I have relocated to its new place where its been connected to permanent drain. Some additional plumbing needed to be done.
Ive got some new pets: gem / naso and really scopas tang (it has interesting coloration, more which than average scopas)
All three are in QT, eating well.
I’m waiting to get copperband butterfly fish and a unicorn tang. Then I’ll put them all in together into main display and cross my fingers.
I have added automatic neck cleaner for the slimmer and next need to plumb it to the drain- waste for automatic wash down system
I started to grow phytoplankton but first batch did not do well. I’m guessing it’s because either jug wasn’t sterilized. I’m looking to restart with a new culture in the next few days.
Yesterday I was cleaning but cup with automatic wash down. The process is I turn on freshwater valve and it just drains all the stuff out of the cup into the drain. However I decided to close the drain just so I can fill it up a bit and then flush it all down. So I set down and dose off staring at the tank, few minutes later I heard water sound overflowing my slimmer....
Im not really sure how much fresh water was dumped into the system but I drained everything down quickly
My ATO did not set off sound so it’s definitely less than 5 gallons.
Having 1500 gallons of system volume definitely helps but I’m still worried I’m about negative affects of water with chlorine and 40-50 tds
Here is a CO2 scrubber I’ve been running
Im not really sure how much fresh water was dumped into the system but I drained everything down quickly
My ATO did not set off sound so it’s definitely less than 5 gallons.
Having 1500 gallons of system volume definitely helps but I’m still worried I’m about negative affects of water with chlorine and 40-50 tds
Here is a CO2 scrubber I’ve been running
Small update, two days ago I was refilling calcium reactor right around 6 months mark. After cleaning and loading new media, I found a small leak. It was coming from the fitting of calcium reactor. Yesterday I had to reseal it with primmer and pvc cement. That fixed the leak.
Here is my feeding routine:
I have automatic feeder doing hourly pellets 8 times a day, every hour and a half from 9 am. (I’m thinking adding another one to do same in a different area of the tank)
I’m also thinking of building some acrylic holder that I can hang these feeder above the tank.
Then I feed them 2-3 sheets of nori daily.
Finally evening time I feed BRS reef chilly to the system. About 2-4 inches square frozen peace that I premix with garlic and some reef roids.
Here is a short video of feeding tangs some nori.
I have automatic feeder doing hourly pellets 8 times a day, every hour and a half from 9 am. (I’m thinking adding another one to do same in a different area of the tank)
I’m also thinking of building some acrylic holder that I can hang these feeder above the tank.
Then I feed them 2-3 sheets of nori daily.
Finally evening time I feed BRS reef chilly to the system. About 2-4 inches square frozen peace that I premix with garlic and some reef roids.
Here is a short video of feeding tangs some nori.
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Absolutely amazing! Love this tank and what a wonderful job you’ve done!
Thanks for tagging along @sidvicious ! I look forward to this think to grow.
lately I’ve been having challenges with some new frags fading out. I think it’s because of transition from one system to another.
I gotta figure out a better way of acclimating new frags.
yesterday I put together 65 gallon separate system that I would be doing full triton method on. For now it will be anemones tank.
I need to get rid of some of them, too many bubble tips and even rainbow one split in the main display. (I’m keeping a close eye on it)
Here is a small update and question for anyone who may know: I have recently changed media in calcium reactor. I’m using 3x 1gal CaribSea -ARM REACTOR MEDIA - EXTRA COARSE and
Two Little Fishies
1KG REMAG - MAGNESIUM MEDIA FOR CALCIUM REACTORS. Ever since I changed media, I’m struggling keeping up with alkalinity. At this point I have open reactor water running through it at maximum drop rate and alkalinity is 7.8
My goal it to get it up to 8.5 maybe 9
I was wondering, if I get some urchins to get rid of coraline algae, would that help increase alkalinity? Has anyone tried that before?
I really don’t want to set up another calcium reactor but if this doesn’t work I may have no choice.
Two Little Fishies
1KG REMAG - MAGNESIUM MEDIA FOR CALCIUM REACTORS. Ever since I changed media, I’m struggling keeping up with alkalinity. At this point I have open reactor water running through it at maximum drop rate and alkalinity is 7.8
My goal it to get it up to 8.5 maybe 9
I was wondering, if I get some urchins to get rid of coraline algae, would that help increase alkalinity? Has anyone tried that before?
I really don’t want to set up another calcium reactor but if this doesn’t work I may have no choice.
I was using the exact same media in a Geo 618 and I had a smaller chamber with extra fine media. I didn't have an issue keeping my Alk above 8.5 but I wasn't using it as the sole component for Alk & Cal, I had a kalk reactor running with a DOS pump putting exact metered amounts which got me up to 9dkh. That really helped with getting the system pH up.
I've seen conflicting recommendations with regard to the type of media to use. I too have seen the most popular recommendation to use what we did but also several saying to use fine media in the main chamber too. It does make sense that the finer media has a lot more surface area.
I'd ask you, what is your flow rate for the effluent and what is the pH you've set the reactor to? Have you tested the effluent to see what's in it?
I've seen conflicting recommendations with regard to the type of media to use. I too have seen the most popular recommendation to use what we did but also several saying to use fine media in the main chamber too. It does make sense that the finer media has a lot more surface area.
I'd ask you, what is your flow rate for the effluent and what is the pH you've set the reactor to? Have you tested the effluent to see what's in it?
I haven’t tested that water out of calcium reactor yet. I will do it tonight though.
Ph is between 6.5-6.75
I kinda wish I went with smaller media now.
Tightening the pH range will help. Try 6.6-6.65.
That will give you some room to move down and keep the rate the media dissolves more even.
Are you using a peristialic pump for the effluent?
If so how many ml/min?
no
No pump, just manual valve which is completely open now. I’m guess it’s dripping somewhere in the range of 10 gallons per hour. I will test it tomorrow.
I think that flow rate is crazy high! Is the reactor able to get the pH in range with that much flow running through it?
See what I just said in this post. It's relevant.
Calcium reactor question.
How do you know your Co2 is gassing off? My Geo CR612 Calcium Reactor (or one close to it) is keeping bubbles in it all the time. My controller is cutting off the Co2 at 6.30. My question is how long does it take for the C02 to gas off?
atlantareefclub.org
Ya ph is stable but I think I’m at its limit for how much ALK it can put out with this large type of media.I think that flow rate is crazy high! Is the reactor able to get the pH in range with that much flow running through it?
See what I just said in this post. It's relevant.
Calcium reactor question.
How do you know your Co2 is gassing off? My Geo CR612 Calcium Reactor (or one close to it) is keeping bubbles in it all the time. My controller is cutting off the Co2 at 6.30. My question is how long does it take for the C02 to gas off?
Adam, what do you think of urchin idea to get rid of coroline algae. Think it will help raise Alkalinity?
Urchins are indiscriminate but they will eat what they have a taste for. If they're not in the mood for coraline and there's something else that's what they'll eat. When it is coraline they will leave bare swaths striped down to the rock. You'd need several with a tank your size. Also if a coral is not secured good they will knock it over. In the case of pincushions, they will pickup anything not glued down and carry it all over the tank. Often depositing it somewhere unseen or hard to reach. Sucks when it's a high dollar frag. If you had a cheap birdsnest frag sitting next to a $200 acro frag which one do you think will disappear? lol, have fun hunting for that acro...
You have plenty of room to lower the pH in the reactor still. Do you know what the tanks Alk demand is? You'll also need to know the Alk of the effluent to know what it's putting in the system.
There are many ways to skin this cat. Regardless I think that flow rate is quite high. If it's really 10gal/hr that's 631ml/min. I'd be interested to see what the effluent Alk is at this rate and what it is at a quarter that rate, maybe even 1/6th of that rate. It would take a few days to get those test results because you'd need a day to let things settle out in the reactor after making a change. Once you know what the demand of the tank is you'll know what you need to replace. Then it's what is the reactor putting out and making adjustments as needed. The thread from acroholic I linked has a lot of good info in it. So do those BRS videos.
Have you considered using Kalk at all? I'm planning on using this method, or possibly a version of it, when my new system is ready.
The Kalk / Calc Combo Method
By Bruce York I developed the Kalk / Calc Combo Method of maintaining stable water parameters in my reef aquarium over a 6 year period from 2008 to 2014. At
reefs.com
I’ve got some updates to share.
1st I have installed kalkwasser reactor and doing small doses to start of 200ml 16 times per day
I may increase it later on as I’m monitoring alkalinity.
I have not changed calcium reactor flow so this is just a boost. So far alkalinity is at 8.5-8.6
Trying to get to 9 at some point.
PH went up by about 0.02 and peaks at 8.12
kalk reactor hold 3 gallons of water where I put 1.5 cups of media. I’m hoping that mixer can handle this where I won’t have to redo it. My first time I put 2.5 cups and magnetic stirrer couldn’t handle it.
My idea behind 1.5 cups is that it would last me 2 weeks before I have to mix more.
2nd update, I finally added copperband to the system after month of QT. At first, powderblue was a bully for a day or so. Now everything seem to be in order and happy fishes
(Hard to get good picture, this guy moves so fast)
Here is a video I just did with new macro lenses from icecap. I’m enjoying it. Good product
1st I have installed kalkwasser reactor and doing small doses to start of 200ml 16 times per day
I may increase it later on as I’m monitoring alkalinity.
I have not changed calcium reactor flow so this is just a boost. So far alkalinity is at 8.5-8.6
Trying to get to 9 at some point.
PH went up by about 0.02 and peaks at 8.12
kalk reactor hold 3 gallons of water where I put 1.5 cups of media. I’m hoping that mixer can handle this where I won’t have to redo it. My first time I put 2.5 cups and magnetic stirrer couldn’t handle it.
My idea behind 1.5 cups is that it would last me 2 weeks before I have to mix more.
2nd update, I finally added copperband to the system after month of QT. At first, powderblue was a bully for a day or so. Now everything seem to be in order and happy fishes
(Hard to get good picture, this guy moves so fast)
Here is a video I just did with new macro lenses from icecap. I’m enjoying it. Good product
