Water movement

[New2Salt]

Boy this has been our biggest struggle. We either have too much or not enough in some areas. We've been battling the red carpet syndrome on the sand, so we went with suggestions of putting a powerhead in the back right side on the bottom and one on the right side towards the top, and for additional movement for the surface we have another one that is pushing the top of the water towards the preskimmer (which is working really well). The two on the sides we have hooked up to a wave maker, oh big problem, not only because they are RIOs, but the fact that we didn't read that Rio's have a label on the cord that says do not use with a wave timer, which is what we have. ::sigh:: we are looking into getting different powerheads but don't want anything bulky, we like how compact the rios are, but if we have to sacrafice for quality then we will do that.

I've attached a pic of the tank, we have (2) 200 rio's and (1) 600 rio that is the one that is in the bottom back and has really made some trenches in the back from it.

Would love comments, suggestions, help! Thanks!

Oh btw, it's a 29 gallon, with HOB CPRBakpak 2R skimmer, with CPR 11" HOB fuge. None of the fish or corals seem to be affected by the volume of the current, it's just trying to get enough movement to get rid of the red carpet stuff on the sand. Only feed the fish once in the morning and once at night.

[maiceman]

Are you dosing any Kalk? I had a little bit of red slim algae before I started dosing and then it was gone right away. I only feed once a day and usually skip 1 day each week..... seems like I am never home on Saturdays.

Most everything I have read about algae blooms and controlling them recommends reducing the nutrients the algae needs to grow. This is done by reduced feeding and by adding a protein skimmer. I am not sure how the calcium effects algae growth but I have seen first hand that it greatly reduces it.

By the looks of you tank I would say you have plenty if not too much flow depending on the types of corals you want to keep. Many recommend that they are placed in low to medium flow areas and I don't know if you have any. How large of a pump do you have on your sump?

I run 500 gph through my overflow & sump and have 2 Rio 80's in a 72 gallon bowfront.... This seems to be plenty of flow for everything.

[New2Salt]

Nope we don't dose, infact the only additive we've ever added was was reef success Calcium, but our calcium has been around 500. We don't run a sump, it's only a 29 gallon, thought of it, but decided to do a hob fuge instead. Plan on checking the Calcium tonight to see what it's at.

How much do you feed in that once a day feeding?

N2S, what kind of water do you use?

If I am not mistaken, your tank is only about a month younger than mine. I have yet to see any red algae. Maybe the flow.


I have a 55 gal with a modified Wet/Dry. ( mod means completely empty )

For FLOW I have:
1 CA 2200 with the head on it it is about 700 gph
2 Penguin 1140 PH pushing 300 gph

I have the CA 2200 return flowing perpendicular with the back of the tank toward the overflow. The two Penguins are in each back corner facing the front at a 45* angle towards the center.

For supplement:

I use Oceans Blend 2 part dose every morning 15 ml of each.

This is amazingly consistant:

Ph 8.4
Cal 500 - 550
Alk High

I only use NO Flourescents

2 Coralife 20,000 K 40W
2 Coralife True Actinics

I am seeing good Coraline Algae growth also....

[maiceman]

My once a day feedings are a single cube of formula 1 or a single cube of formula 2. I alternate each day. On Sunday after not feeding on Saturday... I add an additional cube of invert formula.

What is a hob fuge? ... Hang on back refugium? There must be some recirc through that isn't there?

I dose Kalk and my total hardness is at 4 meq/l but my CA stays pretty steady at about 380... I guess I have never heard of anyone getting above 440-450.

I have 2 CA test kits and they are both reading somewhere between 500 - 550 on CA. I did not see it above 350 before adding the 2 part mixture to my tank..

[Salt4Us]

Timbo, we're using RO water. The salt mix we're using is Instant Ocean. We haven't had to add any CA since it's been around 450-500 (actually 500 the last two times I tested it). We took out the Rio 600 last night so now we onlyl have the two Rio 200s going all the time.

BTW, I'm the other half of New2Salt (using my sign on from work).

Well, nice to meet you..S4U

I use ro/di for water changes and IO as well, I started using the Oceans Blend because it is not just CA that corals like...I want to start a reef in mine and I will not do it until my tank is mature and the chemistry is right.

Ocean's Blend helps combat algae by containing no nitrates or phosphates, precipitating phosphates, having a low iron content, and using Reverse Osmosis / Double Deionized water.

Full additive: No other additives are needed, maintains alkalinity between 3.0 meg/L and 4.0 meg/L, maintains calcium levels between 400 ppm and 450ppm, and has a high magnesium level.

Ingredients: Calcium, Chloride, Bicarbonates, Carbonate, Magnesium, Strontium, Iodine, Ag, Al, As, Au, B, Ba, Be, Bi, Br, Cd, Ce, Co, Cr, Cs, Cu, Dy, Er, Eu, F, Fe, Ga Gd, Ge, Hf, Hg, Ho, In, K, La, Li, Lu, Mn, Mo, Na, Nb, Nd, Ni, Pa, Pb, Pd, Pr, Pt, Ra, Rb, Re, Ru, Sb, Sc, Se, Si, Sm, Sn, Ta, Tb, Th, Ti, Tl, Tm, V, W, Y, Yb, Zn, Zr.

You need to get a chemistry book for most of this stuff however...so far, no nuisance algae and thigs are doing great as far as growth on the rocks are concerned...

Now, if the Nitrate will fall, (I am now up to 50+ ppm and it doesn't seem to want to fall...)until then, I am not going to spend hard earned money for a coral that is doomed to die because of Nitrates being in the tank....

I just got a UV light and am waiting for the ballast to be delivered.. Hoping this will help the nitrates fall..

[maiceman]

Are you planning on using the UV light from here on or just to try and reduce nitrates? My understanding of UV sterilizing is that you will kill off all of the good bacteria that feeds your tank as well as the bad that raises the nitrates. Do you have a DSB?

The Oceans Blend sounds like great stuff.... I went to there web site and did not see where they sell it there. Is it only available through LFSs? How much $$$$$ are we talking for something that is added everyday?

Nevermind.. I found the sales page...

My understanding of UV sterilizing is that you will kill off all of the good bacteria that feeds your tank

I am actually planning on keeping it running all of the time...I have done research and there is "no conclusive evidence of any benificial bacteria loss', because the benificial bacteria is on the LR and in the LS...This is where your filtration is, not suspended in the water...Truth is, benificial bacteria are not single celled organisms unlike most diseases. UV does not kill most multiple celled organisms.

I have friends that will not go without one and no problems ever have arised. One thing I do know, they laugh at me when my fish get sick..Theirs don't get sick.

I have heard the same things about UV, and I am sorry to say, most of what I see in some of the forums, is misguided information based on no scientific evidence..

But then again, who am I but just another aquarium enthusiast searching for the best ways to do things. Falling down and getting back up...

[Anemoneman]

most of what I see in some of the forums, is misguided information based on no scientific evidence..

So true. You have to weed it out to glean the good info. Lots of hear-say in these forums.

[New2Salt]

Well I don't know how we got onto corals or what salt you use or uv's, I just wanted to know peoples suggestions for placement of powerheads but I think we've got it worked out. If you want to go into corals, yep we have some, the hardy ones, we have a pipe organ coral that had about a quarter of it covered with polyps, now it is more than half, we have a toadstool leather that when we bought it had some dark brown almost black spots on it and is now a beautiful golden brown and we have a beautiful giant cup mushroom that was sold to us as a ricordea but it's isnt' after getting Aquarium Corals by Eric H. Borneman after a book recommendation from Reefrunner. We also have a large piece of Maiden's hair, and our nitrates are at 2.5 . I think everyone does what they feel is best and what they have learned from doing research, we've done our research too and are continuing to do more as we go, we were just asking for advice for water movement to help remedy something that isn't exactly that attractive to look at, but it's not all over the tank, just one area, it's easy to remove by hand. Oh and for the record, our Ph has always been at 8.2 and we have coraline growth but it's on our rocks, not on the walls of our tank, even our snails have coraline growth to the point you don't know they are on the rocks.

Good luck with your upcoming additions to your tank, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do ours.

And I've had some great information from this site especially from they guys that run this site and the advisors, they have always been there to help us. I guess that's why we keep coming back. :P

We also have a large piece of Maiden's hair, and our nitrates are at 2.5 .

Sorry it went to corals, I thought we discussed the flow issue earlier in this thread and some of the other members and I went on to conditions and corals...I do want to know how you have your nitrates at 2.5?

[New2Salt]

No problem about the corals, I guess I'm a bit on edge today with what is going on in the news and having a 2 year old into everything so if I came across sharp I'm sorry. As far as the nitrates, the refugium has really helped us out and I'd say the large piece of Maiden's hair has helped too. We plan on adding more macro algae in hopes that will help it further, we also got the fuge to help with the copepod population as we have 2 scooter blennies, they eat brine shrimp too but I want them to have their normal diet too.

[Salt4Us]

To add also, in the refugium, we have some LS (about 1 lb or so) & some LR rubble. I think this helps in buffering & helps with the nitrates. To make sure our fuge doesn't collect food or algea on the walls, we have one snail & a couple of hermits in the fuge.

Before getting the fuge, our nitrates were between 2.5 & 5.0. Since getting the fuge the nitrates have been steady at 2.5 so we do notice it helping control it.

Hope this helps, Timbo.

[maiceman]

What kind of test kit gives readings of 2.5? I have color comparisons at 0, 5, 10, 20, 40...... I don't think I can tell enough color difference to get as precise as 2.5.

Anyway.... I still am wondering about the water flow... How many gallons per hour are you pumping total? I pump about 680 gph in my 72 gallon and seem to have more then enough flow throughout the tank. I had the usual algae cycles..... diatoms... sargassum.... a little bit of red slime. I didn't feel any of them were caused low water flow or could have been prevented by higher water flow.

Right now my tank is 6 months old and the only algae problems for the last 3 months has been bryopsis. But again it does not seem to be caused by a flow problem. More of an excess nutrient problem.