R_P's 120 build!

Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#141
#141
Hey Hey, Guess what?! My alk test kit just bit it, tested 2 days ago and was reading 3.5 meq/L (normal). Today....well....first a little background. I'm using the SeaChem test kit and it works by dropping the reagent into the water and stirring, long story short you take the total number of drops and divide by 2, that is your alk in meq/L. Well today, I was expecting the usual 7 or 8 drops but instead it went to 11. The test kit came with a reference solution of 4 meq/L, it took 13 drops to change in color. Doing some math, is my alk at 3.38 or is the whole test thrown out because of the inaccuracy?
 
Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#142
#142
Dammit man, if its not one thing its the other, my nem is on the move for some reason, he seems to be attaching himself to some acans. My rainbow nem disappeared. Jeez man!

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#143
#143
Found the nem, plumbed the reactor......want to get rid of the center brace. How can I do this without draining the tank?

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Took some pics: wish I had better skills
Rainbow Nem


Is this a majano?


Newer pics/additons/aquascape. What you think?



Name this paly, HPEOA?

 
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Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#146
#146
Thanks guys. The pics are taken through the portal viewer, can't wait to get the new scope from Jon though. I forgot to add the rest of the pics, I'll do it soon.

Different note...turns out I won a dosing pump on ebay, forgot I bid on it and got a threat to freeze my account, so now I have 2 dosing pumps...anyone want to trade dosing pumps for equipment?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
 
Off The Deep End

Off The Deep End

Reef Shark
M.A.S.C Club Member
#148
#148
rockys_pride;91523 said:
Thanks guys. The pics are taken through the portal viewer, can't wait to get the new scope from Jon though. I forgot to add the rest of the pics, I'll do it soon.

Different note...turns out I won a dosing pump on ebay, forgot I bid on it and got a threat to freeze my account, so now I have 2 dosing pumps...anyone want to trade dosing pumps for equipment?

Sent from my DROIDX using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
What equipment are you looking for?
 
Boogie

Boogie

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#150
#150
4th picture down, zoas in the corner with the green and pink..what are they called? answer question then lock your door...oh, and stop sleeping in scooby do p.js, starting to creep me out...
 
Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#151
#151
Boogie;91690 said:
4th picture down, zoas in the corner with the green and pink..what are they called? answer question then lock your door...oh, and stop sleeping in scooby do p.js, starting to creep me out...
Click to expand...
Lol, what are those called? And I love my pj's

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dv3

dv3

Beluga
M.A.S.C Club Member
#153
#153
sweet clam!

how close are you HPE's to your light ...mine are at the bottom, lost their spots and when open look like as mushroom as in they are getting too much light
 
Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#155
#155
ok, been thinking about a bio-pellet reactor since the talk with Will. I don't really want to buy one, but I have an unused skimmer that looks like it can do the trick. The only thing I'm really worried about is it pulling no3 and po4 out too quickly. How can I prevent this? Adding a lot less media to start with? Thinking about adding 100mL of media to start with and GRADUALLY increasing to the 1000mL?
 
N

nadking

Anthias
#156
#156
Don't do it, bio-pellets are the devil. All they did for me was grow cyano and make my lps look like crap. I started with 250ml and ended at about 1250 ml on my 210g, and yes my skimmer is kick***.
 
N

nadking

Anthias
#158
#158
Not really, my nitrates were almost undetectable and went to completely undetectable after the pellets. My phosphates were always undetectable using API kits. The majority of my testing just came from looking at the tank and seeing how everything reacted, my tank did not handle it well. Your tank may be fine but I would be cautious, you do not want to lose what you already have going for you.
 
Cake_Boss

Cake_Boss

Blue Whale
M.A.S.C Club Member
#160
#160
I was doing some reading and found the same thing going on with other peoples tanks. I can't accurately tell you what my levels are, but i have the from 0 to the first number, somewhere in there. Now I'm curious as to what is causing these adverse reactions. I really don't want to lose my corals. To quote pwitby from RC

pwhitby said:
I am including biopellets in a talk im giving in Dallas next week at DMAS..
In doing so I have spent a lot of time researching them and recording what people have observed.

It appears that in most cases they do such a great job of depleting the available nutrients that corals simply starve and die.

They also deplete phosphate so well that it is likley zoaxanthellae begin to die inside coral tissue, this is what causes the death of Acropora and other stoney corals. Its likely that many other trace elements are also absorbed into the biomass they create.

To date, no one really knows which bacteria is (are) growing on them and if that a) varies between tanks, b) is actually beneficial to the tank and c) producing toxic by products.

The best results seem to be when using them sub-optimally. By that I mean in a low enough amount that they merely reduce, but not deplete the available nutrients.

One can argue that this is the same as vodka dosing a tank and that the same results should be observed, but the same results are not seen. It is likely due to selective growth of a single or a few strains of bacteria, the fact that these are concentrated in a single space and the overall effect they are having on the microbial ecology of the tank. A large enough biomass of bacteria can rap[idly deplete the tank of nutrients required for many processes.

All in all, right now- i would go gently when thinking of using biopellets and only use them if you have a problem that can not be solved by regular tank husbandry and maintenance. If a tank is designed and running well, you should not need to carbon dose, or run biopellets. Some tanks inevitably have high nurtrients- Romans NPS tank is a good example, he HAS to feed a massive amount and needs a great nutrient export system and biopellets deal well with this. In general a regular reef tank should be able to proces its own nutrients.

anyways--- those are my thoughts based on a lot of reading and chats with a bunch of the people in the hobby.

Regards,

Paul.
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