30 Gallon SPS Reef Build

[snakeblitz33]

Supposed to wait until the water is clear in the middle... and all of the white sediment is on the bottom. That usually takes overnight. Your container should also be sealed while it is settling. Atmospheric CO2 precipitates calcium in the mixture - so limiting the amount of CO2 that comes in contact with the surface of the water will ensure that you will be getting an adequate amount of calcium being dripped into the tank. Also, there should be a "film" on top of the water when you open the container - do not break the surface of the film unless you are inserting an airline tube into it.
Saran Wrap and rubberbands are great tools to get an air tight (relatively) seal around a container that you have kalk settling down in.

 

[lubeck]

Right most of what you listed I'm doing. However when reading advanced aquarium on kalk I read that the stuff on the bottom won't hurt if it goes in the tank as long as it doesn't settle on the coral. Also I have an airtight screw cap on water container and drilled a hole in the cap for the tubing to fit snug in.
On another note. I'm noticing my clam is pinching and not sure if its from the low alk. I also noticed that my cheato is dying since my battle with HA. I'm not going to dose with algaefix any more even though The HA isn't gone yet. I also added GFO in efforts to get rid of excess nutrients. This is frustrating.

 

[snakeblitz33]

Algaefix and GFO is killing the chaeto... obviously.
Good to know about your kalk setup.
I guess you'll either have to set up a two part doser or a calcium reactor then, if your calcium and alkalinity demands are actually that high.

 

[lubeck]

I'm too far in to get a calcium reactor now. My funds are spent. I will just need to go buy two more dosing pumps.
I'm worried about my clam. I hope it pulls through. I'm not sure what's going on. I still haven't resolved the HA problem and now my parameters are off. Lets hope I get it together before I go out of town for the holidays

 

[snakeblitz33]

Crossing my fingers!

 

[geoj]

Why do I need a kalk stirrer? I bought a 5 gal container with tight fitting lid. Added 10 tsp of kalk and poured 5 gal of water in and shook it for 10 seconds. Let it set for an hour and Lu my tube in half way. What's the stirrer for?
The thing is my ph is not going up like I thought it would when adding kalk. After reading my apex it looks like just before lights out its at 8.09 and goes as low over night to 7.84.
I will prob end up adding a very small amount of vinegar to be able to add more kalk. The big question is, which I haven't tested for yet, is to see if the kalk is holding my calcium and alk steady. I will test them tomorrow.All of my top off is with kalk mix. I use 2 heaping plastic spoonfuls of kalk per gallon of top off water. I don't really think I need to do so, but I clean out the unmixed kalk when I feel that I am not getting the same bang out of the mix. So if all of your top off is not mixed with kalk try that and if you are using less then 2 table spoons per gallon up it.

 

[lubeck]

Yes all my top off is kalk. My 2 part I was using over 60ml of each per day. So it doesn't seem like its going to keep up on its own. We will see. It looks the Doser I need is out of stock until December 17.

 

[geoj]

What Doser are you getting?

 

[lubeck]

Brs Doser 1.1 ml per minute

 

[lubeck]

How about some pics

 

[lubeck]

Tested alk last night at 8.8. Tested tonight and it read 8.3. Clearly the kalk is not keeping up with the demand of the tank. I added 30 ml of 2 part each tonight. My guess is it will last about 36 hours with the kalk drip. When I check torrow night, 24 hrs, I'm guessing it will come in around 8.6. It sucks because the dosers won't be available till the 17 and I'm leaving the 24. So I won't get them in time most likely.
It's still half the dosing I used to do I only have to do 30ml per day

 

[lubeck]

Alk came in at 7.6 tonight. I'm surprised it dropped that low. I guess I'm back to daily dosing

 

[lubeck]

Alk came in at 7.6 tonight. I'm surprised it dropped that low. I guess I'm back to daily dosing

 

[lubeck]

Need some help. I'm really trying to figure out where my excess nutrients are coming from. I continue to remove live rock from the DT and put it down in my sump/fuge so that I can increase water flow in the DT. Today I took out a huge rock and busted it up and put it in the sump. Now my sump is completely full with barely enough room for my return pump and skimmer. There is prob 40 lbs in the fuge.
So here are my questions. How often should I clean the detrus out of the sump since I would have to remove all the live rock? I always see the LFS have rubber maids filled to the top with LR. I noticed that there is a lot of detrus on the LR in th fuge but they are"clean". Should that be blown off all the time or left alone?
Is LR really that functional in the fuge as a filtration? I question that I have adequate filtration since I have excess nutrients that aren't being taken care. Should I get rid of the LR and replace with cheato or a algae scrubber? If so will removing the LR screw up my benificial bacteria and or filtration capabilities?
My macro is dying in the fuge I think because of the start of GFO.

 

[acrylic51]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubeck http:///t/387844/30-gallon-sps-reef-build/380#post_3503503
Need some help. I'm really trying to figure out where my excess nutrients are coming from. I continue to remove live rock from the DT and put it down in my sump/fuge so that I can increase water flow in the DT. Today I took out a huge rock and busted it up and put it in the sump. Now my sump is completely full with barely enough room for my return pump and skimmer. There is prob 40 lbs in the fuge.
So here are my questions. How often should I clean the detrus out of the sump since I would have to remove all the live rock? I always see the LFS have rubber maids filled to the top with LR. I noticed that there is a lot of detrus on the LR in th fuge but they are"clean". Should that be blown off all the time or left alone?
Is LR really that functional in the fuge as a filtration? I question that I have adequate filtration since I have excess nutrients that aren't being taken care. Should I get rid of the LR and replace with cheato or a algae scrubber? If so will removing the LR screw up my benificial bacteria and or filtration capabilities?
My macro is dying in the fuge I think because of the start of GFO.
Curious and I know I've asked before, but can't recall what you had said, but what is your Phos level.....You say you have all but removed the LR from the DT, and still continue to have a nutrient issue......If your Phos is elevated, I would be curious to do a check on the rock and see if that is what is leaching causing your issues.....If the LR is the case/cause then you'd be left with bleach/acid bath....GFO would possibly work as well, but probably on the costly side as well.
As far as LR I'd keep the it clean and blown off....That IMO is a big key to husbandry......LR does play a factor/degree in biological filtration, but to what extent not entirely sure.....I question how important it is being that you can look around and see huge tanks done with "very minimal" LR and the tanks are very successful, so my logic would be not as important as some might lead us to believe.....
I don't see anything wrong with keeping some LR in the sump area, but wouldn't pack it full.....The GFO might be factor killing your macro off as well....Put some LR in a container of saltwater and aerate it and take a Phos reading......I'd be surprised if the rock isn't leaching Phos fueling your algae issue.

 

[lubeck]

Hey Shawn. It's been a few days since a phos but it reads around .05-.03. That's with some hair algae though. I didn't mean to imply I removed all LR from my DT. I didn't. I keep removing in hopes to get better flow in the dt but sill have at least 30 lbs of rock in the dt.
I'm wondering if it would be better to remove the LR from my fuge and just leave some rubble for some pods and then be able to keep the sump clean and not worry about detrus build up on the rocks?

 

[lubeck]

In addition. I do believe that because of the dense packing of LR in my fuge and dt is harboring detrus and doing more harm than good.

 

[acrylic51]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubeck http:///t/387844/30-gallon-sps-reef-build/380#post_3503516
In addition. I do believe that because of the dense packing of LR in my fuge and dt is harboring detrus and doing more harm than good.
I agree, I would keep it as clean as possible down there......
Quote:
Originally Posted by Lubeck http:///t/387844/30-gallon-sps-reef-build/380#post_3503512
Hey Shawn. It's been a few days since a phos but it reads around .05-.03. That's with some hair algae though. I didn't mean to imply I removed all LR from my DT. I didn't. I keep removing in hopes to get better flow in the dt but sill have at least 30 lbs of rock in the dt.
I'm wondering if it would be better to remove the LR from my fuge and just leave some rubble for some pods and then be able to keep the sump clean and not worry about detrus build up on the rocks?
Pull some of the rock from your fuge and soak it.....I'm sure you've gone through the routine of cutting back your feeding and such, but I'd pull some rock and check the Phos reading.....Your Phos could theoretically be higher than what your recording for the simple fact it could be consumed by the algae faster making your detectable appear lower.....I would soak the rock your pull and take sample readings of the Phos in the LR bin......Worse case bleach/acid and recheck your Phos level on the rock.....You've clearly stated all the other things you've done and tried......

 

[lubeck]

I will do the test but to be clear, it's your vote to bleach the rock and keep it as filtration rather than remove from the sump permanently?

 

[acrylic51]

Mmmmm......I'll say this....I wouldn't pack the sump full of LR and let it collect nothing but junk which your indicating it's doing over time.....The running of the rock isolated will give you a good indication what is going on. You stated that you opened the DT up to increase flow, which is always a great idea, but increasing flow IMHO won't do anything, but just that....Increasing flow I don't see how it would negate a HA issue...Obviously something is feeding/fueling the HA, be it lack of maintenance (which I'm not suggesting), but something has to be fueling the bloom, which through the steps you've taken makes me believe it could be a rock issue.....
With that said if you do find your rock is leaching the bleach will do nothing for you per say other than strip and kill off organisms.....The key is "if" the rock is leaching and fueling your HA then "acid" would be your course of action......I guess I have a couple other questions.....Has HA always been an issue from the onset of the tank......When did the bloom actually start, and where you in the practice of religious water changes and blowing and removing detritus from the system......Also curious about your past as far as dosing....I know you were dosing Vodka, and that was cut;quit due to loss of color.......What was the purpose of the dosing to begin with.......