Turtle's Fairy Tale

Spanky05 · Jul 31, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
Right now my flow is taken care of an Icecap 1K gyre, a Jebao PP8 and SW4. I will eventually replace all of them with different pumps eventually. I need lots more flow for the amount of SPS I plan on keeping. I know I would like a XF250 for the gyre, the two on the back wall I haven't exactly decided on yet.

Thanks for the info. I have a 90 cube I'm in the process of planning out and flow is something I can't make my mind up about.

I won't be doing SPS heavy but I'd much rather have too much flow instead of not enough.

Had considered just a xf250 or a xf250 and MP10 but like to hear from folks who have experience with a cube this size.

Katrina71 · Jul 31, 2018

Hi guys! Been out of the loop for a while. Turtle, I'm sorry I've been MIA.

Katrina71 · Jul 31, 2018

I'm ashamed to say I've got some work to do in my tank. Neglected it a little. I wish we lived closer so it would not be so overwhelming.

SashimiTurtle · Jul 31, 2018

Katrina71 said:
Hi guys! Been out of the loop for a while. Turtle, I'm sorry I've been MIA.

Hey!!!Welcome back

SashimiTurtle · Jul 31, 2018

After thinking about it at work last night, and then sleeping on it today, I've decided how I am going to go about getting rid of my phosphate problem.

LaCl, or lanthinum chloride is a little complicated when it comes to adding it. Most people mix it with RODI and drip it slowly into a small micron bag. The La04P(lanthinum phosphate) gets mostly trapped in the bag, but it also precipitates out as La(CO3)3(lanthinum carbonate). Yep, it eats up your alk. Since my alk is low now already, we dont need to fight ourselves.

GFO scares me, kind of because it's pretty much iron oxide, or rust. Everyone else says to keep rust out, but they put GFO in. The other part is because of how aggressively it removes phosphates. It works, too good.

So, I've decided to remove phosphates with the fuge. Yea I know what you're saying, "Turtle your nitrates are already low, how are you going to lower phosphates with no nitrates? If you feed more you'll just be putting more phosphates in with the nitrates."

Well, I have KNO3(potassium nitrate) on hand, better known as Stump Remover. I got on the planted tank forum and used the calculator to figure out a concentrated solution to raise NO3. 4tbsp in 200ml of RODI gave me a concentrated solution that 1ml of will raise the nitrates of my estimated 100 gallons of water volume, by 0.5ppm. 4tbsp was about as much as I could get to disolve in 200ml of RODI... and I had to heat the water to get it to all disolve.

So what have I done. Well with NO3 at 1ppm, I dosed 2ml of KNO3 solution and turned the fuge light on for 18 hours a day. This should have put me at 2ppm NO3, and given the chaeto enough time and energy to soak up some PO4. I'll test nutrients every few days to make sure I'm heading in the right dirrection, and not going to bottom everything out.

NY_Caveman · Jul 31, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
After thinking about it at work last night, and then sleeping on it today, I've decided how I am going to go about getting rid of my phosphate problem.

LaCl, or lanthinum chloride is a little complicated when it comes to adding it. Most people mix it with RODI and drip it slowly into a small micron bag. The La04P(lanthinum phosphate) gets mostly trapped in the bag, but it also precipitates out as La(CO3)3(lanthinum carbonate). Yep, it eats up your alk. Since my alk is low now already, we dont need to fight ourselves.

GFO scares me, kind of because it's pretty much iron oxide, or rust. Everyone else says to keep rust out, but they put GFO in. The other part is because of how aggressively it removes phosphates. It works, too good.

So, I've decided to remove phosphates with the fuge. Yea I know what you're saying, "Turtle your nitrates are already low, how are you going to lower phosphates with no nitrates? If you feed more you'll just be putting more phosphates in with the nitrates."

Well, I have KNO3(potassium nitrate) on hand, better known as Stump Remover. I got on the planted tank forum and used the calculator to figure out a concentrated solution to raise NO3. 4tbsp in 200ml of RODI gave me a concentrated solution that 1ml of will raise the nitrates of my estimated 100 gallons of water volume, by 0.5ppm. 4tbsp was about as much as I could get to disolve in 200ml of RODI... and I had to heat the water to get it to all disolve.

So what have I done. Well with NO3 at 1ppm, I dosed 2ml of KNO3 solution and turned the fuge light on for 18 hours a day. This should have put me at 2ppm NO3, and given the chaeto enough time and energy to soak up some PO4. I'll test nutrients every few days to make sure I'm heading in the right dirrection, and not going to bottom everything out.

Sounds like a good plan. I am not a fan of GFO either, but I may try some Lanthinum Chloride.

NY_Caveman · Jul 31, 2018

And I just set up my refugium.

najer · Aug 1, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
After thinking about it at work last night, and then sleeping on it today, I've decided how I am going to go about getting rid of my phosphate problem.

LaCl, or lanthinum chloride is a little complicated when it comes to adding it. Most people mix it with RODI and drip it slowly into a small micron bag. The La04P(lanthinum phosphate) gets mostly trapped in the bag, but it also precipitates out as La(CO3)3(lanthinum carbonate). Yep, it eats up your alk. Since my alk is low now already, we dont need to fight ourselves.

GFO scares me, kind of because it's pretty much iron oxide, or rust. Everyone else says to keep rust out, but they put GFO in. The other part is because of how aggressively it removes phosphates. It works, too good.

So, I've decided to remove phosphates with the fuge. Yea I know what you're saying, "Turtle your nitrates are already low, how are you going to lower phosphates with no nitrates? If you feed more you'll just be putting more phosphates in with the nitrates."

Well, I have KNO3(potassium nitrate) on hand, better known as Stump Remover. I got on the planted tank forum and used the calculator to figure out a concentrated solution to raise NO3. 4tbsp in 200ml of RODI gave me a concentrated solution that 1ml of will raise the nitrates of my estimated 100 gallons of water volume, by 0.5ppm. 4tbsp was about as much as I could get to disolve in 200ml of RODI... and I had to heat the water to get it to all disolve.

So what have I done. Well with NO3 at 1ppm, I dosed 2ml of KNO3 solution and turned the fuge light on for 18 hours a day. This should have put me at 2ppm NO3, and given the chaeto enough time and energy to soak up some PO4. I'll test nutrients every few days to make sure I'm heading in the right dirrection, and not going to bottom everything out.

What can I tell you, trust in your fuge BUT it will take time to establish enough to cope, use less "efficient" as in slower acting media, make the changes slowly, don't "panic react".
I designed my tank to be no water changes, didn't / don't see the point, not running a "method", it took nearly 18 months for my refugium to properly sort some sort of balance!
Looking great so far!

Brew12 · Aug 1, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
After thinking about it at work last night, and then sleeping on it today, I've decided how I am going to go about getting rid of my phosphate problem.

LaCl, or lanthinum chloride is a little complicated when it comes to adding it. Most people mix it with RODI and drip it slowly into a small micron bag. The La04P(lanthinum phosphate) gets mostly trapped in the bag, but it also precipitates out as La(CO3)3(lanthinum carbonate). Yep, it eats up your alk. Since my alk is low now already, we dont need to fight ourselves.

GFO scares me, kind of because it's pretty much iron oxide, or rust. Everyone else says to keep rust out, but they put GFO in. The other part is because of how aggressively it removes phosphates. It works, too good.

So, I've decided to remove phosphates with the fuge. Yea I know what you're saying, "Turtle your nitrates are already low, how are you going to lower phosphates with no nitrates? If you feed more you'll just be putting more phosphates in with the nitrates."

Well, I have KNO3(potassium nitrate) on hand, better known as Stump Remover. I got on the planted tank forum and used the calculator to figure out a concentrated solution to raise NO3. 4tbsp in 200ml of RODI gave me a concentrated solution that 1ml of will raise the nitrates of my estimated 100 gallons of water volume, by 0.5ppm. 4tbsp was about as much as I could get to disolve in 200ml of RODI... and I had to heat the water to get it to all disolve.

So what have I done. Well with NO3 at 1ppm, I dosed 2ml of KNO3 solution and turned the fuge light on for 18 hours a day. This should have put me at 2ppm NO3, and given the chaeto enough time and energy to soak up some PO4. I'll test nutrients every few days to make sure I'm heading in the right dirrection, and not going to bottom everything out.

I like the idea! Keep in mind that you may need to add iron supplements for the algae, also.

As for GFO, you are correct, it is rust. However, not all rust is created equally. The ferrus oxide in GFO is a very stable form of rust and wont leach much into the water. I also think people fear rust a little too much. Rust is iron and oxygen. Both are critical to have in a reef tank, not dangerous. The danger in rusting stuff isn't the iron oxide, it is the alloys that get released while the iron rusts. That is the stuff you don't want in your tank.

SashimiTurtle · Aug 1, 2018

najer said:
What can I tell you, trust in your fuge BUT it will take time to establish enough to cope, use less "efficient" as in slower acting media, make the changes slowly, don't "panic react".
I designed my tank to be no water changes, didn't / don't see the point, not running a "method", it took nearly 18 months for my refugium to properly sort some sort of balance!
Looking great so far!

Brew12 said:
I like the idea! Keep in mind that you may need to add iron supplements for the algae, also.

As for GFO, you are correct, it is rust. However, not all rust is created equally. The ferrus oxide in GFO is a very stable form of rust and wont leach much into the water. I also think people fear rust a little too much. Rust is iron and oxygen. Both are critical to have in a reef tank, not dangerous. The danger in rusting stuff isn't the iron oxide, it is the alloys that get released while the iron rusts. That is the stuff you don't want in your tank.

Thanks for the tips guys. I know it'll take some time for the refugium to establish itself as a nutrient reduction workhouse. I'm going to mix up some water on my day off and do my first WC since setting up. Its been four weeks now, probably a good idea since the fuge isn't fully in gear yet.

SashimiTurtle · Aug 1, 2018

My leopard wrasse came out today. She burried herself for about four days, but when I woke up I saw she was out. I immediately thawed out some LRS and fed everyone. She was right in with everyone and got plenty of food. She's cruising the tank swimming in and out of the rocks and socializing with the other fish. Absolutely no agression towards her.

Everyone, meet Cleopatra

Brew12 · Aug 1, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
Thanks for the tips guys. I know it'll take some time for the refugium to establish itself as a nutrient reduction workhouse. I'm going to mix up some water on my day off and do my first WC since setting up. Its been four weeks now, probably a good idea since the fuge isn't fully in gear yet.

You have a good grow light. I think it will work very quickly but may take dosing a lot of stump remover and iron supplementation. That is why I opted to go for using GFO to drop the extra PO4. Seems like less work!

Brew12 · Aug 1, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
My leopard wrasse came out today. She burried herself for about four days, but when I woke up I saw she was out. I immediately thawed out some LRS and fed everyone. She was right in with everyone and got plenty of food. She's cruising the tank swimming in and out of the rocks and socializing with the other fish. Absolutely no agression towards her.

Everyone, meet Cleopatra

;Drool

Remind me why I got a 6-line again?

;Blackeye

mta_morrow · Aug 1, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
My leopard wrasse came out today. She burried herself for about four days, but when I woke up I saw she was out. I immediately thawed out some LRS and fed everyone. She was right in with everyone and got plenty of food. She's cruising the tank swimming in and out of the rocks and socializing with the other fish. Absolutely no agression towards her.

Everyone, meet Cleopatra

BEAUTIFUL FISH! Congrats!

najer · Aug 1, 2018

Robin Haselden said:
My leopard wrasse came out today. She burried herself for about four days, but when I woke up I saw she was out. I immediately thawed out some LRS and fed everyone. She was right in with everyone and got plenty of food. She's cruising the tank swimming in and out of the rocks and socializing with the other fish. Absolutely no agression towards her.

Everyone, meet Cleopatra

She is gorgeous!