Mattgsa 315 gallon build

mattgsa · Sep 3, 2021

Dennis Cartier said:
I would suggest that the minimal effect is probably due to low saturation in your kalk reactor. Kalk is notoriously hard to keep saturated (with reactors). Until I started measuring the saturation with an EC meter, I always over estimated the saturation of the effluent.

I have a thread on here about the challenges of getting kalk to dissolved in reactors.

Dennis

I have a PH probe in the reactor, so when the ph drops below 12.3, I add more Kalk. I think my main problem was the dosing pump I was using was small, so I don't think I was adding that much. Certainly dosed more Kalk solution than I am CalRX effluent.

mattgsa · Sep 5, 2021

Going out on a limb here, and I let the Trident control the ALK dosing. The ALK unexpectedly dropped yesterday, so I added some more. This morning the ALK was a lot higher then i thought was suppose to be.

I also setup Nitrate and Phosphate dosing. Which means I will need to be on top of my testing. That being said, I'm dosing very small amounts.

mattgsa · Sep 5, 2021

I just looked over in the direction of the tank saw darkness, for some reason the tank popped the circuit I'm not sure why, but it makes me nervous since I'm about to go out of town.

mattgsa · Sep 5, 2021

Since I have no corals in the tank, I'm going to switch to reef crystals, stabalize the tank and then add corals.

cmaxwell39 · Sep 6, 2021

Just got caught up on your build. Glad you were able to get the AE CaRX working and it has helped stabilize everything,

As far as nitrates and phosphates, I know many have had success with dosing nutrients to keep these levels up to acceptable levels. I prefer to load the tank up with fish and feed more. I fought low nutrients at first even with over feeding, then it was like I hit a tipping point where the rocks, sand, etc stopped absorbing and levels started to rise. Still trying to fully balance the input/export, but it is getting there.

I would rather have nutrients on the high side than too low. IME I have had better luck with corals in high nutrient conditions than I have in nutrient starved conditions.

Can't wait to see this beauty start growing corals. It is going to be awesome.

mattgsa · Sep 6, 2021

Finally got the siphon feed form the garage working.

mattgsa · Sep 6, 2021

cmaxwell39 said:
Just got caught up on your build. Glad you were able to get the AE CaRX working and it has helped stabilize everything,

As far as nitrates and phosphates, I know many have had success with dosing nutrients to keep these levels up to acceptable levels. I prefer to load the tank up with fish and feed more. I fought low nutrients at first even with over feeding, then it was like I hit a tipping point where the rocks, sand, etc stopped absorbing and levels started to rise. Still trying to fully balance the input/export, but it is getting there.

I would rather have nutrients on the high side than too low. IME I have had better luck with corals in high nutrient conditions than I have in nutrient starved conditions.

Can't wait to see this beauty start growing corals. It is going to be awesome.

I'm with you, I would love to add more fish to the tank and over feed. It's just right now I don't have a quarantine setup, and buy fish from places like marine collectors is a bit on the pricy side. The wife started asking why are we spending so much on fish I thought you wanted corals. I certainly hope I don't have to continue to dose nutrients in the furture. I'm doing daily testing to make sure they don't start to climb out of control.

mattgsa · Sep 11, 2021

Got back from the business trip, and on the way back I picked up some corals from @FarmerTy. I think the tank is for the most part stable. The only problem that caught me a little by surprise was the PO4 level was at .2. Consider how small of a dos I was giving the tank that was a bit alarming. So I'm no longer dosing PO4. The other thing that surprised me is all the OGO that i put in tank before I left is gone.
I'm also dosing 40 ml's of effluent from the reactor and my alk still drops over time, I'm having to supplement while upping the dos. I thought having the trident control the dos would solve this problem, however, it appears to not really be doing anything other than testing the water.

mattgsa · Sep 11, 2021

I upped the ALK to 50, the ALK just keeps dropping, and the coraline algae keeps spreading.

GBRsouth · Sep 11, 2021

Sounds like you're ready for all those corals from @FarmerTy !

mattgsa · Sep 11, 2021

GBRsouth said:
Sounds like you're ready for all those corals from @FarmerTy !

I'm going to give these some time to die, and if they don't I will order some more.

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Sep 11, 2021

Just read this, fun read!

Great tank and build!

Seems like some frustration with alk and calcuium reactors. But otherwise getting dialed!

My buddy runs a dastaco calcium reactor. Loves it. Seems simple enough. Deltec makes a similar automated design that reef builders like.

Personally ive been running kalk slurry on a smaller tank, dosing with ghl doser, and its going so well i bought a large mrc kalk reactor to run slurry for a 200 gallon going up. Just use the reactor to mix and dose with dosing pump.

Maybe read up on kalk slurry as an option. You dont try to get all of kalk to dissolve so no issues there. Just be heavy handed with the kalk solution, mix and dose many times a day in small amounts. PH stays high, kalk is cheap, and simple for me. Dose some trace and call it good.

Just an idea if you're look to simplify.

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Sep 12, 2021

mattgsa said:
I'm with you, I would love to add more fish to the tank and over feed. It's just right now I don't have a quarantine setup, and buy fish from places like marine collectors is a bit on the pricy side. The wife started asking why are we spending so much on fish I thought you wanted corals. I certainly hope I don't have to continue to dose nutrients in the furture. I'm doing daily testing to make sure they don't start to climb out of control.

Tsm for fish is cheaper and honestly competitive with none qted fish. More thorough on qt too it seems, they do copper and all that and scrape and test.

mattgsa · Sep 12, 2021

Mywifeisgunnakillme said:
Tsm for fish is cheaper and honestly competitive with none qted fish. More thorough on qt too it seems, they do copper and all that and scrape and test.

I love TSM, and I have ordered multiple fish from them. I have nothing but great things to say about them. I will order more fish over time. The tank certainly needs more life in it.
Thanks.

mattgsa · Sep 12, 2021

Mywifeisgunnakillme said:
Just read this, fun read!

Great tank and build!

Seems like some frustration with alk and calcuium reactors. But otherwise getting dialed!

My buddy runs a dastaco calcium reactor. Loves it. Seems simple enough. Deltec makes a similar automated design that reef builders like.

Personally ive been running kalk slurry on a smaller tank, dosing with ghl doser, and its going so well i bought a large mrc kalk reactor to run slurry for a 200 gallon going up. Just use the reactor to mix and dose with dosing pump.

Maybe read up on kalk slurry as an option. You dont try to get all of kalk to dissolve so no issues there. Just be heavy handed with the kalk solution, mix and dose many times a day in small amounts. PH stays high, kalk is cheap, and simple for me. Dose some trace and call it good.

Just an idea if you're look to simplify.

I do have the GEO reactor, but I was having to add a lot, and it was still not keeping up. I may add it back in later, however, the funny thing is even with the Calkrx up and running the ph is actually higher with out the kalk, I have no idea why. I would certainly love to simplify this build. Thank you so much for following along.

Mywifeisgunnakillme · Sep 13, 2021

mattgsa said:
I do have the GEO reactor, but I was having to add a lot, and it was still not keeping up.

Were you running saturated kalk or kalk slurry? My understanding is that kalk slurry pretty much does not have limits (someone correct me here?) because you're adding undissolved kalk (rather than dissolved kalk) many times a day and not limited by evaporation rate.

mattgsa · Sep 14, 2021

Mywifeisgunnakillme said:
Were you running saturated kalk or kalk slurry? My understanding is that kalk slurry pretty much does not have limits (someone correct me here?) because you're adding undissolved kalk (rather than dissolved kalk) many times a day and not limited by evaporation rate.

That's a great question I don't know. Right now I'm loving the Calcium Reactor it's so easy, and I don't have to worry about it.