How do my numbers look?

[Chipster67]

I finally got the moment to test my tank's settings with my new test kit..

How's it looking for a tank that has Fish, CUC, Frog Spawn, Zoa's, 1 Green Explosion Polyp, and some GSP...

No3 = 0
Po4 = 0
Mg = 1300
Ca = 400
Kh Alk = 10.5 dKH

I've never tested for these things before, and just want to make sure that nothing is OFF..

Oddly enough I still have a little bit of green hair algae (small patch here or there). So after scrubbing the rock clean and dipping in a weak Hydrogen Peroxide saltwater solution, I had a huge bloom of what I suspect was Diatom Algae, had brown dust over everything and was easy to either blow or suck off the rocks.. Seems to be under control now, and I dose with my 3rd dose of Marine S.A.T. tomorrow, so was wondering event though my Nitrates and Phos is at 0, and knowing I have GHA, would it be BAD to start dosing vinegar or vodka? I have always fought the Algae issues whether it's Green hair or Red Cyno, and at this point not sure WHY...

I do my 10-15 gallon water changes bi-weekly for approx. a 50 gal of water tank/sump.. Will be doing weekly now that I have my own 5 Phase RO/DI unit in house. I feed my Fish 1 Cube of food daily in AM, and clean the Skimmer daily, so I'm at a loss when I read my results look good like above.

Anyhow Thanks for any advise short of giving up the hobby LOL

Chip

 

[rozdab]

Imo I would maybe cut back on the cube a day and grab some pellets and flakes and only feed frozen once or twice a week.

Numbers look pretty good. I shoot for alk of 8-9, mag 1300-1350 and cal. between 400-450.

Usually, After the diatoms/brown dusty rocks phase is when the coralline will start to take off if it hasn't already.

 

[Chipster67]

rozdab,

Thanks for the info, I do have flake food, and have out it in the tank, but I also have an engineer goby that I know doesn't go to the TOP of the tank to get food floating on top of water... Any tips?

Chip

 

[FlyinBryan]

Imo I would maybe cut back on the cube a day and grab some pellets and flakes and only feed frozen once or twice a week.

Numbers look pretty good. I shoot for alk of 8-9, mag 1300-1350 and cal. between 400-450.

Usually, After the diatoms/brown dusty rocks phase is when the coralline will start to take off if it hasn't already.

+1

 

[ColaAddict]

rozdab,

Thanks for the info, I do have flake food, and have out it in the tank, but I also have an engineer goby that I know doesn't go to the TOP of the tank to get food floating on top of water... Any tips?

Chip

I hate frozen and flakes because they really dirty up the water. If you want to use flakes, it would help if you stick them in the water before letting them go instead of dropping them on top of water. If you sink them first they will not just float on top.

 

[Chipster67]

Ok will give that a try.. Thanks.. what brand or kind of Pellet do you guys feed?

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[ColaAddict]

New Life Spectrum (NLS) is one of the best brands out there.


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[Siebo]

I finally got the moment to test my tank's settings with my new test kit..

How's it looking for a tank that has Fish, CUC, Frog Spawn, Zoa's, 1 Green Explosion Polyp, and some GSP...

No3 = 0
Po4 = 0
Mg = 1300
Ca = 400
Kh Alk = 10.5 dKH

I've never tested for these things before, and just want to make sure that nothing is OFF..

Oddly enough I still have a little bit of green hair algae (small patch here or there). So after scrubbing the rock clean and dipping in a weak Hydrogen Peroxide saltwater solution, I had a huge bloom of what I suspect was Diatom Algae, had brown dust over everything and was easy to either blow or suck off the rocks.. Seems to be under control now, and I dose with my 3rd dose of Marine S.A.T. tomorrow, so was wondering event though my Nitrates and Phos is at 0, and knowing I have GHA, would it be BAD to start dosing vinegar or vodka? I have always fought the Algae issues whether it's Green hair or Red Cyno, and at this point not sure WHY...

I do my 10-15 gallon water changes bi-weekly for approx. a 50 gal of water tank/sump.. Will be doing weekly now that I have my own 5 Phase RO/DI unit in house. I feed my Fish 1 Cube of food daily in AM, and clean the Skimmer daily, so I'm at a loss when I read my results look good like above.

Anyhow Thanks for any advise short of giving up the hobby LOL

Chip

What test kits are you using that read NO3 and PO4 at zero? My gut tells me that is not really the case.

Cutting out the cube per day will help though.

 

[Chipster67]

New Life Spectrum (NLS) is one of the best brands out there.


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Thanks... will go find that and get some...

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[Chipster67]

What test kits are you using that read NO3 and PO4 at zero? My gut tells me that is not really the case.

Cutting out the cube per day will help though.

I have the Salfert brand that I just purchased a month ago... dates on box are still good.. but your right maybe no good.. I'll take over to Sho and see if Matt can/will test for me

Chip

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[EricTheRed]

Okay...Before I render an opinion, I'd like to ask how many and what fish you have? Unless you're over feeding, which we won't know unless we know your bioload, then be can't blame your algae on too much frozen. It is well documented that frozen, in general, has the highest protein and lowest phosphate levels of all the foods so I don't subscribe to the notion that frozen is bad. If you're not overfeeding and all of the food is eaten or only a little is left for the cuc then there shouldn't be a reason to eliminate it. That being said, variety is very important for the long term survival of the fish. Think about a human who's diet has no vitamin C, they'll eventually die of scurvy. Same thing can happen to a fish if they only eat 1 food for the rest of their life. For this reason I like to mix up my feedings with a rotation of various frozen and New Life Spectrum pellets. More smaller feedings are better than feeding one large meal a day. You can stretch out one cube over two feedings by keeping the left overs from the first feeding in the fridge. Anecdotally, most reefers feel that flake is the worst. I believe this is because it has a tendency to blow around, get stuck and go uneaten. At least that is why I don't use it.

So, how many fish do you have?

Back to your algae problem...the algae growth is most affected by phosphate. Sometimes the algae will consume the phosphate which is why your test is at zero. Personally, I don't find test kits very reliable for very low-range phosphate testing. Something like a Hanna digital checker might be a wise investment. I had HA once and it would not go away even though I was running GFO. I started blowing the detritus off my rock regularly in hopes that this would keep the HA from absorbing nearby nutrients before my system could filter them. My theory was that if I kept the crap away from the HA and in the the water column that my filtration would get it before the HA could. It worked for me. I keep my nutrients low, blow my rocks regularly and haven't seen a strand of HA in many years.

 

[madjoe]

I feed just pellets in my reef now that they all eat pellets. The frozen food can be a issue i heard of people rinsing the frozen withr/o before feeding to help reduce phosphates but that seems like pia to me. I dont agree that the fish need to be feed a varity to be healthy as the pellets nls have vitamins and stuff in it . But thats just me . Anyway if u dipped whole rocks in peroxide u pribably killed the algae but also everything else so when put back in tank the dead stuff nade more phosphates. Etr is right blow off rocks least once a week it helps alot then just keep numbers in check and be patient stability is key in this hobby. Also hair algae can mean lots of things light on to long , old bulbs obviosly depends in what light u have sunlight from a window i have seen cause it . And cyno is a bacteria usually caused by a parameter unbalance and not over . Just my 2 cents from the yrs of reefing

 

[ColaAddict]

My problem with frozen is that it never gets eaten all the way. It breaks up into small particles and decays in your tank. Anything organic will have phosphate and the nitrate they leave behind. With pellets, you can be sure that they are all eaten.
My vermetid snails issue have gotten worse since trying frozen food, since they end up catching small particles from frozen food. I am going back to pellets to starve them out.


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[Chipster67]

Thanks guys some Great info.. To answer the question.. I have the below fish in my 46 Gallon bow front Tank
2 Clown Fish
2 Green Chromis
1 Fire Fish
1 Coral Beauty
1 Engineer Goby.

I also have a variety of snails from turbo to Ceriths snails.. I will admit and is probably my problem.. While doing water changes I would such up the water and drive the suction in to the sand to get stuff in sand bed... But I never blown off rocks. While doing my rock scrubbing I noticed that there was all kinds of crud on the rocks as I moved it.. I didn't think it was food but sure made a cloudy mess of the water. So should I take a power head and blow off rocks... turn off pumps and then suck up the water?

The tank had been up for a little over a year and have had same fish since the early days..


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[madjoe]

Power head works turkey baster is what i use

 

[rozdab]

I put all of my power heads on full blast a couple times a week to blow as much stuff into the socks in my sump. I also use the turkey Baster method as that is the best to get everywhere in the rocks and around stuff. It makes a big difference as so much comes flying off everytime. Get in the habit of basting your rocks right before wc too as you can export a lot of it quickly and it won't break down in the tank.

As for frozen food, I have never used a whole cube in one feeding. I throw it in a cup with some tank water, stir it up and mash it around and only grab a couple of pieces at a time so you don't have to worry about it settling around the tank. Dedicate an old fork and grab it out of the cup.

 

[TangPolice]

i put all of my power heads on full blast a couple times a week to blow as much stuff into the socks in my sump. I also use the turkey baster method as that is the best to get everywhere in the rocks and around stuff. It makes a big difference as so much comes flying off everytime. Get in the habit of basting your rocks right before wc too as you can export a lot of it quickly and it won't break down in the tank.

As for frozen food, i have never used a whole cube in one feeding. I throw it in a cup with some tank water, stir it up and mash it around and only grab a couple of pieces at a time so you don't have to worry about it settling around the tank. Dedicate an old fork and grab it out of the cup.

great post !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[EricTheRed]

My problem with frozen is that it never gets eaten all the way. It breaks up into small particles and decays in your tank. Anything organic will have phosphate and the nitrate they leave behind. With pellets, you can be sure that they are all eaten.
My vermetid snails issue have gotten worse since trying frozen food, since they end up catching small particles from frozen food. I am going back to pellets to starve them out.


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I see your point and know what you're talking about. Unless it is something like Rod's or a small particulate blend that I don't want to strain, I'll use this little hand-held strainer from Walmart, or most any grocery store. It works great and when you put the food back in your cup and add a splash of water you can see the water is clear.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Mainstays-American-Housewares-3-Food-Strainer/15042726