The New Capn's Log Book-sites of interest on RC

[Sugar Magnolia]

Were did that old grouch go off to? I hope all is well in WK's world.

[Korrine]

yea, what happened to WK? Hope he's ok

[Aquarist007]

Need help stocking your tank. Here are two very informative threads

Check here before purchasing that new fish:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...445390&page=61

Fish to be avoided:

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1157901

Good Beginner Fish

[Aquarist007]

For tried and true methods of excellent reef keeping

PaulB--with the most long term success on RC--nearing 40 years

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1711320

and a thread discussing the long term success is this hobby

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...520368&page=40

[Aquarist007]

Capn's collection of shock and awe against algae

Most of the time algae is the symptom of the problem, not the problem itself.

Algae needs three things for the process of photosythesis to occur--carbon dioxide, light and food. If we could completely remove one of these elements it would not be able to survive.
Unfortunately in our reef tanks it is difficult to remove light and carbon dioxide completely but we can sereverly limit its food, mainly nitrates and phosphates.

If you have an algae problem then it should be approached in a way that limits the nitrates and phosphates in your water column

This is a combination of steps and practises rather then one magic bullet that will kill off all the algae in your tank.

Here is a list of practises that have been mentioned through a great number of posts that I have been proactive in and hopefully if they are together they might help

1. Feeding techniques----always feed less at one time but feed more often if the species of fish requires it. My fish always look hungry and so does my dog--they learn how to scam us humans very quickly.
Rinse off frozen prepared foods like brine shrimp and mysis shrimp. Quite often they contain phosphates and nitrates from die off in their holding tanks.

2. Flow rates and directions of flow can make a big difference
A rate that is quoted here quite often is that you should have between 20-40 times your tank volume in gph if your tank is mostly lps and even greater if mainly sps corals. There are still some expections with lps corals--you need to be on top of the husbandry requirements for each coral you have and place them accordingly.

Organic laden water slowly rises from the bottom of the tank to the top where it is skimmed off by various methods such as an overflow. Skimmed water is usually sent back to lower levels of the tank from the skimmer or sump via various ways such as loc lines.

In practical words this means that in the tank your flow should be directed to always enhance the above natural flow in the tank.
It should for a circle or semi circle and be pushed down, across the substrate up to the surface--across the surface--churning it up and towards the overflow

3.flow rates in the sump
The perfered answer for this question is between 5-10 times the total volume of your water column.
More importantly it should match the flow rate of your skimmer.
Otherwise unskimmed organic laden water is returned to the lower levels of the tank where it has to slowly make its way to the top like I desribed in the above flow senerio. This gives algae a second chance to have another lunch
This is also where flow rates and directions in the tank also help in this particular situation by getting the water back up to the top and out the overflow faster again.

Flow rates both in the sump and the tank are very important in the filtering process

4.Method of cleaning or tank maintenance
water changes---Randy has written in one of his articles that the ideal water change to remove nitrates is 30 per cent once of month
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-10/rhf/index.php
other reefers have stated that immediate or every two week 20 percent water changes will reduce phosphates and ammonia quickly.

cleaning the rockwork and substrate--once a week take a turkey baster and lightly baste the rock and substrate with it. this will get dissolved organics, phosphates and nitrates back into the water column where they can be filtered off instead of collecting and adding to the algae smorgasboard. Once again flow is very important in this also.

change your protein skimmer cup every other day

if running a filter sock change it everyother day---soak it in bleach and run it through a wash cycle with no soap. Let them dry in the air and the clorine will evaporate

5. tweaking equipment. Try not to run bioballs in filters. Replace them and all filter media with nothing!
The best use of a canister filter is to run straight carbon in it.

take skimmer pumps apart once a month and clean out the air venturis--make sure you have lots of air being combined to give a good foam column. This helps reduce organics but it also helps displace carbon dioxide with oxygen and keep your pH stable.

Once you have your levels of phosphates and nitrates in check then you may want to consider


1. running carbon and phospban in phosban reactors. the advantage to these is the water is forced through the entire media and can't take the easy way around the outside as when the media is put in a bag. Carbon can adsorb some phosphates and nitrates and the carbon is used by active bacteria in the tank

2. setting up a refugium with chaeto algae. You will need a good size refugium 20-30 gals and about 2-3 months of intensive cheato grow for it to make a noticeble difference on phosphates and nitrates. and the other advantage of a refugium is you get a larger and more variety of copopods, other inverts and good bacteria for the water column
There are many examples on this thread:
Refugiums the good bad and the ugly
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...readid=1349443



3. finding critters that eat algae. I leave this till the last because it is a problematic solution to algae. the critters don't always do what they are suppose to do. Putting some inverts in to eat a particular algae is great at the start but what do they feed on after they have eaten their specific food source.

4. another method that is cropping up alot more now is the use of magnesium. Magnesium should be at 1300ppm in a reef tank to support a level over 400ppm of calcium. some reefers have reported great success with cranking the level of magnesium to 1600 pppm for two weeks. the aglae dies off and none have reported any death to corals, inverts or fish.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...readid=1113109

[Aquarist007]

I fellow respected reefer has posted alot of very informative articles. Well worth the look at RC reefer Michael:

http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Michael_David_Jones
Beginners Guides
Cyano
Water Quality
Cannister Filters
---to name a few

[Aquarist007]

This is an old thread but seems to take life again and again and again

Show your lps and softies tank

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...236242&page=15

[Misled]

Very nice Cap. I'm sending you a pm.

[Aquarist007]

A great thread on anemones





http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...7#post13257977

Link to Karen's site on anemones

http://www.karensroseanemones.com/

[Aquarist007]

check out your salt mix--they are not all the same. Instant Ocean has upgraded theirs

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh....php?t=1714505

A great thread on salt mixes
http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/sh...589326&page=33

[Aquarist007]

Chemical Dosing Calculator

Before you dose measure and the check the referred ranges
Then use this dosing calculator

http://reef.diesyst.com/cf/chemcalccf.html

[ssamick]

Wow! Great log. Keep em coming. Bookmark for sure!

[tntneon]

-Very nice work capn`n

greetingzz tntneon

[jason2459]

Hope you don't mind me adding this here but I'd like to get this listed again on reefcentral in this thread as it's in the archives now.

http://www.marinesolutionsinc.com/ca...ion/pages.html

Air Conversion
Marine Solutions did not come up with this chart, I am not sure who did. We would like to give credit where it is due.


SCFH L/min. L/hr.
1 0.472 28.326
2 0.944 56.652
3 1.416 84.978
4 1.888 113.304
5 2.361 141.630
6 2.833 169.956
7 3.305 198.282
8 3.777 226.608
9 4.249 254.934
10 4.721 283.260
11 5.193 311.586
12 5.665 339.912
13 6.137 368.238
14 6.609 396.564
15 7.082 424.890
16 7.554 453.216
17 8.026 481.542
18 8.498 509.868
19 8.970 538.194
20 9.442 566.520
21 9.914 594.846
22 10.386 623.172
23 10.858 651.498
24 11.330 679.824
25 11.803 708.150
26 12.275 736.476
27 12.747 764.802
28 13.219 793.128
29 13.691 821.454
30 14.163 849.780
31 14.635 878.106
32 15.107 906.432
33 15.579 934.758
34 16.051 963.084
35 16.524 991.410
36 16.996 1019.736
37 17.468 1048.062
38 17.940 1076.388
39 18.412 1104.714
40 18.884 1133.040
41 19.356 1161.366
42 19.828 1189.692
43 20.300 1218.018
44 20.772 1246.344
45 21.245 1274.670
46 21.717 1302.996
47 22.189 1331.322
48 22.661 1359.648
49 23.133 1387.974
50 23.605 1416.300
51 24.077 1444.626
52 24.549 1472.952
53 25.021 1501.278
54 25.493 1529.604
55 25.966 1557.930
56 26.438 1586.256
57 26.910 1614.582
58 27.382 1642.908
59 27.854 1671.234
60 28.326 1699.560
61 28.798 1727.886
62 29.270 1756.212
63 29.742 1784.538
64 30.214 1812.864
65 30.687 1841.190
66 31.159 1869.516
67 31.631 1897.842
68 32.103 1926.168
69 32.575 1954.494
70 33.047 1982.820
71 33.519 2011.146
72 33.991 2039.472
73 34.463 2067.798
74 34.935 2096.124
75 35.408 2124.450
76 35.880 2152.776
77 36.352 2181.102
78 36.824 2209.428
79 37.296 2237.754
80 37.768 2266.080
81 38.240 2294.406
82 38.712 2322.732
83 39.184 2351.058
84 39.656 2379.384
85 40.129 2407.710
86 40.601 2436.036
87 41.073 2464.362
88 41.545 2492.688
89 42.017 2521.014
90 42.489 2549.340
91 42.961 2577.666
92 43.433 2605.992
93 43.905 2634.318
94 44.377 2662.644
95 44.850 2690.970
96 45.322 2719.296
97 45.794 2747.622
98 46.266 2775.948
99 46.738 2804.274
100 47.210 2832.600
101 47.682 2860.926
102 48.154 2889.252
103 48.626 2917.578
104 49.098 2945.904
105 49.571 2974.230
106 50.043 3002.556
107 50.515 3030.882
108 50.987 3059.208
109 51.459 3087.534
110 51.931 3115.860
111 52.403 3144.186
112 52.875 3172.512
113 53.347 3200.838
114 53.819 3229.164
115 54.292 3257.490
116 54.764 3285.816
117 55.236 3314.142
118 55.708 3342.468
119 56.180 3370.794
120 56.652 3399.120
121 57.124 3427.446
122 57.596 3455.772
123 58.068 3484.098
124 58.540 3512.424
125 59.013 3540.750
126 59.485 3569.076
127 59.957 3597.402
128 60.429 3625.728
129 60.901 3654.054
130 61.373 3682.380
131 61.845 3710.706
132 62.317 3739.032
133 62.789 3767.358
134 63.261 3795.684
135 63.734 3824.010
136 64.206 3852.336
137 64.678 3880.662
138 65.150 3908.988
139 65.622 3937.314
140 66.094 3965.640
141 66.566 3993.966
142 67.038 4022.292
143 67.510 4050.618
144 67.982 4078.944
145 68.455 4107.270
146 68.927 4135.596
147 69.399 4163.922
148 69.871 4192.248
149 70.343 4220.574
150 70.815 4248.900
151 71.287 4277.226
152 71.759 4305.552
153 72.231 4333.878
154 72.703 4362.204
155 73.176 4390.530
156 73.648 4418.856
157 74.120 4447.182
158 74.592 4475.508
159 75.064 4503.834
160 75.536 4532.160
161 76.008 4560.486
162 76.480 4588.812
163 76.952 4617.138
164 77.424 4645.464
165 77.897 4673.790
166 78.369 4702.116
167 78.841 4730.442
168 79.313 4758.768
169 79.785 4787.094
170 80.257 4815.420
171 80.729 4843.746
172 81.201 4872.072
173 81.673 4900.398
174 82.145 4928.724
175 82.618 4957.050
176 83.090 4985.376
177 83.562 5013.702
178 84.034 5042.028
179 84.506 5070.354
180 84.978 5098.680
181 85.450 5127.006
182 85.922 5155.332
183 86.394 5183.658
184 86.866 5211.984
185 87.339 5240.310
186 87.811 5268.636
187 88.283 5296.962
188 88.755 5325.288
189 89.227 5353.614
190 89.699 5381.940
191 90.171 5410.266
192 90.643 5438.592
193 91.115 5466.918
194 91.587 5495.244
195 92.060 5523.570
196 92.532 5551.896
197 93.004 5580.222
198 93.476 5608.548
199 93.948 5636.874
200 94.420 5665.200

[IridescentLily]

Cap'n,
May I admire you this evening?

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by IridescentLily

Cap'n,
May I admire you this evening?

Oh boy---but you will have to share me with RaeN

what do you think of this one PaulB

[Aquarist007]

Soap Dishes:

These provide a great way of harbouring cheato macro without the cheato getting into the plumbing ect. If you don't have a refugium then you can instantly with one or two of these in your display tank

[Aquarist007]

Two excellent products for those that want a reef tank in a hurry.
I am a firm believer in plenty of live rock and that the bacteria takes time to cycle and there is not much you can do to increase the rate of bacteria reproduction

Although curing is a one time process of the rock in your tank, cycling of bacteria is life long. The bacteria actuall die back to a level in which they can handle the existing bioload
When you increase the bioload as in adding another fish then they must recycle===and this takes some time especially in newly established or recently cycled tank.
If one uses fully cured rock as from another system to a newly established tank and uses these two products then it is possible to have fish in a week old tank. However these two products must be used religiously for the next 3 weeks in order for the bacteria on the live rock to catch up
Seachem Prime--is an excellent ammonia and nitrate blocker
Seachem Stabilizer is bacteria in a bottle.

I have used this procedure both in setting up new tanks and in quarantine tanks.

Each time I add a new fish to one of my tanks I service I add some prime for good measure

This tank was setup this way on Dec 18===Courtesy of RC member MarkGrant

[IridescentLily]

Bumping up from page 3.

[Paul B]

Now thats an Avitar.
He's got a Babe, I got a crab

[Misled]

Originally Posted by Paul B

I got a crab

I hate when that happens!!!!!

[MarkGrant]

Great thread!!! I'll be reading for weeks ...I really appreciate all your hard work, this is fantastic information (And I'm not just saying that because you posted some pics of my tank )

[Aquarist007]

Originally Posted by Paul B

Now thats an Avitar.
He's got a Babe, I got a crab

Lets's hope it is a babe---remember Greenbeans avitar--for year everyone thought he was a she.

No comment about crabs---if waterkeeper was around he would remind us that it is a family site
Besides you have a boat and Paris Hilton

Mark---thanks for the comments--unlike PaulB you are capable of saying something nice on here

After todays coral run we are going to have to add a calcium reactor to your cube

[Paul B]

unlike PaulB you are capable of saying something nice on here

I said something nice about the Babe avitar

[IridescentLily]

Oh no, I just saw this, Lol. My kooky friend, who piled black goop on my hair so he could do a "medusa" photo, thanks you. And i thank you as well *blush*

And so as not to distract any readers from this beautiful thread with my jibber jabber...I'm going to pm you both . :-)

With that, I bump this thread to top from page 3.