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redleader
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Topic: Water test results Posted: November 26 2014 at 6:05pm |
I am in need of some guidance:
As many of you know I recently purchased a destressed tank, I have been caring for it and think it is doing great.
I finally picked up the Alk and Cal test kits, and have results.
I have had the tank almost a month and have been doing frequent water changes to resolve cleanliness issues. The tank is a 55 gallon, and I have been doing 4-5 gallon water changes about every 3 days.
Filtration (LS, LR, LW thanks Mark) and HOB mechanical running ac (activated carbon)
I am using IO brand salt, and have used water from various local fish stores.
Visual inspection is good, polyps are open, nems are open, fish are active, and pepperment shrimp are active. Sand star and serpent star appear healthy, sea cucumber is alive, and urchin is active. In the last month I have had 1 emerald crab die and 1 cleaner shrimp die. the cleaner shrimp was found dead on day 2, I think it died from move related stress. Emerald crab I found yesterday.
Water test results:
PH 8.2-8.4
Temp 78 degrees f .I have gradually raised over the passed few days to 78 degrees
dKH 14 (my chart ends at 12, but I added 14 drops each drop is 1 dKH for teh test kit)
Cal > 520 (Chart goes to 520, in increments of 2 drops) I added 4 additional drops so I guess 560
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate < 10
First question, do I need to worry? Should I let this come down over time, or do I need to change more water?
I plan to keep softies and LPS corals
Water movement is the hob filter and 1 maxijet 600
Redleader standing by
Edited by redleader - November 26 2014 at 6:05pm
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Everything in life is possible. You just have to dream big, and act bigger.
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redleader
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Posted: November 26 2014 at 6:06pm |
I am using the API Reef master test kit
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 27 2014 at 11:18am |
Aloha Daniel,
I'm sorry I didn't get around to answering this in your PM. I have time to get into it this morning.
The tanks looks nice. What is the salinity? No need to worry about that Alk and Ca. They are a little high but are no problem at that level, if there are Coralline Algae, coral, Snails, crabs, bugs and worms to eat it up. Also, the API test kit is not all that accurate(one drop = 1 dKH) so test results may vary. Overall the tank looks good. The Condylactis Anemone is looking good in the pic. Does it shrink and expand daily? Here is a pic you shared with me (copy the image URL into the box in the upper right top of the image upload window).
Nice pictures on the wall.
Is that two heaters I see? Kind of unusual. What brand are those? I can't recall ever seeing a heater enclosed in a perforated plastic box. If it was me, I would use only one heater and remove it from the plastic box which, IMO, is inhibiting proper heater function. I would adjust the temperature to 74 to allow for safety if the heater ever got stuck in the ON position.
It appears that the powerheads are positioned to create a circular current. I would suggest trying a different approach. Move them both to the back bottom corner shooting water diagonally up so the two streams meet at the center top water surface. This provides three benefits, 1) it creates some turbulent water movement which animals like, 2) it moves deeper water to the surface which provides good gas exchange for oxygenation and for CO2 expiration to ensure good pH, and 3) it makes the aquarium look less cluttered.
I would recommend removing the Sand Sifting Star. This sand bed is very clean and is not providing the food a SSStar needs to survive. SSStars are only for rare situations where it's necessary to clean up an old dirty sand bed under the rocks in places where the gravel vacuum could not reach.
On the subject of vacuuming, I honestly cannot remember ever doing a gravel vacuuming of any of the sand beds in the many dozens of my tanks in 20+ years. I believe the biofiltration requires animals to be living in the sand bed. When you come visit, we can talk about this while looking at a what I consider a healthy sand bed that feeds the coral and other inverts.
Considering the urchin, an active Urchin is often a hungry urchin. In the wild, Urchins typically move little because food is at their doorstep. Their territory may be as little as a foot or two in diameter. An active hungry Urchin soon runs out of energy and dies in it's futile search for food.
I would suggest doing only 10% monthly water changes. Not that new salt water is bad, it's just an unnecessary expense and time consuming effort which isn't making a positive difference towards the health of the tank. A healthy reef is not bright white. Life is colorful and a healthy sand bed has lots of color.
That's about it for now from my perspective(I've come back to edit thrice ).
May the Force be with you.
Aloha, Mark
Edited by Mark Peterson - November 27 2014 at 11:40am
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redleader
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Posted: November 27 2014 at 7:16pm |
The Cond nem withdraws when it is dark and expands when it is light.
I will move the power heads, I had recently done what you suggested only power heads I have them both at the front middle shooting upwards and crossing steams, I will move them to the bottom back of the tank.
The heaters are digital I'll remove one no problem there.
I'll also follow the advise to run at 74 degrees, I'll decrease the temp when I remove the extra heater. I'll see if I can take it out of the case hadn't thought of that.
I plan to slow down the water changes, there was just a lot of silt and detritus in the tank that I wanted cleaned up.
I'll post a new pic once I get everything set again.
Thanks for the help.
Daniel
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ReefdUp
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Posted: November 27 2014 at 8:21pm |
There is no way I'd ever run a single heater. If it is powerful enough to heat your tank, it's powerful enough to cook it WHEN it fails in the on position.
I run two smaller heaters. If one fails in the on position, it's not enough to cook my tank.
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www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water
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redleader
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Posted: November 27 2014 at 9:38pm |
I got the power heads adjusted, I was only running one of them at at ime before, I know have both going, been playing with water flow for a bit, as inhabitants of the tank where not happy.
I think I ahve it figured out now, will let it setteld for the night and see how it looks tomorrow.
The power heads are set up int he lower back corners, pushing water to the front middle.
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Everything in life is possible. You just have to dream big, and act bigger.
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redleader
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Posted: November 27 2014 at 9:44pm |
reefdup, I actually had a heater do that to me once, it was in a nano tank, I think I had a falty heater, the glass was broken in the morning, and entire tank was dead. I'll take a look at switching to smaller heaters as well.
Thanks for the advise.
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Everything in life is possible. You just have to dream big, and act bigger.
150 G Reef
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Mark Peterson
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Posted: November 28 2014 at 9:01am |
ReefdUp wrote:
...to cook [the tank] WHEN it fails in the on position. |
So true. It's not IF, but WHEN. I have found that heater manufacturers list their heaters for too small of tanks. For example, I just looked at random and found this: 75 Watt heater is rated for tanks 16-26 gallons. and for a 55 gal it's the 150 Watt that is recommended by the manufacturer. Oh my goodness, I hadn't realized just how far off they are. Instead, I use a heater with a wattage that is close to the size of the tank in gallons. In other words a 50 Watt heater for a 55 gal tank. If there is a cold draft at the tank and the 50 Watt is ON a lot, that's okay. It's doing it's job. In my 200 gal coral farm I have a 175 Watt. In my way of looking at this, the purpose for a heater is to keep the water from getting too cold. What's too cold? In my experience, 65 degrees is the coldest it can get and still have everything survive. During a power outage, cooler water is actually a good thing. Cooler water holds more Oxygen. When the water has stopped moving, its good to have more O2 available for animals to breath. I've never found it necessary, but a battery powered air pump that kicks on when the power goes off is a good safety device that some hobbyists use.
Aloha, Mark the coral farmer
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ReefdUp
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Posted: November 28 2014 at 9:18am |
Just as an FYI, during the 2011 windstorm and subsequent power outage, my tanks got to 48 degrees. Most died, but a lot still lived.
But yes, below 65 is where the odds are really not in your favor.
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www.reefdup.com Diving since 2009, reefkeeping since 2007, & fishkeeping since 1987 200g, 75g, & 15g Systems PADI Advanced Open Water
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