New to the site

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

Welcome to R2R, tanks look great!

What are your current parameters? When you change out the T5’s I’d do a couple bulbs at a time as to not “light shock” everything.

My current readings are:
Ph 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 20 ppm
Nitrite 0
Ca2+ 420
Kh. 120 ppm (a bit low, I think)

 

[Mudder]

Welcome to R2R!!
This is a Great place for info and Help

 

[ngoodermuth]

My current readings are:
Ph 8.4
Ammonia 0
Nitrates 20 ppm
Nitrite 0
Ca2+ 420
Kh. 120 ppm (a bit low, I think)

Alk is definitely a bit low, I’d try to bring it up to at least 7. I try keep mine between 7.5-8, and everything seems to do pretty well there.

Nitrates aren’t awful high, but if the tank the favia came from was much “cleaner” than yours could explain the browning out... how are your phosphates?

Changing the bulbs out will definitely help, though!

 

[crusso1993]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

Alk is definitely a bit low, I’d try to bring it up to at least 7. I try keep mine between 7.5-8, and everything seems to do pretty well there.

Nitrates aren’t awful high, but if the tank the favia came from was much “cleaner” than yours could explain the browning out... how are your phosphates?

Changing the bulbs out will definitely help, though!

Right now, I don’t have a phosphate test kit. (Embarrassing, I know). I have one on the way, though. I’ve been running gfo and phosgaurd on the tank for a few months, though. I just started a chaeto refugium this week.

I use a canister filter for water polishing and extra biological filtration. I’m wondering if the elevated nitrates are coming from that. I just read something the other day saying that cannisters can be nitrate traps. Any thoughts?

 

[ngoodermuth]

Right now, I don’t have a phosphate test kit. (Embarrassing, I know). I have one on the way, though. I’ve been running gfo and phosgaurd on the tank for a few months, though. I just started a chaeto refugium this week.

I use a canister filter for water polishing and extra biological filtration. I’m wondering if the elevated nitrates are coming from that. I just read something the other day saying that cannisters can be nitrate traps. Any thoughts?

What is your maintenance schedule like? I think anything that catches detritus can be a nutrient trap if it can’t be “cleaned” periodically. Do you use a skimmer?

I think this is one of those things where there are many methods, I keep my system pretty basic... big skimmer, decent sized fuge, and weekly water changes (for the most part, sometimes I get lazy and go two weeks but I try to keep it pretty consistent).

You could start a post over in the “water chemistry” forum though, and get more specific input there once you get your test kit.

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

What is your maintenance schedule like? I think anything that catches detritus can be a nutrient trap if it can’t be “cleaned” periodically. Do you use a skimmer?

I think this is one of those things where there are many methods, I keep my system pretty basic... big skimmer, decent sized fuge, and weekly water changes (for the most part, sometimes I get lazy and go two weeks but I try to keep it pretty consistent).

You could start a post over in the “water chemistry” forum though, and get more specific input there once you get your test kit.

I’ve been doing 30% every 3-4 weeks, but that’s my fowlr schedule. I’m realizing that I’ll need to do more frequent changes for the coral tank. I do use a skimmer. I’m thinking about taking the canister out of the system to see how it does. I’m reading a lot about more simple systems that only use the skimmer and a fuge. Now that I have my fuge seeded with chaeto, I’m tempted to cut out some of the other things.

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

We had a big storm come through around 5 pm yesterday. No power all night. The power company says they hope to have it back on by 11:30 pm tonight. At this point I just hope that something survives. This sucks.

 

[Jon Fishman]

I have a list of "things I need" and although many may take me years to get, Whole-house-generator is on that list.....

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

So it looks like I might have gotten lucky. When the power came on, I threw air stones into the tank to boost the o2. I’m mixing water for a partial water change. The ammonia in both tanks is only between .25-.5. Nitrates spiked to around 40ppm. I thought it would be much worse. Everyone seems happy now.

 

[Jon Fishman]

New-guy question, but why would there be any ammonia even after a power outage in a cycled tank?

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

The bacteria in the live rock and sand bed will use up all of the available o2 because there is no water movement / gas exchange to replenish the 02. When it is depleted, the bacteria die off. When that happens, the ammonia spikes.