Durand tank build (1 Viewer)

[Fishfoo]

I recalibrated when I set them up for this task as well as a day or so later to dble check. Always nervous about over dosing after I did that with the chaeto grow.

I was thinking maybe the kalk reactor was mixing better. Less settling or full saturation for longer. Never thought about the corals could be absorbing less dkh with the more doses.

Oh true, I always keep my kalk stirrer running fwiw. I know some people like to turn it on only when dosing or a bit before. Have no clue if one is any better than the other aside from possibly motor longevity.

 

[reef junkie]

Oh true, I always keep my kalk stirrer running fwiw. I know some people like to turn it on only when dosing or a bit before. Have no clue if one is any better than the other aside from possibly motor longevity.

I also let the stirrer run 24/7. The motor i have is on year 7. lol. The doser im using I think pushes water pretty fast into the stirrer and this stirs up the kalk powder pretty good. This I’m thinking now going 48 times keeps that solution mixing more. The stirrer for me at least doesn’t seem to mix the slurry enough. You have those stir sticks added to yours still?

 

[Fishfoo]

Ahhh ok that makes sense. Kinda nice in that regard. Also good to hear that the motor is holding up well.

 

[reef junkie]

I’ve been monitoring my ph for a few weeks now watching as I change little things and then wait and see. I decided that maybe introducing fresh air from just in the stand into the skimmer by removing a plug was a good test. What i saw was my ph went up


Before the fresh air


After fresh air


I liked what I was seeing. But wanted to keep investigating. So I went and added that second doser to the kalk stirrer. This is the last spike in the pic above. Now I’m starting to get excited lol. After letting that run I started to notice something new.

My ph started dropping again. But this time I’m able to clearly see why. Kalk saturation is dropping earlier then then expected. I’m only getting about 11-12 days of full saturation. This explains my up and downs on my kalk readings. If I can keep that saturation up with adding in more kalk powder bi weekly or I might have to go to weekly. But my intent will be to be able to go 2 weeks min. Plus is a bonus. This should help level out my Alk and be more stable. I notice I get die off on my acros every time that alk starts bouncing around again. They really like that stability.

Had to share. Gonna need another hair cut.

 

[Fishfoo]

very cool to see! I should probably start keeping track of my kalk saturation levels as well. I usually just throw a cup or two in there and then call it good for a while which probably isn’t the best

 

[reef junkie]

very cool to see! I should probably start keeping track of my kalk saturation levels as well. I usually just throw a cup or two in there and then call it good for a while which probably isn’t the best

I sort of ran like that. 1/2 cup every two weeks is what is called out on avast calculator for my dose. But this seems to fizzle out at that 11-12 day mark. I’m definitely seeing a bigger boost and less drop now than I was.

I only started watching kalk because I’ve been chasing ph for a long time now unsuccessfully lol. With all the changes I keep making or have made over the year I still don’t have a handle on it. But I can clearly see a pattern now that I’m doing a better job watching and hope that the changes I’ve made only benefit. Skimmer is working better with the added fresh air. This skimmer I’m running (reef octopus 110) is probably on the small side of what I should be running especially with the co2 scrubber choking it a bit. But I think thinning out the fish herd is in the future plan and well that should help with that as well.

 

[reef junkie]

Just updating the thread.

Added chaeto gro back online as my fuge does not seem to be growing despite nutrients being elevated. Current dose 2ml per day. I’m hoping it’s an iron thing being low. And this will help. Or can’t make it worse as long as I don’t over dose

Alk. Sort of all over. Was high 2 weeks ago at 10dkh. Last week it went down after lowering all for reef from 75ml per day to 70ml to 7.5 Adding in that 2nd doser and then testing Alk this morning. low 4’s Topped off the klak reactor so will wait a few days and check again. The good is corals don’t seem to show the low alk yet.

Truly hope I can get a grip on this tank again. Think I’m playing on a roller coaster. As soon as the nutrients get in control alk drops. As soon as i get alk under control no3 or po4 skyrocket. It’s got to be the colonies sucking things up. And then not when they become annoyed. Lol.

 

[Bschowa]

That is a crazy alk swing, have you confirmed your test kits are accurate before making changes?

 

[reef junkie]

That is a crazy alk swing, have you confirmed your test kits are accurate before making changes?

unfortunately yes,

 

[reef junkie]

When videoing my avast kalk stirrer today (getting some help from avast). Noticed air in the all for reef dosing line. Well shortly after testing the kalk stirrer a week ago or so I had mixed up new all for reef and swapped out my container. The line that goes into the vat was sucking in air and no mix was being dosed. That sure would cause the alk to drop . Back up and running properly now but man come on lol. I seem to be my own worst enemy lol. Hopefully I’ll see some better result over the week.

After talking to avast today they said i need to add more kalk powder to my reactor when filling. The kalkulator does say 1/2 cup every 2 weeks but the calculation is off and I actually need about 2 tablespoon more every 2 weeks. Going to try it this weekend when I’m do to top it off and maybe that’s all it is. I’ve considered just dumping a bunch in and run it until I see ph drop, honestly this might be better for me as some I’ve talked to just do that and are fine.

 

[Fishfoo]

When videoing my avast kalk stirrer today (getting some help from avast). Noticed air in the all for reef dosing line. Well shortly after testing the kalk stirrer a week ago or so I had mixed up new all for reef and swapped out my container. The line that goes into the vat was sucking in air and no mix was being dosed. That sure would cause the alk to drop . Back up and running properly now but man come on lol. I seem to be my own worst enemy lol. Hopefully I’ll see some better result over the week.

After talking to avast today they said i need to add more kalk powder to my reactor when filling. The kalkulator does say 1/2 cup every 2 weeks but the calculation is off and I actually need about 2 tablespoon more every 2 weeks. Going to try it this weekend when I’m do to top it off and maybe that’s all it is. I’ve considered just dumping a bunch in and run it until I see ph drop, honestly this might be better for me as some I’ve talked to just do that and are fine.

I do this as well. However I use a salinity probe for mine.

 

[reef junkie]

I do this as well. However I use a salinity probe for mine.

Well that is interesting. The salinity probe works well for watching for the saturation to drop? I’m assuming you’re not really calibrating it just mostly watching for changes??

 

[Fishfoo]

Well that is interesting. The salinity probe works well for watching for the saturation to drop? I’m assuming you’re not really calibrating it just mostly watching for changes??

Yeah some people say it tracks it better than a ph probe, but to be honest I'm just using it cuz I had one on hand.

I basically wait for it to get below a certain number, then either add more or clean it and refill.

 

[reef junkie]

Yeah some people say it tracks it better than a ph probe, but to be honest I'm just using it cuz I had one on hand.

I basically wait for it to get below a certain number, then either add more or clean it and refill.

Picked up a salinity prob. I just plugged it in and stuck it in the reactor. I read 4.9. Is there any trick for calibrating for kalk. Or just read it as it is and watch the trend?

 

[Fishfoo]

I have the units set to mS/cm on my hydros and forget what it was set to when using the Profilux. But essentially I just see what it's at with a fresh batch of kalk in the stirrer (6.4 for me but don't worry too much about the number vs trend) and then I change is or refill when it gets to 6.25.

Now is this right or does this even make logical sense? No clue, but seems to work ok for me

 

[reef junkie]

Some fun shots from yesterday.


New semi custom tank from figi cube. Well packaged. It’s the standard shallow 76 gallon drilled peninsula style.


150 gal holding tank for temp housing.


Only broke a few corals during the move.
Skimmer went crazy until about 2am.

Opening up the crate.



Hope to have it filled with fresh water for a tank leak test today, grab a few plumbing fittings from big box store or BRS, and hopefully be back up and running Saturday.

Here she sits now eagerly awaiting the drill bit to Swiss cheese up the stand for the new plumbing line layout.

 

[Jjdurrant]

YES! Looking forward to this build. Text me if you need any help still.

 

[reef junkie]

Started st 2am and just finished now. Man so much work and still tons to do. But it’s up and running. Will finish the rest over the next day or so.
Time for some pics

 

[spsick]

Wow great work! What a man won’t do for a couple extra inches!

 

[reef junkie]

Figured I’d update small victory. After 3 years one of my anthias is finally changing colors to male . One grew the large dorso fin right away but never changed colors. Of course this happens as I’m ready to disassemble the tank