View Full Version : Im in Afghanistan and wife is taking care of tank
75 tanker
02/20/2009, 11:10 AM
Ok Im in Afghanistan and my wife is taking care of the tank while im here. the tank is a 75 gallon mixed reef tank with 30 gal sump. have dual 250 watt 1400k metal hailides. reffuim built in sump. tank is doing good, but she kind of confused on the additives to put in tank. there are zoas, birdsnest, hammers, clams,frogspawns,torches,chalises,an elegance,monties,and a few other varrious corals. She takes water to local store to get tested( its just easyer that way). I have to give it to her she is doing really well with it. what im looking for is a list as fool proof as possible of additives( chemicals) to add to tank while im here. the only probblem she has had sence ive been here is she lost a large colony of xenia, wich seems weird to me. and one of the heads on the hammer has died. other then that no probelms.
there is carbon in the sump, a phos reacter, and a uv serilizer.
i guess what im asking is if you were gonna leave the tank in your wifes care for a year, what would be the list that you would give to her of stuff to add to tank. the list has to be semi safe, she knows what she is doing pretty good, but hasnt done it for that long.
landlord
02/20/2009, 11:12 AM
I would make it as simple as possible. If you can get away without adding additives, that would be best. The less you put on her the less chance there is she will have to deal with something more confounding down the road.
Be safe and good luck with the tank :)
Jar*Head
02/20/2009, 11:23 AM
Just have her doing weekly water change, clean the protein skimmer and feed the fish daily. You shouldn't have to dose anything if she is doing 10% weekly...
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Rich D
02/20/2009, 11:25 AM
I agree with landlord on keeping it as simple as possible. If you have cheato or caulerpa have her prune it occasionally, keep the phos reactor in check, make sure pH is fine, specific gravity, photo period etc. Have her go to have water checked occasionally and give her a list of acceptable water parameters. If she finds anything is wrong in the tank, or if the parameters are off then you can always have her come to reefcentral to ask some questions. Also, when the water is off balance, she could bring it to an lfs, or another reefer and they could probably tell her what to dose.
Jerm77
02/20/2009, 11:34 AM
+1 on the water changes
+1 on the water parameter checks
I could only think of 2 additives to keep calcium and alkalinity in check. maybe a two part system.
here is a calculator. put in your current value, put in your desired value - it gives the total amount to use. pretty simple.
http://home.comcast.net/~jdieck1/chem_calc3.html
75 tanker
02/20/2009, 11:40 AM
she does good water changes and just trimmer the cheato back some, she used purple up to keep the cal up in the 400-425 range. I was just starting to worry to much probbaly cause of the xenia and the one head of hammer. Its like worring about your children to me lol
IslandCrow
02/20/2009, 11:42 AM
I'd also recommend a 2-part additive. From your list of corals, it sounds like you could have a high calcium demand. If that's a bit much for her (of if the LFS isn't going to test calcium/magnesium for you), you may be able to get by with regular water changes with a reef blend salt (like Reef Crystals, Oceanic, etc.). For my last deployment, my brother took care of my tank, and although I did sell off most of my SPS and LPS corals, the little bit of Montipora I had left actually grew very well with 10% bi-weekly water changes only.
By the way, Purple Up is not a very good calcium supplement. First, it's probably not balanced with alkalinity. Second, most of its calcium is aragonite, and that's just going to stay in solid form (assuming of course, you're keeping your PH above 7.0).
75 tanker
02/20/2009, 11:58 AM
thanks for the addvice, what 2 part do you recomend? of couse with a 2 part ill have her stop using the purple up.
Jerm77
02/20/2009, 12:36 PM
I use Bi-Ionic 2 part currently, but its a bit pricier than what you can get elsewhere. I plan to switch to the bulk reef supply 2 part.
Bulk Reef Supply http://www.bulkreefsupply.com/Two-Part-Kits/c52/index.html sells a 2 and 3 part system. reading this article here you should be able to figure out a dosing schedule to make it even easier.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-02/rhf/index.php
chimmike
02/20/2009, 12:40 PM
I'd recommend she change out the carbon every month, if she knows how.
As for additives............2 part might be getting a little overboard with her. As long as she does weekly or bi-weekly water changes that will help a lot, and as long as her numbers look good at the LFS, everything should be okay.
wouldn't hurt to have another nashville reefer go check it out for themselves and maybe teach your wife how to check things more particularly.
goldmaniac
02/20/2009, 01:05 PM
and suggest to her to come to ReefCentral under your account to ask questions. She could just make the topic something like:
I'm watching my husbands tank while he's deployed, Help please?
and I'm sure she'd get lots (maybe too much) assistance.
rbnice1
02/20/2009, 01:11 PM
I am in a similar situation. I am working out of Houston for the last 6 months and looks like another 6 months.
I have her test alk every week calc every 2 weeks and mag every 3 weeks. I got a bunch of baking soda, magnesium sulfate, and calcium. She tests and if her test shows something low she adds a tabble spoon of the correct additive then retests in 2 days. So far its been working. I am back in town ever 2-3 weeks for 2 days so I have been checking myself also. So far she has done better then I could have expected.
Jerm77
02/20/2009, 01:26 PM
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14441477#post14441477 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by goldmaniac
and suggest to her to come to ReefCentral under your account to ask questions. She could just make the topic something like:
I'm watching my husbands tank while he's deployed, Help please?
and I'm sure she'd get lots (maybe too much) assistance.
was thinking the same thing. many of us would be willing to help and provide tech support.
75 tanker
02/20/2009, 02:50 PM
thanks to everyone for the help so far, she changes the carbon every 3 weeks. I kind of set this acount up for her to learn and ask questions with. so im sure she will be using it
jbird69
02/20/2009, 03:07 PM
tanker
If you are over there serving this great country in the armed forces, God bless you!!! If your over there for another reason, God bless you anyway! Be careful and know we are very thankful to those who serve.
IslandCrow
02/20/2009, 03:09 PM
If you were only adding Purple Up before, the water changes may be enough. What you may want to do is hold off on the supplementation until you're sure you need it. If your Dkh doesn't fall much below 9, and your calcium isn't much less than 350, I'd let it be. Otherwise, B-Ionic and Kent are the two name brands I've used. Kent is usually the easier of the two to find locally. It's usually best to dose every 1-2 days, but as long as your levels aren't dropping too low, your wife could certainly just add enough to correct for deficiencies after she gets the water tested. When you get back, you could always set up an automatic dosing system for the next time you deploy.
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=14442336#post14442336 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jbird69
tanker
If you are over there serving this great country in the armed forces, God bless you!!! If your over there for another reason, God bless you anyway! Be careful and know we are very thankful to those who serve.
Same here.
manuelink
02/20/2009, 04:25 PM
do you have photos from you on Afghanistan?
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