Upgrade time !

[Craigdillman]

Alright got around to do some before and after pictures post Cyano Chemi-clean tank starting to look good again, slowly working back getting parameters back in line, lowing p04 and nitrate slow and rising mag first then getting Alk and calcium back ( which weren't as out of wack as the others )

Been busy trying to edit go pro dive footage

Pre Chemi






Dead Monti ( thanks moving bubble tip)



Post Chemi-clean and 45% Water change/GAC and starting starting carbon dosing and for down again










And on a totally unrelated note ( didn't want to post this incase it didn't work out but before my trip i dropped my tune scraper on my orange plate and split into 3 pieces figured it was a goner and after the trip it seems to be doing awesome still and puffy and eating and maybe ii can grow 3 plates from this all 3 pieces have mouths it looks like so maybe i got super lucky )

[Craigdillman]

Well i think i found the culprit of the holiday nutrient issues found an empty container of flakes that was over half full in the stand, now either the tank sitter fed this whole amount over the 30 day holiday ( god i hope not) or it accidentally dumped in ( and was to embarrassed to say ) it kind of explains all the issues and how only after 30 days seemed the tank now has nutrient issues Nitrate and P04 that was never a problem before leaving

So still working on getting stuff to pre holiday condition ,(funny last year took a 28 day trip and after 1 WC tank was sparkling like new )

So 2 days ago did a 70gallon water change , poor fish hardly had any water to swim in, and I'm planning on doing another 40 ish one tomorrow that should bring everything into manageable levels

Im still dosing vinegar I think 125ml per day and also doing Foz Down too


Is there a benefit to dosing vodka over vinegar ? Or just keep the course ? Does my dose of 125ml for around 150g water seem ok ? low ? high? Should i just keep upping it ?

For down and the WC are working good for the P04 its just the nitrates I'm worried about and I'm sure thats why the sps doesn't look as good ( ill get some Water tests done today see where I'm at post 50% WC

Thanks

[Craigdillman]

Water tests today

Phos- 0.09
Nitrate- 25ppm

Both those have came down a lot so things in the right direction i guess

Cal- 320ppm
alk-9.8
mag 1280ppm

So just going to do the 40g water change and dose some calcium and mag to get those back to where i need them

Hoping things will start to look better and some of the sps comes back to life

[Craigdillman]

Ugh still battling higher Nitrates than i would like they are around 25 ish maybe 20 i dont know how other do it? The tank does look a lot better then a month ago but I'm not sure what else i can keep doing ?

How many ML can i keep increasing my vinegar up too its like at 130ml / day, Skimmer is working great the p04 is now lowwering at 0.05 which is fine for me but the nitrates is still hovering around 20-25 range ? Any other ideas?

Would adding vodka help ? or swapping to that instead of vinegar? should i increase vinegar faster?

Thanks

[The Codfather]

Originally Posted by Craigdillman

Would adding vodka help ?
Thanks

Adding vodka to you? Yes
Adding vodka to tank? Maybe

[Craigdillman]

yea I'm just not sure how people ever get there nitrates to zero , like i dont feed a ton just over a cube worth of home made mixed frozen that was rinsed , and some nori, skimmer works good i do min 20% WC every 2 weeks (lately been doing big ones)


Naso tang
kole tang
2 clowns
2 cleaner wrasses
yellow Wrasse
christmas wrasse
goby
flame angel
mandarin

in a 125g

[TimT]

Hi Craig,

The original carbon method was adding Vodka, Sugar and Vinegar mixture. All 3 are carbon sources and feed slightly different types of bacteria. When overdosed one causes snotty type strings from rocks etc, another causes hazy type films and another clouds the water.

I presently use Vodka/white vinegar mix with Foz Down. Don't add the Foz Down to the Vodka/Vinegar mix. The Vodka is stronger than the vinegar so less is needed. There is no problem combining Vodka and Vinegar at the same time. The way I maintain my acro grow out system is by using Vodka/Vinegar to control Nitrate and Foz Down to control Phosphate.

You don't want to have zero Phosphate and zero Nitrate in your system. The symbiotic algae that the corals use for a large portion of their energy, needs some Phosphate and some Nitrate. As long as the Phosphate is < 0.03 and Nitrate is < 7 I do not worry about it.

What is the concentration of Vinegar your using? ie % Acetic Acid. Sounds like your using a lot for that bio load. Are you measuring it with a syringe or going by a dosing pump?

If you decide to add Vodka to the vinegar don't add more than 2ml Vodka/day to start with. With the Vodka Vinegar method you are growing bacteria so you need to build it slowly over a several month period. You can safely increase the dosage by 25% per week until you see the nitrate begin to drop. Then keep it at that level until nitrate is down to where you want it, then reduce dosage until nitrate stays steady.

Looking at your water tests from the 2nd I would say that hardy acros like millipora etc would not have a problem with the Phosphate and Nitrate levels. They would have lots of problems from the Calcium at 320. It needs to be around 430. The key to a successful reef tank is stability in all parameters and maintenance.

Thanks for using Foz Down!!

Cheers,
Tim

[Craigdillman]

yea the calcium is now stable at 425 ish level and I'm dosing both foz down and the vinegar from a dosing pump , P04 has came down nicely just i feel the nitrates are still higher

[Craigdillman]

Well update time, tank is looking million times better now that i got all those big WC done and got my parameters back in order finally seeing growth tips on all the sps again and the lps looking super healthy









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[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

Happy to see things are doing so well for you with your tank.