Manny Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Video? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 Of my phosphate results? I actually spoke too soon, my 0.02 ppm of phosphate dropped to 0 ppm again overnight. Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 I've always wondered what phosphates looked like on camera. What about a video of your new livestock? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 11, 2014 Author Share Posted August 11, 2014 I'm holding out for the big reveal Manny! I'll tease with some pictures here and there but I'm waiting for the day for when my canopy is completed and all my frags are glued up! At this rate, 2016 is looking pretty doable. Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manny Posted August 11, 2014 Share Posted August 11, 2014 Blah blah blah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Well...you may end up being one of the few reefers out there who have to develop a phosphate dosing regiment lol. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Very nice GB reference Bpb. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
victoly Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Who are you calling pencil ... Nevermind .... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 12, 2014 Author Share Posted August 12, 2014 Well...you may end up being one of the few reefers out there who have to develop a phosphate dosing regiment lol. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria! It's alright, I'll just hit up Victoly for some of his tank water so I can set up a drip for my phosphate dosing regiment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Victoly could only supply your tank with enough to do a small dosing pump. It would probably work though...... Snickers........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bpb Posted August 12, 2014 Share Posted August 12, 2014 Well...you may end up being one of the few reefers out there who have to develop a phosphate dosing regiment lol. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria!It's alright, I'll just hit up Victoly for some of his tank water so I can set up a drip for my phosphate dosing regiment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 14, 2014 Author Share Posted August 14, 2014 Quick update, I think my biopellets are just too overwhelming for my system right now and I have reduced the amount drastically. It was starting to cause STN on some SPS and I couldn't keep my nutrient levels from zeroing out. I even added phosphate to my system and brought it up to 0.02-0.03 ppm each time and the next day it would be stripped from my system. The more interesting part is my GFO reactor was off so it was only the biopellets... which is way more effective at removing nitrates than phosphates. Even only being minimally efficient at removing phosphates, it was still stripping my system of it. Here's hoping the reduced biopellets and increasing my feedings/amino acid dosing will keep everything from starving out and the STN will stop. Had a couple of SPS casualties but everything is starting to look a little better already. I hate the fact that I'm still dialing everything in with this system. Well at least I have the alk stable now and most of the other parameters stable as well, just need to maintain a low level of nutrients (not zero) and I think I'm good to go. Sent via Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sethsolomon Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Well I hope everything goes well. My $0.02 on the biopellets thing: Slowly reduce how much you use GFO and Biopellets and add Macro algaes to compensate. Stay away from caulerpa. Get some Gracilia Hyia (Red Dragon), Halymenia (Dragon's Breath), Botryocladia (Red grape), and any other non-green macro algaes. Or if you have a 6in sandbed in your sump, seagrasses. http://www.live-plants.com/ great place to pick up macro algaes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 14, 2014 Author Share Posted August 14, 2014 It's been looking better already Seth. Thanks! The idea was to tweak things to my tank. My previous tank, I ran biopellets for about 2 years in conjunction with GFO and that tank was bulletproof! I'm still adjusting both my biopellet usage and my GFO usage to this tank. I consider it more of a fine tuning issue now... trying to read the language of my new tank. The cool thing was I was never able to fully take my GFO offline in the previous tank, as my tank was always nitrate-limited and with just running biopellets alone, left me with a residual phosphate concentration which I had to employ GFO to remove (biopellets use up a lot more nitrates than phosphates). Looks like this new tank has plenty of nitrates to go around and with the biopellets, it is able to remove both my nitrates and my phosphates to near zero levels without a residual amount of phosphate left in the system, which is ideal. Very similar to people who have biopellets who are actually experimenting with dosing nitrates to help remove the last bit of phosphates in their system that typically lingers around when you only run biopellets, except I don't have to dose more nitrates. Here's hoping I find that sweet spot where I have low-level nutrients, not stripped, and not too high nutrients either, but perfectly balanced so I can kick GFO to the curb! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sethsolomon Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 Sweet that is good news! Interesting concept of dosing nitrates to reduce phosphates. I am going to dig a little bit on that while I am sitting here bored at work Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 14, 2014 Author Share Posted August 14, 2014 Yeah, I came upon a thread discussing it in one of the larger forums. The basic concept was since biopellets remove so much more nitrates than pellets (due to bacterial activity), that you end up with a nitrate-limited system. Once the nitrates are all consumed, there is residual phosphate left over, which is why the majority of biopellet users employ GFO... to take the residual amount out. Some reefers have looked into dosing nitrates, giving the bacteria enough nitrates to consume the remainder of the phosphates in the system, and allowing the reefer to not have to use GFO at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sethsolomon Posted August 14, 2014 Share Posted August 14, 2014 did they dose the nitrates directly into the biopellet reactor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 14, 2014 Author Share Posted August 14, 2014 That I am not sure of but I would imagine near the intake of the reactor would suffice. Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 The biopellet debacle seems to be over. I reduced my biopellet amount greatly and did a couple of water changes. Everything is looking back to normal. I did lose that sweet tabling colony I got from Aquadome but there was a big question mark if that was going to survive anyways since it was completely bleached. I also lost my new efflo and lokani as well but everything else made it through with just a bit of STN. That's what I get for putting way too much biopellets in my reactor! This weekend I could already see the encrusting again on my SPS bases and the alk usage has gone up tremendously so I know I am getting back on the right road again. I even have a hint of PO4 again which is awesome! I'll wait one more week to try to dial the alk in to keep up with happy corals and then glue the rest of my frags up and record a video for the big reveal. Here are couple of recent additions so my tank doesn't feel too stagnant and boring for me. Teenie tiny ORA maxima clam (I know I know, get it off the sand... I am light acclimating it) For size reference (8-9" deresa clam behind it) Exquisite acro from Unique Coral (hopefully it'll color up like the pic online) Ice fire echinata from AquaSD (photos to be inserted later) Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reburn Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 The maxima clam looks awesome!!!!! I'm sure the acro will color up with time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 I just noticed the creepy eye in the sand in the picture with my new clam. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted August 18, 2014 Share Posted August 18, 2014 Snail? Or did you get a flounder? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Hilarious fighting conchs! Those guys are weird, but in an entertaining way. Sent via Tapatalk 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FarmerTy Posted August 22, 2014 Author Share Posted August 22, 2014 Just as I was explaining today to a fellow reefer that I am not prone to impulsive decisions... guess who was invited to the party! For those that enjoy my wacky science experiments with my tank, consider this part 2. I've already dosed phosphate into my system before... now I'm looking to add nitrates to my system. Good ol' potassium nitrate, in the form of Spectracide stump remover! I found a calculator online and away I went. I mixed 2 teaspoons to 300 ml of water and then dosed it slowly over a 3 hr period. Then I tested the nitrate in the tank to see how it corresponded. A few observations: 1) I probably need to buy a small digital food scale or the calculator was a bit off. I was aiming for 5ppm of nitrates and I ended up with 15ppm. 2) I only saw a visible reaction from my Duncans. All other corals showed no reaction to the increase in nitrates. 3) I need to buy a higher resolution nitrate test kit. This API nitrate kit isn't going to cut it. I plan on retesting after a 24-hr period and see how much has been removed via denitrification and bacterial activity (biopellets). I guess I should also take "before" pictures of my SPS and then down the road, "after" pictures to document my progression. The goal is to see if me artificially increasing the nitrate levels will increase coloration in the SPS and stop my random STN I am getting on some acros. Wish me luck! Sent via Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted August 22, 2014 Share Posted August 22, 2014 You're making me nervous. You should setup a small tank for your experiments. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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