cpeguero

Cool. Thanks for the info. I do want to add some other small fish and cleaner shrimp, but since the tank is pretty well fed, I may go ahead with it. I also have a couple of biota mandarins (which I haven’t seen for a while, though not that surprised) that are tiny. I expect I’ll see them more when they’ve grown a bit, so perhaps I’ll wait until they’re a bit bigger before adding the betta.

How has your experience been with the marine betta? Been contemplating adding one eventually, but worried about it with inverts and smaller fish.

Definitely interesting results. Metasorb is another product that absorbs heavy metals (just used it to try to get rid of excess aluminum in my frag tank), but of the cuprisorb will get the tin, use that. would be worth taking a good look at all your equipment to see if there’s any corrosion or other exposed metal. Basically eliminate the potential sources you can directly investigate. Once you’ve done that, and used the cuprisorb, I’d do another ICP test to confirm tin is gone. After a few more weeks, do another to confirm there isn’t still a source of tin. If there is, then going down the list of things to fix, in order of increasing work/expense, run an icp on your source water (though I think you may have done this) both tap and ro/di; you could replace the flexible tubing with another material or switch to pvc, and then, the ultimate is to upgrade your tank…… I’d be surprised if the tank glass is truly the source. I would think that any residual tin would get rinsed off fairly easily.

The melanurus may get a bit large for the 40. Not sure if others have inputs on that. Also, the six line wrasses are often bullies. YMMV, but have heard plenty of stories of six lines getting mean.

If the pvc isn’t glued into the bulkhead where it comes out of the tank, I’m surprised. I’ve had the internal riser not glued in, but any connection that is supposed to be watertight should be glued. i agree that it doesn’t seem like the source, if the water is dripping from where the bulkhead comes through the glass, but I’ve had enough mistakes with things temporarily fit together coming apart that I wouldnt trust any connection that needs to be watertight if it wasn’t glued.

There’s nothing thing to tighten on the inside. The nut you see on the outside is what you tighten. Hold on to the threads that stick out u see the tank as you tighten to keep it from rotating, though it likely won’t be an issue as you tighten it. see image below - haven’t always seen a friction washer as in the image, but the rest should give you an idea of how it works. The “body” is what sits inside and sticks out through the hole in the tank.

Also, in case you’re having a tough time getting a grip on the nut, a pair of oil filter pliers works well - just found them in Home Depot this weekend. You do still need to be careful not to over tighten, but can make it easier to grip. if you end up having to redo the bulkhead, I highly recommend a layer of molykote on the gasket. I put it on every o-ring or gasket now, as it helps it get a good seal.

Really glad to hear things are moving in the right direction! I would recommend holding off on the phyto dosing until you get things steadied for a week or two. There are so many factors at play in our reefs that rapidly changing and adding new things can complicate the outcome. Definitely dose the nitrate to keep it from bottoming out, and since you can directly measure it’s impact. At least that’s my take. Others might have some insights based on more experience. @ReefdUp

Those parameters look a lot better. Good job! I hope the chemiclean works for you. I think I used it once, years ago. Went ok for me. Have you sent in an ICP test?

I find I'm more like Marc - I just love the hobby and couldn't imagine not doing this (19 years since my first reef tank, wow!), so I'm just hooked. I think the difficulty in finding sound, consistent advice to be the most frustrating. I think Ryan from BRS had some of the best advice I've heard for newcomers to the hobby - pick one person and follow their advice. Reef systems can be so biologically/chemically complex, that when you pick and choose from multiple sources (and when many are of unknown validity online) you can quickly find competing advice and end up in a more challenging and frustrating situation. Having been around a while, I know there are certain sources I will go to for advice, and other sources I will treat with more skepticism. For someone starting out, it's really hard to choose. I've often just pointed newcomers to the videos BRS puts together. I don't always fully agree with their choices, but I do believe Ryan is driven by a desire to help more people be successful, so his advice will have a high likelihood of helping newcomers. Perhaps one thing the club could do to help newcomers is compile a few sites/sources that are good references and put them on a sticky? BRS, Melev's Reef, Wetwebmedia, Humble Fish, I know there are others I'm missing. Maybe categorize them?

It's almost exactly a year since my last post here..... so I'll do another Resolved the heater issue by splitting return onto a second powerbar that I got for a great price. Also, I don't know that the heaters have run in the past year. There's enough residual heat from equipment, plus I keep the house at 74 year round (fish tank is a great excuse for this), so the thing that runs often is my fan for evaporative cooling. The ATO I switched over to just a float switch after an asterina star crawled onto the optical sensor and messed up either a water change or the ATO (can't remember which). I'm also just using the GHL float switch, since it came with the used powerbar and I don't have to keep troubleshooting the DIY circuit.... After battling GHA for a while, I finally hit it with flucanazole and watched it all melt away! I've finally got the nutrients under control. Phosphate is at 0.11 ppm and Nitrate is at 10.2 (recently spiked). Things in the tank are looking better after also adding a couple of MP40s for flow. See my DIY post on getting a flowmeter and learning my flow from the return is much lower than I thought. Plus, cyano has been a bit of an issue, partly nutrients, partly likely due to flow. My rabbitfish unfortunately died of unknown causes. Similar to something that killed a melanurus wrasse a while ago. He was just really weak and kept getting sucked against the overflow. He died about a day after going into QT :(. I haven't replaced him yet, but I have added a blue throat sailfin fairy wrasse, a carpenter's flasher wrasse, two biota mandarins (who I haven't seen for a while, but are tiny and great at hiding), a neon goby, a yellow line goby, a flame angel, and a blue star leopard wrasse. Not all of these at once, two or four at a time. Everyone is largely getting along, but my convict tang is getting beaten up more in the last month or so. Not sure what's going on there, but I'm keeping an eye on things. If it becomes too regular, I may have to do something, though he seems to usually be the instigator, and comes away with a slash and some torn fins.... Not much new in corals, as I've been fighting getting nutrients under control in my coral QT. Finally getting dialed in, but it also didn't help that the BTA I put in to QT decided to walk the first night and meet the MP10....... I'm really looking forward to GHL finally sorting out their supply chain so I can order an Ion Director. Also considering getting a Reef Factory Smart Tester to test phopshate, once it's available in the states. All in all, the tank is going in a good direction, and I'm feeling optimistic about getting more corals in. Plus, one of the corals I thought long dead appears to be back!

Since I'm a bit of a data nerd and a scientist/engineer, I decided I wanted to measure the flowrate of my return pump to my display. I have a 260 gallon display, plumbed to my basement fish room that is also at the other end of the house. Vertical run is about 10 feet, horizontal is 40-50 feet, with a couple of twists and turns along the way. I run a Reeflo Hammerhead Gold, which, based on some back of the envelop calculations, (both assuming head and doing a quick stopwatch and watching it fill my tank) was giving me about 1500 gph. I figured measuring the flow could help me decide when it was time to service my return pump, or give me warning that something was wrong. Based on my assumed flowrate, I needed the highest range flowmeter GHL makes, 9000 L/hr. So, I get the flowmeter, and (as I knew before), it's a smaller diameter than my return piping. I run 1.5 inch return pipe, the ID of the flowmeter is about 1 inch. Now, I also happen to have studied fluid mechanics in school (and still do this for a living), so I know reducing my pipe diameter is not good. I though, perhaps, the GHL folks had done some work and found that a reduction like this for a small bit wouldn't have a big impact on flowrate...... Well, trust but verify, right? I set up my own flow loop with my backup pump and confirmed, as supsected, reducing to 1 inch diameter even for a small bit severely reduced the flowrate. Set aside some time to be irritated with the GHL folks (who's running that high a flow through 1 inch pipe?). Now, I have a few options: 1 - run this in "bypass" mode, to minimize impact of reduction in flow. This requires a lot more plumbing and reduced probability of success; 2 - buy a second one and install both on my return after it splits at the DT into 2x 1 inch diameter pipes; 3 - find a 3rd party solution and make it feed into the Profilux. I chose option 3 for various reasons, primarily because I found an ultrasonic flowmeter for about the same price as the inline flowmeter from GHL. Bonus: I don't have to do any plumbing mods to use it. Got the flowmeter (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0BM4H9NPM/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and ran it on my test flow loop to confirm I could configure it and get the same reading as the GHL flowmeter - success! Now comes the fun part - how do I make the 3rd party flowmeter feed a signal into the Profilux that will register as their own flowmeter? I figured they wouldn't just tell me how to do it, so I decided to figure it out for myself. The GHL flowmeter hooks up to a 6-pin connector, whose pinout is available. Each 6-pin can connect to 2 level sensors or flow sensors. So 3 pins total used for a single flowmeter - 12 VDC, Level, and Ground. I found the likely OEM for the flowmeter, and looked at the output. Turns out the number of pins on the GHL-branded meter is different than the specs on the OEM.... I assumed they would at least keep the same signal output - OEM states 4-20 mA output. Great! The ultrasonic flowmeter has the same output. So, I try to hook up that output and..... nothing. No registered flow on the Profilux..... Next step, see if I can probe the output from the flowmeter and figure out the signal. Luckily, a friend of mine is an Electrical Engineer, and had an oscilloscope I could borrow. We figured out that it's some sort of pulse, and through much trial and error, figured out all the flowmeter is doing is flipping a switch on then off once a certain amount of flow passes through the pipe. Big clue was the calibration factor in the Profilux software is in mL/pulse, but still took some tinkering to figure out it was that straightforward. Now, how do I turn the 4-20mA signal from the 3rd party flowmeter into a pulse? Convert the current signal to a voltage (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07MYXVDDX?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) (you can also do this with just some resistors, but since the output is 4 mA at 0 flow, you end up with a 2 volt output at 0 flow, which you can't zero out in the software). Great, now, turn that voltage into a frequency output (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XZY3B6D?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details). Hooked this up, thought I'd be great, but.... still nothing on the Profilux. Eventually, I figured out that it was switching too fast. The max frequency from the GHL flowmeter was around 1 kHz. So I needed a prescaler/frequency divider (https://www.ebay.com/itm/154654108784). I also got some solid state relays to make sure the relay could switch fast enough (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZHC5M7H?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details) and needed to power the prescaler (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YXN8J6R?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details&th=1). Some of the other items needed DC power, which was supplied by the flowmeter internal wiring (it has 28? volt DC inside the control box). Finally, I had everything together, and it works! To sum up, I'm taking the output from the flowmeter, which is 4-20 mA, converting it to a 0-10 Volt DC signal, converting the voltage output to a 0-10 kHz frequency signal, which is divided by 10 with the prescale, to produce a frequency output 0-1kHz. This is used to switch the solid state relay. That relay shorts between the 12 VDC pin and the Level pin. Each "pulse" registers in the Profilux, and I just needed to calibrate the input to know how many milliliters per pulse! Luckily, the ultrasonic flowmeter has a "virtual" mode, which simulates the output for whatever flow I put in. So I was able to quickly calibrate it, input that calibration into the Profilux, and viola! I now get my flowrate read into my Profilux. I figured I'd document all this here to save someone else the 2+ months (on the weekends and in between) that I spent figuring this out! Also, I learned that my actual flowrate is about half what I thought it was - around 760-800 gallons per hour! I was counting on this to be a significant part of my flow in the tank, so I added a couple of MP40s to up the flow in the tank. I hope someone finds this helpful. I certainly felt great finally figuring this out!

I totally understand the frustration and need to act more quickly. I would recommend against dosing the phytoplankton right now, unless it’s somehow helping you get rid of cyano. It’s just adding more nutrients to your system, and perturbing it when you’re trying to get things stabilized. Also, I’d recommend doing the icp test, just to check for othet possible contributors.

I don't think changing your salt "suddenly" would be a problem. I'd honestly just stop using the current salt and pick a different one with parameters that line up with reef tank targets. Why do you not want to use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals? I know many folks use it with success - perhaps I'm missing something as I don't use it myself. BRS has lots of info on salts and how they mix. You'd likely be better off with almost any of the ones they carry. If you're looking for more direct advice, I'd pick HW-Marinemix Reefer, Aquaforest Reef Salt, Nyos Pure, or Red Sea Aquarium. I've used ICP-Analysis.com tests. Seems to be reasonably priced and it's tested in Denver, so turnaround is pretty quick. Nikki can comment better on potential long-term issues with low calcium and/or magnesium, but it could be that long term lack of nutrients has hit the tipping point for something, and possibly created a cascading effect in the tank (just guessing here). Were you able to test throughout the week to see a trend in parameters? It looks like you saw a drop in phosphate of about 0.06 ppm. If that trend continues, you're a few weeks away from being in a better range. Personally, I'd stay the course and avoid adding a phosphate reducer to the mix. Is your skimmer running?

Have you done an ICP test? Could ID something that’s causing some of this

Ah, that makes sense. Didn’t go back up to refresh on what all is going on. Do check out info BRS has on how the various salt mixes compare on final parameters and see what works with your situation. I chose the HW marinemix because it mixes up clean, so I don’t have to deal with cleaning out my saltwater mixing/storage barrels as much. If you are just mixing salt up as you need it, that’s less of an issue. It’s more expensive than instant ocean, and I usually buy a year’s worth when it goes on sale.

For the food, do try several different pellets to see what works for you. I use the TDO chroma boost small size pellets (they have several sizes). I also use an Avast plank feeder in my sump. That way, food gets soaked in water then sucked up into my return pump and broadcast into the water column. The plank feeder does give you a lot tighter ci trip of how much gets fed, and you have more flexibility to feed smaller amounts throughout the day. I would definitely change salt brands. There shouldn’t be any phosphate in your new saltwater. Is it possible that could be coming from your ro water? I’m not sure if the saltwater test for phosphate will work on ro water…. Lots of folks use instant ocean successfully. I personally use HW Marinemix Reef salt. It’s one of the cheaper synthetic salts, but good quality. BRS is the only place in the states that carries it. If you use instant ocean, I think I’d go with reef crystals. Take a look at BRS at various salts. They post parameters for mixed saltwater in the item description based on their own testing. They did a video a few years ago comparing how well different salts mixed up and their parameters. Pick a salt that mixes close to the parameters you’re trying to get.

That’s awesome! Those are some really cool pieces!

Some discussion on your quarantine process, and maybe some further insight on how you choose your suppliers and species you order? It probably isn’t something that’s particularly fun to talk about, but level of mortality you see with different types of fish as they come through your quarantine and how that factors in to your approach and selection. I think it’s beneficial for us as hobbyists to understand more about the entire process and how we, the hobbyists, can support better practices, from your point of view, if there is anything more than buying from sources (like you) who quarantine for us or buying captive bred when possible.

I’ll pm you details. I’m in Herndon, so you’re in their work area.

Where are you located? I had my floor reinforced for my tank a few years ago, and have used the same contractor for multiple jobs since then. Id run double the number of lines you expect to use, just in case. Check out my build thread for what I did.

For the salt you’re using, I’d recommend mixing up a batch, letting it mix for 24 hours, and running a set of tests on it. A quick google search turned up be or two folks claiming this salt might part of their issue with parameters. Not enough for me to point the finger, but worth running a batch of tests in it. Id also recommend that, once you start doing your testing, and hopefully seeing the trend go in The right direction, you can test a little less often. If you’re able to automate water changes in any way, try that, or at least figure out a system that makes it as easy as possible. I know I’m terrible at doing regular water changes, hence me automating it. Id say just turn the skimmer on and leave it on. Once you start seeing your parameters trend in one direction, you can perhaps turn that knob, if needed.

It may be worth taking a step back for a moment. Like Nikki said, something doesn’t add up. I’d recommend doing a summary post here with everything you’re dosing (including food and frequency of feeding), and your current test results ( do ALL the tests). That may help highlight the issue. If that summary doesn’t show something, it may be worth stopping all the dosing and focusing on only dosing to address the current issues. Also, make sure you are testing every parameter that is directly (or indirectly) impacted by what you are dosing (I’ve learned this the hard way). Id also recommend testing your RO water for all these issues (phosphate, nitrate, chloramine, anything else). I’ve had a couple instances where I was sure something else was off, and it turned out my RO water was the culprit (filters needed to be changed). Just my 2 cents.

@ExoticReefCreations does as well.

Could you provide some more specifics of your tank? Size, livestock, other water parameters? Switching from strictly a protein based diet of shrimp to strictly algae might be a concern for your fish, depending on their needs.