Puffer Chick's 46 Gallon Bowfront Reef

lol i saw that, i'm extremely jealous, i guess i have to wait 3 more weeks to see any signs of life then

 

Gas exchange/oxygen exchange occurs when water touches oxygen, a turbulent surface helps with gas exchange as well as turbulent current in the display which circulates water to the surface. For example, if you place your powerheads at opposite ends of the tank, half way down, and with both pointed toward the surface and center of the tank's front glass. You would get surface agitation, as well as currents converging, which creates random flow.

Your rockwork can also have a hand in helping or hindering your flow/gas exchange.

PH can be effected when the room your tank is in, doesnt get a flush of fresh air. If you keep windows and doors closed in the summer, because of an air conditioner, and in the winter to keep the heat in, CO2 will build up, and the ph in your tank will be effected.

Its surprising how much your Ph will rise when you open up some doors and windows and use a fan to blow out the stagnant air.

an easy way to raise your Ph when you have a skimmer is to get a long length of air hose and connect it to the volute, and stick the airline hose outside, so that the skimmer is drawing in air from the outdoors.

 

ohhhh ok, my window was just closed all day yesterday as i was gone all day, and it's normally open, i guess that could explain the ph drop

 

That would probably explain it. However, at the opening of our cycle in our 46 we also had a pH drop occur, dropping us into the 7's. A day or two later, it was back to normal and has stayed normal since then. Maybe it's just a tank growth spurt thing, "has to get worse before it gets better".

 

also makes sense about the growth spurts, i have now noticed that some of the rocks that turned white are now starting to be covered with brown coloring, so maybe that's a good sign

 

Just found your build thread and I'm the one jealous of you. A puffer fish and water in your new build already.

 

sadly, i've decided that i want to keep my puffer in his 20 gall, and go for a reef community in the 46

 

i also can't wait until my new skimmer get's here, i'm excited, then that leaves the $400 lighting that i need to get, the c.c is deffienently hurting right now

 

A reef tank is your wallets worst nightmare.

 

haha yup, and what's worse is i only have a 1k limit on my c.c. and $300 automatically gets put on the c.c every month for my school, so i really have to be careful