Kessil

In the beginning...

Gablami said:
Your RODI system is still running well? Just wanna make sure nothing bad is breaking through.


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That was my first thought too. Im showing 0 tds coming out. I'm planning on borrowing @scuzy's chloramine tester but haven't gotten around to picking it up from him. There shouldn't be any chance of chloramines since I'm on well water (plus the water company's test results don't show any), but I figured I'd check just in case.
 
Coral reefer said:
Sounds a bit like elevated nutrients to me.
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I have been trying to increase my nutrients. My last test was on July 1st and had 16 ppm no3 and .37 po4. I had been having the same issue with undetectable no3 and .05 po4. I don't mind the nitrates being high but I think the phosphates could stand to be lower.
 
Coral reefer said:
Nitrates can, but could also be lack of food for the anthias if he's only doing pellets...
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This had been a thought too. I thought maybe with the more aggressive fish around that they may not be getting enough. I do feed 3x a day and have nori always available for the tangs. I was just surprised all three went missing within a couple days. If they starved I would expect them to go at different times. The first one was the largest too, which doesn't really fit that theory either.
 
It's been a little under a week since I did the big water change and most everything is looking better. I did a full work up of all my levels and was surprised by a couple of them.

dKH: 7.9, awesome. Right on track. I'm dosing fully saturated kalkwasser at 1300 mL/day via the apex dos.
Ca: 573, this was a bit of a surprise. I like 450-500 but I don't view high ca as necessarily bad.
Mg: 1500, again a bit higher than I usually like but not something I'm worried about.
No3: 8, pretty decent in my book.
Po4: 0.49, this was the big shocker. My phosphates had always been super low but had started to increase when I intentionally tried to increase my nutrients. I've had a steady increase since May. In May it was 0.0, June 0.19, July 0.34 (this is where I started to get concerned), and august 0.49. This is after my large water change too. I switched out my phosguard and will test again in a few days.
 
Flagg37 said:
Good ideas. I do have one of the 4" marine pure blocks in my sump. It's in the back corner though where it's hardest to get at. I don't think I want to mess with it at this point. Most of my sand bed is only about 1" to 1-1/2". I don't think it's deep enough for anaerobic bacteria. I do have one corner though that is about 5" deep. I already stir it up occasionally. It's not intended to be a DSB. I want to try and find a few garden eels for it.
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was reading through your build thread, just thought id chime in here. I have 2 hass garden eels that are both well over a foot doing fine in about 4-6 inches of sand. they move often, from the shallower side to the deep side. they are perfectly fine in 4 inches of sand in my opinion. heck, they sometimes even move in the back where its 2 inches for a day or two. they just go horizontal once they reach the bottom. but i do agree with lbn that they should not go into a community reef. any big fish like tangs will scare them. they should be kept in a more peaceful tank with slower moving tank mates.
 
Kremis said:
was reading through your build thread, just thought id chime in here. I have 2 hass garden eels that are both well over a foot doing fine in about 4-6 inches of sand. they move often, from the shallower side to the deep side. they are perfectly fine in 4 inches of sand in my opinion. heck, they sometimes even move in the back where its 2 inches for a day or two. they just go horizontal once they reach the bottom. but i do agree with lbn that they should not go into a community reef. any big fish like tangs will scare them. they should be kept in a more peaceful tank with slower moving tank mates.
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That was another concern I had since my Achilles Tang moves over the entire tank. I think having garden eels is just going to have to wait for a different tank.
 
I noticed an odor coming from my sump area and looked more closely and my chaeto was overflowing it's chamber. The stuff growing out the top was all yellow and dried out. I took out a 5 gallon bucket full. I'm amazed how quickly that stuff grows.
 
Mark B said:
How long did it take you to get that much?
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I think it's only been like 3 weeks. I've got this one in the thread so next time I'll know for sure how long it's been.

I've never had to take out so much. Last time it was a couple salad bowls full. This time I had to use a garbage bag.
 
I just got some chaeto and it is all about an inch long and making a hella mess everywhere in the sump. Hopefully the mature strands are longer.
 
Things are finally doing well. I'm no longer seeing anything dying and even better seeing some growth.

Here's a quick video of the tank. Only 30 seconds.

I switched my food/feeding schedule to LRS food morning and noon time and pellets in the evening. They love the LRS. it's the first time I've seen them come and beg for food. I noticed that they almost ignore the pellet food now.
 
I think there were a couple things going on but probably the biggest thing was my po4 had gotten up way too high (0.49). No3 wasn't bad at 16 but my Phosguard was depleted and I wasn't keeping an eye on it. I switched it out and po4's dropped to about 1/2 what it was. I just switched it out again since it just started to rise again. I'm watching it much more closely now.
 
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