FarmerTy's 215-gallon SPS Tank

Realposition · Dec 14, 2019

FarmerTy said:
That’s a good point. It may just replenish what was removed in the first place at that point.

If you used sodium carbonate it might just even out I would guess. If you used sodium hydroxide instead I would bet you would see an increase.

Realposition · Dec 14, 2019

SeaDweller said:
I run a Sul deni and tbh, my alk doesn’t fluctuate that much, even when dialing it in.

I’m glad I’m not the only one who uses it!

That's good to hear, it's definitely possible mine was outside the norm. With automated alk testing now it's likely way less of an issue for people. Now that I have a trident maybe I'll put mine back online.

SeaDweller · Dec 14, 2019

Realposition said:
That's good to hear, it's definitely possible mine was outside the norm. With automated alk testing now it's likely way less of an issue for people. Now that I have a trident maybe I'll put mine back online.

I manually tested each day

FarmerTy · Dec 15, 2019

SeaDweller said:
My brotha... I’m using the small aquamaxx on a 240. For almost a year my NO3 couldn’t get over 1.0 ppm. After I killed cyano it’s 10.0 ppm, but well on the way down.

Thanks bud! I’mmaking the switch from running biopellets for 7 years so this should be fun. Thanks for your input!

FarmerTy · Dec 15, 2019

Walking by the tank last night, I noticed something was amiss.

I went for my usual 10 minutes of ogling my RRC Jawdropper mini colony and noticed this... excuse the cell phone shot.

At $950 a 1/2” right now, it had me concerned where that tip went. First thought was my emperor angel ate it and I started to grab my fish skewer. Then I looked in a tiny crack in my rock work and noticed a tiny gold reflection. It must have been knocked off by one of the behemoths in my tank and fell into the abyss behind the rocks.

What’s a reefer to do? Destroy his rock work for a tiny frag of JD? Or let it be knowing it’ll grow back out.

The cheap reefer in me said destroy... destroy... destroy.

A couple bloody fingers and a litany of curse words later... tadah!

SeaDweller · Dec 15, 2019

Ty here is what my reactor effluent NO3 was. 10 ppm. My tank is currently 10 ppm too, but remember until recently I couldn’t get it past 1.0 no matter how much I fed.

I talk with bubba a lot and I told him I’ll cut my effluent down to a couple drops per second to show him. The above picture was taken Thursday AM. This bottom picture is this AM. As you can see, the NO3 from the reactor is now 0.5 ppm at most. I was experimenting with higher NO3, but I think I’ll bring them down to maybe 1-2 ppm max. At this point I’ll up the effluent output and it gets to a point I’ll go full bore and it’ll maintain super low nitrates for me.

FarmerTy · Dec 15, 2019

SeaDweller said:
Ty here is what my reactor effluent NO3 was. 10 ppm. My tank is currently 10 ppm too, but remember until recently I couldn’t get it past 1.0 no matter how much I fed.

I talk with bubba a lot and I told him I’ll cut my effluent down to a couple drops per second to show him. The above picture was taken Thursday AM. This bottom picture is this AM. As you can see, the NO3 from the reactor is now 0.5 ppm at most. I was experimenting with higher NO3, but I think I’ll bring them down to maybe 1-2 ppm max. At this point I’ll up the effluent output and it gets to a point I’ll go full bore and it’ll maintain super low nitrates for me.

Hey thanks man! I’m excited to give it a try. I’ve kept my nitrates around 20-30 ppm but after 7 years, my biopellet reactor started clogging up and having issues. I was wanting to get away from carbon dosing to run a higher alk so I’ve been researching the denitrator and decided to give it a try. You can mentor both Bubba and I on it.

Daddy-o · Dec 15, 2019

FarmerTy said:
Hey thanks man! I’m excited to give it a try. I’ve kept my nitrates around 20-30 ppm but after 7 years, my biopellet reactor started clogging up and having issues. I was wanting to get away from carbon dosing to run a higher alk so I’ve been researching the denitrator and decided to give it a try. You can mentor both Bubba and I on it.

Did you find that carbon dosing was affecting coral coloration at all?

FarmerTy · Dec 15, 2019

Daddy-o said:
Did you find that carbon dosing was affecting coral coloration at all?

Not to me. Kept all my former pretty tanks under carbon dosing so still a fan of the method... just tired of not being able to run alk above 8.0 dKh and when at a point to spend money on another biopellet reactor... figured give sulfite denitrator a try first and see if I like it more. If not, I’ll go right back to biopellets again.

cmaxwell39 · Dec 15, 2019

Tank is looking good. Glad you were able to rescue the Jaw Dropper frag. All of your corals are looking really good right now.

Good luck with the dentrator. Never run one, but will be interested to know your thoughts as you switch over.

FarmerTy · Dec 16, 2019

Either Snipers Blue Mille or Bloody Mary Stag... time will tell. I forgot which it was.

BC Teen Wolf

TSA Dragonfruit

FarmerTy · Dec 16, 2019

What happens to your nitrates when your biopellet reactor goes offline for a month before you’re able to have its replacement in place.

Blame the second kid and poor timing.

And yes, my colors still look mostly good though I think my milles are suffering a bit. I’m also starting to see cyano creep across my display but non-existent in my two frag tanks that are plumbed in.

No picture but backup system running smoothly and just waiting for it to mature a bit. All numbers look good except nitrates are a little low. Have two clownfish in there with an anemone, long tentacle Fungia plates, a monti, and a regular Fungia plate all doing well except the monti is a little lighter in color due to the low nitrates. I hooked up my Alkatronic to it since the Trident is on the main system now. Also started adding a tablespoon of kalk in the ATO water to supplement what little calcium and alkalinity that is being used up.

FarmerTy · Dec 16, 2019

Eat the tips of my RRC Jawdropper... oh no you don’t!

aabjones888 · Dec 17, 2019

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:Is he in timeout now?

Charlie’s Frags · Dec 17, 2019

SeaDweller said:
Ty here is what my reactor effluent NO3 was. 10 ppm. My tank is currently 10 ppm too, but remember until recently I couldn’t get it past 1.0 no matter how much I fed.

I talk with bubba a lot and I told him I’ll cut my effluent down to a couple drops per second to show him. The above picture was taken Thursday AM. This bottom picture is this AM. As you can see, the NO3 from the reactor is now 0.5 ppm at most. I was experimenting with higher NO3, but I think I’ll bring them down to maybe 1-2 ppm max. At this point I’ll up the effluent output and it gets to a point I’ll go full bore and it’ll maintain super low nitrates for me.

Ubba tuba granite counter tops??

Charlie’s Frags · Dec 17, 2019

@FarmerTy
Do you have any exciting new frags???
Asking for a friend

SeaDweller · Dec 17, 2019

Chaswood79 said:
Ubba tuba granite counter tops??

nah, they're rare Cambodian breastmilk soaked, Malaysian Tiger urine dyed, Sulawesi seawater washed, Himalayan rock salt rubbed special grade Andes mountain slab rock.

Charlie’s Frags · Dec 17, 2019

SeaDweller said:
nah, they're rare Cambodian breastmilk soaked, Malaysian Tiger urine dyed, Sulawesi seawater washed, Himalayan rock salt rubbed special grade Andes mountain slab rock.

Well pardon me all over the place
Good day to you sir