A's 56g mixed reef
- Thread starter Adauqua
- Start date
A simple straightforward upgrade - nothing fancy except the tank 
.
Thanks everyone in here especially Will (@Turkeysammich) and Max (@popper) to make this happen.
Tank: Starfire glass 186 gallons - 60x26x27
Skimmer: 10 yrs old classic Reef Octopus 150-int - upgrade when needed.
Lights: old 2 x Smatfarms G5 + 36" led bar + 1 new Smatfarm G5. Will add extra led bar, Smatfarm or A8SE (XR30 knockoff) when needed
Power heads: reuse 2 x Jebao MLW-30. Consider to buy 2 x Jebao MLW-20 or MCP-150 (gyre crossflow)
Return pumps: reuse 1 x Jebao MDP-5000 + 1 new MDP-10000
All clean with citric acid
Making rodi, mixing salts in tank and ready for plumbing
.Thanks everyone in here especially Will (@Turkeysammich) and Max (@popper) to make this happen.
Tank: Starfire glass 186 gallons - 60x26x27
Skimmer: 10 yrs old classic Reef Octopus 150-int - upgrade when needed.
Lights: old 2 x Smatfarms G5 + 36" led bar + 1 new Smatfarm G5. Will add extra led bar, Smatfarm or A8SE (XR30 knockoff) when needed
Power heads: reuse 2 x Jebao MLW-30. Consider to buy 2 x Jebao MLW-20 or MCP-150 (gyre crossflow)
Return pumps: reuse 1 x Jebao MDP-5000 + 1 new MDP-10000
All clean with citric acid
Making rodi, mixing salts in tank and ready for plumbing
Yo !!! The big girl cleaned up well. She will treat you right.
Yo!!! I hope so when you clean/bath her.
You let this old girl got really dirty when you have a new sexy beautiful 8 footer in house.. hehehe
I'm planning to migrate the live stocks this afternoon; however, a quick check on Alk with hanna: current tank 8 vs 10.4 (freshly mixed IO salt)
What should I do? Slowly raise current tank to 10 in 2 days?
What a bummer, I should think about this before hand and use different salt.
What should I do? Slowly raise current tank to 10 in 2 days?
What a bummer, I should think about this before hand and use different salt.
Or should I use muriatic acid way following instruction from Randy Holmes-Farley
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reducing-alkalinity.339109/#post-4214464
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/reducing-alkalinity.339109/#post-4214464
Yeah, this probably is easiest way. Will use air pump to raise pH and add some NeoNitro to raise the nitrate to ~5ppm as well.
This is newer but ammonium bicarbonate might be a better option to raise nitrate and feed corals:
Read up on it if course before trying it out!
Is Ammonia Dosing a Possible New Way to Provide Coral Nutrition? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
Understanding Coral Diseases as well the nutritional needs of corals has been one of the shortcomings of science and the hobby since Jacques Cousteau introduced us to the coral reefs in the 1960s.
reefbuilders.com
Read up on it if course before trying it out!
popper
Supporting Member
To my knowledge, fish aren't sensitive to KH, ph is the main factor. I qt fish often and never measure KH. I just moved a pbt to 2 different qt tank twice in 3 weeks, and it's still eating and swimming fine. (Long story)
I use a dechlorinizer (forgot brand) one day before adding fish. I'll send a picture tonight.
I remembered reading about this couple months ago. Sanjay and his colleague tried and lose couple of fish but had good result with vivid color and grow.This is newer but ammonium bicarbonate might be a better option to raise nitrate and feed corals:
Is Ammonia Dosing a Possible New Way to Provide Coral Nutrition? | Reef Builders | The Reef and Saltwater Aquarium Blog
Understanding Coral Diseases as well the nutritional needs of corals has been one of the shortcomings of science and the hobby since Jacques Cousteau introduced us to the coral reefs in the 1960s.reefbuilders.com
Read up on it if course before trying it out!
Right now I just want to make new 190 gallons "dirtier" with nitrate to match the old water.
I'm worry more about corals.
popper
Supporting Member
I thought livestock refers to fish. use Dr Tim One and Only. Otherwise wait 1 month to safely transfer.
From old tank, I will move all live rocks, substrate, and 50 gallons of water over. Those should be ok to handle current corals + fish. Only new 180 gallons of water will change all the parameters especially alk/ph/temp/nitrate/phosphate (like 2-3x 100% water change) - so if I can match/get closed to old parameters, I can transfer right away.
That's so true. I'll add one more rockscape, re-arrange the current a little bit and leave the rest for fish. But everything has to wait for the old back and ass to heal first
Some rants on the hump day.
In previous system and current one, I always have to deal with 0 nitrate (dosing neonitro to keep it at 2-5ppm) and 0.2 - 0.6 phosphate.
I dosed Phosphate-E (lanthanum chloride) to bring phosphate down to 0.1 but it comes back up to the range after a few days so I stopped.
Not sure it's from the food or it's leaking back from rocks/substrate.
Currently feeding flakes, tdo pellets and homemade frozen medley but the fish consume most of the food (>90%)
RODI system is not perfect but ok with tds at 2.
A very simple sump/filter system with no sock/roller mat, only skimmer + live rocks/crushed corals.
Used to grow a lot of xenia in the sump from previous system which may mess up with nitrate but the current system's sump is empty.
In general no turf algae except brown/green film on front/back glass every 2-3 days, corals are ok (not dying) but not growing much which is fine.
Only their color is not vivid but not dull either.
Looking for way to improve the color -- so will try phosphate 0.1, nitrate at 5ppm, alk at 8, add more lights
In previous system and current one, I always have to deal with 0 nitrate (dosing neonitro to keep it at 2-5ppm) and 0.2 - 0.6 phosphate.
I dosed Phosphate-E (lanthanum chloride) to bring phosphate down to 0.1 but it comes back up to the range after a few days so I stopped.
Not sure it's from the food or it's leaking back from rocks/substrate.
Currently feeding flakes, tdo pellets and homemade frozen medley but the fish consume most of the food (>90%)
RODI system is not perfect but ok with tds at 2.
A very simple sump/filter system with no sock/roller mat, only skimmer + live rocks/crushed corals.
Used to grow a lot of xenia in the sump from previous system which may mess up with nitrate but the current system's sump is empty.
In general no turf algae except brown/green film on front/back glass every 2-3 days, corals are ok (not dying) but not growing much which is fine.
Only their color is not vivid but not dull either.
Looking for way to improve the color -- so will try phosphate 0.1, nitrate at 5ppm, alk at 8, add more lights
A lot of people have been using ammonium carbonate to provide an N source that's actually consumed more easily than nitrate by corals.
Of course look into it before going forward. But I'm considering it myself to balance out my N to P ratio as well.
Of course look into it before going forward. But I'm considering it myself to balance out my N to P ratio as well.
@Darkxerox - I will look into it. I think it’s ammonium bicarbonate (not carbonate)
Two weeks without light, flow, heater, fan… they look tedious but man they are standing strong. I wish my torches and acros as half strong as them
derek_SR
Supporting Member
It took several *weeks* of heavy, heavy lanthanum dosing to get my phosphate down from .65-.70. One day, all of a sudden, I had to cut my lanthanum dose down to about 5% of what it was. I can only attribute this to the rocks or substrate “leeching” so there may be truth to that but it takes some time to catch up and then stabilize at a much lower level of dosing (or none). Like longer than a few days - not saying I recommend doing this, just pointing it out.
I feed an embarrassing amount of food (frozen, nori, and pellets) and still am maintaining the very low level of lanthanum to keep po4 around .15-.2. I suspect your po4 is not being stubborn due to feedings but rather this leeching phenomenon.