Bakbay's 450g - Final Upgrade?

[bakbay]

@Jay Hemdal — what do you think is the fastest way to treat? hyposalinity or copper?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

@Jay Hemdal — what do you think is the fastest way to treat? hyposalinity or copper?

Hyposalinity is a bit slower to start, but both need 30 days to eliminate the ich tomonts.
Copper leaves a residue in any calcareous material, rendering them unfit for later use with sensitive invertebrates.

 

[bakbay]

Hyposalinity is a bit slower to start, but both need 30 days to eliminate the ich tomonts.
Copper leaves a residue in any calcareous material, rendering them unfit for later use with sensitive invertebrates.

Thank you. Question is: when can I resume adding corals? 6-12mos later or never again until I bleach the rocks?

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thank you. Question is: when can I resume adding corals? 6-12mos later or never again until I bleach the rocks?

If the tank goes 30 days of hyposalinity or is held fishless for 60 days, the ich parasites will be eliminated.

 

[bakbay]

If the tank goes 30 days of hyposalinity or is held fishless for 60 days, the ich parasites will be eliminated.

Doing the hyposalinity now — I’ve yanked 20g but my limiting factor is the 75gpd rodi unit can only do so much!

My question was if I went with copper, how soon would it take reintroduce corals. Sorry for the confusion.

 

[Jekyl]

Doing the hyposalinity now — I’ve yanked 20g but my limiting factor is the 75gpd rodi unit can only do so much!

My question was if I went with copper, how soon would it take reintroduce corals. Sorry for the confusion.

You would have to run additional products like cuprasorb until all of the copper that leached into the rocks is gone. As for timeline of that I'm not sure. Any copper remaining will irritate coral and be toxic to inverts.

 

[bakbay]

You would have to run additional products like cuprasorb until all of the copper that leached into the rocks is gone. As for timeline of that I'm not sure. Any copper remaining will irritate coral and be toxic to inverts.

Yes - I’ve used Cuprisol before for treating tap water but have not done copper with a 450g tank before hence my question. The tank has probably 500+ lbs of rock so not sure how long that will take to remove. Anyway, hope I won’t have to resort to that though.

Given the canopy & lights, it’s nearly impossible to remove (need 4 strong people). Even after that is removed, good luck catching all the fish given that I’ve built islands and caves for fish to hide. Therefore, the best option for me is to actually remove the corals and put them in the frag tank.

Thanks for everyone’s help! Will let you guys know how things go.

 

[bakbay]

It’s going to take awhile — dropped from 1.025 to 1.023. Hopefully by tomorrow morning, we should diluted to 1.021. This is slow but very safe.

I have another RODI unit so doubling the effort tonight. Will do another 50g RODI tomorrow.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Doing the hyposalinity now — I’ve yanked 20g but my limiting factor is the 75gpd rodi unit can only do so much!

My question was if I went with copper, how soon would it take reintroduce corals. Sorry for the confusion.

Dechlorinated tap water is fine for hyposalinity.

If you use copper, enough copper may bind with the rock and sand to render that unusable for invertebrates in the future.

 

[bakbay]

All corals were moved to the frag tank — it’s so boring now! Just replaced 40g and will measure salinity in a few hours. This will give my 2 RODI time to do their magic and I will perform another 50g later tonight.

 

[bakbay]

We are down to 1.019 although it’s getting progressive harder diluting stuff that’s already diluted! lol Good news is that all fish are still eating! Some are hiding but do come out for food…

Question: with zero corals in the tank, should I keep the CaRx running to replenish alk & ca? Guessing no…fish don’t care about alk— just keep pH up, correct?

 

[Jekyl]

We are down to 1.019 although it’s getting progressive harder diluting stuff that’s already diluted! lol Good news is that all fish are still eating! Some are hiding but do come out for food…

Question: with zero corals in the tank, should I keep the CaRx running to replenish alk & ca? Guessing no…fish don’t care about alk— just keep pH up, correct?

Correct. The values will drop just due to the overall salinity dropping.

 

[bakbay]

Correct. The values will drop just due to the overall salinity dropping.

Oh I know — that is, I can keep my alk/ca replenished during the whole process since the CaRx is really doing nothing. However, is it worth it to keep alk high while salinity is decreasing? Answer is who cares right? No corals

 

[bakbay]

Here is the latest per Trident —

 

[bakbay]

This is painful — perhaps I should just pump 150g to another tank, pump in tap water, and add Prime/Cuprisol to get closer to 1.009

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

This is painful — perhaps I should just pump 150g to another tank, pump in tap water, and add Prime/Cuprisol to get closer to 1.009

Yes, as I said - dechlorinated tap water is best. I like it because I can adjust hot and cold water together to get the correct temperature right away.

That said, you still need to make the drop in stages, not sure if 150 gallons would be too much at one time.

I don’t understand your “prime/cuprisol” comment. Isn’t Cuprisol an ionic copper medication? You do not want to mix that with Prime. Also, due to lower calcium levels, copper is more toxic to fish at lower salinity.

Here is my article on running hyposalinity:

Hyposalinity

Hyposalinity Jay Hemdal 2024 This term refers to a long-term bath treatment for marine fishes in which the salt content of the water is lowered and held below the point that certain parasites can survive. The salt level reached, and the time of the treatment are the two variables...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[bakbay]

Thanks @Jay Hemdal - your insight is always very much appreciated.

The tank is 450g - even at 75g per water change, I can only drop salinity by 0.002 (SG is currently at 1.018, started at 1.025). If I double my WC, I can get there faster.

I’ve used prime or cuprisol to treat tap water. However, this time I’m doing RODI to be safe.

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

Thanks @Jay Hemdal - your insight is always very much appreciated.

The tank is 450g - even at 75g per water change, I can only drop salinity by 0.002 (SG is currently at 1.018, started at 1.025). If I double my WC, I can get there faster.

I’ve used prime or cuprisol to treat tap water. However, this time I’m doing RODI to be safe.

I think the key there is the word OR. You can use prime to treat tap water but you shouldn’t use cuprisol if it is an ionic copper product.

 

[bakbay]

SG is at 1.013 so hope to be at 1.009 tonight after another big water change. Fish is definitely better even at current stage. Some snails that I couldn’t catch are dead though. Will try to remove them to avoid ammonia spike.

 

[bakbay]

Royal Exclusiv sent a new controller under warranty, all the way from Germany! The new one works great so we’re back to normal again with plenty of aeration.

Awesome company, great customer service!!!