Kathryn Lawson

I use large snail shells! They supposedly like having their foot in a hole, and mine certainly seem to be happy with them. Makes it really convenient to move around as needed

How did you determine the volume or mass of the new brand of salt to add when mixing the saltwater - the same as your old brand? It could be that the composition of the new mix is different (more anti-clumping agents? fillers? other compounds?), so you need to use more of the new brand than you did with the old brand to get to the same salinity.

I love Pender! We see one of their avian vets for my parrots, and they also were willing to prescribe chloroquine for fish quarantine.

I have a fairly large, rectangular, sliding door trap in Woodbridge, VA if you want to borrow it!

Depending on how heavy/large the tank is, you might be able to drain it down almost entirely very briefly to enable moving the whole thing without disturbing the rock, etc. That's how I moved my 30 gallon peninsula while the window behind it was being replaced - unplugged everything and drained all but a tiny bit of water (just enough to keep the fish underwater at the very bottom) into a spare 30 gallon I keep in storage (learned the hard way when I had a tank leak to always have a backup option big enough to hold rock and livestock...), enlisted my partner to help me move the tank across the room, then refilled/plugged equipment back in. Covered the tank etc. during the replacement, then did the process in reverse once the window replacement was finished.

FYI: https://reefbuilders.com/2024/06/17/triton-transfer-barcode-kit-helps-out-icp-analysis-customers/

Well, that might explain why I never heard back when I asked how I could pay them to upgrade a free (5-element) sample test kit I'd gotten to the full test, back when my tank was really struggling (the packaging indicated it was encouraged/supported, but there was no way to do it on their site). I ended up going with Triton at the time, because the LFS closest to me carries them. It's definitely more expensive, but the turnaround time on my two tests has each been about a week including shipping.

Thanks! Unfortunately, it seems polyfilter is not rated for lithium, and because it's not technically a heavy metal it's unlikely to help. However, it seems that due to the extremely high amount of sodium and potassium in saltwater (compared to freshwater, for example), medium levels of lithium still cause minimal issues since usually the issues are caused by lithium replacing Na or K and messing up biological processes. At least, that's what I've been reading. I'll certainly keep polyfilter in mind for metal issues in the future though, thanks!

Interesting, thanks! I'll keep that in mind if I look more into other salts

Good to hear first-hand feedback! Have you been able to keep shrimp, clams, etc?

All right, everyone... more updates! I swapped out the vinyl tubing for silicone, and did 6 ~30% water changes (12 gallons) over the last two months. Sent off an ICP test last week, and got it back this morning - tin is totally gone!! Phosphates are also down - 0.03 according to Triton, so I'll pull the (3 small) phosphate absorbing cubes from the sump and just continue to monitor/slightly dose nitrate. Algae has receded significantly, which has been really nice. The addition of 5 captive-bred tuxedo urchins definitely helped in this area also, but even before they were added, algae growth rates were decreasing to manageable levels. I've seen a bit of cyano forming down at the sand/glass interface and in a few corners, but it has not been spreading past those lower-flow areas (absolutely nothing like the issues I had previously!), and my remaining corals are doing well, so I'm inclined to just keep an eye on nitrate levels and maybe try to increase flow a bit more. Now for the interesting news... I now apparently have high silicon and lithium levels. Given the reducing tank issues, I'm not terribly inclined to worry about the silicon for now, but I do remember thinking that my DI resin would be due for a swap soon, so I'll take a closer look at it. I did just last week find a magnet that the seal had broken on from a (name-brand) frag rack in my sump while cleaning out the remnants of the algae accumulation there (no CUC down there), so that has now been removed. I have had carbon and Cuprisorb in the system since finding out about the tin, so it's possible it removed most of the metals that leached from it, but left lithium (it's not reported to remove lithium). There is also the distinct possibility that since there are no other metals, the lithium is instead coming from my new salt (Instant Ocean, not reef crystals). I've seen discussions of high lithium levels being "normal" in IO salt, and I'm not aware of any major concerns from elevated levels - anything I should keep watch for? Planning to mix up the salt in my bucket just in case things settled out weirdly, but otherwise just monitor as I slowly try to reintroduce more sensitive livestock (inverts). Thanks for all your input, and I'm so relieved that my tank is heading back in the right direction!! Link to results: https://www.triton-lab.de/en/showroom/icp-oes/210461

The DC pump is convenient because it lets you make more fine adjustments compared to tweaking the valve, but the valve will definitely need to be adding some restriction in the first place to prevent all that noise!

Whoops, yeah, thanks for catching that detail - the second emergency drain is effectively higher up because of the length of PVC pipe that I completely forgot to mention! I see the other photos now - it looks like your overflow box has two drains and can be set up Herbie style if you want. I see you've got the PVC extending the emergency drain, so all you'd need is a valve on the first drain - I'd recommend putting it at the end of the pipe right before the entry into the sump, so the majority of the pipe is completely filled with water and will minimize any trickling noise from after the flow restriction.

How many drains do you have? Just one? There's some different types of plumbing setups folks use to manage noise - I think BRS had a decent discussion of them. The Herbie overflow style is what my tank uses, with two drains. The first drain has a valve on it that you adjust to keep the water high enough that it's not sucking air into the siphon down the pipe. The second one acts as an emergency overflow in case the first one gets clogged. I've struggled with the adjustments, but now that it's dialed in (and my new pump isn't fluctuating the flow randomly any more!), it's totally silent. Only time I'll hear noise is while putting my hands or other things in and out, since that makes the tank water level fluctuate and thus impacts the overflow box water level

Welcome! I'd suggest also joining PVAS, the Potomac Valley Aquarium Society, which focuses on freshwater. They have monthly meetings with small auctions, as well as two all-day auctions each year - a good way to rehome any extra fish!