Rostatos Reefer 450 and Reefer 170
- Thread starter Rostato
- Start date
max_nano
Supporting Member
This is the vendor I went with, I got sodium nitrate since I’m not testing K. But it’s a good price and ships super fast, they’re in Dublin so it’s one day.
Coral reefer
Past President
Whatcha using to test?Nice. I am testing K as of today
ofzakaria
Guest
Look at you... So proud of you ha haNice. I am testing K as of today
ofzakaria
Guest
Salifert has one of the easiest k tester.
Rostato
Guest
salifert. Picked one up from Neptune the other day.
I also recently decided to only buy dry foods locally anymore. I can get 95% of everything I need for basically the same price locally as online anymore.
prices are basically since California started making online vendors pay tax. Some still are not, but I’ll stop playing the game.
Coral reefer
Past President
Curious to know what you think of the kit once you’ve used it a couple times. Have never tested for potassium before myself.
Gotta figure if it’s the 3rd number that fertilizers use for plants and the first two number are ones we really care about, it’s probably fairly important for corals too
Rostato
Guest
Never have. But it’s a very important element and I’m trying for the best tank i e ever had so I figured I’d go all in testing wise until I’m comfortable with the new reactor and trace supplements
I did one test today and it’s very easy. I do, however; not like having to soak the testing goal in vinegar. But ah well.
RandyC
Supporting Member
I found the salifert to be pretty inaccurate. Granted I only tried one test kit so maybe I got a bad test kit. I found the Giessmann potassium test to be relatively spot on when compared to a few ICP tests.
Coral reefer
Past President
How hard/annoying to use/expensive was that one?
RandyC
Supporting Member
$28. Not hard. Only annoying part is having to wait 10 minutes after adding the first reagent.
ofzakaria
Guest
The most accurate is the redsea but its pain to use. The salifet get inaccurate by time which is the biggest draw back. But if you take care of the kit it do better.
Rostato
Guest
Couple updates
I just got alerted on my apex that its time to calibrate the KhG's Ph probe. That means I've had this thing for 6 months already. It just reminds me about how happy I am with this purchase. The tank has never been this stable, and I have so much more peace of mind. Thank you @ofzakaria !!!!
The Kh is still holding very stead now (like between 8.0-8.2). The DaStaCo is really awesome. I do have a replacement peristaltic pump coming in because mine is very noisy. The customer service with the DaStaCo is awesome. I had a video chat with them to diagnose the problem. You wont get that with a pieced together system.
The Nitrate dosing is going well so far. I was able to get it raised up a bit and stay at 1ppm 24 hours after dosing. I have been dosing 1oz of a 12,280 ppm solution to the tank daily to hold it between 1-2ppm. I could just be seeing things but polyp extension seems to be better and maybe even coloration. Again, it could just be wishful thinking, or a combination of the CaRx and nitrate dosing.
Coral growth has significantly increased with the addition of the reactor. I call it significant because I see growth now vs before I would barely notice even though they were growing.
I am also using up my co2 scrubber media significantly faster with the reactor. I was changing media every 5 weeks, but I think I need to adjust that to every 4 weeks now.
I am also testing and adding iodine weekly. This has significantly helped my zoa health.
Also testing potassium to make sure the levels do not increase while using potassium nitrate. So far I am averaging around 420 ppm.
Since its been about a month with the reactor and dosing the Triton Infusion, I will also send out an ICP test. Then I'll send one out 3 months later.
I just got alerted on my apex that its time to calibrate the KhG's Ph probe. That means I've had this thing for 6 months already. It just reminds me about how happy I am with this purchase. The tank has never been this stable, and I have so much more peace of mind. Thank you @ofzakaria !!!!
The Kh is still holding very stead now (like between 8.0-8.2). The DaStaCo is really awesome. I do have a replacement peristaltic pump coming in because mine is very noisy. The customer service with the DaStaCo is awesome. I had a video chat with them to diagnose the problem. You wont get that with a pieced together system.
The Nitrate dosing is going well so far. I was able to get it raised up a bit and stay at 1ppm 24 hours after dosing. I have been dosing 1oz of a 12,280 ppm solution to the tank daily to hold it between 1-2ppm. I could just be seeing things but polyp extension seems to be better and maybe even coloration. Again, it could just be wishful thinking, or a combination of the CaRx and nitrate dosing.
Coral growth has significantly increased with the addition of the reactor. I call it significant because I see growth now vs before I would barely notice even though they were growing.
I am also using up my co2 scrubber media significantly faster with the reactor. I was changing media every 5 weeks, but I think I need to adjust that to every 4 weeks now.
I am also testing and adding iodine weekly. This has significantly helped my zoa health.
Also testing potassium to make sure the levels do not increase while using potassium nitrate. So far I am averaging around 420 ppm.
Since its been about a month with the reactor and dosing the Triton Infusion, I will also send out an ICP test. Then I'll send one out 3 months later.
max_nano
Supporting Member
What do you test iodine with, and what about the zoas do you think is improving?
Khg really simplifies things.
Would you be able to draw air from below the tank in the crawl space to feed the co2 scrubber so it is scrubbing fresher air? Are you using more media because you have the carX lowering the pH and you’re trying to counter it?
Khg really simplifies things.
Would you be able to draw air from below the tank in the crawl space to feed the co2 scrubber so it is scrubbing fresher air? Are you using more media because you have the carX lowering the pH and you’re trying to counter it?
Rostato
Guest
Correct about the co2 scrubber. Instead of high ph water coming in from the 2 part I have very low ph water coming in from the reactor.
I have a Y valve on the reactor that was sucking about 50/50 scrubbed vs ambient air. Now it’s 100% scrubbed air from the skimmer.
I’m testing iodine (iodide/iodate) with a salifert kit.
I’ve found Zoas will shrivel up and otherwise look unhealthy if iodine is low. As soon as it’s back to NSW levels for a week or so they look much better.
ofzakaria
Guest
Moral of the story here..always listen to uncle omar ha ha ha.
Glad you happy with the new upgrades...