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Unread 03/06/2010, 11:28 AM   #51
rayjay
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Location: London, Ontario, Canada
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Something you might want to try before adding a lot of booster to try to raise the ph is to see if it's a gas exchange problem.
In winter, or in summer with A/C running and with the home all shut up, the CO2 levels increase in the home to the point it becomes more difficult to get a proper gas exchange at the surface of the water in the tank.
If the CO2 can't come out of the water enough, the pH is forced to remain low, and normally, adding pH boosters is at best a temporary fix and may not do anything at all.
Take a sample of water outdoors, and use an air pump to aerate it for about an hour.
Check the pH BEFORE doing this, and at the END of the one hour period. If there is an increase in pH of .1 or more, then you have an exchange problem.
Some things to look at would be a fan blowing across the water's surface, increased surface agitation, and sometimes having to open a window so the CO2 levels drop and the O2 levels increase in the home itself.


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Unread 03/07/2010, 09:09 PM   #52
steelcaveman
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Location: Plano, Texas
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I've heard the blue background and the bare bottom tank helps with coloration. I have the blue background and I am considering the bare bottom. Coloration IMO is enhanced by environment, but the fish will ultimately decide.
Having said that, you really do need a bigger tank.
The JBJ cube isn't big enough to have long term success - this is based on a friend with many years in the marine aquaria industry, he tried / repeatedly.


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Unread 03/08/2010, 11:48 AM   #53
Faerl
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Quote:
Originally Posted by steelcaveman View Post
The JBJ cube isn't big enough to have long term success - this is based on a friend with many years in the marine aquaria industry, he tried / repeatedly.
Yeah, leaning towards a 34g one at the moment. I really like that JBJ one but it's a bit shorter (to waterline 17") and usable space ends up being closer to 20g. The 34g one would suck down some more power but it's taller (20.5" to waterline) and has 28g of usable. Need to make some more calls on cost for chiller etc.

The usable space is just pulling out the refug in the back.


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Unread 03/30/2010, 01:41 PM   #54
Faerl
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So small update. Various background colors haven't worked all that well. At least not turning them back yellow. However, they have started turning on their own to a small degree. I'll the smaller female in particular turn the entire front side of her body to a yellow and then back again within a matter of minutes. I've also noticed them both go to more a dark yellow which matches a lot of the dry rock fairly well. I'd still like to get some more colorful corals in there to see if they'll match that but I'm holding for the new tank.

The PH issue I believe is a lack of flow in the tank. I had a couple of smaller feather dusters that tries to leave their tubes when they were at the very bottom. I moved them up top and haven't had the issue again. Tried moving them down again as an experiment and same response. The flow is pretty low and it's a tall tank so I think it's an issue with getting enough oxygen all the way to the bottom. I have a circulation pump that would help with that but it's way too high for the horses for any length of time (not adjustable and would hit 24x on the flow). I've tried turning it on for limited time in the evening (pointed against a wall to limit the flow a bit) and when it's running the horses seem to like to come out and play in the flow (ie, they actively go to swim in it, they're not actually bouncing off the walls or anything). However, it's too strong to be left on for any length of time.

In the longer term though I'm working on the new tank setup to see what that does. The stand arrived yesterday, just need to do the modifications to get a final size for ordering a custom tank. Best guess is it'll end up a 35g tank with a 10-15g sump beneath.


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Unread 03/30/2010, 05:08 PM   #55
timinnl
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Thanks for the update. You might want to look into this product. http://www.oxydator.de/english/soechting_oxydators.html I think marine depot carries it. I have one in all of my tanks. All it does is add extra 02 into your system.

Tim


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