What causes SPS to lighten/bleach

[YLChik]

well there is long term and short term

already using rodi for water changes and top offs
using IO for salt
only add baking soda and drive way heat to the tank
oo and 2 drops of lugals iodine once a month

What is GAC?


short term is feed less - go to 3 times a week - I am sure they will be ok -right?!
skim wetter so I can take more doc's out
more frequent larger water changes for now
Blasting rock and siphioning every other day because that much IS coming off my rock.
(every other day 5 gallons)

is my carbon regiment ok?
Should I run a phospate material?

Long term I am building a 95 corner tank and will PLAN it to be a sps/lps tank with a "higher" fish load ( Keeping the fish I have, but going to bigger gallons) so that my equipment will handle my bio load.
Larger skimmer
Larger sump
better way to lift my rocks with the new build

Cooking my rock before I put it in the new tank and cooking rock that I will need to add.

If July comes before the build is done then I will redo my sand bed.

How does this plan sound Tom?

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by YLChik

well there is long term and short term...

Cooking my rock before I put it in the new tank and cooking rock that I will need to add.

If July comes before the build is done then I will redo my sand bed.

How does this plan sound Tom?


I plan to (???)

I think you're moving in the right direction, just remember with all these fishes that you may still have a nutrient issue, but controlling it will be a matter of how intense your approach is to your maximizing the exports as well as controlling the imports.

A good start, but think about a larger system with the number of fishes you have. So long as you're aggressive in controlling the nutrients in your system, I think your system will be awesome!


Keep us posted and list what your goals and objectives will be for the system!

[YLChik]

Originally Posted by tdwyatt

A good start, but think about a larger system with the number of fishes you have. So long as you're aggressive in controlling the nutrients in your system, I think your system will be awesome!


Keep us posted and list what your goals and objectives will be for the system!

phew thanks Tom..

My brain isn't working, but upgrading in tank size and keeping my current fish load is what I am trying to say

I really really like both the fish and the corals... choices are hard aren't they! I started a idea thread on the 95 gallon in grd... PLEASE feel free to pipe in I want to make sure I plan it wisely.

[YLChik]

HEy wait I still don't have an anwer to these ?'s

What is GAC?
short term is feed less - go to 3 times a week - I am sure they will be ok -right?!
Is my carbon regiment ok?
Should I run a phospate material?

[dobejazz]

Originally Posted by YLChik

HEy wait I still don't have an anwer to these ?'s

What is GAC?
short term is feed less - go to 3 times a week - I am sure they will be ok -right?!
Is my carbon regiment ok?
Should I run a phospate material?

I can answer the GAC - it's tom speak for carbon

[YLChik]

ok so what IS a quality carbon and how should it be run.

I have pellets in a bag tied to my drain.... I am GUESSING there is a better way

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by dobejazz

I can answer the GAC - it's tom speak for carbon

Yes, Granular Activated Carbon...

Originally Posted by YLChik

HEy wait I still don't have an anwer to these ?'s

short term is feed less - go to 3 times a week - I am sure they will be ok -right?!
Is my carbon regiment ok?
Should I run a phospate (removal) material?

I do not remember which fishes you have. There are a few spp. of very active planktonic feeders that must be fed every day, sometimes several small feedings each day, but unless you have these as fish in your system, dropping feeding to every two or three days is usually not an issue, and helps control inputs in systems that share fish and corals in the same water column. Fishes for the most part do not find food items to be nearly as plentiful in the wild as they do in the reef aqurium, and for the most part can get by quite well with feeding regimens more attuned to a low nutrient system of feeding. It is the specialists that must be kept in systems where feeding is adapted to keeping their frequent needs in mind, but these systems are usually not geared towards keeping both these specialized feeders and stony corals together.



Carbon should be changed at about half of the total volume of carbon every 2 weeks, so that half the carbon is in the tank for 4 weeks, then the other half is as well, but in cycles where their changes overlap to prevent sudden drops in nutrient levels that might precipitate biological issues triggered by the sudden drops in solutes removed by the GAC.

Make sure that the carbon you use is not treated with phosphoric acid (common in making activated carbon). You can test this by putting a tablespoonful of your carbon in a pint jar of RO/DI, aggitating it well, venting the cap (you'll see why), then aggitating it again several more times, then allowing it to sit overnight, and testing the water for phosphate in the morning. No phosphate = quality carbon.

You could run your carbon in a reactor, but I am not a big fan of allowing carbon to tumble in a reactor so that it releases amounts of carbon into the tank to settle out. GAC is QUITE friable, and the tumbling of even slow reactors will release fragments of the carbon into the water column. There bacteria can react on the surfaces and cause it to release ions that the carbon granules have already captured from your system, who knows what might be adsorbed on the carbon...



With the nutrient levels your system will eperioence based on the fish pops, I would run a phosphate removal reactor that uses GFO (granular ferric oxide or hydroxide) and run it at full strength since you have a sand bed. BB systems run with full strength phosphate removers can sometimes experience bleaching issues at the tips of stony coral specimens due to some toxicity asociated with high dose GFO (many reports exist, but no direct evidence to link the two together directly as causative events).

The issue with running phosphate removers is that most of them work by exchanging phosphate anions with some other anion (usually carbonate or hydroxide depending on which cationic product is used), leaving the phosphate anion chemically bound as an insoluble salt of the cation employed (as either Aluminum phosphate or a Ferrous phosphate specie of salt). The only glitch them becomes (outside any toxicity due to the presence of the cation of the phosphate remover) is that the phosphate must be in a free form to interact with the phosphate removers, not a common state for phosophate anions in a system where there is a constant demand for phosphate... I would still run it because you'll need to take every opportunity to remove phosphate and export it, but remember that this means you'll need to replenish the remover product on a regular basis, especially if you still see algae cropping up in your system on occasion.

BTW, if you keep Sarcophyton spp of leathers, then you do not want to use any of the Aluminum-based phosphate removers, as it will cause the leathers to fail to thrive.


HTH

[Wiskey]

Amy,.. This may seem out there,.. but did you switch to a new Salifert Alk test kit recently?

I'm thinking about how much less baking soda your having to dose now,.. and wondering if you may have one of the bad kits that registers a few Dkh high?

Whiskey

[YLChik]

Originally Posted by Wiskey

Amy,.. This may seem out there,.. but did you switch to a new Salifert Alk test kit recently?

I'm thinking about how much less baking soda your having to dose now,.. and wondering if you may have one of the bad kits that registers a few Dkh high?

Whiskey

nope same test kit - they were bought in Feb 07

[tdwyatt]

Originally Posted by YLChik

nope same test kit - they were bought in Feb 07

Just to be on the safe side, would you (Amy) make some fresh 35 PPT ASW from IO and RO/DI and test its alkalinity?

[YLChik]

Tom, I will be happy to do that. But before I test alk.

I bought a slaifert mag test - 1020 was the result
po4 test is next...

[Wiskey]

Originally Posted by YLChik

Tom, I will be happy to do that. But before I test alk.

I bought a slaifert mag test - 1020 was the result
po4 test is next...

Mag should be 3X CA I keep my CA at 420 so I keep the Mag at 1260.

Whiskey

[YLChik]

so what is poor mans mg?

[Wiskey]

Mag flake (Another driveway de-icer) mixed with Epson salt if you want to get fancy,.. But it takes a truck load of it to raise your MG any.

Oh,.. Another thing,.. Did you check the Salinity of your tank? Adding Baking soda, and CaCl2 raises SG over time,.. I found my 125 at 1.032 at one point.

Whiskey

[YLChik]

cal is 380
down from 425 on Sat


dhk of tank is 7 - down from 9 on sat
no3 is 2
sg is 1.025
and temp is 75

ph meter needs new batteries