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Post by BriMc on Apr 10, 2014 9:44:10 GMT -5
I wanted to give a general overview of my tank so people can get an idea of what I run and in no way am I saying this is the way to set up a tank but this has worked for me.
Main tank - 29 gallon tank with an over the side overflow. 4' deep sand bed Sea flor special grade fine, 40 Lbs.marco seeded by 10 Lbs gulf view live rock. Return pump is a Mag 7 with a 3 foot head running wide open. Lighting is a plain Jane 36" current usa t-5 four lamp fixture running two UV 460-480 spectrum lamps, one phillips 03, and one TRU 6700k. Flow is two seio 620 powerheads
Refugium, 3 gallon CPR refugium, 4" deep sand bed using Marco fine sand ( never again) chaeto, pump is a rio 820 running wide open.
lighting is a 90w CF lights of America out door fixture 6500k
Sump - 38 gallon brute tote, housing 50 Lbs of Marco rock, and 15 Lbs of Gulf view live rock, 2 75 Watt heaters, Bubble Magus Nac6A protein skimmer with upgraded pump and bubble plate, and roughly 8 different probes.
Controller - Aquatronica with Dual PH probes, Orp, dual salinity probes, Dual temp sensors, dual leak detectors, Controller runs the lights and powerheads and heaters.
Water is supplied by a aqua safe 7 stage 75GPD chloramine setup. I use a blend of both I/O and Reef Crystal salt mixes.
Food is flake and frozen food three times a week except for dendros which get target fed every day.
Water changes except for top offs every three months or so. Maintenance; change filter socks every three days and vacuum very top of main tank and refugium every six months of so.
Testing has not been done on this tank in over a year. My last test kit expired 3/13 so I would figure my last test was done 7/12.
See below,
Corals, Purple tip hammer and Frogspawn colony, Large green tree coral, 10+ Green Large frilly mushrooms, 10+ heads Candy cane coral, 6 head Dendro, 1Large purple frilly mushroom, Frags: 4 acan frags with 4+heads each, 1 I don't know what it is frag, and a orange dendro. Oh yeah I forgot to mention the 4 bubble tip and 5 Rose bubble tip anemone colony.
Fish; 2 ocellaris clowns Med, 1 PJ cardinal Lg, 1 Royal gramma, 1 Blue spot yellow gobie. Tons of snails and crabs.
Under pressure of some friends I borrowed a master test kit over the weekend to see what my water parameters were and here it goes.
PH 8.3
KH 11
Am 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Cal 280
Phos 0
Mag 1740 Retest the next morning 1420 tank will burn it off quick.
Salinity 0.01257
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Post by jasonandsarah on Apr 10, 2014 10:23:15 GMT -5
You running anything to keep your nitrates at zero?
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Post by Lance on Apr 10, 2014 11:18:30 GMT -5
You running anything to keep your nitrates at zero? I see: - deep sand beds in both display and refugium - chaeto - very limited feeding to a not very heavy fish load - a protein skimmer rated for a 100-150 gallon tank - a lot of photosynthetic corals That'll do it! |
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Post by jasonandsarah on Apr 10, 2014 11:47:26 GMT -5
I normally have very low to zero nitrates readings as well but I run bio pellets and not a fuge. So I was just trying to find out different methods I guess? I know I ask to many questions!  |
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Post by maineultraclassic on Apr 10, 2014 12:03:42 GMT -5
I know I ask to many questions! The only stupid questions are the ones you never ask. No way to learn if you don't ask. |
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Post by Lance on Apr 10, 2014 15:01:56 GMT -5
I know I ask to many questions! The only stupid questions are the ones you never ask. No way to learn if you don't ask. Yep...not implying that it was a stupid question at all.  One thing a lot of people don't seem to grasp is that Nitrates are at the tail end of the nitrogen cycle. I believe you should focus first on removing stuff as far up the process as possible. - Protein Skimmers do this by removing lipids and proteins (big, complex molecules) before they have a chance to get turned into other stuff (like ammonia). An oversized skimmer removes more, faster
- Activated Carbon does this by locking up (adsorbing) organic molecules and preventing them from further interactions in the tank
- Photosynthetic (zooxanthellate) corals and algae do this by preferentially metabolizing ammonia first, then nitrite, then nitrate
- Not overstocking with fish does this by reducing nutrient requirements for the system
- Not overfeeding does this by reducing nutrient inputs into the system
Any nitrate left at this point should easily be removed by deep sand bed denitrification processes and/or refugium algae and/or biopellets.
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Post by BriMc on Apr 10, 2014 15:06:16 GMT -5
I don't run any chemical filtration at all in the tank and additions are limited to BRS two part mix and either their mag supplement or Tech M
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Post by BriMc on Apr 10, 2014 15:32:29 GMT -5
You running anything to keep your nitrates at zero? I see: - deep sand beds in both display and refugium - chaeto - very limited feeding to a not very heavy fish load - a protein skimmer rated for a 100-150 gallon tank - a lot of photosynthetic corals That'll do it! I think the main reduction is the DSB in the main tank. The refugium is more up in the air as it is a 3 gallon unit the sand bed is 4" long by 12" wide. Not enough to make a difference Chaeto is usually the size of a baseball. Again not enough to make a difference. Feeding Fish are fed flake 3 times a week, corals target fed two cubes of some form of frozen food three times a week with the exception of the dendros which get a half cube every off day. I wasn't exactly clear on the feeding. Fish load I did forget one fish which is an Algae blenny, according to most "calculators" I am over maximum fish load. Corals I forgot Green tyree toadstool and a colony of brown cabbage coral. Protein skimmer rated for 100-150 gallon as we all know actually is 75 to 125 gallon tank or less but you are right oversized for this set up. A lot of photosynthetic and soft corals have a lot to do with my readings as well as the main tank DSB and good live rock. |
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Post by BriMc on Apr 10, 2014 15:39:07 GMT -5
Protein skimming, I have been reading a lot on only running the skimmer during the light on cycle reducing skimming out plankton and free floating foods that are in the water column when the lights are out.
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Post by maineultraclassic on Apr 10, 2014 16:18:15 GMT -5
The only stupid questions are the ones you never ask. No way to learn if you don't ask. Yep...not implying that it was a stupid question at all. Not at all. I've been doing this almost 30 years, and I'm always learning something new and asking questions that some may think are stupid. This hobby is always changing and evolving, and with so many techniques that accomplish the same endpoint.......asking questions is the only way to learn. |
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