Reef nutrition

xinu's 375g tank

I just replaced my old euroreef CS12-1 skimmer a week ago with an ATB "Large" model skimmer.

Here is the CS12-1 skimmer.
DSCN1250.jpg

DSCN2106.jpg




And this is my new ATB skimmer.
DSCN1618.jpg



Break in period
DSCN1619.jpg


24hr worth of skimmate.
DSCN1631.jpg
 
Very cool. That seems like a lot of water and not a lot of skimmate? I'm just basing that on what I'm used to so it's at a much smaller scale but I was expecting it to be dark like your old one. Is that because it's new still?
 
Yap, it is wet skimmate but ideal for a Bare Bottom Tank setup. I can probably adjust the gate in the output pipe to make the skimmate darker; that way I won't have to empty the waste cup every 24hrs but instead every 48hrs. A problem I see with darker skimmate is that hard waste sticks on the skimmate neck that can cause reduction in the performance of the skimmer.
 
It actually works great, but you have to dilute it a bit, and/or mix it with other compost to get optimal results.

[quote author=Raddogz link=topic=2609.msg30232#msg30232 date=1200418438]
I've heard people using the sludge from the skimmer as fertilizer for your garden.
[/quote]
 
The other update I made to my current setup is the addition of a Sulfur Denitrator reactor. The reactor uses 10kg of sulfur beads and a gallon of Seachem Matrix De-nitrator reactor.

Here is a picture of the reactor.
DSCN2101.jpg

DSCN2102.jpg




It took about a week to bring down the N03 level from +100ppm to 0ppm at the reactor effluent. The test on the left vial is from my reactor effluent. The right vial (+100ppm) come from my main tank.
DSCN1627.jpg


I'm hoping the NO3 in my main tank will drop to atleast a 50ppm in a couple more weeks.
 
Got my nitrate down from +100ppm then 50ppm after my initial setup.

The sulfur were getting compacted inside the chamber. When that happens water does not circulate in side anymore. I mod the reactor by mixing sulfur and denitrator media in the second half of the chamber to create pockets and to allow water to flow freely.

I also mod the direction of the flow so that water curcluate now from bottom to top of of the reactor.
The new mod brought the nitrate down from +100ppm to 10ppm in the tank and 0ppm in the reactor effluent. After two weeks got my nitrate down from +100ppm to 50ppm. But last night I check it again and nitrate is down to 10ppm.

Here is new picture of the modded sulfur de-nitrator reactor.

DSCN2177.jpg
 
Pictures of some recently aquired corals.

Oregon tort that I just got over the weekend from Alan. Nice to have a reefer who is also your neighbor.
DSC_0096.jpg


Next to OT is a Setosa that I picked up from the BAR frag swap. Luckily it survived after falling on top of a favia.
DSC_0098.jpg


A frag of this chalice might be going to DBTC soon. So watch for it. Does it qual as semi Xtreme?
DSC_0114.jpg


A dendro trying to devour a krill.
DSC_0099-1.jpg


ORA german blue green acro. I love ORA.
DSC_0097.jpg


Miami Orchid. Another ORA.
DSC_0116.jpg


Pink Smoothie -- still under evaluation. Picked up this one last Monday.
jbreef-pink-smoothie.jpg
 
Perry are you still looking for a large gigas? coralb4bills is selling a 10 incher and OT is selling a 20ish? incher, its been there for over a month, its too big for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top