Max’s 30 gal
- Thread starter max_nano
- Start date
Coral reefer
Past President
.05 should be great with low nitrate. I agree on removing it tho. Just keep an eye on how quick it goes up
max_nano
Supporting Member
Yes, and I am going to try the tropic marine PN balance which is their more mild kelp based carbon dosing which should help keep the phosphates down while I control nitrates with dosing them. It seemed to have dropped fairly fast and I don’t want to risk 0 phosphate since that was brutal to me in the Red Sea tank, it really hurt my lps
ofzakaria
Guest
I second that.
With low po4 u want low no3. Careful do jot dose no3 and bring value up while po4 still low..u might deal with cyano.
max_nano
Supporting Member
I turned the UV off a few days ago and haven’t seen any Dino’s return so hopefully the increased nitrates from 0 to 0 did the trick...lol
I have taken the GFO out and will test again once it is closer to the time I tested yesterday in order to have a 24hr change.
everything in the tank is looking good besides the hammer that seems pissed off still, I’m thinking I may have bother it mid poop and stressed it out by dipping in revive then in flatworm exit, but I was being cautious. I did turn the maximum flow down so the random pattern can’t peak as high and lowered the minimum to still maintain a wide enough band for some randomness. Currently the Nero is set to do high variance random flow between 20-75% with a 5 minute period of on/off pulsing to 100% in order to consolidate detritus for removal.
I was bad and kept bidding on things on eBay so I have a bunch of new stuff coming in tomorrow:
6 heads of torches
4 baby trachy
1 Goniopora
1 strawberry shortcake
And a partridge in a pear tree
I have taken the GFO out and will test again once it is closer to the time I tested yesterday in order to have a 24hr change.
everything in the tank is looking good besides the hammer that seems pissed off still, I’m thinking I may have bother it mid poop and stressed it out by dipping in revive then in flatworm exit, but I was being cautious. I did turn the maximum flow down so the random pattern can’t peak as high and lowered the minimum to still maintain a wide enough band for some randomness. Currently the Nero is set to do high variance random flow between 20-75% with a 5 minute period of on/off pulsing to 100% in order to consolidate detritus for removal.
I was bad and kept bidding on things on eBay so I have a bunch of new stuff coming in tomorrow:
6 heads of torches
4 baby trachy
1 Goniopora
1 strawberry shortcake
And a partridge in a pear tree
Coral reefer
Past President
Which eBay vendor?
max_nano
Supporting Member
Unique corals for the Goni and strawberry shortcake
Endeavor aquatics for the rest, scary low prices but solid reviews so I’m optimistic
@Mike Yasin I used that same calculator. I followed the suggestions from telegraham on YouTube which recommended 44.2g of sodium nitrate for 1L of water to replicate neonitros strength. I was lazy and my scale isn’t extremely accurate so I did 10g in 250mL and dosed 1mL and saw no change, then dosed 2mL and am waiting to test. I’m not sure how to handle the result from the calculator though and really am just planning on staying consistent with my ratios when making more and will dose based on the test results I get. For now I’m dosing manually but will get it on the doser so I can spread it out 1mL at a time
Mike Yasin
Guest
Thanks - Yeah, I have no experience with it, and it could be a batch/brand thing, too. I'll cut my solution by 20% and retest via dilution to see if I get closer to 2ppm/ml. I'll experiment with it and likely with different batches if I keep up the home-mixed process. I like to calculate, tinker and tweak, but it does make the case for spending up and buying a premixed solution if you trust it.
max_nano
Supporting Member
Yes, I wasn’t sure if it would be the right solution for my problem which is why I went diy. I got 100g Of food grade sodium nitrate for $9 shipped which can make me 2.5L of dosing solution which would be about $50 from brightwell. I might just get the neonitro when I eventually run out, but the $9 I got should cover me for a few years of dosing with my little tank
Mike Yasin
Guest
I have something similar from Amazon-- I'll test to see if the ppm per gram of this stuff is consistent across batches- proabaly the best way to go, but I just went by the calc and some conversion. Oh well, at least I think I know what this stuff mixes to... definitely maybe.
max_nano
Supporting Member
Nitrates: 0
Phosphate: 0.05ppm
Alk: 7.5
going to up the dose to 3mL nitrates and stick with that for a bit longer before increasing dosage again.
I am feeding about 5mL oyster feast every night and then 2x a day I feed 10mL of algae barns phytoplankton, a little TDO, and a little bit of arctic pods for the fish. The two clowns haven’t really been going for the RN Arctic pods so I might let them warm up a bit in some tank water instead of pouring from the cold bottle in case they don’t like the cool food. That feels like a lot for the tank so I’m unsure how I still have unmeasurable nitrates.
Only filtration is the rock, and a Floss pad in the overflow drain area. I do tend to clean the detritus out frequently by sucking it out with a turkey baster and spraying it in the filter pad, I’m trying to limit that and will let the filter pad get really gnarly this time to see if it helps. But not cleaning has me feeling like Jacques from Finding Nemo.
Phosphate: 0.05ppm
Alk: 7.5
going to up the dose to 3mL nitrates and stick with that for a bit longer before increasing dosage again.
I am feeding about 5mL oyster feast every night and then 2x a day I feed 10mL of algae barns phytoplankton, a little TDO, and a little bit of arctic pods for the fish. The two clowns haven’t really been going for the RN Arctic pods so I might let them warm up a bit in some tank water instead of pouring from the cold bottle in case they don’t like the cool food. That feels like a lot for the tank so I’m unsure how I still have unmeasurable nitrates.
Only filtration is the rock, and a Floss pad in the overflow drain area. I do tend to clean the detritus out frequently by sucking it out with a turkey baster and spraying it in the filter pad, I’m trying to limit that and will let the filter pad get really gnarly this time to see if it helps. But not cleaning has me feeling like Jacques from Finding Nemo.
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max_nano
Supporting Member
Yeah that’s why I ended up taking it out. I don’t want it to bottom out too.
I’ll probably keep mine fairly low but am hoping to get them above 0. I’ll have to see how it does as it goes up
max_nano
Supporting Member
It’s not 100% but it has gotten better so I’m not sure what the issue was. I think meshmez May have gotten it right with the pooping, it would make since with the increased feeding I’ve been doing.
but it also looks like it maybe is splitting, but based on the 3 mouths all on one base I had thought this was a wall so it shouldn’t split. I moved my rocks around so this gets some lower flow and I’ll wait to see how it continues to recover. I’ll post a pic when lights are on
max_nano
Supporting Member
Here’s what the hammer is looking like today. Still a weird hole in the middle. Maybe this isn’t a wall and the 3 mouths are splitting to 3 heads causing a hole in the middle. I’ll go with that optimistic outlook 
And then this is the new rock work, I wanted to see the acros on the rack from the front panel so I moved taller structures to the side and even put some of them on their side or leaning over for a more natural look than the stacked rocks gave me. Once coralline covers the seams between the rocks it’ll be better
And then this is the new rock work, I wanted to see the acros on the rack from the front panel so I moved taller structures to the side and even put some of them on their side or leaning over for a more natural look than the stacked rocks gave me. Once coralline covers the seams between the rocks it’ll be better
Coral reefer
Past President
I’ve Got 6 Millie’s coming today from battle corals!