PharmrJohn's 90g Thread

welcome to the t5 club!!!

 

I am now too cool for school!!!!

 

Testing and Analysis

So I did a full spectrum test with every test kit I had. The 90g came up as follows:

Temp: 76
SG: 1.025
NH4: 0.25
NO2: 0
NO3: 40+
pH: 8.4
Ca: 450
Mg: 1560
dKH: 8.6
PO4: 0.25
Iodide: 0
Iodine/Iodate: 0

I switched out the filter socks and changed out the carbon. I rinsed the filter in the overflow. Macros look good. Sea Fan is (and has been) dying slowly. Still alive, but not looking good. Sea grass looking great.

Corals not as happy as I'd like to see them. They are celebrating the lighting, but my leather is a little on the closed side still. Perhaps it is just responding slowly. The lights are old after all.....the new ones get installed tomorrow afternoon.

I am going to do two back to back water changes of 30% over the next week. One Friday, one in a week. I have not done a water change since September of '08. Just adding trace minerals and elements. I will start the water mixing tomorrow. Then I think I will start doing 10% weekly WC with one 30% at the end of the month. Let's see how that works. The no WC thing was an experiment. Worked OK, but the numbers since my upgrade have not been as up to par as I would like.

I am adding right now a dose of Red Sea Ca +3. I added Prime as it appears I have myself a cycle going. I am going to do that daily for the next week or two. I also added some phosphate-E. I have messed with a very small portion of the sandbed, so that may have done it. Or the dead red coris wrasse carcass (that I could not find) has become disturbed. It should still be rotting in the sandbed. And I just thought of something. Dead snails that did not make it from Reefcleaners. Possibility. I will remove all shells that are not moving.

I think it is time for a PO4 reactor.

Tomorrow, I am throwing in a bicarb drip (in the AM), then a Ca drip in the afternooon as my lighting is getting swapped out. After that I am going to very carefully dose with iodate to bring my iodine levels back up to par.

Fish are very happy. The Coral Beauty is still nibbling on the zoas off her favorite rock. I am going to try to catch her Friday for a Saturday trip to the LFS.

Anyone have any pointers, let me know. The tank isn't horribly off, but it isn't the picture of perfection either. So any and all suggestions are welcome. I would expect Steve Wright at night to be the first!!!!! Ya got yourself a new nickname dude.

Thanks all. Time to go to bed. Peace......John.;D

 

Thanks PharmJohn - Ill sign off like that for future I think

I believe that your just going through typical condition change reactions
I have striped a few and put eleswhere and there are always creatures that immediately
resume their normal behaviour and others take a week or longer (While you agonise about needing to move them or not) to come back to their previous full glory

angel fish if the fish trap does not work - hook and line would be my next choice - try a small hook and a Zoanthid as bait

Steve Wright at night

 

About the water change experiment:
I tried the same thing, about the same time frame as yours. I had a mild cyano problem, so I got about 5 months out of a "no water change". I'm back to 25% change every 3-4 weeks, and parameters are stable, cyano gone, happy happy corals. I wanted to be Luna, but I'm not that good!
(And congrats on the lights, be sure to wear sunscreen)

 

John,
First of all, regarding the water changes, I am a firm believer of performing a weekly or at the most, bi-weekly water changes! The trace elements and vitamins that you are adding are not the same as the salts and buffers that are associated with the salt mixes that we use to make our salt water! Respiration, bioload and filtration deplete many of the beneficial components that make up dry salt mixes. By doing a water change, you are guaranteed of replenishing these kep components efficiently and rather quickly!
As for the other part of your equation, I think you need to slow down some with all that you are trying to accomplish. Adding this and that in such a short period of time may prove to be another hurdle to overcome at the other end of the spectrum to that that you are facing presntly! I would start off by performing a water change as a starting point and then slowly and strategically, move on from there.
I would resist the temptation of trying to panic and adding all these additives and dosing too much at once.
Stick with the water changes initially and see how that works out and then if their is still a problem, then focus on another parameter issue.
Best of luck to you, John

 

I agree with the changing the back to black, John, what lights are you putting on it?

 

I just put the lights in a few minutes ago. I have.....

4x UVL Superactinics
2x UVL Actinic Whites (12000K)
2x UVL 75/25 (14000K)

It is bright. Pics to come when the corals open a little.

Thanks to all who responded. I am just simply sick and tired of dealing with the nitrate issue. Then ammonia shows up and I thought, "where did I go wrong?". My husbandry, while not perfect, is far from lax. Just frustrated. Thought the fuge would take care of the opportunity (problem in corporate speak).

So I will let my Ca and Mg fall a bit over time and keep my dKH around 10 to 12 tops. I will purchase a carbon reactor and put that to use. I will do a few small water changes to replenish the trace elements and won't go overboard on that. Then after a couple of months when things mellow out, I will try converting to a wet/dry system. It will be a good excuse to buy that 30g tank I have wanted for my fuge. Then I will have my 20g long to convert to an SPS tank if the desire strikes.

Thanks again for reeling me in guys and dolls.

Peace.......John.

 

Maybe mine will be here tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!