Gilroy 425g Build Thread (All Apex, all the time)

[Krazie4Acans]

Posts like this keep me doing it.

BTW, my ORP keeps dropping. Getting closer to the sweet spot. When I get home from FL I will be checking the Nitrate of the effluent of the Denitrator.

Terence are you feeding your Sulfur reactor with a DOS? Is that why your graph is not a smooth ramp? I'm just trying to interpret the data in this graph.

Also I saw in your picture of the Sicce mod to your Deltec CA reactor that you used metal hose clamps. I'm not sure if you've changed that or had issues with that but I had some bad experiences with them on my systems. I just use large nylon zip ties now because I can get them just as tight as the hose clamp and they don't rust or contaminate my system.

 

[Terence]

Terence are you feeding your Sulfur reactor with a DOS? Is that why your graph is not a smooth ramp? I'm just trying to interpret the data in this graph.

Also I saw in your picture of the Sicce mod to your Deltec CA reactor that you used metal hose clamps. I'm not sure if you've changed that or had issues with that but I had some bad experiences with them on my systems. I just use large nylon zip ties now because I can get them just as tight as the hose clamp and they don't rust or contaminate my system.

Yes, that is why the graph is not smooth - great observation!

The hose clamps are not ideal - Yes I will change them to zip ties. I like to do that after the tubing has had a chance to "set in" . Thanks for the tip.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

Awesome. What ever became of the silt issue you were having with the CA reactor and the fluidized media?

 

[Terence]

Awesome. What ever became of the silt issue you were having with the CA reactor and the fluidized media?

Still trapping the silt in the secondary chamber. I am on my last of the media and then I am done with the Deltec fluidized method. I will simply fill the reactor with Two Little Fishies ReBorn, adjust the pH level, and move on. Good concept - horrible execution.

 

[Preme]

Those montis

 

[Terence]

OK, so I need some advice here. For a couple of weeks I have been testing my tank with a new test kit - the Red Sea Pro Nitrate one. Before that I have been using the NYOS one - and it seemed good - but it was getting a bit old and I was afraid I might run out, so I got the RS one.

Now, I knew for a while that my NO3 had been creeping up, but it never ran much higher than 12 on the NYOS.

Once I got the RS kit, I used the high-range method which has you use 1ml of tank water and 15ml of RODI to dilute. You then multiply the results by 16 (they even do it for you on the color chart, and our Apex Fusion data entry wizard does it for you too.) Much to my displeasure, every test I have taken with it registered at least 64ppm! I have tested it more than once over a few weeks and get the same dark color seen below.

Today I tested again and it was still >64 but I also broke out the NYOS and it registered somewhere between 8-12.

So, what do I do with this information? I guess I probably should borrow someone elses kit or take some water down to @neptuneaquatics here in San Jose and see what they say.

If it is the RS kit that is the issue, it will be the last one I ever buy since the debacle with the Alk reagent they had before.

I cannot imagine my NO3 is that high. Corals are looking pretty good. Some are a bit dull, but not that bad. Everything his healthy and happy and my phosphates are 0 and I have a full square yard of macroalgae growing in the sump.

So, what do you all think?

 

[Terence]

Here is the pic of the tests side by side

 

[Krazie4Acans]

RS have always read a bit high to me. My last NYOS kit got less and less accurate the closer it got to expiring. When I bought the replacement NYOS my levels were about double what the expiring kit was reading.

That said I switched back to the RS kit and try and keep my N03 around 10-20ppm on the RS kit and things like it as long as I have a touch of Phosphate in the system as well.

 

[Terence]

RS have always read a bit high to me. My last NYOS kit got less and less accurate the closer it got to expiring. When I bought the replacement NYOS my levels were about double what the expiring kit was reading.

That said I switched back to the RS kit and try and keep my N03 around 10-20ppm on the RS kit and things like it as long as I have a touch of Phosphate in the system as well.

Which RS do you have? The one I have uses two powders. I think there are two diff RS kits.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

I have the same one as you. Make sure the scoops are very accurate as that helps with mine.

 

[jonmos75]

I use red sea and this is how I try to keep the same testing procedures

I dip the spoon in the reagent jar and get a heaping spoonful then I use the Direction Card that comes with the test kit and use it to make a level scoop of the powder and dump the excess back into the reagent jar. Then now with a level scoop I put that into the testing vial.
Not wanting to mix the two powders on the card I always use one side for one reagent powder and the other end of the card for the other reagent powder.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

Still trapping the silt in the secondary chamber. I am on my last of the media and then I am done with the Deltec fluidized method. I will simply fill the reactor with Two Little Fishies ReBorn, adjust the pH level, and move on. Good concept - horrible execution.

Are you planning just reborn or will there be some added Mag media as well to help keep the level up? Or are you just going to dose mag when needed?

 

[Terence]

I use red sea and this is how I try to keep the same testing procedures

I dip the spoon in the reagent jar and get a heaping spoonful then I use the Direction Card that comes with the test kit and use it to make a level scoop of the powder and dump the excess back into the reagent jar. Then now with a level scoop I put that into the testing vial.
Not wanting to mix the two powders on the card I always use one side for one reagent powder and the other end of the card for the other reagent powder.

Thats a great tip. A little OCD with the switching sides and all, but a great tip to use the edge of the card.

Are you planning just reborn or will there be some added Mag media as well to help keep the level up? Or are you just going to dose mag when needed?

I may use one of the dolomite mixtures in there. Have done that before. At first I probably will just use Reborn only, see what the uptake is, and dose it with my DOS. I have a bunch of MgCl around so I should just use it up.

 

[wowkingjames]

Just an amazing tank, awesome!

 

[gettaReef]

From my experience and from what I've seen/heard from many others is that the RS pro kit is great at measuring LOW levels of nitrate (when you do not need to add all the RO water). I use the RS pro if my N03 is in that low range and use salifert N03 kit if it is higher than 4-5ppm N03

 

[Damion]

I'm happy with the Salifert kit. My API always reads 0, while the Salifert kit reads typically 2.5 (low range). I have a methanol denitrator cycling 6x a day, and love it. I feed 3x daily in a 90g.

 

[Terence]

So, first off, it looks like the Red Sea "Pro" Nitrate kit is not so helpful for the "high" range use they proscribe. In the high-range instructions, you are supposed to use 1ml of tank water to 15ml of RODI water. Then, the results are multiplied by 16. I did multiple tests with the Red Sea kit this way and always ended up off the scale >64ppm. I also did multiple NYOS tests and came up somewhere between 8 and 12ish. On last Thursday I took home an API kit and tested multiple times with it and came up with what you see below - around 10ppm

So all is good.

 

[Krazie4Acans]

Why are you putting your whiskey on the white card your test is supposed to go on? Did you drink the wrong one?

 

[Terence]

So many things going on. First up, on last Thursday I had a situation where both of my DOS went offline for about 17 hours and I did not know it. However, I started getting alarms on my Alkalinity level and so I went and looked at the logs and sure enough, they were offline for a bit. On Friday, we had a huge storm. I had to crank up the generator for about 7 hours. That is a whole other story.

Anyways, I did not have my dosing online for that time either. Pretty cool you can see in the graph below the times my DOS that is feeding my calcium reactor went offline, the resulting Alk changes, and then the Alk rising again when everything is going on the DOS again. The dips you see in the dosing are at night time when I reduce the flow to the calcium reactor as the coral uptake drops. I think our Alk monitoring solution is going to really change the game out there - and, it is SO easy to use - I have had our prototype running for months and all I do is change out the rinse water, waste container, and add reagent about once every three weeks (mainly because I am using small containers). Also, people will be happy to know also that we predict the price will likely be coming in at less than half what the current solution is out there. (BTW, the small dips you see in the dKh are a prototype anomaly)

 

[KingJason]

I can't wait for this!! Any idea on release time?