kinnadian

I would get a cheap API one from the US, one of the "saltwater" ones which is ammonia/nitrite/nitrate/ph. This is helpful in determining your cycle, and you don't need that much accuracy to be honest. http://www.amazon.com/API-Saltwater-Master-Test-Kit/dp/B001EUE808/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1405829813&sr=8-2&keywords=api+marine Then for the more important parameters, I would get Salifert. This includes nitrate, Alkalinity and Calcium (if you plan tohave lps/sps, if not don't bother). Phosphate one is questionable, a lot will recommend but they aren't very accurate because algae quickly consumes free phosphate in the water so you get very low readings; the best way to test for phosphates is to watch for any algae growth. The API pH test kit is fine enough for what it does. I would recommend NOT getting the "fluval wavemaker" and instead get the WP-10 from Fishstreet,http://www.fish-street.com/jebao_wp-10_4000l_wave_maker?search_string=wp-10&search_category_id=0, its about $68 shipped and a will probably be a much better unit. Thoroughly recommended, variable speed settings and wave functions. For a bit more you could get the RW-4 from fish-street, it gives a wider flow pattern and the control box has better controls on it. For your RODI unit, I would recommend purchasing 1 micron pre-filters for it (carbon and filter), it extends the life of your RO and DI. Make sure you change these out every 6 months or so. For your DIY lights, I think I mentioned this in your last thread but I will mention it again, in my opinion you need a mixture of warm white (or neutral white, but I prefer warm) as well as cool white. The warm white provides the orange/yellow spectrum for nice coral coloration (for corals that aren't green). Red has practically no utility for corals (has been proven in the past but can't be bothered finding the thread), and there is no point in having green since white has LOTS of green in it already. You will just get disco'ing if you do that. IMO you are better off with something like this, off the basis of roughly 60 blue/40 white (to achieve around 14000k temperature, this can be adjustable if you use 2 drivers for independent dimming): 3 Warm White 3 Cool White 6 Royal Blue (460-450nm) 2 Super Actinic (410-420nm), basically a better color violet 2 Blue (465-485nm) If you want something a bit whiter (ie 10000k - 12000k range), swap out 1 Royal Blue for a cool white. For optics, it will all depend on how high you have your fixture, 6" or less above the water line you won't need them if you space out your LEDs well. I would go without optics at the start and only buy them if you end up needing them Also do NOT buy the heatsink from rapidled, you will end up paying double the cost of the stuff just in shipping because of the size and weight of the unit, and their insistence on doing priority shipping. Get a heatsink from Ullrich instead.

You start with stating a fact "DI resin will not last 1-2 years" and then proceed to tell me how your situation is abnormal to the rest of us, ie high tap water tds which gets higher over summer (double what most people in NZ have). You note there is a "silly taste" in summer, no doubt this is the addition of chemicals which will trash nearly every part of your system. What prefilters are you using? What micron pore size are the filters? Do you test inlet mains pressure? If you raise the pressure slightly, your DI resin will last MUCH longer, it will also increase efficiency of your membrane What water:waste ratio are you running at? This matters a lot, and a 1:4 ratio will mostly render any benefit from backflushing nil. How are you storing your unused DI resin? It could be that the stuff is on the way to expiry before you even put it in your system. Also you obviously have the quality and make of the membrane and resin, if they are cheap then you can expect to get poor life out them. If you're replacing after 6 months something is WRONG with your mains supply.

Echoing what Ethanyo has said, TDS readings are predominantly for marine aquariums. They are definitely important for this application, but not really for freshwater. The reason for this is that people run RO/RODI systems for purifying their water prior to using it for a marine aquarium. The TDS of your tap water is important because it indicates how frequently you need to change out your prefilters. The TDS of your RODI water is important because it should be 0, otherwise your RO membrane or DI resin is stuffed. TDS for freshwater is more for indication-purposes only, there is not a lot that can be done with the information other than knowing if your water is high in ions or not. Purists may wish to seek as low a TDS as possible, but typically the TDS of your water for freshwater is pretty unimportant unless it is very poor (300+). TDS is a measure of the amount of dissolved ions, minerals, salts, metals and other chemicals. Any one of these things can create a high TDS reading, depending on any number of inconceivable factors (bioload, plant life, any decaying plants, high plant growth, feeding habits, time between feeding and testing contaminants in the air, CO2 injection, time of day, ability of your filtration to polish the water (clarity of water), etc etc). Coming from a process engineering background it is very hard to trouble shoot problems with inconsistent readings, and I have practically no faith in the ability to accurately test the TDS of tank water and have it give meaningful results, simply because all of the above factors come into play and can affect the readings from one hour to the next. Trying to infer nitrate concentration from a TDS measurement is like asking a blind man to pick a yellow ball out of a bag of different colored balls. He may know HOW many balls are there, but without the adequate ability he cannot determine which balls are what, and mostly all the balls (or ions/minerals) are harmless. Why not just use a nitrate test kit? They are cheap and accurate.

TDS in an aquarium is meaningless. TDS will pick up free ions like calcium, magnesium, iodine, nitrate, phosphate, silicate, etc. Some are beneficial, others not. Everyone's TDS on their tank will be different due to their water chemistry, bioload, filtering ability, etc. You should be doing weekly water changes at a minimum, and the prompt to do a water change or not should be the result of your test kits when testing for whatever you are concerned about (typically only nitrates in freshwater, but a lot of stuff for marine). I believe you are freshwater only? In that case, TDS is not that important really, as long as it is not excessively high, since there will naturally be a lot of different ions in your bore water, some bad and some good, and a TDS meter does not analyse what is actually the dissolved solids, only that there are some. Phosphates and silicates are typically the worst for freshwater, and heavy metals (but these are unlikely). More specifically, you will be concerned about pH, which may require you to dose buffer to get your target pH.

Looks like you still have mainly shore rocks (non porous) and not coral rocks? As livingart said earlier, these kinds of rocks can't support much bacterial life as they have very poor surface area.

You need to supply a constant source of food for the bacteria, or they die off. If you only "fed" the ammonia-converting bacteria once (3+ weeks ago), it is likely that they have started dying off and you are killing your cycle. Put a piece of frozen shrimp in there asap.

Snail eggs are small white dots in a big sort of cob web thing. Are you sure they aren't just sponges? Like this

Should be no nitrites left at all if fully cycled. Are you using natural salt water or artificial?

4 weeks into the cycle, nitrites will typically still be present. What are you using to cycle it? Frozen shrimp? How yellow is it?

Alternatively it might be time to change your RO membrane or DI resin. Do you know how long ago these were done? DI resin should last 1-2 years and RO 2-3 years. Of course you can put this off but TDS will start to creep up.

I have heard some poor things about Weipro. Another good thing about running 2 heaters rather than 1 is that the heaters have an internal temperature limit, if the heater is individually trying to heat the water and the internal temperature gets too hot, it will shut off regardless of the water temperature (this happens on my 300W heater for my 400L turtle tank). 2 heaters won't encounter this issue as frequently.

Hanna are basically laboratory-grade units, HM are consumer grade. I think both will probably have similar accuracy, Hanna just has more features and are built better. Hanna will probably be better calibrated for non-room temperature solutions. Most of the decent tds meters from calibrated from factory, but getting some calibration solution will be good at the same time so you can use it later on down the track. I think you'd be happy with HM TDS-3 or 4 or TDS-EZ. However if you are reaching into water tanks a lot you might want to get one of the Hanna instruments with a long cable, which often have pH as well which is a bonus. Inline meters are generally not as accurate as handheld ones.

Two heaters provide some backup in case one fails and allow more consistent heating throughout the water. This in itself is enough justification for 2 heaters, I believe I could speculate on the efficiency but it would only be opinion and not fact. While you have increased surface area, if the internal coils are allowed to cool down regularly then they have to be heated up before substantial heating can be done to the water. Glass heaters are inherently not efficient because glass is a poor conductor of heat, a titanium one would be better if you are concerned about efficiency.

Depending on your budget, HM ones are considered quite good for the money, factory calibrated. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=hm+tds Hanna are good as well but much more expensive.

I would love some sun corals :env:

Figured it was time to upgrade to a decent tank, so here is my planned build. My plan is for mainly softies and LPS, a few less demanding SPS. 240L shallow reef, 1200x450x450 rimless tank 12mm glass. (Greg Kingston is making it for me) Lights: Was deciding between 2x Maxspect Razor 120W or 1x Maxspect Razor 300W, decided on the 300W. Will be hanging them using some curved polished aluminium rectangular bars (http://www.ullrich.co.nz/flat_bar_extrusions1.php, probably 40x12 size, 3 in total). I'll get them bent at work and attach them to the back of the stand. Powerheads: 2x Jebao RW-8, for my AIO return pump I will be using Sicce Synchra Silent 1.0 or Tunze Silence 1073.008 (same pump). Skimmer: Reef Octopus BH1000 hang on Going sumpless with an All-In-One (AIO) design (similar to http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2132962). The reason for this is that the simplicity appeals to me and I would like room under the tank for other items. It will be about 100mm wide by 375mm deep made of 4.5mm black perspex. I will leave a 75mm gap at the back right of the tank to hide one of my powerheads. Media racks will have floss, carbon, GFO. Might make a DIY GFO reactor instead, haven't decided yet. Skimmer area will just have the inlet/outlet pipes of the hang-on. Final chamber will have heater and return pump, and my float switch for my DIY ATO. I'm worried maybe my final chamber won't be big enough for a buffer for the DIY ATO? Dimensions are fairly loose, waiting to get all my equipment to ensure it fits. Any thoughts on the AIO design? Haven't made one before so any feedback would be appreciated. I suspect the third baffle of the bubble trap will need to be lower? Stand will be DIY (this design: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1567110), 2x4 framing with plywood sides and top and inside, all painted black. Inside I will put a small 20L quarantine tank, pre-mixing container for water changes, RODI water for ATO, electronics/plugs, misc fish bits and future upgrade for dosing. Fish stocking: 2 black clowns, flame angel, bangaii cardinal, a blenny (not sure what kind yet). Haven't quite decided on anything else yet. Shrimp, hermits and snails of course. Will be making stand next weekend and getting tank in 2 weeks, equipment will be a month+ away though.

Live rock is the main form of filtration, nitrifying and denitrifying bacteria need live rock to live on (as well as sand). The amount of rock you have will probably be significantly below most people's recommendations. Once those clowns grow up (3" each) they will be producing a lot of waste. Btw interesting photo

Jebao RW series is better than Boyu, get those. Jebao WP will be cheaper and nearly as good, just a bit more directed flow. Jebao dosing pump is better than the FS. Resun chiller is fine, refractometer will be as well probably. I've never seen the point in UV sterilisers personally, and after researching them I wasn't able to be convinced. A good skimmer (ie $300+ one) is the most important pieces of kit.

You've got very little rock, do you plan on adding any more in the future?

Cleaner shrimp, couple hermits and a bunch of snails. Snails can just be local catseyes if you want, really no difference there. My flatmate was down in Christchurch last week at the marine shops. He said that Redwood apparently don't have much at the moment. Organisms have a bunch of small frags ($30/ea) but none that interesting to be honest, and some larger corals for $150 ish. Not sure about CUC. Living Reef have some real nice colonies of green or yellow zoas, $50 each, I recommend grabbing at least one (I got a green colony, lovely looking specimen but they had aiptasia so unless you have aiptasia-x you may want to reconsider). I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend contacting lsaunders (Lisa Walker) on Trademe ([email protected]), she is located in Rangiora. She has shitloads of very nice frags, some are a bit pricey but you may just have to bite the bullet with that. http://www.trademe.co.nz/Members/Listings.aspx?member=664288 - She often has more than that available though, and if you ask early enough she can frag them for you in advance if she doesn't have any immediately available.

You can buy quite expensive glass polishing creams but it all depends on how fine and deep your scratches are. If you want to have a go at a small spot, you can use toothpaste to polish as it is fairly close to the polishing creams in effectiveness. Big scratches are very hard, small fine scratches (ie from sand) shouldn't be very difficult. Have a go with toothpaste.

I've painted most of my tanks with spraypaint, no issues. I love a nice black background, provides contrast to things in your tank and hides pipes/cords etc. Other options are vinyl wrap or something like corflute held on with adhesive.

It was 240ish in Christchurch a couple years ago, around 1 year after the Feb earthquake (drinking water was still shitty). 56 in New Plymouth. We are lucky in NZ, in places like America where water is recycled thousands of times you get hundreds of ppm as normal.

There are probably thousands of guides out there, if you look for yourself first and then come back if you have any specific questions that would be better for both you and us!

Well it is, because 86ppm isn't really that high at all, so I'm trying to follow her context to figure out what units she is using.