Temperature regulation and other questions

[land locked]

Alright, I will work my temp up.
Yes, I do plan on adding very slow on the new additions. Just planning while I wait.
Speaking of planning. How early can I start checking and adding calcium, in preparation for corals? I was thinking about 9 months from now. What form of calcium delivery do you recommend? I have seen very expensive continuous pumps and just a bottle of additive and this weird CO2 delivery method. Not sure what that one is about. My book was just how to get up and running and I have gone through the articles on this site and I am not finding many recommendations for calcium. Can you also recommend a book to take me from here? My local library had ancient books. This site has been a god send.
I am changing the garbage can today. It did not hold up because of the wheels on the back. The new container is a Strong Box. I will check on the food quality I never thought of that.
I will keep an eye on the blenney. The pet store will not take him back I tried. I do have a lot of algae now, but your right about the future. For clean up crew now , I have the blenney, 3 emerald crab, 1 sally lightfoot, 4 asteria snails and a couple tiny snail good hitchhikers, and 3 turbo snails and a peppermint shrimp. They are just barely making a dent in the algae, I am aiming for 1 cleanup crew member for each gallon per recommendation of AA. What do you all think?

 

[fishcrack]

Just one thought - I'm definitely not the expert these guys are! My live rock "bleached" out when I first started my tank. It was just die off from moving the rock, even though I kept it in water the entire time. Within a short time, the coraline grew back. Just recently, when I had to disassemble part of my live rock aquascaping to catch a nasty hitchhiker, I also had some die off. My rock was only out of water about 30 min. It's coming back though. Be patient - maybe yours will too.

We have great lfs but their prices of live rock were outrageous. My sons did a lot of research and ended up buying base "show" rock and culturing it for our tanks. Very nice rock, saved big bucks and worth the wait.

Good luck!

 

[fijiwigi]

Amazon.com: The Conscientious Marine Aquarist: A Commonsense Handbook for Successful Saltwater Hobbyists: Robert M. Fenner: Books I would not do anything with Calcium additions yet wait 6 months do some studying. Usually calcium addition is not required until you have corals that absorb Calcium. And depending on your salt mix may not be needed at all.. Chemistry and the Aquarium This is a good article about the relationship of Calcium in the aquarium. 9 months sounds like a perfect time frame before starting Corals.

 

[land locked]

Help

AAH now that I am increasing the temperature I am unsure about how I am reading my refractometer. I was, at 75 degrees wanting 35-36 on the right side of the scale inside the meter. Now that my temperature is heading up to 78 degrees what do I want the reading to be? The conversion scale has me so confused. I even read the article on it and still not sure.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

Agree with fijiwigi, although 9 months seems a little long for corals. Maybe 4-6 months after your water parameters have stabilized.

First thing I'd do about the calcium is get yourself a Calcium and Alkalinity test kit if you haven't already. Test your fresh saltwater you're using for water changes. As fijiwigi commented, you might not even need to worry about dosing anything depending on the salt you're using.

 

[cmor1701d]

Is your refractometer an ATC model? That is auto-temp-compensating and it's hard to find one that isn't these days. You want 34-35 on the right side of the scale (1.024-1.026 left side).

Unless you have very high demands for Ca in your tank the recommended delviery method is a PWC (partial water change). That will usually replace all depleted minerals.

 

[land locked]

Fishcrack: The bleaching has slowed, thanks for your experience. I have not started with MH yet but I did cut down on the blue actinic lights to about 8 hours for now. My plan is to steadily increase their time then slowly work the mh back in.
cmor1701d: I did not know what the ATC model is but now that you mention it, it is, from the ads. I have attached (hope it works, my first attachment) the ebay file where I bought it. There was not much for insrtuctions and no markings on it. So because it is ATC I just use it like I have been, keeping it between 34 and 36? No temperature adjustment? I can breath!
I did do my first pwc yesterday (went well), I am using coral pro by red sea it says it has 440ppm ca. I did not even notice it had trace minerals, I was just buying salt. I did not mean to by stuff with ca but I did it right on accident. Ok, so if I just need pwc for mineral balance what is all the stuff (calcium reactors, Co2) on the market for? I assume it is for when you have lots of hard corals that require higher amounts of ca, am I right.
Kurt: I mentioned the salt above, does that sound good to you? I am so excited that you do not think I need to wait that long. I saw a pic, I think it was on here, of a tank only 6 months old and it looked amazing.

I have used the xtalreef site to identify all of the hitchhiker we have had. That site is great! No bad ones yet. My husband has had more fun in the refugium than the tank. I do have some kind of polyp or zooanthis hitchhiker that survived the cycle. It is coming back slowly. I can't wait to see what it is going to be when it recovers.
I did order more rock from the dr. since you all mentioned do it all up front, it is easier and I do not want to cycle again. I had originally only bought about 40 # because of cost. I have 50# more coming on Friday. I have a tank ready to cycle them in, then I will add them to the main tank.
Still fighting the Aqua C protein skimmer. I think my biggest issue is that it is so dry here the water level does not stay the same. Could that be what is reeking havoc? One minute it is working great 5 hours later, nothing, and the level is not even visable. It not new, we bought it used too so I do not think a break in time applies. Thanks again, AA is GREAT

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

...
I did do my first pwc yesterday (went well), I am using coral pro by red sea it says it has 440ppm ca. I did not even notice it had trace minerals, I was just buying salt. I did not mean to by stuff with ca but I did it right on accident. Ok, so if I just need pwc for mineral balance what is all the stuff (calcium reactors, Co2) on the market for? I assume it is for when you have lots of hard corals that require higher amounts of ca, am I right.
Kurt: I mentioned the salt above, does that sound good to you? I am so excited that you do not think I need to wait that long. I saw a pic, I think it was on here, of a tank only 6 months old and it looked amazing.

ALL salts have calcium... it's just how much they have in them that matters. I don't have any experience with the Red Sea Coral Pro stuff, but I think others on here have used it. I'll let them answer. But regardless of what anyone says about additives, you first need to get yourself at least calcium and alkalinity test kits, test for yourself, and determine if you need additional stuff or not. If the salt is truly giving you 440ppm calcium, then you won't need to add calcium, but you may (depending on how your individual tank) need to add a buffer for alkalinity. Maybe. It just depends on how that salt ends up working for you and what corals you end up putting in there.

Regarding all the high tech reactors and such, if you have a large tank, with lots of SPS corals that are consuming large amounts of calcium, then those reactors end up being a more economical and easier way to deal with calcium depletion. And then again, there's always "stuff" in any hobby that is marketed just to give the gadget gurus something to play with!

Still fighting the Aqua C protein skimmer. I think my biggest issue is that it is so dry here the water level does not stay the same. Could that be what is reeking havoc? One minute it is working great 5 hours later, nothing, and the level is not even visable. It not new, we bought it used too so I do not think a break in time applies.

Are you talking about a AquaC Remora hang on back unit? Not sure what you mean about water level, unless you're using the "surface prefilter" attachment that pulls water from the surface? If so... yeah - you need to adjust it so that the water level is always in the "comb" part of the box. Or top off more often. I've heard that's something people don't like about that attachment. I've got a Remora, so if you have specific questions, let me know. But if you're talking about one of AquaC's sump units... can't really help you there.

 

[land locked]

Thank you for the Ca straight talk. I don't need anymore gadgets. I have the test kits ordered since only the basic test kit is available in town. I will find out where I stand with Ca and alkalinity.

I also ordered the book figiwigi recommended.

The protein skimmer is a 120 with a mag 5 pump in the sump. Works great while I am watching it. I come back and either it is too low or overflowing. There is no consistency to it. I make the small adjustments like it recommends to no avail.

On a side note: the air bubble are creeping back again. We ordered an O ring hoping that is the problem.

I feel like I am journaling. Hope I am not driving you crazy!

 

[land locked]

I have a new problem. After I took back the gigantic turbo snails, I ordered few smaller kinds of snails on line. I only ordered one of each kind because I did not want to make the same mistake I did with the turbo snails. Well, when I got them in today, I had quite the surprise. I think Noah, packed my snails because I got two of everything and three of one kind. I have snails coming out my ears. Maybe they didn't want them to be lonely in transport. If my Blenney was not going to starve before he will now and take a few snails with him. I estimate I have about a week worth of algae for them. Then what do I do? Can you supplement food for snails and the Blenney? I went to the lsf and found that they have dried seaweed sheets (green and purple) They also had Formula Two frozen food for algae eaters will this work? I am having quite the time stocking a clean up crew. I did get a tiny little blue tuxedo pincushin urchin too! He is so cute!! Help! what should I do?

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

I... I only ordered one of each kind because I did not want to make the same mistake I did with the turbo snails. Well, when I got them in today, I had quite the surprise. I think Noah, packed my snails because I got two of everything and three of one kind. I have snails coming out my ears....

For a 72g? You could easily put 20-30 snails in there from the beginning with no problem. I wouldn't worry about the extras. If they run out of food, they'll take care of their own population control.

 

[cmor1701d]

Yea, don't worry about the snails. They eat detritus too (left over fish food, etc).

Yes to the ATC. You need to give it about 30 seconds to adjust to room temperature to get a good reading.

That salt says it has 440ppm but I have not seen anywhere near that on a batch. I will be calling or writing them about that claim as I always have to supplement. I just mixed a batch the other day (20 gallons) and it measures around 360. I add turbo calc to boost it and occasionaly add some Epsom salt to boost Mg and baking soda for alk.

 

[land locked]

ewwwh! Kurt, But I guess your right. I grew up on a farm, you think that would not bother me.

cmor1701d: Thanks for the info. As soon as my test kit gets here I will check the ca and mg levels.

I tried to add some pics but it said I needed to resize. How do I do that? Not a fish question but I would like you to see these.

 

[fijiwigi]

I tried to add some pics but it said I needed to resize. How do I do that? Not a fish question but I would like you to see these.

I have a photo editing program microsoft digital image starter Download details: Digital Image Starter Edition 2006 I just open the photo with the program and select save a copy for e-mail/web then it asks what size small/med/large web view than I click save. I use the paper clip attachment button in the post and browse for that file and attach it. HTH

 

[land locked]

Thanks figiwigi, You can see the new member of the tank and the PIA... air bubbles. I have an O ring on order for the pump. I have more rock coming tomorrow the curing tank is up and ready to go. It looks a little barren right now. Now that I can post pics I have a couple things I need to post in the identify thread.

 

[fijiwigi]

for some reason I can't see those photo's

 

[land locked]

Hope this works!

 

[fijiwigi]

Those photo's worked very nice looking tank. Definately could use some more live rock. Also I don't see a powerhead is there one in there?

 

[land locked]

Yes, I do have a powerhead it is a Koralia 1 in the right back corner. I put it there because the mag flow in not in the center it is off the to left, and that is where the flow void was. The way I have if figured it: Little Giant 700gph, and Koralia 1 400 gph, That is just at 15.2 gph circulation. AA folks suggested 10-20 gph times the tank size was best in a reef tank. Does that sound right to you? About 30 more gallons below in DIY sump and refugium water. With a smaller pump to pump into the refugium and then of course a skimmer pump (mag 5) I do not know if those count in the whole movement picture or not.

The rock: Because we went 300+ miles to get it we took rubbermaid totes, and totally underestimated the amount of rock we would need (plus I did not realize the cost, $7.99 # and it was not quite done curing). Once we got back home we realized it looked like a drop in the bucket so we went to Petco here and all they had was fist sized rocks. They would have looked silly. So I ordered 30 more pounds of figi large show rock and some rubble from Dr. Foster and Smith, supposed to be here today but we have a nasty little spring storm going on with a couple inches of snow on the ground this morning. I hope it makes it. I may even order more after I see how much that fills the tank.

 

[fijiwigi]

Your flow sounds about right. Personally I like more toward the 20x turnover figure. On my 46g tank I have a mag7 (700gph) after head hieght only about 450gph on the return. Then 2 hydor koralia 2's pointed at each other and at the surface for ripple. The hydor koralia flow ratings are underrated IMO. Skimmer flow doesn't count. So you have a sump and seperate refugium with a pump that pumps water from the sump to the fuge is that right? Do you have liverock rubble and lighting for the fuge? Do you have Macroalgae in there?