HIGH END Tenuis Hoarder

[Charlie’s Frags]

Here is a quick video I'm starting to think we are getting better PE with the lower No3

What’s your most recent Hanna Po4 reading @SBB Corals

 

[Hydrored]

I agree, I was using the Red Sea test and showing about 10. To my surprise the high range tested at 40, recently my PC Rainbow hasn’t been happy but tenuis is looking great. Going to lower it to 15 or so with a larger water changes. The 3 pieces from you I just added a couple weeks ago have been happy and doing great. My phosphates have been dropping down to the .07 range

 

[SBB Corals]

What’s your most recent Hanna Po4 reading @SBB Corals

it is .09

 

[SBB Corals]

I agree, I was using the Red Sea test and showing about 10. To my surprise the high range tested at 40, recently my PC Rainbow hasn’t been happy but tenuis is looking great. Going to lower it to 15 or so with a larger water changes. The 3 pieces from you I just added a couple weeks ago have been happy and doing great. My phosphates have been dropping down to the .07 range

lets follow this no3 thing close.. but maybe the corals will actually look better that we have the hanna kit and bring our no3 down..Im glad the tenuis you got from us is doing good and thanks for the nice report!

 

[Sweet Reef Corals]

what it the NYOS? and what does your nyos read?

the Hanna nitrate HR is 7 minutes

My personal preference is the NYOS nitrate test kit. Accurate and easy to read. The shades of pink on the Salifert are too hard to decipher for me.
I would ALWAYS trust a manual titration test over a digital test on anything but phosphate as there are no accurate manual phosphate test kits.

 

[ScottB]

lets follow this no3 thing close.. but maybe the corals will actually look better that we have the hanna kit and bring our no3 down..Im glad the tenuis you got from us is doing good and thanks for the nice report!

I've really been curious as to why my PE is so modest relative to yours and other tenuis keepers around here. I get a lot of skeleton growth, and dark colorations. I see all this yellow WD while mine is green/purple/and super blue. Same with HW. No PE, no pink just blue & green skeleton.

There is a grow-out contest thread here with Adam's BC Bonfire and the thing is cranking out skeleton like mad, adding 1/2" to a 3/4" frag in just over two months. No PE at all, but some decent color.

I know my pH is dragging, but maybe my nitrate numbers are just plain wrong.

 

[SBB Corals]

I've really been curious as to why my PE is so modest relative to yours and other tenuis keepers around here. I get a lot of skeleton growth, and dark colorations. I see all this yellow WD while mine is green/purple/and super blue. Same with HW. No PE, no pink just blue & green skeleton.

There is a grow-out contest thread here with Adam's BC Bonfire and the thing is cranking out skeleton like mad, adding 1/2" to a 3/4" frag in just over two months. No PE at all, but some decent color.

I know my pH is dragging, but maybe my nitrate numbers are just plain wrong.

PH dragging there is no excuse for that Just get a PH Scrubber its simple and easy. what is your ph at?

 

[ScottB]

PH dragging there is no excuse for that Just get a PH Scrubber its simple and easy. what is your ph at?

I probably should recalibrate (APEX) as it has been 4-5 months but now that windows are closed and ambient CO2 is pushing 600 my range is 7.85 to 8.1

In use now:
CO2 scrubber (but skimmer is undersized)
Fresh air line to scrubber (but a 30 foot run of 3/8 ID)
8pm to 8am dosing 2100ml of Kalkwasser (which I cannot seem to keep saturated for more than a couple days)
Reverse light schedule refugium
Dosing ALK overnight too

 

[Sweet Reef Corals]

I probably should recalibrate (APEX) as it has been 4-5 months but now that windows are closed and ambient CO2 is pushing 600 my range is 7.85 to 8.1

In use now:
CO2 scrubber (but skimmer is undersized)
Fresh air line to scrubber (but a 30 foot run of 3/8 ID)
8pm to 8am dosing 2100ml of Kalkwasser (which I cannot seem to keep saturated for more than a couple days)
Reverse light schedule refugium
Dosing ALK overnight too

I would speculate that you definitely need to recalibrate. With everything you’re throwing at your pH you should be way higher than you are. Unless of course you have 12 kids

As a side note, I run 2 canisters of soda lime. That way you get complete exhaustion of the first chamber of media. When the second canister gets half used, I will move that one to the first position and the empty/refill the exhausted media and place it in position 2. This also helps with consistency because you’re never trying to fully exhaust a single canister.

 

[ScottB]

I would speculate that you definitely need to recalibrate. With everything you’re throwing at your pH you should be way higher than you are. Unless of course you have 12 kids

As a side note, I run 2 canisters of soda lime. That way you get complete exhaustion of the first chamber of media. When the second canister gets half used, I will move that one to the first position and the empty/refill the exhausted media and place it in position 2. This also helps with consistency because you’re never trying to fully exhaust a single canister.

No, all kids (2) are gone now although one of their cats prefers the basement somehow.

I had to go with a CO2 meter just to test my sanity. I do have a lot of surface agitation so there does seem to be some correlation with the weather and prevailing wind. We have two winds here: from the SW and from the NE. Forty miles SW is NYC with heat, humidity, 700ppm CO2 and God knows what else. Here we call it Summer. In Winter, the cold, dry, 394ppm CO2 comes barreling through and pH is a nothing-burger.

I will calibrate tomorrow though unless a quick 7.0 test proves in range. This is nuts. I used to blame my calcium reactor but it exploded 6 weeks ago.

 

[SBB Corals]

No, all kids (2) are gone now although one of their cats prefers the basement somehow.

I had to go with a CO2 meter just to test my sanity. I do have a lot of surface agitation so there does seem to be some correlation with the weather and prevailing wind. We have two winds here: from the SW and from the NE. Forty miles SW is NYC with heat, humidity, 700ppm CO2 and God knows what else. Here we call it Summer. In Winter, the cold, dry, 394ppm CO2 comes barreling through and pH is a nothing-burger.

I will calibrate tomorrow though unless a quick 7.0 test proves in range. This is nuts. I used to blame my calcium reactor but it exploded 6 weeks ago.

please let us know once you calibrate i would think it would be much higher..

do you change the media on your scrubber every 2 weeks and what size reactor is it? maybe its too small?

 

[ScottB]

please let us know once you calibrate i would think it would be much higher..

do you change the media on your scrubber every 2 weeks and what size reactor is it? maybe its too small?

Scrubber media is just now a week old. The bottom couple inches are purple. My skimmer is undersized by about a third so that is part of the issue.

I put the pH probe into some 7.0 calibration fluid and it read 6.83. Recalibrated, and now getting almost 8.2 so that is significant.

 

[LRT]

What are you guys finding is easiest most accurate tool of measurement for PH?
Those are huge discrepancies showing for Nitrate measurements between Hanna and test kits. Is everyone showing the same higher numbers across the board from hanna? Has anyone confirmed that hanna is checking out correct?
For me upgrading my skimmer is what helped bring my numbers up.
I ran a bubble magus 5 on 120-140 total gallon system raw. No air lines outside and no scrubber. 7.6-7.8
Ran airlines outside got me 7.8-8.0
Upgraded skimmer to eshopps 220 gallon skimmer with airlines outside got me around 8.1-8.3
Just upgraded my system and tried a reef octopus rated for 300 gallons on a 100 gallon system and was too much and was showing me anywhere from 8.3- 8.5 ish so I unhooked it and went back down to the 220 gallon rated skimmer.
Looking for proper tool to measure now as my reading where from seneye and found huge discrepancy.
The 300 gallon rated reef octopus with higher numbers may actually be running where I really want to be but idk.
Api and salifert showing 8.0 ish when seneye reading close to 8.3 or higher.

 

[SBB Corals]

Scrubber media is just now a week old. The bottom couple inches are purple. My skimmer is undersized by about a third so that is part of the issue.

I put the pH probe into some 7.0 calibration fluid and it read 6.83. Recalibrated, and now getting almost 8.2 so that is significant.

yes it is but what is the range from night to day? mine goes from 8.5-8.01 its a huge range at night

 

[ScottB]

yes it is but what is the range from night to day? mine goes from 8.5-8.01 its a huge range at night

I forecast a low of 7.95 tonight now that it is calibrated. And I have a lot of nighttime countermeasures going on:

2100ml of Kalk gets dosed
120ml of ALK gets dosed
12 hours of refugium light
Not always, but an open window when temps are reasonable.

 

[OnPointCorals Verified Sponsor]

Hey Shane. I have seen in some of your videos that you run quite high flow! Do you believe this high flow to be essential?

What do you use for powerheads and what program do you follow?

 

[SBB Corals]

What are you guys finding is easiest most accurate tool of measurement for PH?
Those are huge discrepancies showing for Nitrate measurements between Hanna and test kits. Is everyone showing the same higher numbers across the board from hanna? Has anyone confirmed that hanna is checking out correct?
For me upgrading my skimmer is what helped bring my numbers up.
I ran a bubble magus 5 on 120-140 total gallon system raw. No air lines outside and no scrubber. 7.6-7.8
Ran airlines outside got me 7.8-8.0
Upgraded skimmer to eshopps 220 gallon skimmer with airlines outside got me around 8.1-8.3
Just upgraded my system and tried a reef octopus rated for 300 gallons on a 100 gallon system and was too much and was showing me anywhere from 8.3- 8.5 ish so I unhooked it and went back down to the 220 gallon rated skimmer.
Looking for proper tool to measure now as my reading where from seneye and found huge discrepancy.
The 300 gallon rated reef octopus with higher numbers may actually be running where I really want to be but idk.
Api and salifert showing 8.0 ish when seneye reading close to 8.3 or higher.

Hello LRT,

for PH we like the Neptune Triton but I have found that you need to calibrate it every 3 or so months. The best way to test if the PH probe is accurate is to put it in 7 solution and then see what the probe is reading .. If you put it in and it reads 7 straight away then you know its accurate.. then try this with a 10 solution. Do you have the neptune PH probe?

the problem IMO now with hanna checker is that not many people have it yet so I think we cannot all test it.. once it becomes more available I hope everybody else will share the result here.. Since Now i am not sure which test kit to trust we are flying blind at the moment. The corals seem to like it that i am backing down from 55 no3 but i had some other corals start to RTN and i think its because we stopped dosing the neonitro. Some Corals look amazing with PE and others like a little more dry. Neo Nitro also has Potassium so now that We are not dosing the Neo maybe the Potassium level is lower.. so much to consider LOL

IMO PH at 8.3-8.5 is not bad that is closer to our range with a high of 8.5 see graph below. when we leave the windows open it reaches 8.5.. but once the weather outside is at 75 and above we have to shut all the windows for the AC and the PH max then is 8.3...

 

[DivingTheWorld]

That’s some crazy high pH! I wish I could run that high because I know corals grow great at those levels. I tried that for a few months using a scrubber (was hitting 8.5 daytime) but found I got unbelievable calcification on my pumps. It was so bad that my vortechs locked up and fell off and my return froze.

I’m back to running without a scrubber now and while my pH isn’t nearly as high (7.85-8.25 night/day) the corals are still growing fast and I no longer have equipment calcification.

 

[LRT]

Hello LRT,

for PH we like the Neptune Triton but I have found that you need to calibrate it every 3 or so months. The best way to test if the PH probe is accurate is to put it in 7 solution and then see what the probe is reading .. If you put it in and it reads 7 straight away then you know its accurate.. then try this with a 10 solution. Do you have the neptune PH probe?

the problem IMO now with hanna checker is that not many people have it yet so I think we cannot all test it.. once it becomes more available I hope everybody else will share the result here.. Since Now i am not sure which test kit to trust we are flying blind at the moment. The corals seem to like it that i am backing down from 55 no3 but i had some other corals start to RTN and i think its because we stopped dosing the neonitro. Some Corals look amazing with PE and others like a little more dry. Neo Nitro also has Potassium so now that We are not dosing the Neo maybe the Potassium level is lower.. so much to consider LOL

IMO PH at 8.3-8.5 is not bad that is closer to our range with a high of 8.5 see graph below. when we leave the windows open it reaches 8.5.. but once the weather outside is at 75 and above we have to shut all the windows for the AC and the PH max then is 8.3...

Hey Shane. I dont have Neptune Triton but do believe thats the road im headed down here soon. Been looking at pinpoint and may still grab one even if its for cross referencing down the road.. But Trident Neptune really does bring the bigger package im after.
To date its been Api, Salifert kit and Seneye. Was hoping the seneye would be more dependable but typically .2-.5 off my test kits. That's critical and unacceptable in my eyes especially when it could be on the high or low side never knowing which way its leaning.
At the end of the day all I want is dependable and reliable lol. I'm hoping that Hanna Nitrate checks out. Definetely following and learning alot here im glad your asking the questions and hope more peeps chime in!

 

[Marc2952]

Speaking about that jebao doser mines just messed up on me i was scratching my head as to why my alk is all over the place just to find out that instead of dosing the 1ML per hour its dosing 1.7ML sometimes and and less other times even after multiple calibrations. Guess im gonna have to fork the money for a GHL. If anybody is selling a used one let me know LOL