Carlos 60 gallon new tank

[Scooterman]

Nice Carlos, I think you'll like them! Congrats!

 

[carlos_fb]

Why me???

Oh boy, I really have bad luck with fishes, the gramma and the sunburst got ich. I will start a hiposalinity treatment tomorrow.

 

[james734]

It happens to all of us. Good thing is you have them in QT to treat properly.

Sometimes I think if it wasn't for the challenges in this hobby it wouldn't be any fun. Each one is a learning experience.

 

[Krish]

Bummer on the ich...Hope they pull through man as they are nice looking fish

 

[carlos_fb]

You probably read in my other post that my Sunburst died, man it's really hard to lose a fish that way, I knew it could happen but still didn't see it coming. Anyway the Gramma is doing much better, all the white spots went away and it's eating well so I'm hoping it will fully recover from the ich.

 

[carlos_fb]

I will be doing some major changes on my setup.

- New sump (about the same size but I will be able to fit a refugium)
- New external skimmer (Das EX-1)
- Obviously new plumbing (I plan to feed the skimmer directly from the overflow drain)
- UV Sterilizer (I know, they are not required but I will turn it on for a few days everytime I introduce new livestock in the tank)
- SCWD for my return to create some extra flow.
- Fishbowl Innovations Moon Computer just to show off.
- Setup dedicated computer to monitor my tank with the Reefkeeper 2 new software (myReef)
- Koralia #3
- Canopy fans.

I call this Summer fun!

 

[james734]

It's on the road to recovery Carlos. Glad your getting this fully taken care of.

 

[Krish]

Good luck on the new changes Carlos! I'll be tagging along as usual

 

[carlos_fb]

I will start monitoring and increasing my Calcium and Alkalinity this weekend. Any suggestions on how to do it properly?

 

[fly guy]

I will start monitoring and increasing my Calcium and Alkalinity this weekend. Any suggestions on how to do it properly?

I think a basic two part is a great place to start. Your coral load isnt such that it will demand much at this point. I suggest going to twopartsolution.com. Read the tutorial at the top left of the homepage on how to make the stuff, and then just monitor your levels and adjust accordingly. They can provide you with everything you need cheap. They have startere packages that are premeasured and all you have to do is mix with ro/di water. Super simple and the way to go for most people IMO.

You can keep it super simple at this point in the game until you get a feel for it and your needs increase. Your needs wont be so much that you need to worry about automatic dosers or anything yet either. Just dump the stuff in your sump every day or so and call it good.

 

[Scooterman]

I think fly said good, there are many ways of keeping alk, mag, & cal in balance & maintained to a range of around 380 to 420 should be fine, don't try & get it perfect you'll end up messing things up. Get good test kits for all three & always test before adding anything, Always!
Carlos how are the upgrades coming?

 

[carlos_fb]

I'm waiting for my new sump and the new skimmer is back ordered. In the meantime I installed 3 92mm Vantec Stealth in my canopy, it was a lot of work but they look good, check out the picture.

I also got my Saliferts, Alk, Calcium, Phosphate and Magnesium. I did a large water change Today so I will wait until Tomorrow to test the water and start playing with my Calcium levels.

 

[Krish]

Nice work Carlos! It came out really nicely!! Let us know how it works out for you and also how your test results turn out

 

[Scooterman]

Nice work Carlos, let us know how the fans work as far as cooling the tank, also I guess you have a power supply for each?

 

[carlos_fb]

Thank you guys!

Scooty, I'm actually running a single power adapter, since they are computer fans with 3 pin connectors, I just daisy-chained them all. I am using a variable voltage dc adapter so I can switch from 9v to 12v.

We'll see how they do in terms of cooling the tank, right now I have all of them pulling air out the canopy.

 

[james734]

Nice work there Carlos. How's the treatment coming on the fish?

 

[carlos_fb]

Nice work there Carlos. How's the treatment coming on the fish?

Honestly James, I don't know how well the Gramma is doing, this last few days it didn't want to eat much, I am keeping an eye on it. :|

 

[carlos_fb]

Ok I tested my water this morning and this what I got:

Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0.25
pH 8.05
Alk 14.4 dKH (Looks way too high)
Calcium 480
Magnesium 1350
Phosphate 0
Salinity 1024
PPT 35
Temp 79.1 F

Just for reference, I use Reef Crystals and Salifert test kits.

What do you guys think?

 

[Krish]

Looks pretty good to me besides the alk

 

[carlos_fb]

Why would it be that high and what can I do to lower it?