Reef #2 - The Unplanned Upgrade (1 Viewer)

[Varig]

Okay, it's been a week so I figured update time on the CO2 action. Short answer, it's going very well. I've seen my average pH raise from ~7.75 to 8.05 or so, peaks from 7.9 to 8.1. So overall maybe that 0.2 - 0.3 lift in pH that I've heard is pretty typical with a CO2 scrubber. Here is the data:



One interesting note is that I noticed an immediate, inverse relationship with the alkalinity as tested 2x times per day with my KHD.



The alk had been very stable for quite a few weeks in the ~8.3 dkH range (I target 8.5), but as soon as the pH started coming up the alk started dropping. To the point that 4-5 days in you saw a BIG drop. I upped my kalkwasser dosing after a day of making sure that the drop was real (the KHD automatically increased the dose to compensate for the drop, but it didn't up it enough to actually regain what was lost). I upped the dose several times and still didn't see much of a response. Then all of a sudden it seemed to kick in. I wasn't super happy with that 7.8 to 8.5 increase in a day, but hopefully it wasn't too big too fast (since it was dosed over 12 hours) to the point that it would impact the corals. Anyway, I may need to keep tweaking but you can see I have gotten it stabilized around 8.4 now, so I'm going to leave it for a few days. Interestingly, my steady state dose to maintain this alk level though has gone up by 35%!! I guess I hope that means between the coral and the coralline algae we're seeing a substantial boost in growth rate? I guess time will tell. Regardless, I'm really happy with it.

Oh, and for data completeness, here is the CO2 levels right beside the tank over a similar period:



You can see the average is around 730ppm. It's crazy how much the levels drop when I'm at work and the kids are in school (only leaving 2 people at home) or on Sunday when we all go to church. AND how much they raise when I'm working by the tank (weekly testing/maintenance etc.).

Regardless, now that I have a decent map of that tank I just recalibrated the monitor and placed it near my DT to see what the levels are over there.

Speaking of the DT, not a whole lot to say. I'm definitely seeing some green on the rocks, but it remains more of a hard crust of green, not turning into GHA. So....good? I see the urchins, snails, and even my Starry Blenny going to down on them, so hopefully we keep it at bay. The sand has a little dusting of brown now as well. My strawberry conch buried himself after the move and I haven't seen him for awhile. He did this in my old tank as well, so hopefully he'll settle in soon and get back up on the surface and start getting his work done.

Quick update on the ATS, it really seems to be doing a great job. I decided to clean it during my weekly maintenance and it had collected a lot of algae:



I cleaned it off, but I'm not sure if I did it right. It sort of all pulled right off the screen, almost like there was a slime layer that prevented it from being attached well. I "thought" I had seen that it was actually really difficult to clean, so I wasn't expecting it to come off in one big sheet. So hopefully I didn't just "reset" the process since there wasn't much left. @jlanger - Thoughts on whether I did it wrong? Should I have maybe only cleaned one side at a time? Hopefully I didn't screw it up too badly.

I also was in cabinet building mode this weekend (building some bookshelves for our living room). So while all the tools were out I finally built the cover for the stand to block the light spill:



Obviously it needs to be painted, but I like how it turned out. Since this one was a little taller than my previous tank (light is higher), I actually put in doors to make feeding etc. easier:



My buddy convinced me that lift up doors might be nicer than open left/right doors. I agreed, but now I'm not as sure. The hinges I have don't have strong enough springs to hold the door up (maybe I can but some stronger ones). And in terms of maintenance it might be nicer if they were just out of the way. Meh, I'll change it if I hate it. But the entire thing doesn't weigh that much and it just sits on the metal rim of the tank. So when I'm doing serious maintenance I'll just remove the entire works. But this way at least I can lift the lid for feeding.

I think that's about it. I did notice my Duncan looking SUPER unhappy today, not sure what's up with that. It's been really open and thriving (or so I thought) since I put it in the tank. I tested all the parameters on Friday and things are in the normal range. I thought once I noticed it sort of retracted a day after it took in a lot of food (maybe that's the way it digests?), and that in a few days it was open and back to normal. So I'm not going to get too worried yet. But if it's not open in a few days I might be looking for some advice.

Onward and upward. I still haven't gotten around to getting the darn autofeeder on the tank. The replacement part came today, so maybe by next weekend. But it's not looking good. We're getting carpet replaced in our living room on Thursday and I need to get the entire room painted before then. So that will probably be my evenings this week. Hooray.....I hate painting.

Anyway, be well reef nerds!

 

[Fishfoo]

I think that’s exactly what’s happening, the increase in ph is leading to an increase in alk consumption. Cool to see

I have a conch as well and he only seems to move around at night due to the fish likely trying to pick at him during the day time. Could just be shy after the move though as you said.

Great looking light cover/hood!

 

[spsick]

Canopy looks good! What is that joinery on the door? Mortise and tenon but lengthwise??

I’m surprised you’re running the ATS already. I thought you needed…food to feed it. How many fish are in the tank now?

 

[Varig]

Yes, the doors are Mortis and tenon . I tried to keep the doors running the same direction as the lower doors. Namely, that the end pieces were the full length vertically. Hopefully it looks OK once it’s painted.

In terms of the scrubber, I guess there must be nutrients in my water? When I’m testing weekly, I’ve been averaging about 6 to 8 ppm nitrate and 0.03 to 0.06 phosphate I have six small fish from the previous tank in there. I’m obviously keeping a close eye to make sure that I don’t bottom out the nutrients with the scrubber, but with the way I’ve been feeding plus the scrubber trying to establish itself the nutrients have seemed fairly stable.

That doesn’t mean I’m not doing it wrong . That’s why I try to be pretty open and honest here. If the experts say I should turn it off, I definitely will.

 

[spsick]

Oh got it sounds like you’ve got it dialed in then carry on! I missed the part that you’ve got all the fish in there!

Did you use some jig on those joints? My cabinet doors always twist a little but I just glue them flat faced. I wonder if a slot would keep them more square.

 

[Varig]

Wooops, sorry Ben, missed your last message. I used a 1/4” of Dato blade set to 1/4” deep. Ran the grove down the length of all the pieces. Then took the horizontal pieces and laid on their side and cut the tenon from top and bottom. If that makes sense? I technically dropped the blade a little to make sure the tenon was larger than the mortise, then snuck up on it until it was a nice, tight fit. Glue and clamp. So far the seem pretty straight. Fingers crossed.

In terms of updates, I’ll post this for myself as much as anything so I maybe don’t get worried next time . My Duncan seems to be opening up and happy again. I didn’t change anything, so maybe it was just digesting or something. In total it was mad for 3-4 days. First day looks wilty. Second day pretty closed up. Third day pretty closed up. Fourth day maybe 1/2 open. 5th day basically fully open. *shrug

In other news, I was up in Alexandria and on my way home stopped at a guys house in St Joseph to get more coral. I got a green hirsuta monti (hadn’t seen that before I saw his post on FB, seems pretty cool), a WWC Ninja turtle acro, and a RR Aussie gold tort. I’m seeing decent PE from the ninja turtle but not much from the Aussie so far. I’ll keep an eye and move it I guess if it doesn’t seem happy.



One of these Alexandria trips I’ll have to make a point to stop to see our friend @Jposch

 

[Jposch]

Wooops, sorry Ben, missed your last message. I used a 1/4” of Dato blade set to 1/4” deep. Ran the grove down the length of all the pieces. Then took the horizontal pieces and laid on their side and cut the tenon from top and bottom. If that makes sense? I technically dropped the blade a little to make sure the tenon was larger than the mortise, then snuck up on it until it was a nice, tight fit. Glue and clamp. So far the seem pretty straight. Fingers crossed.

In terms of updates, I’ll post this for myself as much as anything so I maybe don’t get worried next time . My Duncan seems to be opening up and happy again. I didn’t change anything, so maybe it was just digesting or something. In total it was mad for 3-4 days. First day looks wilty. Second day pretty closed up. Third day pretty closed up. Fourth day maybe 1/2 open. 5th day basically fully open. *shrug

In other news, I was up in Alexandria and on my way home stopped at a guys house in St Joseph to get more coral. I got a green hirsuta monti (hadn’t seen that before I saw his post on FB, seems pretty cool), a WWC Ninja turtle acro, and a RR Aussie gold tort. I’m seeing decent PE from the ninja turtle but not much from the Aussie so far. I’ll keep an eye and move it I guess if it doesn’t seem happy.

View attachment 65540View attachment 65541View attachment 65542

One of these Alexandria trips I’ll have to make a point to stop to see our friend @Jposch

@triggerfishfan left the other day with much more than he intended on. Ha.
I'll probably make the show this spring, and I'll be pricing things much lower than before. I should be at around 1,000gallon (84sqft of rack space) by the end of summer. That'll be the max will room to work. Lol

 

[Varig]

Sounds fantastic. I’ve meant to message you several times since I seem to be up in Alexandria every week or two. And it’s just never worked out because I’ve had someone in the car with me for a carpool or otherwise. One of these days though

 

[Varig]

I had a bit of a “scare” on Thursday night. I turned all the pumps off to spot feed a couple corals. I have the ato set to a 3 minute delay once the pumps are on to let sump levels reestablish etc. I had walked upstairs but when I came back the ato alarm was on. The water level had increased to the secondary float (Tunze). I didn’t know what the heck could have happened, the only thing logical to me is that the ato stuck on? To test this theory I removed water to get the levels back to normal, it was about 5 quarts. I tested the salinity and it had dropped to around 34-34.5ppt. According to math, for my 62 gallon tank at 35ppt, it would take about 5 qts to drop it to 34.3ppt. So I’m 90% sure that was the issue. I cleaned the sensor and it all seems to be working. I added the water back in over 2 days and let it evaporate back up. Today I checked and all water levels are totally normal and it’s back to 35ppt.

Has anyone had this happen with the optical sensor on their Tunze? The problem I used to have was kalkwasser film would build up and it would not turn on, so water level would drop. I don’t remember it ever sticking on. Thoughts on other things I can/should check?

No real other updates at the moment. I will just give photo evidence that the Duncan is happy:



And I FINALLY have proof of life on my strawberry conch. I don’t think I’ve seen him out since I added him to the tank on Dec 22. Silly bugger.

 

[spsick]

Looking good!

I’ve never had anything like that happen with my Osmolator. I hear some people report if they don’t clean the optical sensor frequently that over or under fills can happen. Probably moreso depending on sensor placement in proximity to Kalk or alk dosing.

If you look in the Tunze forum on R2R you can prob find Roger’s recommendation on cleaning frequency. Maybe do it as often as you clean your skimmer cup?

 

[reef junkie]

Ive only seen them not turn on due to a dirty sensor. Like it sensing the dirt film is the water level and does not turn on. Glad you caught it quick though with no harm.

 

[Varig]

Right. Weird. But I don’t know what else could have changed the water volume by 5 qts, dropped the salinity, etc. Anyway, probably a good suggestion Ben. In my old tank I was dosing kalk 2” from the sensor, so it made sense to me that it might get fouled. I actually haven’t hooked up the kalk yet (just hand dosing 2 part), so I don’t think it’s that. Who knows. More frequent cleaning is likely to happen moving forward.

Glad for the secondary sensor. That being said, I’m debating also getting a ghl level sensor and tying it to the ato outlet. And just shutting off the ato anytime that gets activated. Double protection. We’ll see.

In terms of “looking good,” I’ve definitely got a healthy green layer on the rocks. It’s not growing into hair though as mentioned before. It just stays as a hard green crust. I assume this is just ugly stage. There is also a dusting of green/brown on the sand in some spots. If it stays for more than a week or 2 I’ll be checking for Dino’s. I’m not worried yet as I know uglies and diatom blooms happen. But I’m not going to wait 6 months like last time, assuming it was the uglies while the Dino’s took a strong hold

 

[BlindSwordsman]

Has anyone had this happen with the optical sensor on their Tunze? The problem I used to have was kalkwasser film would build up and it would not turn on, so water level would drop. I don’t remember it ever sticking on. Thoughts on other things I can/should check?

Yes, I had Tunz before. I marked where the water level should be at. It might occasionally overfill, dump the whole bucket of fresh water in, then screamed. Worse, it overflowed. I guess it can be worse if you dose kalk there. It can only make the sensor worse with calcium buildup.

I have a different sort of ATO system now. It's cheaper and not much better. If the sensor is aligned slightly off to its liking, it will keep overfilling, stop, then scream. It works in a sense, just keeps slightly overfilling. I just removed the little 'speaker' to mute it .. Another issue I currently have is, when the pump stops pumping, but I think due to pressure in the freshwater bucket, the water keeps on dripping, not get cut off completely, so it overfills, then the alarm goes off. It might not be your case, but just something that could happen. ... I'd say it's the pain of having things automated and relying on technology .

 

[spsick]

David, I found this pdf from Roger on Osmolator overfills that may be helpful.

 

[Varig]

Thanks guys. That pdf is helpful Ben. My ato reservoir was actually pretty low, so it was 100% not a siphon. But I will do those instructions today on checking the self diagnostic light. Maybe it will indicate a weak sensor.

Again, I’m glad the Tunze has the secondary backup sensor.

 

[spsick]

Thanks guys. That pdf is helpful Ben. My ato reservoir was actually pretty low, so it was 100% not a siphon. But I will do those instructions today on checking the self diagnostic light. Maybe it will indicate a weak sensor.

Again, I’m glad the Tunze has the secondary backup sensor.

For sure. I also saw in the thread that they do sensor replacements if the optical sensor is bad for $29, but you have to send in your unit as it needs to be calibrated.

 

[Varig]

A great option pending the outcome of the diagnostic test. I will say I’m a bit surprised it has to be calibrated. I wonder what gets calibrated. Oh well, $29, is pretty inexpensive all things considered.

 

[spsick]

A great option pending the outcome of the diagnostic test. I will say I’m a bit surprised it has to be calibrated. I wonder what gets calibrated. Oh well, $29, is pretty inexpensive all things considered.

FWIW I’ve never heard of one going bad, and there was only a handful of people in the thread that went back 3 years.

 

[Varig]

I did read another post where a bunch of people were asking Roger if they could send their controller in. It wasn’t clear if it was the same failure mode or not. I’m not actually too worried about it at this point. I was lazy when I cleaned it between tanks and I only scrubbed it with RODI. I’m going to pull it and soak in some citric. Then we’ll start the test and see if there are any issues.

 

[reef junkie]

Ive sent mine in to Rodger for failures for different reason. Super easy process and he is awesome to work with for future reference if you’ve never done it.