hazymranch

Spirulina is a blue green algae and Bob Fenner recommends it as a component in reef tank mash.

So double distilled water would be adequate and it wouldn't have to be de-ionized as well?

The Milli-Q water is distilled and then de-ionized for use in genetic assays that require ultra-pure water, so that would be best. The rub is that the equipment is bloody dear so they charge money to use the water. That said, I will have to calculate how much it will cost me at my present top-off rate of 1L/day and pit that against buying a RO/DI system. However, I know where I can get as much double-distilled water as I want for free, but does that remove all of the TDS? The coils are glass as the water is also used in sensitive assays.

I think that's the way to go. Do I go with double distilled or do I need something more filtered like Milli-Q, which is distilled, and then ultra filtered. I would assume that the more pure/filtered the better?

I'm hoping not to kill 3 more anemones and I'm already way over my budget with another tuition payment coming up so a RO/DI unit is not in the immediate plans, unfortunately. Maybe I can pinch some Milli-Q water from one of the labs at the Uni. Unfortuately, it's not that kind of lab and we don't have the assays for any of those parameters. The kit I borrowed from the LFS is a JBL kit and doesn't have TDS. Maybe Speights will have an analysis on file. I would think that they would have to. Maybe I can get an RO unit and tell my wife it is for us to have potable water.

I tested teh Ca using 2 different kits and the KH twice using the kit I borrowed from the LFS. I run complex assays in a lab all day so the "add, mix, and compare" kits should not be beyond my capabilities. I had low pH at the outset so I buffered with baking soda in my top-off for a week and obviously spiked my KH. I didn't have a kit for it so I didn't know it was happening, and the pH did exactly what I wanted it to, so I thought I was on the right track. I obviously need a full kit pronto. Another question: The Speights Brewery here is built on top of a natural spring with pristine water that they filter. They have a tap out front of the brewery from which they allow people to collect. Would this be a good source of top-off, or at least better than the tap water treated with Stress-Coat that I am using now?

So, alot has happened since my last posts but I have been too busy to get pics up. I will get on that soon. So, everything looked good as far as the sump, flow, and chemistry, and I ghetto-mounted my 150W MH above that tank (5200K bulb). The first livestock I put in there was a leather frag that had been recovering from shipping in Gareth's tank at the LFS. Once it was in my tank it looked really good with polyps wide open. Bolstered by that, my wife came home from a trip to Christchurch with what the LFS there claimed was a red-base sand anemone, labelled heteractis aurora. I did some research on how to care for this and found that h. aurora is actually a beaded anemone. Aside from that, none of the pictures I found of a red-base looked anything like what I now had in my tank. Anyway, as soon as the anemone was placed on the substrate it started moving toward the opening to a cave from which a solid laminar current flows. It lay on its side rather than upright with its mouth into the flow. A few days later I received a white and a brown xenia. They looked pretty good as soon as they were submerged and I was hopeful although the anemone looked worse than the day before, which was worse than the day before that. Its mouth began to prolapse and the tentacles were shrinking. The xenia continued to look great, but I noticed that as the anemone declined, the xenia and leather all looked like they were being affected. The mouth on the anemone was severely prolapsed at this point so I removed it from the tank and placed it into quarantine, where it steadily declined toward its inevitable death this morning. It is now a $100 white, crusty blob. Expensive lesson. The xenia have since pulled in their polyps, starting with the white. The brown, which had been so beautifully long with great feather-like polyps, has now shrunk considerably and the white is now very listless, ashen, and the polyps look ready to fall off at any moment. I added montipora on the same day as the xenia and they have gone from a brown to a green to white/green. In the last day or so they have taken on a brownish tinge. The leather has also declined steadily and spends most of the day looking gray with polyps retracted. Over the last day or so it has started to recover a bit and extend polyps to a degree but nothing like it was. On the weekend I added a green zoanthid and it had closed up shop upon addition, but is now starting to look like it might extend polyps. Tuesday night I did a 50L change with NSW (20-25%) and added 2 small power heads doing 700lph each. Flow now comes from these 2 heads, placed at opposite ends of the tank and blowing toward the center, one 500lph head blowing back to front, another 500lph head blowing diagonally back/side to front/center and the 2 returns from the sump blowing across the substrate and into the top, as well as the return from the cannister filter blowing back to front in the center. Should be plenty. I received a new 14K bulb and placed it into the MH fixture last night and upon lighting this morning, the leather seems to have responded somewhat. I have been struggling with my water chemistry a bit and my Ca levels are abysmal, despite what should be adequate supplementation. Gareth loaned me his testing kit and last night I ran the gamut of tests resulting in some concern. SG = 1.026 (10pm and I top-off 1L/day each morning) pH = 8.3 temp = 27.4 C Amm, NH2, NH3 = 0, 0, 0 PO4 = 0.2 KH = 20 Ca = 200 Mg = 1200 From what I understand, the high KH is precipitating the Ca, which accounts for the basement values there. How do I lower that? I have also begun a 4-day regime of intensive Ca supplementation to get that up to 400. Advice? Stay tuned for pics.

I was wondering why that "white xenia" looked nothing like the pictures in any of the books I have.

Hey Control- What is the dilution of vinegar in your top-up water and what type of vinegar do you use/recommend?

Yep...many significant water changes this weekend. Lesson learned.

Most vodka is around 70 proof, which is 35% ethanol. I added around 100ml of absolute (100%, not the brand) ethanol to start (no livestock in the tank yet) and the water went pretty cloudy overnight, coupled with a skimmer bonanza of green crud. I added the weekly dose of Stress Zyme and around 5ml of ethanol today and we'll see what happens. As my tank is at the tail end of cycling, this may be the kickstart I needed..kind of like that dose of EPO before the hill climb stage of the Tour.

I have just gone through this exact exercise and I can say this from having made several mistakes: Mico or Mastertrade are the best and cheapest places to get the bulkheads, also called bungs. You are always better to go with larger fittings and then reduce if you have to. It is a lot harder to go larger if you need to. To connect the bung to tygon (clear flexible) tubing, you need a female-female thread coupling and then screw in a nipple fitting. To connect it to PVC you screw on a female-pipe couple and then glue your pvc on. Of course, if you go with the larger bung and it is too much, you can screw a ball valve right on to the bung and then screw on your nipple or male-pvc couple, depending on what you will use for pipe. You can get all of this at any plumbing trade supply like Mico or Mastertrade. I hope this helps more than confuses.

Yep. Just like yours, except without holes drilled in the tank or space in the stand, or a room behind the tank. Would the algae be unwanted even in the 'fuge? Are 10,000K bayonet bulbs even available? By the way, and I am embarrassed to even tell you this, but I solved my flow problem. It seems that all I had to do was move the pump inlet away from the glass that was obstructing the flow :oops: :oops: :oops: Now I am very happy to have the 25mm plumbing on the main weir.

Every book I read as I did my homework recommended a quarantine tank. Fenner said it was just about a requirement for a healthy system. I have a 60L up and running with very little substrate, one live rock, a ceramic pot, a small power head, heater, and sponge filter. I have not used it yet, but it is so easy to maintain that it is almost an afterthought. I use change water from one of the other tanks with the same volume of aged fresh water to get the SG down to around 1.013. So, when I get new fish, they can acclimate to the lower SG while any parasites can't. I can also get used to the fish and vice versa before letting it loose in the main tank, from which it would be very hard to retreive it. The LFS I use in Dunedin (Pet Warehouse) is great, but they don't keep any stock on hand to speak of so everything is by order. That means that the fish are also coming straight from the supplier to me for the most part. I reckon it is one of those things where I don't want to be in a situation where I wish I had one running.

The easiest solution would be to use several powerheads, but that would also get very cluttered. The downside of a closed loop would be where to fit all of the plumbing. Here are some updated pics so you know what I'm talking about: Here is the top view showing both weirs and return plumbing. The pvc on the right is 20mm and drops down to the spray bar on the bottom. The one on the left is 15mm and returns to the surface. They both run just below the weirs. This is the left side with the 25mm weir and surface return: Right side with 15mm weir and spray bar return: Here is the whole setup. This is what I meant about having enough live rock: Closeup of sump. The light is 6400K Budget Brand from Pak N Save, 300W heater, 20mm plumbing return, 15mm to refugium, 25mm as well as 15mm to main inflow: Day lit ( I need to get the backing sorted), dawn/dusk lit, angle view of whole cabinet: I also revamped my 34L to get some more room, another power head, and lost the artificial deco to make way for the real thing:

Thanks James. I have 20mm running out of the pump and will not change it to 15mm as I was considering, thanks to Ira and Suphew. I also have the return going up and over the top of the tank to circulate the surface (really just below the surface) but the idea of having the spray bar on another pump on a closed loop isn't a bad idea at all. However, none of the glass companies in Dunners will touch an assembled tank for drilling, which is why I went to the melev weir rather than the durso standpipe. I will have to wait a while for that as my wife put her foot down this weekend when I explained to her what a closed loop was an why we needed another pump. :oops: If I have to choose between a cannister or fluidized filter and another pump, I'm not sure what I shoudl opt for. I am leaning toward a closed loop as my filtration isn't too bad at the moment.

Thanks Ira. I think I have been confusing velocity with flow. I wanted to increase the velocity out of the spray bar to prevent detritus from settling, but it sounds like I would be doing so at the expense of flow, which I don't want. Suphew - I didn't take all of the plumbing required to get the water over the top of the tank (elbows, tees, etc.) into my head calculations and that may be the problem. The 1060 is rated at 2200+ lph with a 3.1m head so it should be up to the task, but with all of the bends and tees, I am probably pushing that limit. I may have to just grin a bear it and put a few power heads in there to create current. There is a lot of rock in there and I may be able to place them carefully enough to make them less obtrusive. What is a fluidized filter?

Phew! I'm feeling pretty good after reading your comments. That, and I plugged the whole system in this weekend and IT WORKS!! Some minor adjustments I will need to make: The return pump is not as grunty as I anticipated and I get only trickle flow from the 15mm return up top and no appreciable flow from the 20mm spray bar on the bottom, certainly not enough to create a current along the bottom. So, not wanting to get a new pump already (my very understanding wife has informed me I am getting near by budgetary ceiling) I am going to scrap all of the 20mm pipe and re-plumb the return with 15mm PVC, drilling smaller holes for the spray bar. If that doesn't increase the pressure and thus flow, I will be in the market for a bigger pump and will have an eheim 1060 for sale. I also tested a mock power outage and realized that the return creates a very nice siphon once turned off so the main tank will drain into the sump until the water level gets to the top return level. Easly enough, I drilled a siphon break in the 20mm return...which was now pointless since I will be replacing it all with 15mm :oops: The weir combs are slightly different heights and the 15mm weir, being lower, bears the brunt of the overflow volume, greatly underutilizing the 25mm overflow. So, I will have to cut the 25mm weir teeth deeper. I aquascaped my live rock wall and I don't think the size of the rubble will be a problem as I have a hell of alot of rock in there now. I promise pics tomorrow. I also managed to get the letters of my son's name that I made out of glass pipets and paua chips in there, making my wife very happy (she's a big Deuce Bigalow fan). One problem I am still having is how to increase flow without piling power heads into the tank. I am trying to convince my wife that putting an eheim cannister filter in will increase flow and water quality, but she's having some issues getting past the price tag. The carbon went in after I hooke it all up and the water is crystal clear. I also found a great source for NSW on the peninsula and it tested negative for any phosphates or nitrogenous waste with good pH, KH, and Ca values. That will make my life much easier, especially with my nano. (I'll get pics of that up too).

Thanks James. Call me crazy, but it makes me feel bad when things in my care die. I will plan to use filter wool periodically when I see detritus floating around but otherwise keep that chamber clear for skimming. Here is a pic I took last night with the rubble in place. I know the skimmer is 3rd rate, but I got it for next to nothing and it is better than not having anything at all until I can afford a quality skimmer. Here is the spray bar across the bottom. Here are the weirs hung onto the back. The second (smaller) one came out much better after I had made all the mistakes on the first. Bending acrylic with a plumber's torch is not as easy as Melev made it sound: They actually work and hooking the stopcocks up top to a venturi automatically primes them if any air were to get into the "u". The bit across the top is the wet/dry trickle filter where I will put the carbon and phosphate eliminator.

Thanks Cracker. To clarify, to which "small compartment" are you recommending the coral rubble (aside from the 'fuge inlet)? 2a, which is in the center, in front of the return pump, or one of the compartments suspended above the tank?

My tank is coming together and I can use some sage advice. First of all, thanks to all of you who have been very helpful to me in my rapid education in marine aquarium keeping. Aside from a couple of books I have read (Fenner's have been the best) this site has been my main source of information as well as inspiration. That said, this is my first go at marine tanks and I would like to start with some hardy fish and coral and expand as my experience grows. Now, I am on the cusp of putting all of the planning I have done into action and I would like some advice before I go too far. The following is a picture of the sump I designed and built. It is extremely simple, especially by your standards, but I was very limited by the space available under the stand. The dimensions are 500mm (L) X 300mm (W) X 420mm (H). The tank itself is 740 (L) X 390 (W) X 450 (H). If the 4 chambers were labelled, from left to right would be 1, 2a (bottom), 2b (top), and 3. 1 will be the main inflow and will have 25mm PVC capped and cut as a spray bar as the main input draining down from a weir that I made of acrylic based on Melev's Reef design. Also draining into 1 will be a 15mm PVC uncapped. The dividers are cut so that the water will flow from 1 into 2a, then to 2b, which will house the eheim 1060 I bought from Chimera (thanks again J). This picture is an older one and I have replaced the 15mm input on the far left with 25mm based on the 20mm that will carry the outflow from the return pump. The notch in the 1/2a divider will prevent the flow from going directly from 1 to 2b. As you can see, the 15mm is split and also runs directly into an overflow in 3, which will be the refugium. Water will overflow (slowly as regulated by the small diameter pipe and the ball valve) from 3 into 2 and also be pumped out. So, my present plan was to have particulate filtration and skimming happen in 1. I was originally planning filter floss for 1, but I have been reading that none of you use it regularly and it might be a nitrate trap so I am open to suggestions as to what I shoudl have in there. In 2a I planned to put some live rock rubble, ceramic cylinders, and calcified bio balls, all of which have been up and running in an established tank and well populated with nitrifying bacteria. The return pump fits perfectly into 2b and I have fitted it with 20mm PVC with a ball valve into 20mm flexible tubing. This will be split with a 20mm T at the top of the tank and run with 20mm PVC to the right side of the tank, then drop to the bottom where I have capped and drilled a spray bar to span the bottom of the tank to prevent dead spots (pics to come...hopefully tomorrow). The other side of the T will reduce to 15mm and return into the top to create some flow. In 3 I plan to have a small refugium with the heater, lsubstrate from an established tank, and live rock with some macro algae (caleurpa?). teh water will flow into the overflow in the corner, which will be filled with live rock rubble. Any suggestions you have here would also be welcome. Above the tank there is an existing wet/dry trickle filter currently running 2 chambers each with a poly filter pad above ceramic noodles and bio balls (the kind that look like cocoa puffs breakfast cereal). My plan for this is to fill these chambers with some sort of chemical filtration, like carbon or ammo lock, or phospho rid. Suggestions here will be greatly appreciated. That's it for now. After I get the flow up and running to kickstart the cycling (it has been running without a sump, curing the live rock for 4-5 weeks with an army of power heads and an established biofilter) I will be building the lighting hood, which will bring me back for a whole host of other questions. I'm collecting some NSW and will be making up the rest with ASW.

I have a question and please forgive me if it sounds stupid. Nori has been recommended as a vegetable element to the food. Would any seaweed do? Are there particular types of seaweed that can be collected and used? Are there any that should be avoided? Also, is a multivitamin supplement recommended? Bob Fenner's recipe called for it to be dropped onto the nori. If I should be using one, is there one in particular that I should use? Thanks!

Lie to us and tell us you didn't buy that house just for the sump room :lol:

Good advice from both of you, thanks. I think I will create a sheet of washed mash until I actually have corals to feed and then go unwashed. As for the $.70, it was more the fact that I reminded her on 3 successive shopping trips before she actually brought it home. I was only kidding, really, she is a gem and we had a laugh about it last night.

So, I guess the role of the gelatin was to solidify quickly into a nice pellet once dropped into ice water. Do I now just take my food mash, and drop it onto something like wax paper and freeze that to make pellets? My wife is going to be pissed that I made her buy me gelatin...I may just tell her I used it anyway. :oops: