Magic Kiwi's Tank Journal Thread

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by kien

Just got caught up on your build. Looking great!

The 'nem sounds happy! It's a double edged sword with 'nems. They are gorgeous and vicious, both at the same time.

TYVM. That's high praise considering your tank and experience.

The film algae in my tank is starting to collect a bit, which his odd because my test kits are still showing nitrates well under the recommended maximum and phosphates are undetectable. My photo period was pretty long so I've taken a couple hours off to see if that slows down the film algae, although I'm concerned it will also slow down the coraline.

All other tank parameters are right where they should be. pH, temp, salinity, calcium, alk, etc. are right in the green. I'm running cuprisorb as well to take care of any trace copper that may be leeching from the rock/substrate or from the copper pipes in my house.

[kien]

Originally Posted by Magickiwi

TYVM. That's high praise considering your tank and experience.

The film algae in my tank is starting to collect a bit, which his odd because my test kits are still showing nitrates well under the recommended maximum and phosphates are undetectable. My photo period was pretty long so I've taken a couple hours off to see if that slows down the film algae, although I'm concerned it will also slow down the coraline.

All other tank parameters are right where they should be. pH, temp, salinity, calcium, alk, etc. are right in the green. I'm running cuprisorb as well to take care of any trace copper that may be leeching from the rock/substrate or from the copper pipes in my house.

Film algae on the glass or on your rocks? Glass film algae is normal. Just be thankful your tank isn't on the main floor with sunlight hitting it! With my tank in the living room I get crazy film algae growth thanks to the sun

[Dearth]

Originally Posted by kien

Film algae on the glass or on your rocks? Glass film algae is normal. Just be thankful your tank isn't on the main floor with sunlight hitting it! With my tank in the living room I get crazy film algae growth thanks to the sun

Same here with limited space half my 95 gallon gets sun and scraping the glass daily film algae on glass is one of those lil evils we get to live with however if it is on your rock/sand that is a different whole story

[Magickiwi]

Well I added two cleaner shrimp because they are beautiful and because my daughter loves them also added two nudibranchs to help out with the algae. Next additions will be corals and a few astrae snails if I can find any. Golds didn't have a lot in today. Big Al's was very well stocked but those prices...


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[Magickiwi]

Just picked up my brand new Tunze 9016 at the post office. Ordered from J&L as a 9015, looks like they decided to upgrade me to the 9016.

First impressions:
- wow this thing is a lot bigger than I expected
- The water doesn't go very far into the throat of the collection cup which is surprising
- wow this thing is a lot bigger than I expected
- motor is a little bit louder than the eshopps but seems to blend into the sound from the pumps so it's not too bad and I expect it will quiet down a little once it's broken in
- lots of microbubbles at first but within an hour there are almost none

Hopefully this will fix my obsession with microbubbles in my tank.

[Magickiwi]

Added an ozone generator to my Tunze 9016 this weekend. It is a real balancing act getting enough ozone in to affect my ORP reading but not adding so much that it escapes the skimmer/tank. I've read many warnings about ozone in the home and I'm aware that if it's detectable by your sniffer then it's bad.

The effect was amazing though. I would say that overnight my tank started showing signs of improved health. There was an obvious reduction in film algae on my glass and rocks. After my daylight period on Sunday (8 hours) I didn't even have to scrub the glass. My corals are brighter and my anemones are looking much more "perky". The fish seem to be better off too, although I have never had problems with the fish. (aside from a missing Chromis that I later discovered had tried to go for a walk).

My starting ORP was sub-one hundred and I was able to get it up to 192 within two days. Don't know if I'll be able to get it any higher without increasing the amount of ozone I'm generating. Which in turn presents a problem with it leaking from the skimmer/tank. Anyone have experience with a Tunze 9016 and ozone?

[Madreefer]

Hey why'd you decide to run ozone? I dont know of anybody that runs it. Always wondered how and what it does for skimmers to make them work so much better.

[kien]

I'd be interested in this as well. Can't say that I've heard of any reefer running ozone on their tanks.

[Magickiwi]

Originally Posted by Madreefer

Hey why'd you decide to run ozone? I dont know of anybody that runs it. Always wondered how and what it does for skimmers to make them work so much better.

Overnight I had about a 100% increase on what was already collected in my skim cup during the previous week. According to Tunze the ozone helps break down the long protein molecules into ones small enough to be skimmed. Skimmers basically use O2 as an oxidizer in the reaction chamber; with an ozone generator it uses 02 and the MUCH more oxidizing O3.

I decided to run ozone because I added a couple pieces of SPS coral and with my tank being relatively young I want to maximize my chances of the coral surviving. I ran a Coralife Turbo Twist but wasn't getting enough dwell time on the lamp to make any difference because it is inline with my main return pump.

I was dubious about adding it because so many people said you don’t need it if you've got a UV sterilizer or your tank is mature or whatever. It is more complicated to use and there are safety concerns but seeing what an impact it has made in such a short time has convinced me it’s something I want to use. The generator has a built in ORP controller and even with the probe being an extra cost it is still cheaper than many UV sterilizers and uses less electricity.

A good example is that last night before dosing my tank with phytoplankton my ORP value was 192. Immediately after adding the phyto my ORP value decreased to 148. This morning it was 178 and climbing again.

My concerns are mostly around increasing the ORP value of my tank water to a safe and effective level without A) exposing my family or livestock to dangerous levels of ozone and B) slowing down the growth of my coral or coralline.

[Magickiwi]

Well it’s been nearly seven days since the Ozone generator got installed and it has made a huge difference in the health of my tank. My ORP reading went <100 to 250 and holding over the course of the week. I have been slowly increasing the ORP value and so far all my livestock seem to be thriving under the new conditions.

The appearance of my display tank is noticeably improved with far less film algae after my light cycle and my sand bed, which I was having problems with, is MUCH cleaner. I have used my magnetic scrubber twice since installing the Ozone; once the same day and then last night to clean up sporadic algae blooms. My rock is much cleaner as well, which I attributed to my urchin’s appetite and the ozone preventing more algae build up. The tank is much livelier as well which is probably from the decreasing amount of algae and detritus forcing the crabs, snails and other cleaners to venture out for food. I was going to get a tiger cowrie but I don’t think I have enough left on my sand to feed him and the crabs, snails, shrimp, cucumber, conch, sand sifting star, etc.

I honestly didn’t think it would make this much of a difference in my tank since it was in decent shape to begin with and I was using good carbon and Rowaphos in a reactor. I did intend to document some of the changes but decided it would be too embarrassing to highlight the low points of my aquarium to show the progress it has made.

Parameter check shows all the values I’m watching are right in the green.
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: ~0 (It showed color but still didn’t match the low range of the test)
Phosphate: 0 (Colorimeter on the way for a more accurate picture than the Seachem test I’m using)
Copper: 0
pH: 8.18
ORP: 250
Alk: 208
Ca: 421
K: 1300
Mg: ~400 (Red Sea test kit, pretty complicated so I’m not 100% accurate with it yet)

Getting a bit more livestock tonight for the Nano and my main tank: RBTA, Plate Coral, and a bit of cleaning crew refresh.