|
03/01/2015, 02:01 PM | #26 |
RC Mod
|
YOur cal is 20 points low. 420 would be better.
You might indeed check that routing of excess waste; and also try vinegar dosing, since you have a problem---but do it only by the tables that are floating around here somewhere. Does anybody have the table?
__________________
Sk8r Salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3 on KH scale; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp 78-80, nitrate .2. Ammonia 0. No filters: lps tank. Alk and cal won't rise if mg is low. Current Tank Info: 105g AquaVim wedge, yellow tang, sailfin blenny,royal gramma, ocellaris clown pair, yellow watchman, 100 microceriths, 25 tiny hermits, a 4" conch, 1" nassarius, recovering from 2 year hiatus with daily water change of 10%. |
03/01/2015, 02:07 PM | #27 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
03/01/2015, 06:50 PM | #28 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
FYI on the vinegar dosing or any carbon dosing since its been brought up several times. The charts are just recommendations. To get started they are good to follow and fairly conservative so shouldn't cause any issues with most systems. Issues that could arise with going to fast are bacteria blooms (lots of white cloudy water or stringy substances through out the tank and on the glass) which could be benign or potentially cause oxygen depletion. This is one reason it's recommended to run a skimmer when carbon dosing along with potentially exporting bacteria which is also exporting the nitrates and some phosphates it consumed with the acetate(carbon).
So, you can not go to slow when starting out and ramping up. Its that end point which will vary from system to system and there are a lot of variables that will influence how much you'll end up dosing in the end. It's been stated that its common to see systems dosing anywhere from .4-.8 ml per gallon per day of vinegar. For instance I'm dosing about 100ml per day through out the day via a 1.1ml doser ran a few minutes at a time several times a day. That puts me in that range. I found no additional benefit above that level. Reducing it and first phosphates start climbing a bit and if I keep reducing the dose then the nitrates start rising too. I spread the dosing out as vinegar is more apt to reduce pH then something like vodka does due to vinegar is directly consumed with out the need of other types of bacteria to convert it like vodka does. Also I do it during the day as that's when pH is highest. Vodka, assuming common us proof and acetic acid concentrations, is about 8x stronger. Mixtures of the two are popular which is what nopox is and you'll have to adjust from there. Seems popular mixtures are around 600-800ml of vinegar to 400-200ml of vodka. Please research more on doing that. There's a lot more to it but that's just a few quick things off the top of my head. Really its very easy once you get past the science stuff. Just set up a Doser on a mutli timer and forget about it. At the beginning you could just bolus dose it ( manually all at once) as the amount is very little. Some bolus dose even once they get to their end points too. But if you have issues with pH or notice it start becoming an issue then just spread it out more.
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank Last edited by jason2459; 03/01/2015 at 06:57 PM. |
03/01/2015, 07:01 PM | #29 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
And here's some reference
Vinegar http://reefkeeping.com/joomla/index....arine-aquarium Vodka http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-08/nftt/ Nopox broken down and other ratios of vinegar and vodka http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...2408985&page=7
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
03/01/2015, 08:28 PM | #30 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 327
|
Thanks for the links, I will check them out. If i do go that route sounds like i may want to consider a small auto doser. Regarding calcium, I can look to up the dosing but I only have two small LPS frags and both are growing and happy so I'm more interested in keeping the nitrates managed than upping the calcium by 20 at this point, but I will keep an eye on it. Since the tank is new (about 8 months or so), I'm testing all critical parms, including ca, weekly in order to correct any weirdness. Honestly, despite playing around with dosing, the tank just seems to gravitate to 400. Maybe the corraline algae is sucking it up
|
03/01/2015, 08:32 PM | #31 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
Quote:
http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-01/rhf/
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
|
03/01/2015, 08:39 PM | #32 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 327
|
Hmm. Will look into that as well. PH is another one that just doesn't budge above 8.0 in my tank. Currently I use the 2 part dosing to keep ca and alkalinity where it needs to be (small tank so not too expensive to dothis) . Have heard of kalk but not researched too much. Going to spend some quality time with all these great links this week and get educated. Thank you very much for the info!
|
03/02/2015, 05:33 PM | #33 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Aug 2014
Posts: 1,432
|
20-30 ppm if true is high. Was it always that high or did it gradually accumulate to that level? After nine months denitrification bacteria should have started doing their thing.
High nitrate level corresponds to high protein input. How much are you feeding the fish every day? Are you feeding the coral? Your water changes are too small to make a difference in the nitrate level. I would expect phosphates to be high as well. What is the level? |
03/02/2015, 08:21 PM | #34 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
Quote:
Since water change seems to be the subject of the night at least in the few threads I'm following here's another good read. http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
|
03/02/2015, 09:59 PM | #35 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Stillwater, MN
Posts: 461
|
Quote:
I used to have 80ppm nitrates in my 140 with no ill effects that I could tell and basically did a 90 gallon change, 2 days later a 45 gallon change and 4 days later another 90 gallon change that got NO3 to 1ppm. It now runs around 2 to 3 ppm. I also added on a Reef Octopus 110 Bio Pellet reactor, but it's only been up and running 2 weeks.
__________________
Current Tank Info: 140g with 1 yellow coris wrasse, 2 skunk cleaners, 1 hammer coral, 1 zoo rock, 3 flower anems, 1 urchin, 3 lyretails 1 male/2 female, 5 banggai cardinals and 4 chromis Current Tank Info: QT: 1 Gold Flake Angel |
|
03/02/2015, 11:05 PM | #36 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
I guess it's time to talk in circles as the thread gets longer.
There's a difference between having high nitrates which the OP has and nitrate problems which the OP doesn't have. So, it would be advantageous for the OP to look into long term solutions to help maintain lower nitrate levels. Which several recommendations have been given. But since it's not a problem I wouldn't recommend quick drastic changes.
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
03/03/2015, 06:51 AM | #37 |
Reef Rookie
Join Date: Oct 2014
Location: Memphis
Posts: 625
|
Seems to me the more things we do to our tanks maintenance and dosing wise the less fun it is, for me anyway, and also can have consequence. My approach is to add surface area for the bacteria to mange nitrates. Whether it be more rock or various things on the market to assist in doing that. Marine pure for example.
Keeping a small bio load and managing nitrates naturally is my goal. Tring to KISS. And nothing replaces good ol husbandry. Good luck with whatever direction you go. |
03/03/2015, 08:39 AM | #38 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Location: Northern Virginia
Posts: 1,147
|
Quote:
Jim |
|
03/03/2015, 09:33 AM | #39 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Central NC
Posts: 5,062
|
Quote:
|
|
03/03/2015, 01:01 PM | #40 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
Yep, there's nothing wrong with bolus dosing and with vinegar just keep an eye on pH and spread it out if needed. If I vodka dosed or any mixture with vodka I would bolus dose the vodka.
3ml/day of vinegar is really low amount for 65g total volume. The end point will vary quite a bit based on many variables but that is an unusually low amount. But I'm basing that on my experience and what others have mentioned. The one range I've seen seems to match that of about .4-.8 ml/gallon per day of 5% vinegar. That's awesome that's all you need.
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
03/03/2015, 02:16 PM | #41 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2014
Location: Downingtown, PA
Posts: 4,017
|
so if I read this right for a starting stone one could go with the nopox from red sea till they feel comfortable dosing vinegar or vodka?
Would any vodka/Vinegar do like absolute vodka or white vinegar?
__________________
150 SC tank build: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2550948 Some have bar tabs. I have a coral tab at my LFS. Life goals. |
03/03/2015, 02:25 PM | #42 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Iowa
Posts: 9,671
|
Quote:
__________________
rebuild and recovery log: No more red house, you'll have to click on my name and visit my homepage! You can check out my parameters at reeftronics dot net website and look for my username. Current Tank Info: 180g mixed reef w/ a beananimal overflow to a dolomite RRUGF. | 20g long G. Smithii Mantis Tank |
|
02/12/2016, 12:05 PM | #43 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Missouri
Posts: 29
|
I have been looking for a way to reduce nitrates in my 325gl reef and have been kicking around vinegar dosing. My nitrates hover around 25 and my weekly water changes do not seem to want to lower my nitrates. My hanna hand held phosphate reader says I have 0 phosphates which I am skeptical about. I run a biopellet reactor but it is not lowering the nitrates. Can I do vinegar dosing and run biopellets at the same time? Do you use a doser to dose your vinegar? I have an apex running my system and if using a doser is the way to go, I could utilize it. Do you dose directly into the sump or into the top off water? I appreciate any help and advice.
Tim |
02/12/2016, 12:15 PM | #44 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: Pomona
Posts: 299
|
Have you looked into a algae scrubber? No room? Then a upflow algae scrubber
__________________
My 150g SCA Build http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?p=24994066#post24994066 Current Tank Info: 150g SCA |
02/12/2016, 12:37 PM | #45 | |
Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Charlotte, NC
Posts: 1,761
|
Quote:
You can also head down to the local fish store and buy a small hang on the back breeder box. Float some chaeto algae in it, hang it up top in the DT under one of your lights. It works wonders for my 40g long. Super easy to do.
__________________
135g mixed reef (retired) http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2132815 Current 40g reef http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2483250 Current Tank Info: 40g bare bottom reef |
|
02/12/2016, 02:26 PM | #46 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: sf bay area
Posts: 5,165
|
assuming your newly mixed water has 0 nitrates, and you have cleaned your tank of all nitrate source, then all you need to do is double up on your water change rate and your nitrate will go down to 0 in 1-2 months.
|
02/12/2016, 02:39 PM | #47 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Missouri
Posts: 29
|
I use RO/DI water, and I did test my salt water I use for my water changes and it showed approximately a nitrate value of 5. I use reef crystal salt, so I am assuming the nitrate is coming from the salt but could be wrong. With my system being large I do a 50 gallon water change every week. Have been doing this since October. The nitrates still won't come down. I switched out my bio pellets in October to Tropic Marin hoping that would help but it brought my nitrates down a little and now has leveled off at 20. I don't have an algae problem but I don't think the few SPS I have remaining are the happiest. Growth is slow, color is not great.
I have thought about a algae scrubber but I don't have room between my tank stand and my sump to squeeze it in the sump. |
02/12/2016, 03:50 PM | #48 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Mar 2008
Location: sf bay area
Posts: 5,165
|
test the rodi water, it must read 0. I use reef crystal and it reads 0.
is 50 gallon 20% water change? if it is not coming down, it means your nitrate source is still in your tank. make sure your tank is clean. there could be accumulated waste somewhere you don't see or can't reach. as long as nitrate source is there, you will always have > 0 nitrate reading. |
02/12/2016, 05:01 PM | #49 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Missouri
Posts: 29
|
It is around a 15% water change. I will check out if my RO/DI water has nitrates in it.
I have a denitrator as well that I am not using. Would that be bad to run at the same time as my biopellets? Thanks for the advise. |
02/14/2016, 07:35 PM | #50 |
Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Missouri
Posts: 29
|
Question the algae I have growing on my glass on a weekly basis is brown not green does that mean something?
|
|
|