IM Pico 4g Reef Build
- Thread starter Nano101
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urfavoritehoboinkc
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- What state or country do you live in
- Missouri
Do you have Nitrates? I'm running a fluval spec 5.5 gal & I was killing SPS, I've been reading up on if Alk is high, light is bright, with no nitrates will result in dead SPS. I saw a few people note Birdsnest was always the first to go due to these conditions. IME it fell right in line with that. Another thing to consider, is as SPS dies & the skins falls off it that skin hits another SPS it just starts a chain reaction.
Reefrookie220
Valuable Member
Kent marine makes a supplement, nano reef a & b, the dosing is 4 drops per every 4 gallons. I used it in my nuvo 4. Kept every thing nice and stable.
If your interested in using it, I'd be careful watching the levels ay which the red sea salt mixes compared to what Kent keeps it at.
If your interested in using it, I'd be careful watching the levels ay which the red sea salt mixes compared to what Kent keeps it at.
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Nano101
Well-Known Member
I have a 4g pico. Up and running for about 3 months. Have a Kessil A80 with a spectral controller (just got the controller a few days ago). I use two pumps for higher water flow. Auto aqua micro ATO. I do bi-weekly one gallon water changes. I use Red Sea coral pro salt. My sps are dead/bleached, my lps aren't looking great. I have no idea what my levels should be on the spectral controller for a 4 gallon pico. Any settings recommendations would be appreciated.
I'm really frustrated with this tank. It looked so beautiful at first and everything is going downhill. Parameters are where they should be, so I'm guessing it's light settings.
Have been contemplating a mame glass skimmer, to boost filtration. My only filtration is biological and I use chemipure blue.
Please help
I'm really frustrated with this tank. It looked so beautiful at first and everything is going downhill. Parameters are where they should be, so I'm guessing it's light settings.
Have been contemplating a mame glass skimmer, to boost filtration. My only filtration is biological and I use chemipure blue.
Please help
Ghxst
Well-Known Member
Water Chem results would be a fantastic addition to start. All of them, ammonia, nitrate, pH especially, phosphate the whole gamut. Also how do you track your temp? Preset heaters always emit the same energy but the surrounding temp will flux. Do you have a controller of any kind attached or temp log you can post?
As we spoke about earlier it is too early to have Stoney corals thriving. It takes several months to end the mini cycles ( July 18ths pic shows evidence it's not fully ready to go). You will get there, trust me. The first thing we have to do is get you the secret sauce recipie to an awesome reef tank, time and patience. Then comes sound water chem followed by established biology. After that adjusting your lights and reef equipment will really tune your tank.
I read along most of your other post on r2r and noted the advice you have previously received. No one mentioned the importance of time and patience and some seemed to think a 4g pico is easy and fast to do. I apologize on our community's behalf and urge you to embrace the things that are most needed. @revhtree is there anyone you know of that can confirm or identify other issues?
As we spoke about earlier it is too early to have Stoney corals thriving. It takes several months to end the mini cycles ( July 18ths pic shows evidence it's not fully ready to go). You will get there, trust me. The first thing we have to do is get you the secret sauce recipie to an awesome reef tank, time and patience. Then comes sound water chem followed by established biology. After that adjusting your lights and reef equipment will really tune your tank.
I read along most of your other post on r2r and noted the advice you have previously received. No one mentioned the importance of time and patience and some seemed to think a 4g pico is easy and fast to do. I apologize on our community's behalf and urge you to embrace the things that are most needed. @revhtree is there anyone you know of that can confirm or identify other issues?
Ghxst
Well-Known Member
haha, if only they could live in the tank, adulting would be so much more fun. Plus I would test more often too. My sailifert and Red Sea test for dkh are 2 dkhs off, just tested, that's no bueno!
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Nano101
Well-Known Member
And my birdsnest got some color back over the last 24 hours (not too much, but it's got brown polyps out and doesn't look like a complete skeleton). I will post a pic in a few hours once water clarity stabilizes. The bouncy back of the one coral with 0 changes does make me think it was my light intensity. My current Kessil controller settings are in pics below
Ghxst
Well-Known Member
Yeah that's a big ramp. Try a 5% increase every week or so. Also if your using old tank water it can be depleted of alkalinity. Red Sea mixes at 12 and will be used up shortly in a nano. So your first tank looks great and the second is low ph and alk. Combined with another stressor like light change you get what you are experiencing. I use Red Sea and have a 34g and 2 16's. I can't put old water in my 16 with acros and montis without adding some soda ash from brs first. Measuring bi daily (alk and ph) will help you see the pattern and if it is the problem.
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Nano101
Well-Known Member
This is the first time I've done the water replacement from the other tank. Just trying to start from a good place. The water from that I used (14g) just had a 5g water change 3 days ago
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Nano101
Well-Known Member
Sorry for the delayed tests. Haven't had an hour for tests this weekend. Found some issues right off the bat.
pH- 8.2
Temp- 79.4
Salinity via refractometer- 1.028
Phosphates via Martini MI 412- 0.11
Nitrite via API- 0 ppm
Nitrate via API- 10 ppm
Ammonia via API- 0 ppm
Calcium via Salifert- 490ppm
Alkalinity via Salifert- 12 dKH
TDS of RO/DI via MW 802- 10ppm
First off, my phosphates are way high. Even though I'm. It seeing nuisance algae, I ran the test twice. My TDS must have just gone up this week. I will have to dispose of my stored RO/DI and replace all my filters. I've been putting it off as I wanted to get a water soften within the next two weeks, but tests show I can't wait. My tap water is 490 TDS. It's hard on my RO/DI system.
Nitrates are a tad high but don't worry me to be honest. My next step today is to replace the filters and then do a water change tomorrow with freshly filtered water.
Any other thoughts? The Red Sea salt continuously gives me these high CA and dKH parameters. They are the same in my 14g and sps and other corals are thriving there.
pH- 8.2
Temp- 79.4
Salinity via refractometer- 1.028
Phosphates via Martini MI 412- 0.11
Nitrite via API- 0 ppm
Nitrate via API- 10 ppm
Ammonia via API- 0 ppm
Calcium via Salifert- 490ppm
Alkalinity via Salifert- 12 dKH
TDS of RO/DI via MW 802- 10ppm
First off, my phosphates are way high. Even though I'm. It seeing nuisance algae, I ran the test twice. My TDS must have just gone up this week. I will have to dispose of my stored RO/DI and replace all my filters. I've been putting it off as I wanted to get a water soften within the next two weeks, but tests show I can't wait. My tap water is 490 TDS. It's hard on my RO/DI system.
Nitrates are a tad high but don't worry me to be honest. My next step today is to replace the filters and then do a water change tomorrow with freshly filtered water.
Any other thoughts? The Red Sea salt continuously gives me these high CA and dKH parameters. They are the same in my 14g and sps and other corals are thriving there.
