I'm new here, so here's an introduction.....

[saltyfishdude]

I updated my test reults...........

Hello Everyone, My name is Neal and I'm in Grover Beach, CA and I just found this forum! I've been on a couple forums for maybe a week now, (just recently got a computer and joined the modern age), but when I came across this one I loved all the features and traffic of info and people that I had to join, so here I am. I am putting up some info on my system and I am hoping some of the more experienced opiniions here could lay some on me. I know some things are not perfect and downright too high on one of my water parameters, but I need to hear some good advice...........If your interested in passing your word along, then read on.......................either way, it's nice to meet you all!

So I'm puting up some info of my reef style system. It isn't really a full reef becuase I don't really have proper lighting and I only have a few soft corals.

It is 100 gallons, 48x24x21h, with a 20 gal refugium (lots of live sand and caulerpa)

equipment setup completed and cycling began on May 23, 2006

water quality as of february 19, 2007:
ph 8.4
nitrates 15 - 25 ppm
ammonia / nitrites: 0
calcium; 400 - 430 ppm
phosphates: less then .25 ppm
magnesium: 1260 - 1300 ppm
alkalinity: I know, this is far to high, 10 meq /L, definatly working on it

I am currently changing 15 gallons a week, for a lone time I was only doing 5 gallons and adding buffer every week with checking the the alkalinity and it rose way to high................
...............................I know, I'm a dumbass.

specs:
approx 175 lbs live tonga branching and fiji rock
80 lbs live sand
265 watt coralife compact flourescents
65 watt coralife compact flourescents for refugium
prizm 100 protein skimmer
200 watt visitherm heater
aquaclear 70 powerhead, 400 gph
maxijet 1200 powerhead, 270 gph
maxijet 900 powerhead, 230 gph
rio 20 submersible pump, 980 gph

inhabitants:

(3) oscellaris clowns - 2" each
chocolate shouldered surgeon (chocolate tang) - 5"
pacifac blue tang (juv) - 4 1/2"
vlamingee tang (juv)- less than 3"
foxface rabbitfish - 4 1/2"
coral beauty angel - 3 1/2"
diadema dottyback - 1 1/2"
lawnmower blenny - 3"
sixline wrasse - 2"

sally lightfoot crab - med. size
black sea cucumber - 4" to 6"
pink sea cucmber - 3" to 4"
2 peppermint shrimp - 1 1/2"
coral banded shrimp - large
skunk cleaner shrimp - large
2 bristle stars (1 white w/ 11" dia., 1 black w/ 9" dia.)
serpent star - 8" dia.
sand sifting star - 5" dia.
electric blue legged hermit
half a dozen or so assorted snails
approx. 1 dozen smaller hermits
hawaiian feather duster - one of the larger I've seen
decorator sea urchin - 3 1/2" dia.
rock boring urchin - grew in tank, 1 1/2" dia.

small yellow colony polyps - 9 polyps
brown polyps - 10 to 15 scattered around, and 25 to 30 on one frag
assorted button polyps - approx 70 to 80 on one rock
pulsing xenia

[jkeithh1969]

Welcome to Reefland!

[Firefish]

Welcome to Reefland!

I'm a little jealous you live in sunny CA and I'm stuck in frigid Ma...todays high was around 25*F and there's 4" of solid ice covering every inch of ground. But in my mind I just make believe it's white Bahama beach sand

You seem to have a good community tank there, decent amount of LR & enough light for the corals you're keeping.

I don't know if you really want to strip all the nitrate out of the water though, since you're trying to grow macro algae, it'll need those nutrients to survive along with some full spectrum light like you have. May want to do a little research into that.

I know some people here are a little weary about putting cucumbers in their tanks with them being so unpredictable and having the means to crash an entire tank if they get sick or die. Do a search here in the forums and see what you can find.

Ask lots of questions... people love passing on knowledge here!

[saltyfishdude]

Don't be to jealous, I only moved here about 3 years ago from Woodstock CT!, so I'm right there with ya on understanding how damn cold it is there right now. I probably wasn't too far from you in mass.....pretty cool.
As for the nitrates, I'm not trying to strip them all but, sixty ppm is too high, I need it to be lower. And after the 25 gallon change I did today and the 25 gallon change I did 6 days ago, I should almost be well into an acceptable range. It is the alkalinity that has me worried the most however.

As for the cucumbers, well my black sand cucumber seems to be very healthy and good looking. If anything I worry about the pink (filter feeding) cucumber. I'm not sure if he is getting the nutrients to stay healthy and I've been considering trading him in. Although I have had him since July and he has not appeared sickly or under nourished. Like you mentioned, I'll probably ask around this forum sor some cucumber advice.

Thanx for the feedback FireFish!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ninong]

Hi saltyfishdude,



Wow! I'm surprised anything survived if your alkalinity is really 19 mEq/L (53.2 dKH)!

You might want to reconsider your tang situation. Three tangs in a 100-gal tank could be asking for trouble. In particular, you should reconsider keeping the Vlamingi Tang (Naso vlamingii) as it is a VERY large species, maximum adult size is 60cm (2-ft)!

What species of Caulerpa are you using in your refugium?

[CSeaSee]

Welcome to Reefland!
You can safely drop your nitrates to around 5 ppm, and your macro algae will still flourish. Don't worry about dropping it too fast, either- your fish will be just fine.
If you can, post some pictures!

[saltyfishdude]

Wow! I'm surprised anything survived if your alkalinity is really 19 mEq/L (53.2 dKH)!

You might want to reconsider your tang situation. Three tangs in a 100-gal tank could be asking for trouble. In particular, you should reconsider keeping the Vlamingi Tang (Naso vlamingii) as it is a VERY large species, maximum adult size is 60cm (2-ft)!

What species of Caulerpa are you using in your refugium?

I'm not 100 percent sure, but that is what one of the lfs's told be my test showed. My alkalinity test should be in the mail this week. I use my own Seachem alkalinity test and I get results of a little lower amount. So I will use some test strips to tell me roughly which test is accurate, mine or theirs. I hoping mine. But if not and I'm doing 25 - 30 percent changes with new water every 4-5 days for now, but without completely wiping out the nitrates (mixed with instant ocean reef crystals, which from what I understand has about an 10 meq /L alkalinity level). This should help me drop the alkalinity at least some each time I change water. Let's hope for the best!!!!!!!!!!!

As for the caulerpa, I'm not sure which one it is, it's not the "entwined type that grows like a thick cluster, it grows out and spreads and clings to rock in the refugium like a vine.

As for the Vlamingee tang, I know he gets quite large, I'm hoping he will be my "showpeice" fish in an upgrade tank I am looking to purchase by the end of the year, it will be at least 240 gals, but I'd really looking into a 300 or so.
So I should be fine for now, he is just a baby at about 3 - 3.5 ".......

[Firefish]

Thats cool, (no pun intended!) I'm about 10 miles from Woodstock, on the other side of Webster.

[saltyfishdude]

No Kidding! Huh, Small World!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zhenya]

Hi saltyfishdude,


As Ninong had pointed out, it is doubtful that your alkalinity is really this high considering that inhabitants are alive and doing well, so far... I would simply double check your results with different LFS and see which test kits they are using.

But if not and I'm doing 25 - 30 percent changes with new water every 4-5 days for now, but without completely wiping out the nitrates (mixed with instant ocean reef crystals, which from what I understand has about an 10 meq /L alkalinity level). This should help me drop the alkalinity at least some each time I change water. Let's hope for the best!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, that right there could be your problem if your freshly mixed water is measuring at 10 meg/L at the proper salinity of 35ppt(or 1.026 sp.gravity). It should be no more than 3 meg/L or 2.75 meg/L, like Reef Crystals. Having said that, there were reports last year of Instant Ocean salt having rediculous alkalinity and it was a quality control issue between different batches of salt. Not sure if that problem was corrected or not, but I would take a sample to the store you trust, or maybe a friend that is experienced in this, and have them test your salt for alkalinity. NSW( Natural Sea Water) alkalinity is roughly 2.75 meg/L or 8 dkh( or there abouts) with Calcium at 400-420 ppm or so.
What I am trying to say that if your salt is crazy high in alkalinity than your water exchanges doing more harm than good, if you know what I mean.

I agree with Carl, you reduce your NO3 levels to 0 without any harm. There could be many reasons as to why they are this high, I mainly suspect that your bioload is quite high and hopefully you have good nutrien export mechanism in place to compensate( powerfull skimmer, fuge, etc.).

[saltyfishdude]

Thanx Gene.

I do agree that the alkalinity test results they told me are bogus, because my seachem tests were at like 9 meq / L, if that. That is why I ordered some test strips. I sure they are not right on, but they are probably close and will let me know the range for certain, low, good , or high. I do have a 20 gal refugium where I keep and sustain my caulerpa and a decent "prizm 100 deluxe skimmer" that works pretty good, although I'm sure I can use a better one, which will be my next big purchase. I just ordered a 5 stage ro / di unit with the works, from THEFILTERGUYS.BIZ. Then will come proper lighting. As for the salt, I actually haven't used the reef crystals yet, they are still on the way from an order a couple of days ago. I just used the last of my instant ocean "regular" sea salt that I purchased last summer. So I will actually be using salt from a different batch and quite some time later. So even if that is the issue, it should be resolved this time around. If the reef Crystals work out, that will be my new salt. As for the water changes, I need to get my nitrates down either way, I will be testing everything myself later this evening. I'll let you all now what I get.........................

[Ninong]

I have a feeling that you are confusing milliequivalents per liter (mEq/L) with degrees karbonate hardness (dKH). There is NO WAY that any commercial salt mix mixes up at 9 or 10 mEq/L or they would be out of business in no time at all.

NSW is 2.5 mEq/L (7 dKH). Most reef hobbyists choose to maintain alkalinity somewhat higher than NSW levels but no one in their right mind would consider alkalinity at anything above 5 mEq/L (14 dKH).

My personal preference is for alkalinity between 3.5-4.2 mEq/L and that's a little bit higher than most hobby authors recommend.

[saltyfishdude]

Your right Ninong...................I'll test all of my water parameters tonite after work and post them here , please look at them at some point in the near future and let me know what you think...............