Murdoch's 160G Tank Build

[Myka]

Ah, ok. I thought you were trying the vodka on a more permanent basis, that's why I suggested you ditch the Zeo. One or the other doesn't really matter, just not both! I've run Zeo and GFO together with no issues, but I understand if you ramp down on the GFO over a few months that the Zeo will work better. I think it's because the PO4 acts as food for certain parts of the Zeo system (that's an educated guess though).

[RedCoralEdmonton]

Good to hear that you have 10 bulbs running now lol.... once you get er all stable again, come to Etown and Ill hook you up with a bunch of free frags to help fill out your tank!

Steve

[doch]

Originally Posted by RedCoralEdmonton

Good to hear that you have 10 bulbs running now lol.... once you get er all stable again, come to Etown and Ill hook you up with a bunch of free frags to help fill out your tank!

Steve

From this super high end sps order that you expect this week? You're the best Steve! ;-)

That wrasse is SO AWESOME, BTW.

[doch]

OK... quick update. After a 3 day bender, my fish are officially off the sauce. No more Vodka for them. For now at least. Zeoliths were rinsed and then soaked for 24 hours... and zeo is now running. Properly. 3h on, 3h off. Proper start up dosage. Proper amount of zeoliths. Sweet.

Anyways, only other thing that I did today is a water test:
Ca 370
kH 8.66 (and dropping)
PO4 0.02
Mg 2300 (no way that I trust this test kit. I hope)

I can't wait until hanna has a nitrate test kit. Why don't they yet? Shouldn't that one have been one of the first?

[RedCoralEdmonton]

oh btw the SPS should be here next week..... but seeing as how you wont make it til november the frags will have plenty of time to encrust up

Steve

[Myka]

Glad to hear the tank is on the mend.

[doch]

Well, here's a little bit of interesting info for you. I came hom etoday and did some testing. Good news! kH of 7.06, and I've started dosing again... this time I'll test daily for a while to see what's happenning. Ca is a little bit high at 500, but judging by the discrepancy between the hanna (~50 high) and the Elos (~50 low), I'm sititng at about 450ppm. Not bad, but I turned the dosing down by 5 minutes per day on the Ca... to be monitored. PO4 is sitting at 0.03 on the hanna... higher than it's been in a week. Still not bad though, and that could easily be an operator error in the testing.

Here's the interesting part. I bought a Sea Chem Mg test kit and tried it out today. I got 1200 mg/L. (Is that the same as PPM, or are my units off?) So, I tried the Elos, and got 2200. WOW. Here's the best part. In the Sea Chem kit, there's a bottle of known test fluid... 1250 mg/L Mg. I tested on the Sea chem and got ~1250. I tested on the Elos, and got 2450. WOW! It seems that my Mg has been low this whole time. I wonder if the whole time in my old tank my Mg was REALLY low? I'd test and it would come out at about 1200-1350 depending on the day. That may explain a few things. How critical is that Mg number?

Anyways... I'm in the clear. Zeo is running, hair algae has been removed as much as possible. Where I didn't remove it, it's receding!!! Whoo! All of my test levels are acceptable, but could use a little bit of tweaking. If I can keep the kH at ~7, drop the Ca to ~400, and get the Mg up a bit, I'm laughing! I figure that I should have her dialed in faily soon.

I also got 11 new frags from Snappy... they are all happy and alive, so that's nice compared to the last batch I had bought (not from Snappy) that I struggled to keep any of them alive (for the record, I do not blame the seller or the frags for that... my tank was in rough shape).

Funny story, one of the frags that I got from Snappy fell off of the plug, but I dropped it in the tank anyways... and then lost it. Literally... couldn't find it anywhere. Searched for an hour. Came home from work 2 days later and it was sitting directly in between 2 of the other frags. WTF!? Am I going crazy, or did that actually just happen...? lol. For the record, I know that it did actually happen, although I may still be crazy! hahaha

And BTW, I like this hobby MUCH more this week than I did the last few. Thanks to those of you who offered support, and advice!

[doch]

Well, it's been a while, and as such things have changed. I'm finally getting around to the not so tank portions of the tank... ie the stand and finishing carpentry. I've also had a little bit of a light upgrade Woohoo! Anyways, I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking.




This one just shows how I'm hiding the piping around the foos ball table. As a bonus, it makes for a nice beer shelf!

And last but not least, the 4 AI Sols!


PS as you can see, it's not complete, but it's coming along.