75 gallon GlassCages build

[BAMatter]

I have the same skimmer. It's been great. Just make sure it's up on a stand if yo have a deep sump. I didn't....

I have mine in 8” of water. My sump baffles are adjustable so dialing it in was accessible. I’m actually thinking about raising the water level an inch, the skimmate I’m getting is almost too thick/aerated.

 

[jhadaway]

I have mine in 8” of water. My sump baffles are adjustable so dialing it in was accessible. I’m actually thinking about raising the water level an inch, the skimmate I’m getting is almost too thick/aerated.

I built a stand with egg crate. I also had trouble that the output pipe was splitting the water line. When I changed filter socks sometimes the water level would rise slightly for a minute or two and out poured the sludge. It happened twice in one week after never being an issue for nine months. 50% water changes can get expensive. Algae blooms too. Haven't had an issue since I raised it up. That is some pretty thick skimmate. I dose vinegar daily and it seemed to have thinned mine out a bit. Don't know why. Great skimmer for the price. Nice, clean tank look too.

 

[Llorgon]

You can set them up that way, just know that the fastest the pumps will go is 85% if the schedule is set for 100%.

I’ll have to disagree with them not being intuitive. The way they have the programming, you can set all sorts of different schedules at different intensities. If you want to do LPS mode at 50% for 4 hours, 60% for 4 hours, etc etc it easily allows this. Just need to keep in mind that those percentages are based off the pumps max speed in the tile settings.

I must be doing something wrong then. I've tried to add the LPS mode to switch with my sine wave mode every hour, but no luck. Even adding a nutrient export twice a day hasn't seemed to work.

I'll have to watch more videos on this I guess.

 

[BAMatter]

Ive been following the thread regarding ACI kalk method, and have me reevaluating my dosing strategy. I’m going to attempt to dial in PH a bit more, since my sine wave has leveled out and is fairly predictable. I’m going to dose the 1200ml of kalk from the hours of 6:00pm-9:00am, and will dose the 7ml of B-Ionic Alk and Cal from 9:00am-6:00pm with hopes PH can level out a tick more. Always on the hunt for more stability, and am interested to see how the PH chart looks after a week. I crunched the numbers and looks like kalk will be dosing for around .028dkh/hr and B-Ionic will be around .021dkh/hr. Current PH swings are around .15, and hoping to rope that number in and get a flatter line.

 

[BAMatter]

Alright, so but if an update. I’ve switched to a 0.5ml/min 24/7 kalk dosing with the new Kamoer pump, and it supplements ESV B-Ionic calcium buffer system 2 part. Kalk is about 720ml a day and ESV is 14ml of each part daily split over 24 doses. I also tanked my NO3 and started dosing that again as well. Had 4ml daily to bring it up and now maintaining at 1ml daily. Transition Elements also being dosed daily. Kalk keeping PH between 8.2-8.3 and Alk at 8.8dkh.

 

[Llorgon]

Alright, so but if an update. I’ve switched to a 0.5ml/min 24/7 kalk dosing with the new Kamoer pump, and it supplements ESV B-Ionic calcium buffer system 2 part. Kalk is about 720ml a day and ESV is 14ml of each part daily split over 24 doses. I also tanked my NO3 and started dosing that again as well. Had 4ml daily to bring it up and now maintaining at 1ml daily. Transition Elements also being dosed daily. Kalk keeping PH between 8.2-8.3 and Alk at 8.8dkh.

So, now that you have everything stable, what's next on the list?

I see you are dosing nitrates, are you also dosing phosphates or is that coming from the food? How do you like the ESV Nitrate vs others you have tried?

 

[BAMatter]

So, now that you have everything stable, what's next on the list?

I see you are dosing nitrates, are you also dosing phosphates or is that coming from the food? How do you like the ESV Nitrate vs others you have tried?

Don’t have much of a list right now other than just maintain and let what’s in there grow now. I have about 25-30 aiptasia on my hit list as well. So there’s that…

I don’t need to dose PO4, I use Coral Frenzy to tune that number. If I spot feed 3x a week, PO4 is around 0.08 +/-, and if I spot feed 2x a week, it’s around .04 +/-. NO3 holding around 4.5-4.9, which I may bring up a tick, or may just leave.

I’ve only dosed the ESV and the Brightwell. Feels like a 6 in one, half dozen in another. Probably not qualified to make any discernible differences.

Have an ICP test about to get shipped out. Interested to see where my levels are at after a month of individually dosing some elements.

 

[Llorgon]

Don’t have much of a list right now other than just maintain and let what’s in there grow now. I have about 25-30 aiptasia on my hit list as well. So there’s that…

I don’t need to dose PO4, I use Coral Frenzy to tune that number. If I spot feed 3x a week, PO4 is around 0.08 +/-, and if I spot feed 2x a week, it’s around .04 +/-. NO3 holding around 4.5-4.9, which I may bring up a tick, or may just leave.

I’ve only dosed the ESV and the Brightwell. Feels like a 6 in one, half dozen in another. Probably not qualified to make any discernible differences.

Have an ICP test about to get shipped out. Interested to see where my levels are at after a month of individually dosing some elements.

It will be interesting to see what the ICP test returns.

oh man. Aiptasia are a pain. What are you going to do to get rid of those?

 

[BAMatter]

It will be interesting to see what the ICP test returns.

oh man. Aiptasia are a pain. What are you going to do to get rid of those?

Aiptasia X… hit about a dozen last night. They’re either dead or have retreated and creating an even bigger headache down the road. I’ll know soon enough I suppose. Berghia will be added if needed.

Side note, I used about 15ml of Aip X and it raised Alk about .5dkh… something to be cognizant of next time it’s needed.

 

[hoffyhill]

heck of a job turning that crash around! Tank looking great!

 

[BAMatter]

heck of a job turning that crash around! Tank looking great!

Thank you! Have lost a couple pieces as of lately, and all my torches except 1 look terrible. All SPS look good with PE, so I may have yet another pest to deal with. Hoping not but thinking may be EEFW. Will be dipping all my torches tomorrow and I’ll have to see if any culprits drop off. If they’re all clean, I’ll need to put a pretty good analysis into my ICP test that’s currently in the mail out to Triton. All part of the game I suppose.

 

[Llorgon]

Aiptasia X… hit about a dozen last night. They’re either dead or have retreated and creating an even bigger headache down the road. I’ll know soon enough I suppose. Berghia will be added if needed.

Side note, I used about 15ml of Aip X and it raised Alk about .5dkh… something to be cognizant of next time it’s needed.

I have been fighting a losing aiptasia battle in my 25g for awhile now. Aiptasia X kills some and angers others. I tried a couple Berghia, everything was fine for a few days, but then I saw my big clown pick one off the rock... Never saw the other again.

I had no idea it raised Alk! I was using 15ml or so weekly in the 25g for awhile. I wonder if that caused issues

 

[BAMatter]

I have been fighting a losing aiptasia battle in my 25g for awhile now. Aiptasia X kills some and angers others. I tried a couple Berghia, everything was fine for a few days, but then I saw my big clown pick one off the rock... Never saw the other again.

I had no idea it raised Alk! I was using 15ml or so weekly in the 25g for awhile. I wonder if that caused issues

There are several accounts of it raising Alk, so just something to be aware of I guess. It certainly could have been causing a large rise in Alk every week for you. In terms of the berghia, I’ve read you need several to be effective. They hunt in small groups of I believe 2-3. I would add about a dozen or so into my system.

 

[BAMatter]

I decided to make a little adjustment to my sump. I’m going to pull my carbon reactor offline since changing the carbon is just a pain in the butt and I rarely swap it out, and I’m also getting cyano matting the surface of the chaeto in my fuge. That said, I’m going to hook up a LocLine return nozzle to create some more water movement in the fuge and hope the cyano stays at bay. I trimmed the top layer of chaeto where the cyano was and my PH chart skyrocketed that evening, guessing because of the CO2 mitigation from photosynthesis since the chaeto had much better exposure to light with the absence of cyano. Pretty wild. You can see on the 19th around midnight the PH doesn’t take its typical downward trend, and hangs out. Anyways, onward.

 

[BAMatter]

Got my recent ICP test back. Potassium, Bromide, Strontium, and Iodine all continue to drop a bit, so I’ll need to increase the individual dosing on each of those. Molybdenum dropped as I intended since it was getting a bit high out of range and I scaled back on Aquavitro Fuel for that purpose, and will continue to do so until it is back at a good range. Silicon also popped high, and I’m guessing it’s coming in from my RODI water. Will need to research putting a silicon specific stage on my filter and see what happens long term. Just need to find a way to start lowering it in my water column. Other than that, just gonna keep on trucking. I’m happy that the individual elements didn’t test high, since it seems easier to add elements than it is to remove. Happy Reefing

 

[BAMatter]

Got a few new sticks from ORA. Some easier SPS, but I’m not one of those guys spending $500 for a 2” frag. Stylo and birds nest are more my speed…

 

[Llorgon]

I decided to make a little adjustment to my sump. I’m going to pull my carbon reactor offline since changing the carbon is just a pain in the butt and I rarely swap it out, and I’m also getting cyano matting the surface of the chaeto in my fuge. That said, I’m going to hook up a LocLine return nozzle to create some more water movement in the fuge and hope the cyano stays at bay. I trimmed the top layer of chaeto where the cyano was and my PH chart skyrocketed that evening, guessing because of the CO2 mitigation from photosynthesis since the chaeto had much better exposure to light with the absence of cyano. Pretty wild. You can see on the 19th around midnight the PH doesn’t take its typical downward trend, and hangs out. Anyways, onward.

That's kinda cool. Maybe having more flow in the sump and getting the chaeto moving around will help a bit with the pH? Maybe add that tunze submersible light below and light it from both top and bottom.

Got my recent ICP test back. Potassium, Bromide, Strontium, and Iodine all continue to drop a bit, so I’ll need to increase the individual dosing on each of those. Molybdenum dropped as I intended since it was getting a bit high out of range and I scaled back on Aquavitro Fuel for that purpose, and will continue to do so until it is back at a good range. Silicon also popped high, and I’m guessing it’s coming in from my RODI water. Will need to research putting a silicon specific stage on my filter and see what happens long term. Just need to find a way to start lowering it in my water column. Other than that, just gonna keep on trucking. I’m happy that the individual elements didn’t test high, since it seems easier to add elements than it is to remove. Happy Reefing

Have you noticed any diatoms from the silicon? When I was fighting dinos in one of my tanks, towards the end I started dosing silicon, I got a bunch of diatoms, but also a large increase in little sponges throughout the tank.

Got a few new sticks from ORA. Some easier SPS, but I’m not one of those guys spending $500 for a 2” frag. Stylo and birds nest are more my speed…

oh exciting, new corals! How are they doing in the tank so far?

 

[BAMatter]

That's kinda cool. Maybe having more flow in the sump and getting the chaeto moving around will help a bit with the pH? Maybe add that tunze submersible light below and light it from both top and bottom.

Have you noticed any diatoms from the silicon? When I was fighting dinos in one of my tanks, towards the end I started dosing silicon, I got a bunch of diatoms, but also a large increase in little sponges throughout the tank.

oh exciting, new corals! How are they doing in the tank so far?

Haven’t noticed any bump in PH, but the cyano takes far longer to accumulate and choke out the chaeto. It builds up in only a couple spots and much easier to remove and let the chaeto do its job. I’d consider another light but I’m pulling out so much chaeto every week I don’t think it’s needed. Haven’t noticed any diatoms, but sponges are insane. I have this really fast spreading stuff that just sends its feelers out and I need to remove it every week or so. My TDS just popped 1ppm today so I need to change at least my resin out before I make new water. Wondering if it being on its last leg if it’s letting silicates through. Who knows… new corals are doing ok so far! Polyps are extended and looks like they’re starting to show some growth. I had tuned my skimmer way down, too much, and my PO4 jumped up to .15ppm, so I have addressed that and my skimmer is back to cranking it out. Hoping PO4 comes down…

 

[BAMatter]

Whelp not a whole lot going on, other than my Knicks cashed out on me. Bummer since it was a frag off my buddy’s system that’s thriving, that came from another buddy’s system originally. Would have been cool to carry the torch but that’s my luck. My red Goni I thought was about to check out. Decided to start spot feeding it Coral Frenzy daily and looks like it’s making a nice comeback, and starting to extend nicely again and growing new polyps. Good stuff.

Right side of the tank needs some more life now, may get a couple pieces in the next couple weeks but I want to add some more rock structure before I do that, since I plan on adding a few acros to the right side of the tank too. Also plan on adding a different LED bar. The Orphek blue plus, is, well, too blue. Thinking about switching it for the Reef Day or the Sky Blue. Have 2 float switches on order to incorporate into Hydros. I’ll put 1 on my kalk vessel and the other in my ATO res. Other than that, happy reefing

 

[BAMatter]

Gave my chaeto a nice trimming and rinse off the other day. Was crazy but it tanked my PH, which is thankfully on the upswing again to normal levels. I did notice my algae was a bit brittle and left a lot of small pieces floating around, so I’m now dosing Chaetogrow. Something like 4 capfuls twice a week. Also sent another ICP out to see how the strontium, potassium, iodine, and bromide individual dosing has been doing. I’ve been dosing iodine 3 times a week and the others twice. I’m going to start doing a daily dose off those elements and the chartogrow, it will be easier to keep track instead of wondering what day it is. Seeing nice results in my corals so far. I’m also thinking about bumping my lights up a tick as well to appease the sticks up top. We will see on that though. I found a good design for a recirculating CO2 scrubber attachment. It’s always made me nervous that it will suck in skimmate and end up saturation the media and pushing it right back into the tank, but this way has an inline collection cup, and that in conjunction with the level sensor on my skimmer cup should be a safe way to do it. Hopefully I don’t have a disaster about to happen… anyways, happy reefing.