Jimbo’s CDA 250

[drexel]

I'm with @Smite on the glass hydrometer, the TM works without fail, unless your temp is way off. The only refractometer that I would trust to calibrate at zero with RO is the Vee Gee, all others should be calibrated with a solution to 35ppt using Randy's DIY recipe:

For a refractometer:

Use 3.65 weight percent sodium chloride solution to match 35 ppt (sg = 1.0264). It can be made by dissolving 3.65 grams of sodium chloride in 96.35 grams (mL) of purified freshwater.

For a rougher measurement in the absence of an accurate water volume or weight measurement:

1. Measure ¼ cup of Morton's Iodized Salt (about 73.1 g)
2. Add 1 teaspoon of salt (making about 79.3 g total salt)
3. Measure the full volume of a plastic 2-L Coke or Diet Coke bottle filled with purified freshwater (about 2104.4 g)
4. Dissolve the total salt (79.3 g) in the total water volume (2104 g) to make an approximately 3.65 weight percent solution of NaCl. The volume of this solution will be slightly larger than the Coke bottle, so dissolve it in another container.

If you have a 100 mL graduated cylinder, use exactly 3.65 grams of salt and 96.35 mL of fresh water. It is tricky to volume measure such a small amount of salt, but that is about 0.59 teaspoons of Mortons.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

I'm with @Smite on the glass hydrometer, the TM works without fail, unless your temp is way off. The only refractometer that I would trust to calibrate at zero with RO is the Vee Gee, all others should be calibrated with a solution to 35ppt using Randy's DIY recipe:

For a refractometer:

Use 3.65 weight percent sodium chloride solution to match 35 ppt (sg = 1.0264). It can be made by dissolving 3.65 grams of sodium chloride in 96.35 grams (mL) of purified freshwater.

For a rougher measurement in the absence of an accurate water volume or weight measurement:

1. Measure ¼ cup of Morton's Iodized Salt (about 73.1 g)
2. Add 1 teaspoon of salt (making about 79.3 g total salt)
3. Measure the full volume of a plastic 2-L Coke or Diet Coke bottle filled with purified freshwater (about 2104.4 g)
4. Dissolve the total salt (79.3 g) in the total water volume (2104 g) to make an approximately 3.65 weight percent solution of NaCl. The volume of this solution will be slightly larger than the Coke bottle, so dissolve it in another container.

If you have a 100 mL graduated cylinder, use exactly 3.65 grams of salt and 96.35 mL of fresh water. It is tricky to volume measure such a small amount of salt, but that is about 0.59 teaspoons of Mortons.

I think the best method by far is the float hydrometer with out fail.

Then here we go with the refractometer how to's and arguments. My refractometer instructions say specifically to use distilled so.... Then again this is why refractometers are not used in laboratory settings very often there is just too much room for error and they are far more likely to give bad readings based on miniscule temperature swings. The readings can change by a full .1 in just 5 degrees of temperature swing. This temp swing can happen just by taking a pipet of properly heated water and walking accross the air conditioned room to drip it on your refractometer. Even if the meter itself is hot or cold it can change the readings. Arguing over the accuracy of such a finicky device is just silly IMHO. This is why my refractometer is now just sitting on the patio table in the sun and never used. Who cares what it has to say it is probably lying to me anyhow. I may as well taste the water and guess. I thought the thing was really neat when I first started using it then I mixed a few messed up batches of water and chucked it aside. Then my sister who works in a laboratory testing dozens of water samples daily told me what a joke they are and mine got chucked out the back door.

With a graduated cylinder holding a sizable volume of water you have a few minutes to drop your float hydrometer in and get an accurate reading that doesn't require recalibration every time you use it. After all if you are going to go through the trouble of testing something wouldn't you want to use the most accurate test possible?

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[DanK.Reefer]

Oh and 1 more side note on the distilled water method for calibration. It is far more accurate due to the fact that it doesn't rely on a specific gravity test solution that is susceptible to evaporation or incorrect mesurments of of salt and water. Using the 2 liter bottle filled to the top is such an inaccurate measurment because that too is subject to the accuracy of the mold used to make the bottle the type of plastic and how much rigidity it has. Then there is weight measurment of the water and salt and relying on the accuracy of your scale and yada yada. Again like I said refractometers are spify neat prism tool thingys that really are not very accurate but they make us feel as though we are doing something scientific. I also was fooled into this thinking as well, and I bought some great device to check my salinity but the fact of the matter is that for testing salinity they are not precise enough. I will still use them for testing fuel/alcohol concentrations, coolant mixes, battery acid levels (yes I use refracrometers on the regular)where a 1%-2% deviation isnt a big deal. But for my reef that requires a higher level of stability and precision I will stick with more accurate tools.

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[bakbay]

You guys are too nerdy and technical — what I do: calibrate my refractometer with the “free” Trident recalibration solution that is 1.025! Easy peasy

 

[DanK.Reefer]

Don't leave the cap off of that solution or count on it to be accurate after sitting around for more than 6 months. If there is even so much as a crusty crystal on the bottle lip it is worthless for calibration. And yes I have been told that I am a nerd LOL. The second bottle of solution isn't free and niether was your spiffy inaccurate prism thingy LOL. Just teasin.

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[bakbay]

Don't leave the cap off of that solution or count on it to be accurate after sitting around for more than 6 months. If there is even so much as a crusty crystal on the bottle lip it is worthless for calibration. And yes I have been told that I am a nerd LOL. The second bottle of solution isn't free and niether was your spiffy inaccurate prism thingy LOL. Just teasin.

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Oh I go thru these solutions rather quickly with 2 Tridents. Agree on the cap — when I recalibrate the Trident, I’ll recalibrate to check salinity.

 

[Jimbo327]

I added more dead corals skeletons and rubble into my sump, and this will give the pods more hiding space. I have bottled coralline algae, galaxy pods, and phyto on the way.

I feel like my cycle is almost done...I'm seeing more tan than white. And my wife is starting to complain about the "earthy" smell coming from the sump.

 

[bakbay]

When I started my first reef tank many moons ago, I bought "Purple Up" (not sure it's still around) but anyway, I'm not sold on bottled coralline algae stuff. That is, it comes naturally as the tank matured. Just maintain stable Alk & Ca and these things just magically happen. Well -- the tough one for me was growing coralline on one side of the glass, even after 2.5yrs.

Good luck with yours!

 

[Jimbo327]

Yeah, I remember "Purple Up" was the most popular thing back in the days. But now that I look at their ingredients, it's nothing more than Calcium/Alk and some trace elements. They even market it as an "accelerator". What a gimmick! I remember pouring that bottle into my first tank with excitement, and thinking I just seeded my tank. LOL.

But the one from Algaebarn actually contains multiple strains of coralline algae and has a very short shelf life. Keeping my fingers crossed. Just trying to get that coralline algae growing on the rocks before the nuisance algae does after I turn on my lights.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

I used both bottles the purple helix and the pink fusion. They also say it has nitrifying bacteria contained. I figured what could it hurt. I started with cured rock that had no coraline on it. Pure magic? Maybe? But I do have several patches of coraline growing now. I did also buy a couple of heemits with some very crusty shells I am sure these little guys didn't hurt.

I miss the old days when you could just buy a couple of 50lb boxes of Walt Smith Fiji rock spray it with a hose to take the detritus off and use it to cycle the tank. It was instant biodiversity. The water would turn brackish and stink for 3 weeks then bang one day you turn on the lights and it was clear. Then you chuck in a big ass clean up crew and start reefing. The glass would be almost completley covered in coraline in 3-4 months. Those were the days. Too bad they stopped us from taking it out of the reefs, now it is all dying there anyways. The water was so hot in FL that we lost 80% of that reef just this year.

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[Jimbo327]

It was such a different way to reefing back in the days. Yeah, exactly, you bought fresh Walt Smith live rocks, chuck a bottle of purple up in there. Get all kinds of free hitchhikers on the rock (some good, some bad). Those were fun times.

It's a whole different level of reefing nowadays. Very technical. But it is very exciting for me to learn about fishless cycling, LEDS, biomes, ICP, pathogens, carbon dosing, trace chemistry, APEX fusion gear...it's all very new. I'm trying to learn all of these things, but also keep it simple. I'm going to take it slow, and go with it.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

I agree this learning curve has been quite extreme for me as well. The past 6 months have been really difficult. Like I said before reefing was much more simple back then. I ran a big pile of real Fiji Rock a fuge, a skimmer, course sponge blocks to remove larger particles and hand dosed b-ionic. Folks nowadays refer to this as a bomber system. So be it, it was stable and it grew corals and I still see people run it to this day with success. As long as you stay on top of your water parameters it works just as well as as some of the most complex setups I have seen.

I was in one of the LFS this weekend where they have some of the nicest corals in town and this is exactly the set up they use. I had no idea how good we had it. I do still plan on using several of the old ways and selecting a few of the most advantagious new ones mainly dosing with a pump and using electronic monitors. I am still not super keen on the use of exorbitantly priced controlers because I am sitting in front of the reef for an hour a day anyhow and this gives me something to tinker with. Also the cost of all of the different testers and and reagents and yada yada seem like a continiuous drain on the wallet.

The main thing that I have noticed that has changed is the amount of gear that people seem to think is necessary to make this happen. There are a lot of things on the market now that seemed geared towards emptying your wallet and I fell into that trap early on. Now I am sitting back before each purchase thinking about the most incredible tanks I have seen and whether or not those tanks needed this level of equipment to survive.

Here is a picture of my old Walt Smith Fiji rock reef and all that was necessary to run it. water was crystal clear parameters were stable coral grew like crazy and not a filter sock or roller mat in sight. Check out the skimmer sitting on top of the cut off milk crate LOL. Man I had it made

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[Jimbo327]

For me, there were 2 things I needed to accomplish in setting up this tank. One was aesthetics to satisfy the wife, and the other is to have a tank setup where I can travel for work up to 2 weeks at a time. All of this new technology is definitely draining the wallet, but it provides us with control and stability. I agree with you. I've selected the most advantageous gears to accomplish them. Dosers, APEX monitoring, ATO, easy water changes, LEDs, big skimmer, calcium reactor, etc. My aim is no filter socks or water changes if I can get the system stable. I am debating if I should add a Trident because I'm keeping SPS, and that could be a nice-to-have. I can pick up an used Trident for fairly cheap, and there are 3rd party reagents now.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

I do have some interest in the automation, I am just cheap. I will be running a dosing pump and the balling method using the AF A+ B+ C+ and bi weekly water tests until I get the dosing dialed in.

I am actually having trouble keeping my nitrate and phosphate detectible at this point so water changes aren't super critical yet. After I get back from my vacation I am gonna start adding more fish and more feeding to start getting those numbers up more consistantly. I did consider using neophos and neonitro but I have heard horror stories about those products building up in the substrate/live rock only to release all at once causing issues.

Luckily I rarely go out of town for more than a few days at a time so full automation is more of a luxury than a necessity at this point. I am gonna have to start trading/selling corals if I want to start building automation...Here comes the frag tank...LOL

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[Jimbo327]

Trust me, I'm a complete newbie when it comes to automation. I have not programmed any of the APEX, and frankly don't know how. I figure I'll just turn it on and off using their app for now, and then ask some other reefers and learn how to do it as we go. Good luck on your build too.

 

[DanK.Reefer]

Yeah, even though I have run successful reefs in the past and I am quite knowlegeable on the principles, I am feeling like a newb all over again too. Even though I know what is right the new methods of making it happen are foreign to me. Luckily have a strong propensity for self education, reading and sifting through BS vs facts. It also does't hurt having a laboratory director marine biologist on speed dial(sister) to bounce things off of. I frequently check in with her when I am skeptical of things I read/hear.

I have really enjoyed watching your build and can't wait to see you start stocking your tank. That thing is awesome and it is going to be beautiful.

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[Sold4JC]

Great build, and kudos on taking it slow. I look forward to seeing your tank a year from now. I enjoyed reading your thread.

 

[Jimbo327]

My pH is consistently around 7.8.

Since I already have a hole in the wall, I ran an air tubing from outside to the skimmer. Let‘a see if that helps.

 

[Jimbo327]

Slight improvement.

 

[bakbay]

I wouldn’t worry about pH for now but if you want to peg it, go with recirculating CO2 scrubber, you should hit 8.4 peak during the day and settle to 8.1 at night.