Nick's 75 Gallon Mixed Reef Journal

[nkd5024]

I got the vitamin C dosing in the mail today and started with a morning and afternoon dose of roughly an 1/8 teaspoon which according to the calculator that Steph had on her Vit. C dosing thread will result in around 1.5 ppm.
I am planning to dose the same tomorrow and the next day then increase the dosage by .5 ppm every two days to result in a final concentration of 5ppm.
Depending on how my tank looks and the nitrate/phosphate levels I may decide to increase or decrease the final dosage.

I got the Hanna Phosphate and Alkalinity checker photometers for my birthday!
I am very excited to see how these work!

I will update if I notice anything different from the Vit. C dosing.
By the way I also just started dosing E.S.V. B-ionic Calcium/Alkalinity 2-part supplements, so I am hoping within the next few weeks to months my tank starts taking off.

Nick D.

 

[nkd5024]

So today is the third day dosing Vitamin C.
I am dosing 1/4 teaspoon twice daily right now which bring the concentration to 3ppm.
I haven't noticed anything much different except that the water is VERY clear.
I haven't noticed my skimmer pulling anything extra out like I heard it does.
Although I did start wet skimming at about the same time and even with the larger amount of liquid being removed it is still pretty dark.
I am very excited to see how things are going in a week or two.

Nick D.

 

[-Nemo-]

Following

 

[nkd5024]

I got my salifert Nitrate test kit today as well as the Hanna Phosphate and Alkalinity Checkers!
I also got a salifert Alkalinity test that I thought I ordered with the other three last week, but it didn't come so I figured I forgot to put it in my cart.
So after a bunch of testing here are my parameters,

S.G. - 1.025 (Refractometer)
pH - 8.1 (Salifert)
Nitrate - Undetectable (Salifert)
Phosphate - 0.02 ppm (Hanna Checker)
Alkalinity - 9.3dkh (Hanna Checker) 9dkh (Salifert)
Calcium - 450 (Salifert)
Magnesium - 1350 (Salifert)

I finally have reliable test kits and don't have to waste my time with the API test kits.
I must admit that salifert makes very good tests, although I must say that I am a bit disappointed in their pH and Nitrate tests.
The pH color scale they have goes from 7.7 to 8.0 to 8.3 to 8.6.
I personally would like to know exactly what my pH is down to at least a 0.1 accuracy.
The Nitrate test seems stupid as they have you using 1ml of water for the test which makes it almost impossible to use the test for low range.
I think my next item is a pH monitor, I just don't like knowing that my pH is somewhere around 8.0 or 8.3...

Today is day five of the vitamin C dosing and I am up to adding a 1/4 teaspoon twice daily.
The tank water is very clear and I have noticed the bit of hair algae I had from when I first setup the tank is slowly dying off!
I am not sure whether to attribute the low nitrate and phosphate levels to the vitamin C dosing or the fact that I don't have any fish as of yet so I don't feed, plus run GFO and a good deal of macro.

I think I will add the rest of my live rock to the tank this weekend as it has now been cycling for around 3 months.
I currently have around 50 lbs of rock in the tank and I should have around 50 or 60 more.
I haven't decided how I want to aquascaping to look like yet although I'm not a fan of TONS of live rock so I'm sure some with go into the sump.

My main issue with the tank right now is temperature swings.
They are causing my corals to freak out which may be because most of them are still frag sized and not settled into the tank yet.
During the day I run my AC all day on high, which keeps the tank around 81F at the most.
At night I turn off the AC and the tank usually gets down to 76F by morning.
I decided the best idea for now would be to add a heater to the tank that is only running at night when the MH are off.
I just got the heater so I'll note how that works out in my next post.
I came home today though to find my tank at 87F! (Theres no smily for "gun to head")
This was because I thought I would be home before the lights came on, to turn on the AC.
I got home 4 hours after the light came on and I have a suspicion that I had the heater on a bit to high over night as well.
I never realized how much temperature swings can #101## off your whole tank!

If anyone has any thoughts on the temp issue please let me know.
Thanks,
Nick D.

 

[-Nemo-]

Having a similar problem with my tank now, came home to 86F... it's been so cold here up until now I forgot all about how bad the heat can be.

I agree that having the heater on at night to get the tank stable at maybe 78F, might be best. Other than the AC, I'd just recommend some good old fashion ice in a bag floating in the sump... I manage to get my tank down a couple degrees during the day that way changing the ice as needed.

 

[nkd5024]

Steph,

The ice method is very useful and I use it whenever my temp gets way to high although I don't like relying on it b/c if I leave I can't replace the ice.
I am experimenting with fans right now.

I have a large powerful fan that I have on my JBJ K2 Viper MH light I was running on my quarantine.
I put it on the side of my tank to increase evaporation last night to get the temp down and it works very well.
I am currently running the fan pointed at the MH pendants to try and prevent the heat from warming the tank as much.

I need to find a way to separate the fan from the Metal Halide light on the Viper, or else find an equally powerful fan for cheap.
I few of my corals are PISSED about the 87F yesterday.
I had to frag a few sps to try and save them from RTN.

I think I am going to put a timer on my AC so it automatically turns off an hour or so after the lights go on and then turn on when the light do.
Nemo, I was wondering what you were running your nitrates and phosphates at?
My phosphate is too low but I don't know about the nitrates.

Nick D.

 

[-Nemo-]

Oh forgot about my fan. I've got a large clip on that sits on my sump. Definitely a good one. We don't use AC here, so at least you've got that

What do you mean what i'm running my nitRATes and phos at? Both are currently still undetectable.

 

[nkd5024]

You don't have an AC in your house/apartment? How do you live in the summer?

I have been reading about this and been told by a very trustworthy reefer that it is not good to have literally 0ppm nitrates or phosphates as all corals do need a very small amount.
He has told me that keeping your phosphates between 0.02 and 0.05 is ideal.
But then again he has an SPS dominated tank, so I probably matters a lot more for him.
He said once his phosphates get above 0.05 the colors of his acro's turn a lighter color.

He said the same thing about nitrates but I am not sure what he said he likes to keep it at.

What do you think about this?

Nick D.

 

[-Nemo-]

I only know from personal experience. I've had undetectable nitRATes and phosphates for over a year now, maybe two, and have seen no negative effects to any of my corals.

No AC has made me a tough cookie

 

[nkd5024]

Steph,

haha you seem like a really tough girl....
It doesn't get really hot in the summer though, or is it pretty nice up there in the summer?

Undetectable by a reagent test kit doesn't mean you have 0ppm, it just means the level is low enough that the test can't show you that low range.
Personally the only way I'd believe that I had 0 ppm is if I used a really quality electronic tester or some advanced testing techniques.
I would think that undetectable by salifert tests would mean at the minimum less than 1ppm.

Nick D.

 

[nkd5024]

So I was gone for the weekend, I went to visit the National Aquarium in Baltimore.
I had a very good time although I was a little disappointed that there was only two tank with live coral in them.
I was explaining a lot of things to my brother and parents while I was there and it seemed like I was giving a private tour as a few people followed us to hear what I had to say and some of the employees seemed surprised that I knew so much about everything there.

So I got back to my place today and my tank was just fine.
The large fan I added to blow the heat away from my Metal Halides it working wonders and my temperature doesn't stray from 80F!
The only problem I have now is that when I leave for the weekends the tank gets a little cooler than I'd like as I can't hook up my AC to a timer since the plug isn't normal.
I have to go to Lowes or Home Depot and see if they have a converter, otherwise I have to turn the AC on and off when the lights go on and off each day.

I added a pretty large turbo snail, 3 Nassarius snails, and a full grown and 3 baby sized Stomatella snails about 5 days ago.
I noticed that the Turbo snail I added was eating the hair algae that I had left over from when I first started the tank.
When I came home today he has finished off all the algae on the right side of the tank and is now starting on the left side!
I am very happy at how well things are going once I started the vitamin C dosing, Calcium/Alkalinity dosing, and fixed my temperature fluctuations.
All the corals look much happier and have their polyps open a lot more often.
Their colors even seems to brightening/darkening.

I am now dosing around 1/4 teaspoon twice a day and every so often I add a bit more to that.
I will check my parameters tomorrow and post them.
My Dad is coming up tomorrow with his very nice camera to take pictures of my tank, so you guys can finally see some pictures!

See you guys tomorrow,
Nick D.

 

[seffieuk]

My Dad is coming up tomorrow with his very nice camera to take pictures of my tank, so you guys can finally see some pictures!

See you guys tomorrow,
Nick D.

Look forward to it

 

[nkd5024]

Sorry about promising pictures and then always forgetting to take them.
I will try to remember to pick up my dad's camera when I stop back home tomorrow.
I have a job interview tomorrow for a LFS, I am very excited at a chance to work in the hobby for a job.

My tank's stats have been in the ideal range now for a little over a month and I am starting to see some growth on some of my corals, which the others seem to take a while to "recover" from the bad water quality that they were exposed to while I was holding them in a nano tank when I was taking down my old 30 gallon and replacing with the new 75 gallon. Some of these corals are starting to grow new polyps which I am very happy to see, but a few of them seem to be in a state of neither healthy or unhealthy but they don't get worse or better.
I don't really know what to do about these few corals so if any of you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated.

I got a few new SPS corals, a tri-color acropora, a reverse sunset montipora which I have to say is one of my favorite corals of all time, the colors are amazing.
I also got a Montipora Setosa and a purple encrusting montipora with brownish polyps.
I am hoping the purple montiporas polyps with color up but the tissue is as purple as purple gets.

I also started dosing Red Sea's coral nutrient program, the reef concentrated food source and amino acids/vitamins.
The idea behind it apparently is that the guys at Red Sea extracted all the good stuff (nutrients) out of common reef foods and put them into a liquid that corals can absorb.
I will give it a month or two and then give you guys a review of how I like it and whether I noticed any benefits.

I also started to dose Oyster Feast for the SPS corals.
My next thing I need to do is to replace my Metal Halide bulbs.
I bought them used with the pendants and now they are around 9 months old so I think its a little over due.
I also need to get some T5 actinic supplement lighting.


Nick D.

 

[-Nemo-]

nick,
i want my pictures!!
are you still dosing vit. C as well?
P.s. Get ati blue plus instead of actinics... You won't regret it!

 

[seffieuk]

Nick, you cant dose vit c and the red sea programme together, you aren't are you?