John’s official/unofficial tank(s) build/rebuild thread
- Thread starter drexel
- Start date
Yes, it’s a molar ratio, which is what we should use/reference. I find that each system is different and unique, so finding the range that works best takes some time. I’ve also found that some corals just don’t do well in particular systems no matter what. That’s the challenge of a closed system and the limitations of each biome within that system. I honestly don’t think low nutrients work in home aquaria that well, unless a certain balance is achieved and maintained, which for most can be a struggle. I also find that phosphate/phosphorus is the key or one of the main nutrients to keep balanced/maintained, as nitrate/nitrogen can be easily supplemented through ammonium additions if needed. You can be near zero with nitrate and still be okay, but you can’t be near zero with phosphate and have a healthy system.
And yes, as close to 50 is ideal for most stoney corals, softies will uptake nutrients no matter what level (for the most part). And yes that is the correct formula, nitrate/phosphate x 1.53
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And yes, as close to 50 is ideal for most stoney corals, softies will uptake nutrients no matter what level (for the most part). And yes that is the correct formula, nitrate/phosphate x 1.53
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It’s not pretty, but it’s moving in the right direction after hitting a few roadblocks. For the first time since I’ve been keeping reef tanks, ostreopsis showed up last week. What was initially thought to be the normal uglies, turned into something truly ugly. After looking under the scope, I was able to identify them as ostreopsis (one species of dinos). My nutrients weren’t ultra low, but combined with intense lighting and simply not enough good guys (bacteria from live rock/sand) there was an opportunity for them to take over. I didn’t have any trisodium phosphate on hand, so I used TM phos-feed (not the best way to increase PO4) to slowly increase P. Dosing ammonium bicarbonate helped increase N easily. Last week I tested 6ppm of N and 0.22ppm of P. So I borrowed a 57w UV and started to siphon out as much as I could every day for a few days. Today, they’re still present and I expect them to be around a little while longer, but their numbers are greatly reduced. Today I’m hitting 13ppm of N and 0.36ppm of P, not the levels I really want, but until things settle down, I’m not complaining. I’m dosing a little live phyto daily and started dosing LC again to get P down a little, in hopes that N will reduce naturally as well. I have some PNS substrate sauce on the way, which I’ll perform the first water change, then add some in order to outcompete the ostreopsis. A few acropora are not happy, but they’re not completely destroyed either.
I know the UV is helping with keeping things clear, but talking about molar ratios, I’m currently hitting 55, so at least my nutrients are balanced and I can see that in action. What’s really cool is that I noticed there are a few hitchhiker corals that came with the Fiji live rock, one I can get a good pic of, but the other is a little harder to see.
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Yeah, it’s deep cycle (I forgot the name change). I also have some aqua forest life source, which is live mud (which I used when I started the reboot), but it’s old and may not have any living bacteria left? Yes, it’s a porites rock with Xmas tree worms and paguritta crabs, compliments from @Tangwich I think a few of the crabs jumped ship and may have moved into the rock work, but haven’t spotted them yet.
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Hey @Tangwich the chalice is putting on some new growth.
@happyreefer this bad boy is going strong!
Hitchhiker acan putting down some growth as well. Sorry, a dove snail was trying to steal the show and blurred out one of my Molly millers.
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I love the tags of all the socalireefers 
same with @JojosReef post. awesome community!
same with @JojosReef post. awesome community!
I sure hope so! I caught them snooping around the other night. Once I put them in, I haven't seen them in weeks. I finally saw them again lol, eating some cyano bacteria, haha!
I've never heard of dove snails until you made that comment one day on the OC Coral show thread and it wasn't until I got my hands on them is when I googled to learn more about them. They are really cool snails as they help clean and get rid of cyan bacteria and other algae in the tank, which I find super beneficial! It's no wonder why they go for a pretty penny on liveaquaria.com.
Thanks again! I really appreciate it!! I wish I had more of them lol. Guess, I'll just have to wait they're noticeably bigger today then they were a few weeks ago. Hey have these long things coming out of their snout as they look for things to eat lol
I've never heard of dove snails until you made that comment one day on the OC Coral show thread and it wasn't until I got my hands on them is when I googled to learn more about them. They are really cool snails as they help clean and get rid of cyan bacteria and other algae in the tank, which I find super beneficial! It's no wonder why they go for a pretty penny on liveaquaria.com.
Thanks again! I really appreciate it!! I wish I had more of them lol. Guess, I'll just have to wait
they're noticeably bigger today then they were a few weeks ago. Hey have these long things coming out of their snout as they look for things to eat lol
Hey @Tangwich the chalice is putting on some new growth.
@happyreefer this bad boy is going strong!
Hitchhiker acan putting down some growth as well. Sorry, a dove snail was trying to steal the show and blurred out one of my Molly millers.
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I sure hope so! I caught them snooping around the other night. Once I put them in, I haven't seen them in weeks. I finally saw them again lol, eating some cyano bacteria, haha!
I've never heard of dove snails until you made that comment one day on the OC Coral show thread and it wasn't until I got my hands on them is when I googled to learn more about them. They are really cool snails as they help clean and get rid of cyan bacteria and other algae in the tank, which I find super beneficial! It's no wonder why they go for a pretty penny on liveaquaria.com.
Thanks again! I really appreciate it!! I wish I had more of them lol. Guess, I'll just have to wait they're noticeably bigger today then they were a few weeks ago. Hey have these long things coming out of their snout as they look for things to eat lol
I've never heard of dove snails until you made that comment one day on the OC Coral show thread and it wasn't until I got my hands on them is when I googled to learn more about them. They are really cool snails as they help clean and get rid of cyan bacteria and other algae in the tank, which I find super beneficial! It's no wonder why they go for a pretty penny on liveaquaria.com.
Thanks again! I really appreciate it!! I wish I had more of them lol. Guess, I'll just have to wait
they're noticeably bigger today then they were a few weeks ago. Hey have these long things coming out of their snout as they look for things to eat lol
I love the tags of all the socalireefers same with @JojosReef post. awesome community!
same with @JojosReef post. awesome community!
I had a feeling it was their snout lol. I did a head count last night, it looks like I still have all eight of them, they were kind of all hanging out nearby I am absolutely open to getting more, however, I wouldn't make it a priority as I know that you are far far away haha! Maybe when the day comes, I can randevu you. Thank you so much!
I am absolutely open to getting more, however, I wouldn't make it a priority as I know that you are far far away haha! Maybe when the day comes, I can randevu you. Thank you so much!
I was able to get my hands on the TM hydrometer and boy I'm glad I did! It looks like the Milwaukee digital refractometer is really darn accurate. Although, I would like to see an additional decimal on the reading so I can get a more accurate reading, it's good enough for me. The Red Sea refractometer turns out that it's about .001 lower than the real salinity according to the TM hydrometer. I'm super happy to learn about this because before I had the TM Hydrometer, I was leaning more on the Red Sea refractometer than I did on my Milwaukee digital. By the way, the Red Sea refractometer is actually pretty good in my opinion as I switched out my old one that I've been using for many years with a new one that I had for back up and the new one seems to be aligned with both the TM hydrometer and Milwaukee digital. I think the refractometer used for brine shrimp propagation is the BRS's version of refractometer which looks exactly the same as the Red Sea's seawater refractometer, I could be wrong. I am going to order the D&D true seawater refractometer to compare. But so far, so good Thanks again for the info!
Thanks again for the info!
