Coral reefer
Past President
I have no clue. Better safe than sorry
Alex’s IM 150 EXT
- Thread starter Alexander1312
- Start date
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Closing the loop here on my Milwaukee refractometer salinitiy vs. Fauna Marin ICP salinity discrepancy. I had to get to the bottom of this since I did not understand enough what I should be doing next.
I have also had an exchange with Chris Woods from Captiv8, who calculated the salinity value to be even lower than what Fauna Marin calculated (great guy by the way, super helpful also on my other ICP results).
Not sure if anybody cares about this but this is what I learned:
- PPT and PSU values should be identical and not differ as they do when I measure it with my device.
- These devices have a +/- 2 accepted inaccuracy, which is a lot in my opinion.
- My PSU readings seem to be aligned with the ICP results so I will be using the PSU values going forward.
- The device uses algorithms to calculate PPT/PSU/S.G. PPT is considered an ‘older' way to measure salinity, vs. PSU to be a more widely accepted parameter.
I have had a couple of back and forth with Randy Holmes-Farley on the above, if someone cares about some more details: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/salinity-psu-vs-ppt.1032213/#post-12149049
I have raised or are in the process of raising salinity now in both my nano and IM 150 to a 35 PSU, and will run another ICP in 30-45 days from now. For now, I consider this issue resolved
.
I have also had an exchange with Chris Woods from Captiv8, who calculated the salinity value to be even lower than what Fauna Marin calculated (great guy by the way, super helpful also on my other ICP results).
Not sure if anybody cares about this but this is what I learned:
- PPT and PSU values should be identical and not differ as they do when I measure it with my device.
- These devices have a +/- 2 accepted inaccuracy, which is a lot in my opinion.
- My PSU readings seem to be aligned with the ICP results so I will be using the PSU values going forward.
- The device uses algorithms to calculate PPT/PSU/S.G. PPT is considered an ‘older' way to measure salinity, vs. PSU to be a more widely accepted parameter.
I have had a couple of back and forth with Randy Holmes-Farley on the above, if someone cares about some more details: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/salinity-psu-vs-ppt.1032213/#post-12149049
I have raised or are in the process of raising salinity now in both my nano and IM 150 to a 35 PSU, and will run another ICP in 30-45 days from now. For now, I consider this issue resolved
.
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Alexander1312
Supporting Member
I have now a number of corals and inverts in my nano tank to move to this tank but will wait for 6 weeks ‘quarantine’ to pass before doing so.
I will not add any more corals or inverts during this time and will plan out and align future purchases so that I have space again in the nano tank for another 6 week quarantine phase.
This could be potentially difficult with frag swaps etc, but will so how this goes. Two tanks are definitely my limit, but maybe I will swap the nano for a proper coral frag tank, low boy type setup in the future.
In the meantime, I have taken some pictures to document how the tank develops with the continous add-ons and adjustments.
I will not add any more corals or inverts during this time and will plan out and align future purchases so that I have space again in the nano tank for another 6 week quarantine phase.
This could be potentially difficult with frag swaps etc, but will so how this goes. Two tanks are definitely my limit, but maybe I will swap the nano for a proper coral frag tank, low boy type setup in the future.
In the meantime, I have taken some pictures to document how the tank develops with the continous add-ons and adjustments.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Posting also my current parameters. Main challenge is to get PH higher. It never rises above 8.1, even if the CO2 in the room is at around 550. I am dosing 2,600 ml Kalkwasser daily at the moment.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Received the Aquabiomic test results today, submitted end of December. The complaints around not receiving the results in a reasonable amount of time (as compared to ICP) are therefore truly valid. And might make the entire exercise potentially irrelevant.
At the time I submitted the test, the tank was exactly 30 days old.
The results were interesting and positively confirmed what I had hoped, but also revealed some potential issues.
The positives were around the diversity and balance score, and I did not expect them to be that high at the 90th percentile, not bad for a brand new tank. I know this can change over time resulting in lower values, but it confirmed my observation that the tank seemed very well running, no ugly phase, gonies and other corals do instantly well when added, and really no problems other than some of the actions needed from the ICP.
It also confirmed that my approach when starting the tank by adding a blend of real ocean live rock, dry rock, rock from my previous tank, aquabiomics sand, cycling with large species of toadstools and other easy corals, and the various stuff I bought from Indo Pacific Farms based in Hawaii certainly all led to good initially scores.
What will this mean long-term? No clue. But I liked that it might confirm a good start into this tank journey.
Now the bad news is that it did identify some pathogens. Not a surprise it would, and I knew there is no recipe provided to address them properly. One of the pathogens however seems to stand out as it was not typically found in tanks in their population.
In summary, interesting insight to have in the beginning, but it will probably not make the tank more successful, and therefore potentially not a meaningful investment if the tank does not have any issues.
Still, I am planning to repeat this test in 6-12 months from now.
At the time I submitted the test, the tank was exactly 30 days old.
The results were interesting and positively confirmed what I had hoped, but also revealed some potential issues.
The positives were around the diversity and balance score, and I did not expect them to be that high at the 90th percentile, not bad for a brand new tank. I know this can change over time resulting in lower values, but it confirmed my observation that the tank seemed very well running, no ugly phase, gonies and other corals do instantly well when added, and really no problems other than some of the actions needed from the ICP.
It also confirmed that my approach when starting the tank by adding a blend of real ocean live rock, dry rock, rock from my previous tank, aquabiomics sand, cycling with large species of toadstools and other easy corals, and the various stuff I bought from Indo Pacific Farms based in Hawaii certainly all led to good initially scores.
What will this mean long-term? No clue. But I liked that it might confirm a good start into this tank journey.
Now the bad news is that it did identify some pathogens. Not a surprise it would, and I knew there is no recipe provided to address them properly. One of the pathogens however seems to stand out as it was not typically found in tanks in their population.
In summary, interesting insight to have in the beginning, but it will probably not make the tank more successful, and therefore potentially not a meaningful investment if the tank does not have any issues.
Still, I am planning to repeat this test in 6-12 months from now
.
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Coral reefer
Past President
I can’t view the report for some reason. What pathogens were there?
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Yes, the pdfs seem a bit strange to read depending on the device you have. I have added the screenshots to the original post.
Coral reefer
Past President
Thanks! Damn that sctld! Wonder how common it is in our tanks?
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
The report states how common it its and the average amounts etc. Looks like this is one is rather common, and my amounts are lower. Still, hard to tell how problematic it really is.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
A new member of our fish familiy, after weeks of back and forth, we decided in favor of this (small) One Spot Foxface, bought yesterday from @under_water_ninja. Like the others, he really dislikes his acclimation box.
They are extremely shy at the beginning. If you didn’t know. They will settle in about 2 weeks.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Thanks! I just assumed they are all shy . 2 weeks would be great. The trigger still stays in the corner except for food, when he becomes a total extrovert .
. 2 weeks would be great. The trigger still stays in the corner except for food, when he becomes a total extrovert .
Coral reefer
Past President
Also if you didn’t know watch out for their spines!
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Wow, that’s a high bar. Did not know they could be that entertaining.
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Not sure if anyone is using the Fauna Marin ICP tests, but I will for now. I had asked them where I can buy these locally and Claude Schumacher responded, and also shared the link below. The nice thing is that a discount is offered for purchasing three (or six depending on the type of test), which I did not see e.g. on Saltwateraquarium.com.
Attachments
Which icp test do you get ? The regular burrito or super burrito ? And is it worth the extra money for the super ?
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Super burrito, I bought two of the total ICP. They also measured the RODI water. The results I posted here (see below) was from one of the ICP Total. The difference is also more parameters and ratios. Not sure if this needs to be done often.
Post in thread 'Alex’s IM 150 EXT'
https://www.bareefers.org/forum/threads/alex’s-im-150-ext.34668/post-498223
Alexander1312
Supporting Member
Nitrate continues to fall despite twice a day TDO and frozen food feeding. Phosphates remain stuck at a too low 0.04, which could be a reading error and be lower. I am also certain that I have Dinos now in some spots. Have not checked yet with the microscope though. The good news is that I have dealt with Dinos extensively (!) in the nano tank without UV or blackout, and was able to to beat it twice, and it has never come back since. So I assume I know what to do, and will do the following:
1. Additional feeding schedule.
2. Reduced refugium lighting from 12 hours on to 10 hours on.
3. No water change until parameters are back to a normal level.
4. Do not replace filter floss or reef diapers until parameters are at a normal level.
The no-water change approach has been the most effective method and it should be gone in 3-4 weeks or so if all goes well.
1. Additional feeding schedule.
2. Reduced refugium lighting from 12 hours on to 10 hours on.
3. No water change until parameters are back to a normal level.
4. Do not replace filter floss or reef diapers until parameters are at a normal level.
The no-water change approach has been the most effective method and it should be gone in 3-4 weeks or so if all goes well.
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Feeding reef roids will increase phosphates if you aren’t using it yet.
For fish suggestions, your scape looks prime for something like a mandarin, Yasha goby, pygmy hawkfish, etc who like to stay on the sandbed. I do see you have the one goby but another similar fish would be cool.
For fish suggestions, your scape looks prime for something like a mandarin, Yasha goby, pygmy hawkfish, etc who like to stay on the sandbed. I do see you have the one goby but another similar fish would be cool.