Ash's 400 Gallon Reef

[Ashish Patel]

I cleaned my skimmer and dosed 5ML of Vodka. I'll monitor how the PH is effected but will ramp up slowly since I want to monitor any side effect to my system. I am very tempted to just dose larger amount but slow and steady is safe bet.

 

[Ashish Patel]

LC def makes cleaning skimmer close to impossible. I ended up using a plastic card and got a decent amount of the stains off

 

[Ashish Patel]

My 27 year old African Grey just layed an egg. All this time I thought it was a Male.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I tested my Phosphates today, last time i checked it was July, Yikes.

Phosphates: 0.144PPM
Nitrates: 100-200PPM+
Alk: 7.4DKH

I want to test Ca, MG, Iodine, Iron but always tend to focus on the above tests first.
I have the Redsea Iodine, and Iron test kits and used them one time and realized they where a painful test so never used them again. I found them good if your dosing Iodine and Iron to see if your overdosing but not really reliable for specific number.

 

[Reign1]

My 27 year old African Grey just layed an egg. All this time I thought it was a Male.

keep an eye on that . I had an eclectus taht started to lay and she got egg bound and had severe medical issues related to this ..

 

[Ashish Patel]

keep an eye on that . I had an eclectus taht started to lay and she got egg bound and had severe medical issues related to this ..

My wife is telling me all these things that can go wrong. I am not sure where to start and worried she will go into depression or worst medical issues

 

[Ashish Patel]

keep an eye on that . I had an eclectus taht started to lay and she got egg bound and had severe medical issues related to this ..

She laid another egg. And one egg fell through the cracks and broke.

 

[Reign1]

She laid another egg. And one egg fell through the cracks and broke.

Mine actually had a round egg and she couldn’t lay it they have to pull it out poor thing

 

[BigKid4788]

Bc I want to pick your brain how the hell you can keep maxima clams alive when only clam I could ever keep was a deresa

Biggest thing is to ensure they are healthy when you receive them.
I’ve bought a few from ClamMania and had good luck. Clams are small but colorful. Not cheap but as I said I’ve had good luck.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Here is a ch

Biggest thing is to ensure they are healthy when you receive them.
I’ve bought a few from ClamMania and had good luck. Clams are small but colorful. Not cheap but as I said I’ve had good luck.

Thanks for the advice, I really could use a clam in this system.. I had a Derasa clam years ago lived for 10 years and grew to 12". However, I tried 2 Maxima that barely lived a few months. My concern would be my QT process and if a delicate clam would survive. Are most of these clams captive raised safe to not QT?

 

[Tjm23slo]

Replacing 1" seaswirl return with a 2" p trap. The water flow increased over 2X and getting good turnover through the sump.

Are you still using the sea swirl?

 

[Ashish Patel]

Are you still using the sea swirl?

Not this one I removed it because of flow restriction. Only seaswirls i have are the 2 on the front two corners that are high pressure since Vectra L1 at 18" with 2 educators produces enormous flow. Most of the time I have it on reefcreast mode which is great for random flow.

Of topic but i have this 1' seaswirls, Seasweep, Mp40 sitting on the shelf and can add it to the 400 gallon if needed. But I think i have more than enough flow right now and will use these devices on my soon to be frag area and will add the MP40 to my QT.

 

[Miami Reef]

My 27 year old African Grey just layed an egg. All this time I thought it was a Male.

Hey. I haven’t mentioned this before over here, but I LOVE a pet parrots.

I currently have a sun conure. I DNA tested him as male, so there’s no chance of an egg coming out anytime soon lol.

I had him ever since he was a chick. He’s turning one soon!

 

[Reign1]

Hey. I haven’t mentioned this before over here, but I LOVE a pet parrots.

I currently have a sun conure. I DNA tested him as male, so there’s no chance of an egg coming out anytime soon lol.

I had him ever since he was a chick. He’s turning one soon!

Those guys are fun .. Conures are even more fun when they are mating age ..lol..
cute bird .. When I was younger I worked for many years in a LPS that had lots of birds .. Got to see many conjures and the local breeder used to bring us hybrids ..

 

[Ashish Patel]

Hey. I haven’t mentioned this before over here, but I LOVE a pet parrots.

I currently have a sun conure. I DNA tested him as male, so there’s no chance of an egg coming out anytime soon lol.

I had him ever since he was a chick. He’s turning one soon!

Wow thats awesome! Cute bird! These Birds I feel need a Full time sitter. My bird has laid 3 eggs since my original post and I am getting worried she may have health problems. I am not taking away her Nest but will have too after a few weeks. She is well fed and healthy but eventually I would like to have her free fly.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Week 3 of dosing Vodka not much change in testing yet. Skimmer has to be stopped and restarted daily otherwise skimmate line drops. I had this problem ever since cleaning the skimmer and it's caused by LC Dosing in skimmer. I eventually want to use my old becket skimmer and just feed the LC to the pump (which I have to purchase a cheap disposable pump). No way I'm adding LC near my bubble blaster pump though.

Tank growth is better but still expect more growth. Due to the holidays I dosed Vodka 2-4 hours before lights on since I was out of the house alot of days and just got it out the way after my first daily check of the basement - I wonder if spreading dose out via doser would help of set Ph.


Also 4 years ago I brought redsea trace color test kit. Back then it was maybe 40 bucks and now it's $80+. Yikes
Anyways I tested iron and iodine one and it felt painful so never used again. I get that it's expired but since i dose iron and iodine, I'm just testing to make sure I'm not dangerously high. I Def recommend these test kits. Both are fairly easy to test but the first time I was more shocked with all the weird steps

 

[Miami Reef]

Like Jda said earlier, it’s going to take time for the test kit to show a difference. 120ppm vs 80ppm would look very similar on that salifert test.

Just keep at it.

Personal opinion: I’d bump the dose to 40-50mL per day if it was my tank. That’s just what I would do.

 

[Ashish Patel]

Like Jda said earlier, it’s going to take time for the test kit to show a difference. 120ppm vs 80ppm would look very similar on that salifert test.

Just keep at it.

Personal opinion: I’d bump the dose to 40-50mL per day if it was my tank. That’s just what I would do.

Assuming my Nitrates are 200PPM, how long do you think I will have to wait before my Nitrates are at 50PPM? I think in your past posts you mentioned couple PPM per week, at this rate it may take a year lol. Today I think I am going to dilute my tank water with RODI water and test Nitrates. If its still the same color then I know for sure its 200+PPM. At least this way I can have a slight reference point.

I thought the max daily was 35ML per day for 550 gallon... How high of a dose do you recommend after a few weeks? Is there a safe range where you should never go above?

 

[Miami Reef]

I thought the max daily was 35ML per day for 550 gallon... How high of a dose do you recommend after a few weeks? Is there a safe range where you should never go above?

I recommend scaling as needed until nitrates clearly drop. I have dosed much higher concentrations in my clam packed, acro and LPS tank with absolutely no issues.

I’ve dosed as high as 40-50mL per day of vodka in my 260 gallon tank.

You can easily dose 50mL per day in your tank. There is no max dose. It’s all based on your NO3 levels and if you are experiencing any problem bacterial growth. In my experience, I had much less unsightly bacterial growth with vodka than with vinegar.

 

[Ashish Patel]

I recommend scaling as needed until nitrates clearly drop. I have dosed much higher concentrations in my clam packed, acro and LPS tank with absolutely no issues.

I’ve dosed as high as 40-50mL per day of vodka in my 260 gallon tank.

You can easily dose 50mL per day in your tank. There is no max dose. It’s all based on your NO3 levels and if you are experiencing any problem bacterial growth. In my experience, I had much less unsightly bacterial growth with vodka than with vinegar.

Right now I dont think its doing much. I have a feelings the tank biological filter is benefiting from all the Vodka and not much of exporting has happened yet. Remember I added 80 lbs of sand a week before dosing. I feel this way because my skimmer has acted this way in the past after a good cleaning - Wet skimming even when skimmer line is not that high. Alot of froth is coming but I dont see the Dark black that ppl mentioned.

I am seeing Alk going up, is this just from the carbon source or from NO3 removal?

I know I just have to be patient and stay at it, It has to work eventually even if its slow