jose7878 new 150 gal

[jose7878]

Originally Posted by SWSCJ

Some of my fish: melanurus wrasse, pj cardinals, Bangaii cardinal, scooter blenny, maroon clown, lyre tail anthias, green chromis, percula clowns, mandarin goby, Fiji damsel, and of course tangs

I'm definitely considering melanurus wrasse and lyre tail anthies male/female

[jose7878]

Well it's been 2 weeks since I started my ATS the screen finally is starting to change from brown to green. So I believe it's working. I have noticed that I don't have to clean my front or side glass as much as I used to. I'm cleaning it every 3-4 days instead of everyday.
Going to check parameters tonight since I've been feeding pretty heavy. Let's see if The ATS is really helping in controlling the po4 and the nitrates since I'm over feeding.

[Hondatek]

That's good . Have you cleaned your screen yet? Im doing my second cleaning I a few minutes.

[jose7878]

Originally Posted by Hondatek

That's good . Have you cleaned your screen yet? Im doing my second cleaning I a few minutes.

Hondatek I have not cleaned my screen yet , it's only brown algae their right now but it's turning green now.

Should I clean it now or let it build up with more algae?

Like I said, its only brown algae still.

[Hondatek]

Ok I misread I thought you wrote it turned green like It all was green sorry . I would say give it one more week and then start a weekly screen cleaning schedule. I believe it helps grow faster kind of like pruning .

[jose7878]

Alright checked all my parameters.
Ph 8.1
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ammonia 0
Kh 8
Calcium 460
Phosphate .25 on API test kit ( I know this test kit is not super accurate but it reading something so i now there some phosphate in the tank)

Well as you can see I do have some po4 I will keep a close eye on this for the next week. If it doesn't drop I will cut back on feeding a little. Until the ATS is a little bit more mature.

[jose7878]

Originally Posted by Hondatek

Ok I misread I thought you wrote it turned green like It all was green sorry . I would say give it one more week and then start a weekly screen cleaning schedule. I believe it helps grow faster kind of like pruning .

Thanx Hondatek for the advice. You have been very helpful . I'll give it a week and give it a scrub.
I did notice on the screen today that it does have some green algae chunks here and there.

[Hondatek]

Just remember always leave some algae on the screen when you clean it.

[jose7878]

I ran into a issue I noticed that my calcium reactor ph controller was reading 5.8.
So I ended up taking out the probe and calibrated it, now the probe reads 7 .
I decided to calibrate the ph monitor as well , since I had to Calibrate the ph controller probe , even though it was reading 8.1 .After calibtration of the ph monitor it reads 7.7

Aparently the calcium reactor wasnt properly working the the valve on the selnoid was closed so no c02 was being released to depleat the media..

Everything now is working properly .

I do have one Question.
Should I do a water change to try to increase the ph or should i just let the calcium reactor increase it slowly?

[jose7878]

For the people who run a ATS. I run my ATS with lights on for 16 hrs and 8 off. My screen has a brown snotty film on it were the light hit the screen

Is this normal ?

[Hondatek]

Do you have a pic. I'm not really sure but I know if you add livestock and increase the bio load it will grow brown algae as it readjusts. Is it algae?

[jose7878]

Don't have a pic right now. But will take one once I get home from work.
It does look like algae but it's slimy feeling and it brown.

[Hondatek]

Ok it's probably algae . It's not uncommon to have brown or even red growth from time to time .

[rug311]

Hey i just wanted to make sure you got my message, i am responding to the 55 gal bow front, i am new to this site and i seem to have restrictions on replies. Would you say this tank your selling will have everything i need to get a fowlr tank started?

[jose7878]

Small update on tank. I was having a algae problem no mater what I did I could not get rid of it. I was using GFO and changing it every week to keep it efficient but that was not working on eliminating the algae. I was using ro/di for top off and water changes. But the algae was not dying.

So I finally decided to go thru my ro/di system make sure everything was correct. Come to find out that my ro/di system was put together wrong from the manufacture. I was putting my waste water into my tank and throwing my ro/di water away. So I change the hoses and the restrictor into its correct locations.
Three weeks later the algae is disappearing.

[Mudzie]

You really need a tds meter with an rodi unit to periodically to test your water. This would have saved you from that nightmare.

[jose7878]

Originally Posted by Mudzie

You really need a tds meter with an rodi unit to periodically to test your water. This would have saved you from that nightmare.

The funny thing is I do have a dual in-line TDS meter. I had it setup to read my TDS of my incoming water and the water coming out of my di
I just changed were it reads my incoming to after the membrane and out reading to after di. So now I get the reading after my membrane.

The problem was that my waste water was going thru my di and reading 0 so I didn't notice.

[Mudzie]

Its good you caught the problem , with your water changes you will eventually dilute the total dissolved solids out of your tank.. Good luck

[Fredyyanez]

This is my stand
I did it following your pictures

[jose7878]

Looks real good. Glad someone found my build useful. Lol. Will be following your build now.