280g FOWLR Tank Diary

[rcreations]

They're cool fish as long as you don't mind the occasional sand storm.

 

[kylev]

the occasional sand storm is no problem
I tested the Qt tonight and results are
Specific gravity 1.026
Am 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 20
PH 8.4
So as of now I'm going to see how stable this stays or if a few w/c's can lower the nitrates and after about 3-4 days I might think about getting some clowns or the hippo to QT???
I also got a phone call today from the "geeky" website i bought the lights from and can say I'm very happy with them. I got 5% off for buying two light fixtures, plus they had two units that as they classified had very minor scratches that were pretty un noticalbe on top of them by the fan on one and by the switches on the other, and if I bought them i'd save $250. Plus if i wasnt happy they would take them back, so I was all for that and now got about $330 bucks off my light purchase. Plus they come with the same test procedure and warranty as the factory new ones

 

[rcreations]

Looks like you're ready. You can try to ghost feed, then the next day check to see if the ammonia and nitrites are still at zero, then do a water change and you can add fish to the QT.

 

[kylev]

sweet deal thats what I'll do, cant wait to have something swiming in a tank finally

 

[kylev]

Whats a good number of peppermint shrimp for my tank? I love shrimp so I'd like as many as it could handle and I'm going to be making an order on SWF shortly. I'd throw a couple in the sump as well
Would like to buy a couple mushrooms, good or bad idea???
And I was thinking about grabbing a cheaper sponge to let grow and make for some happy angels when they get introduced. Is it to early for my tank to support it?

 

[levinjac]

5 maybe

 

[rcreations]

Peppermint shrimp don't survive with my Queen Angel even for 10 minutes. I added about 5 in and they were gone, fast! The fish must know the difference between peppermint shrimp and cleaner shrimp because they don't bother the cleaners and I've had one for close to 3 years now. They must know that cleaners are benficial, while the others are snacks. lol
Mushrooms seem to be a good coral that the fish don't bother, so that's a pretty safe bet.
The sponge is good too. I throw one in once every few months for the queen to munch on.

 

[kylev]

Thanks for the advice, I think i will just get 2 peppermints to put into the sump

 

[kylev]

Might be a gamble on the QT but the order doesnt arrive till next saturday since I cant sit home from work waiting for it, but is as follows
-5 peppermint shrimp (cost made for free shipping so o well if some get chowed on later down the road)
-Copepods
-Orange ball sponge
-Yuma
-umbrella mushroom
-assorted mushroom
-fire shrimp (only 20 bucks, sweet deal)
-2 true perculas wild from PNG-hoping for some good coloration
-10#'s of ls to seed the refugium sand

 

[kylev]

Any recommendations on what I should be dosing the tank with?

 

[meowzer]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kylev http:///forum/thread/374812/280g-fowlr-tank-diary/200#post_3317793
Any recommendations on what I should be dosing the tank with?
Nothing.....regular water changes should give you all you need

 

[kylev]

Thanks meozwer, thats the kind of answer I like

 

[rcreations]

I find that in my tank, even with 15% weekly water changes, the alkalinity drops slightly every week. Not a whole lot, but I keep on top of it with weekly doses of Kent Superbuffer dKH. One tablespoon weekly keeps the alkalinity between 9 and 10. That's the only thing I dose with, but each tank is different. Best thing to do is start out with just water changes, check your levels weekly and go from there.

 

[kylev]

Just did some more testing and
Calcium 480ppm
Phosphates 0
Alk 10 dkh
other than that everyone else stayed the same
One problem i did find is that I just got my tds meter in and my R/O tested at 100 which didnt make me to happy. Its an aqua fx r/o unit, I got it from my brother not completely sure on the exact model but it is a 4 stage. I changed out the filters right before I started using it about a couple months. The drain line and the house water both tested at around 100ppm so it's seeming to me like the r/o unit isn't doing its job. Any recommenations on what to do or a different ro/di unit to purchase for a good price?

 

[kylev]

How many hours a day should I leave the lights on the refugium, just when the main tanks are off or would it benefit them to be on all the time to help the cheato grow?

 

[flower]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Kylev http:///forum/thread/374812/280g-fowlr-tank-diary/200#post_3318001
How many hours a day should I leave the lights on the refugium?

I read to keep refugium lights on whenever your main lights are off. That will help keep the PH regulated too.

 

[kylev]

Thanks flower just edited my post while you were posting.

 

[kylev]

When I get my new lights here I was thinking about setting them to all run for about 9 hours a day then just the actinics for an hour before and an hour after. Does this sound ok?

 

[kylev]

I added a ricordea and a couple standard mushrooms on saturday. The ricrodea seems to be doing great but the mushrooms dont seem to be opening up, does anyone have any ideas? All water parameters have been recently tested and are posted above.

 

[kylev]

after reading around I ended up buying the 75gpd 5 stage ocean reef +1 RO/DI system from some filters guys that I had read about