300 gallon mixed reef

[reeftank1]

Hi Boomer,

I decided to make a new thread for the tank swap. I have taken down the 115 gallon which I finally got right from all your help and have put up the 300 gallons.

The system is circulated by a Barracuda through an oceansmotions 4-way. It has about an 80 gallon sump/wet/dry and return. Carbon, Rowaphos, and will use 250W MH to light. Here is where I am at.

1) Water has been circulating on the rock in the new tank for 3 days. The rock came from this same tank then moved for 1 hour, back into trash bins, circulated for 2 days and after the plumbing was done it went into the tank.

NO3 - 2.5 ppm
NO2 - no detect
Nh3/NH4 - somewhere between 2-4

My first concern is I have a bunch of fish in the temporary tank and wondered the BEST steps to get them to their new home.

I need to do a water change but how much?

At what level ammonia would it be considered acceptable to adapt the fish to the system?

Is there a supplement to accelerate the biological process or to convert the ammonia?

As for temperature, what variance could be acceptable to shift the fish in from the current tank @ 76 to the new one @ 73 and increasing?

I am sure I will have many other questions so thanks again in advance.

Regards,
Brian

 

[Boomer]

Your fish will be dead at those levels. You can use Amquel to convert the ammonia but it is not a good idea. Amquel is for emergency use for fish in high ammonia and should not to be used to cycle a tank. The Amquel will not alter the cycle or affect it. There will be no ammonia if dosed right. That is your choice though. The Amquel will raise the Sulfate levels in the tank. And you will need a Aquarium Systems SeaTest/FasTest ammonia kit. Others kits will read wrong in Amquel.

At what level ammonia

ZERO

 

[reeftank1]

Understood. So I am waiting at this point and will keep the fish in the holding pen.

 

[reeftank1]

Update

Hi Boomer,

I have waited and the numbers look better. Here is what I have going after the "mini-cycle". I did not go with Amquel and have done 1 WC yesterday. 35 gallons. the fish have been looking good so far and corals look relatively good also. The stock has been living in the new tank for 5 days.

Sal. - 1.027
Tep. 79 (steady w/chiller rarely cycling)
dKH - 9 or 3.2 meq/l
Mg - 1260
Ca - 345
NH4 - 0
No2 - .025
No3 - 5
PO4 1.5

All are Salifert (up to date) kits. I am running GFO and carbon and maintaining the carbon as you have told me on the other post.

I have bumped the Mg by 60 ppm to get to where I am at. The Ca++ got a partial bump today per your recommendation and the rest goes tomorrow. I should be around 390 tomorrow.

I added the Ca reactor and slowly bringing up the eff. currently 6.8 and falling.
My No3 is still a bit high along with the Po4. Should I get another WC or will these still come down as the system develops? I haven't really seen to much for an algae bloom of any type but with the Po4 shouldn't I? thanks again and I will try to get a photo up tomorrow. Any other suggestions?

I forgot to mention I have no refugium set up due to space. Hence, no algae exports other than the WC. Will thos turn into a problem too?
Brian

 

[Boomer]

Brain

Let the tank go through its cycle first before any WC. WC can cause shifts in the Nitrogen cycle, with the end result being no less but more Nitrate, NO3-

You need to get the Ca++ and Mg++ up to par but I see you are doing that

The PO4. Who's GFO are you using and how are you using it ? That is really high PO4. Where do you figure that PO4 is coming from. You need to solve that issue for sure.

 

[reeftank1]

I have Rowaphos running in the supplied mesh bag and it is sitting right in the sump next to the iwaki main tank return. It is getting a flow over the bag only. I also have about 1 lb or carbon, and some Seachem matrix that has been in for about 2 weeks. I am feeding only 4 blocks of mysis - rinsed in RO/DI water and 1 sheet of Julian's seaweed for the fish. The rock is clean as for visible organics and I have only a fresh floss in the drawer of the W/D filter tower with no bio-balls. I am pulling about a quart of skimmate from the skimmer a day. Shouldn't I get more?

Still cycling----

 

[Boomer]

That is the wrong way to run that type of GFO it will not be very effective. To run a GFO that way you would need the Waner Marine GFO, which is a porous media. The media you have needs a reactor to be effective, as it is non-porous.

http://www.warnermarine.com/

 

[reeftank1]

I am in the process of getting a chamber for it now. That probably explains the PO4 being higher.

quick tests after the bumps.
Mg 1290
Ca++ 375
dKH 8.9 3.1meq/l

Again I tested the PO4 and come to 1 or maybe slightly to 1.25

Slight film growth on the glass after 2 weeks in operation.

 

[Boomer]

Ok, looking better

 

[reeftank1]

3 week update

I have been really busy doing some plumbing expansions and wiring new curcuit. I have just let things run their course. I am still waiting for some sort of a "Bloom". No coaralline growth yet - maybe that is good so that I don't have to get going on the scraping!!!!

Hopefully these numbers are coming in line with what I should be at. I did get the (Rowaphos) gfo homemade reactor running and the PO4 from the return is showing 0. The PO4 has come down and I would guess that at the current rate it should be gone before next week. I think I am doing something right I hope for the PO4.

Salifert #'s
PH - 8.2(day) and 8.07 (night)
Sal. - 1.027
Tep. 7.82
dKH - 10.6 or 3.77 meq/l
Mg - 1305
Ca - 415
NH4 - 0
No2 - .025
No3 - 10
PO4 - .5

Eff PH -6.57 - running Caribsea ARM

Will process the carbon tomorrow. Do the numbers seem to make sense? I have water ready for a change when the situation becomes necessary. I can't wait to try the new drains out too!!!! Should really make the WC a piece of cake.

thanks,
Brian

 

[Boomer]

Your paramerers look much better and things are looking good. Just need that cycle to complete. Since you still have some NO2- @0.025 that NO3- @ 10 may be actually lower than that. Often the NO2 interfers with NO3- test givnig higher readings. Check that NO2- test kit on some new seawater to see if it reads zero. Just so we know that number is real.

 

[reeftank1]

Boomer,

Tests done on fresh IO that has been mixing for 24 hours.
NO2 - 0
NO3 - 2 (at the very highest)

On the main tank today.
NO2 - .01 (measured @ .1through the side /10 on the highest scale Salifert)
No3 - 2

This may be a dumb question but if I follow the test instructions and read top down but hold the "white" portion of the card flat against the bottom of the sample cup I can get a darker reading. The NO3 could read look as high as 5. If I hold the card 2 cm lower and just let the ambient light flow through I get the above readings.

As for the GFO reactor, I have converted a Kent RO chamber to allow for me to force flow through the unit in reverse via through center pipe through the media chamber, then floss, and then out the return. It tests - 0 for PO4 at the exit and flow is about 3 gallons and hour. It really seems to work well so far. Is this to much flow? There really isn't much instruction for a reactor.

My corals seem to be doing well except I don't see to much polyp extention on some of the acros. could this still be due to the NO2?

The last question is for a refugium. I don't have one set-up and my sump is about 45-50 gallons full. I have chaeto with a 10k light for now in the one half and the other half has a tower w/tray and floss for mechanical filtration and is pretty much inaccesible. Will this be sufficient or should I get a full blown refugium going. I am kind of restricted on space so it would have to go next to the tank and it is pretty tough to find a space as the tank is already 8' long. If I need a refu. How big is ideal. I was kind of thinking a 55 gallon but is this to small?

 

[Boomer]

Things look good. The refug is do you really want one and is one needed. If levels can be kept down and within range it is not an issue. A 55 would be great though.

Let the NO2 go another week. I doubt that NO2 has anything to do with the corals. I think it is still more of an over all cycle issue.

 

[reeftank1]

Boomer - here is the latest with a sid by side comparison from a week ago:

11/3 11/10

PH - 8.2(day) and 8.07 (night) ***8.09 - 8.20
Sal. - 1.027 ***1.0255 (34ish+)
Tep.- 78.2 ***79.1
dKH - 10.6 or 3.77 meq/l ***10.4 or 3.70
Mg - 1305 ***1275
Ca - 415 ***430
NH4 - 0 ***0
No2 - .025 ***.025-.035(slight rise but not .05)
No3 - 10 ***25
PO4 - .5 ***<.5 (definite decreasing)

I have a slight diatom bloom over the past couple days just barely evident. the PO4 chamber eff. is still 0. The carbon gets changed tomorrow. I added a larger CA reactor as the little one just was not keeping up. I have this one just at a minimum input.
As for the fish - all 4 clowns, and 4 tangs are looking great and eating well. LPS are coming out huge. The SPS are starting to show signs of growth at the bases on some of my older colonies. Not much in the line of open polyps day or night.

Skimmer is just creating a hell of a green gunk. It seems to be hanging in the skimmer tube though. I am only getting a 1/2 - 1 cup of waste a day. Does this seem to be to little?
I have chaeto going on a reverse light now in the sump. All for now. Time for a WC with the rise in NO3 or still let it run. Only getting RO/DI top off too FYI.
Thanks,
Brian

 

[Boomer]

WC ? Wait I do not like that N02 going up. That green gunk not sure but look the length of the tank. Does it have any green tinge to it ? You should clean all the components of skimmer once in awhile.

 

[reeftank1]

Skimmer top half is cleaned weekly with my standard tasks. The skimmer overflow container is dumped about every 3 days. I try to keep the skimmer tube clean so that I can make adjustments if needed. The green skimmate is only in the skimmer chamber and pipe to the storage tank. The main tank is 8 feet long and looks pretty clear to me even if I hold white paper at the other end. I can do a retest but the Saliferts have been pretty accurate unless I really fluffed the test somehow.

As for the corals, today is the best they have been with nice extentions of most SPS polyps. The frogspawn and hammers are huge. Would they still look that good and have the NO2 rise?

 

[Boomer]

NO2 that low will not have any affect on anything. And a water change I guess will be fine if you want to. It just seems that the NO2 should be gone by now.

 

[reeftank1]

I have figured the problem on the NO2.

After my dKH exceeded 10 - I am supposed to use 2 scoops on the test and have not opened the instructions up to notice this little "caption" on the testing instructions. TBS, here is what changed.

NO2 since 11/3 has been inaccurately stated I think. I have it logged as .025 and it after the retest with the 2 scoop recommendation it reads .01 ppm.

NO3 tests out at 10.

I dosed 4 gallons of kalk. and My Ph is sitting at 8.2 in the morning and has came up to 8.26 after 3 hrs. of light.

If this seems better would you concur that I should just let things continue. I will put some photos in a link in the member showcase. The corals, and fish all are really looking good if this is any indication.

 

[Boomer]

Yup, things look good, accept for that Nitatre but the tank is still new. Something to read.

Nitrate in the Reef Aquarium
http://www.advancedaquarist.com/issues/august2003/chem.htm

 

[reeftank1]

Thanks so much, Brian